Posted by HWooldridge on Friday, January 09, 2004 at 6:33PM :
In Reply to: OT - Knife sharpening posted by Todd Wilson on Thursday, January 08, 2004 at 10:16PM :
A belt sander with 600 grit will get you the foundation edge and knifemakers go down to 1000 grit or finer to get a final edge. I have a 2x72 belt sander but use a Ruby stone with WD40 as cutting fluid for most blades. I then use a leather razor strop as a final touch. You should be intent on making the edge as fine as possible while removing the wire feather edge that is left over from stoning.
We recently had to open an abscess on the ear of one of our dogs. We tried an X-Acto knife with no success other than making the dog mad. My son fetched my Katz lock blade and opened it right up with no problem. I keep all my edged tools very sharp - including axes - dull tools are dangerous.