My Bread Knife

[Jan]

To what does the term "mill file" refer?

Wikipedia has the following definition: Mill files are rectangular in cross section and taper slightly in both width and thickness from tang to end. They are all single-cut.

Jan

[Ken S]

I don't know the origin of the name , mill files. I prefer the single cut over double cut files. Double cut files remove a lot of metal quickly. Single cut files cut slower, but I like the slower, more controlled cutting.

In addition to bastard cut, second cut, and smooth being different "grits", the same name "grits" become more coarse as the files get longer. An eight inch mill file will be more coarse than the same grit in six inches and less coarse than the same file in ten inch length. I have sets of files in four, six, eight and ten inch lengths. They are not expensive and having a choice is often useful. A set of three mill files in eight inch length is a good start. Put all files in handles and keep them handy.

[Jan]

I don't know the origin of the name , mill files.

My daring explanation is that the name mill file originated as a name for a file which was used for jointing the teeth of mill saw.

Jan

[Ken S]

I believe you are correct, Jan.

Ken

[Ken S]

Finally!!!!

I sharpened my bread knife today using the diamond paste for the first time. As hoped, it went very well.The one micron paste was surprisingly fast cutting. I cut a length of quarter inch dowel long enough to easily fit in a gallon plastic zip lock bag. I rubbed a bit of the paste into the one end of the dowel for about half the length.

I hand held the knife and dowel and gave six push strokes to each scallop. The knife was not in terrible shape; it was just dull. Six strokes revitalized the edge. The process took a leisurely five or ten minutes, including sawing the dowel. In the words of Herman's fellow Texan, it was "kindler and gentler". A very small amount of steel was removed. The sharpening was quiet. I did it at the dinette table. I did not need to touch the back side of the knife. Clean up was putting the dowel back into that plastic bag and washing the knife.

For someone doing a lot of this kind of sharpening, I believe Rob's diamond file is the best choice. For me, with one bread knife, the simple diamond paste worked very well. The adhesive micro abrasive paper worked well, also, Of the two, I prefer the diamond paste and would continue to recommend it.

The diamond paste is also available in three and six micron sizes. The paste works well and is useful for many things.

Ken

[Herman Trivilino]

In the words of Herman's fellow Texan, it was "kindler and gentler".

Actually, a fellow Houstonian. He can often be seen at the Astros games.

The diamond paste is also available in three and six micron sizes. The paste works well and is useful for many things.

I would be interested to see how it performs on the Tormek leather honing wheel.

[Rob]

sounds amazing...I've never tried the paste.  It would be useful in any situation where you had to custom build the profile of the abrading tool to fit whatever it was you needed sharpening since the paste has no shape and can just be "appended" to whatever profile you need.  In your case a 1/4" dowel was good enough for the bread knife job.

What I'm starting to think about is a custom fit (I would likely turn it) dowel or maybe cone of some sort that would perfectly match the gullets of any given bandsaw blade.  I quite regularly use a wide 1.3 tpi 1" wide ripper blade for green logs when making my own turning blanks and green wood is a pig for blunting bandsaw blades due to the nasties that hide in the bark, grit, dirt etc all take their revenge on the blade.  They're not cheap to replace and can stand a few sharpenings before being rubbish but they're not easy to do.

I bought that diamond taper file for exactly that job.  Other folk have used a dremel with a particular grinding stone and various other methods.  It occurs to me that I could turn an exact fit for that blades gullet size and then just smother it in that paste???  One could turn different cylinders or cones calibrated for each different bandsaw blade you use.  For me that would be 3.  Worth a try?

[Elden]

Rob,

   Check out:

       http://www.woodturningvideosplus.com/resharpen-bandsaw-blades.html

That would help out with more serious dings.

    Of course there are machines specialized for the job. I saw an attachment to go on a chainsaw chain grinder sometime back.

[Rob]

That's great....thanks Elden.  I must say I thought I'd seen them all out there in web land but not come across that one before.

This one

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UygEQ-079Ws

is frequently recommended by my blade guy (company called Tuffsaws here in the UK) but it does of course require you to remove the blade.  What's appealing about the dremel or hand file technique is that it remains on the bandsaw.  Much less downtime. 

I've tried my ripper blades before with a sanding disc in the dremel but not the cut off disc.  I'll give it a go :-)

[Ken S]

Herman,

I have wondered the same thing about using diamond paste with the leather honing wheel. My gut feeling, untested, is that it might very well, but not inexpensively. It would be worth a try.

Rob,

I bought a pack of bamboo skewers at my local grocery. My original intended use was for pegs for mortises. They are round and about 1/8" (3mm) in diameter. I think they would work well with diamond paste for sharpening bandsaw blades.

I would like to see what a good turner could do. I hope you will give it a go, Rob. You would have the advantage of choice in shape, diameter and species of wood.

Elden,

Diamond paste comes in 1,3 and 6 micron grits. For the nasty nicks, a dowel with one of the coarser grits might do the trick. A file would be good to have in reserve, too.

Using the dowel and paste approach on a bandsaw blade would be an almost silent and peaceful way to work.

Ken

[Elden]

Interesting  video Rob.

True Ken. Never have tried sharpening one. I don't use it often. Seems like I generally will get a kink in mine cutting pvc pipe or such. I will have to give it a try. Like the guy in Rob' s video, I am sure I would find out it pays to sharpen a new one.

[Herman Trivilino]

I bought a pack of bamboo skewers at my local grocery. My original intended use was for pegs for mortises. They are round and about 1/8" (3mm) in diameter. I think they would work well with diamond paste for sharpening bandsaw blades.

As would chop sticks for a bread knife, in case one didn't have a scrap piece of dowel about. They have a cone at the end which would be nice for smaller gullets.

[Ken S]

Rob, Your three teeth one inch wide ripper blades sound like a good candidate for sharpening. How long are the blades? (This is one instance when I wish I had not added the riser to my Dalta bandsaw. The riser translates into about an extra foot of blade to sharpen.

Elden, I think I will limit myself to sharpening the 3tpi, half inch blades. The 10tpi blade is a lot of teeth! It does a nice job on aluminum (including Tormek jigs) (For those of you who are thinking of slicing the grinding wheels, I have some slices of the Torlock platform. I should recycle them.)

Herman, clever idea about using chop sticks.

I cut a slice of gutsy multigrain bread with my newly sharpened bread knife. It was sweet. Very little effort and a nice, clean cut. i am sold on the diamond paste.

Ken

[Rob]

Gutsy multi-grain bread....lashings of butter....making me hungry ken :-)

[Herman Trivilino]

My banana bread is gutsy. Lots of nuts! No butter needed.