VERY Old School Sharpening

[RichColvin]

André Jacob Roubo published a great picture on how the old guys used to make their own tool sharpeners.  I am SO happy we now have Tormeks!

[John_B]

We had one of these when I was growing up that was left in an out building by the previous owners. I vaguely remember using it on occasion

We lived in a farm house that was built in the late 1800's. My parents bought it after he returned from WWII.

[Ken S]

The introduction of these sharpening wheels sparked what is normally called "The Hundred Years War" with the bench stone flat sharpeners who fought against the sins of hollow grinding...... Some of us are still fighting these wars.

Ken

Interesting drawing, Rich. Just what you need to go with your rose lathe.

[Jan]

Rich, I find even more interesting the old picture displayed on your Sharpening handbook site. http://www.sharpeninghandbook.info/indexAbout.html
The grind stone is not a wheel but an oval shaped grind stone. It is said that the supervising man commands the axe grinder to hold the axe so that the resulting grind is convex.

I studied it on a simple model, but it remains a riddle for me.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/6uquqq1gkoyptrw/OVAL%201.jpg?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/amvas2zqyg0yffc/OVAL%202.jpg?dl=0

Jan

[kwakster]

Never seen such an oval stone before, but how it works is clear to me.
The narrower ends of the stone grind the upper part of the bevel, while the wider midsections form the apex.
The oval shape of the stone takes care of a smooth transitioning, thereby forming the convex shape.
Very clever btw.
Maybe an idea for Tormek.

[Jan]

It is said that swords were sharpened in this way in the Middle Ages.

Jan