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Peachey’s Ten Commandments of Sharpening

1. Thou shalt not round the bevel or the back.

2. Thou shalt not use jigs.

3. Thou shalt look at the scratch patterns in the metal.

4. Thou shalt use a bevel angle appropriate for the knife and task.

5. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbors knife.

6. Thou shalt sharpen side to side.

7. Thou shalt use a grit progression and entire surface of the stone.

8. Thou shalt not let thy sharpening system become glazed over.

9. Thou shalt not advance to the next grit until the burr develops.

10. Thou shalt not insult thy neighbor by insisting on the absolute superiority of any technique or system.

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COMMENTARY

[1] Rounding the bevel, or the back, is the most common mistake in sharpening.  Though the knife may look ‘sharp’– ie. polished– it will not cut if the included angle becomes too obtuse. Even with careful stropping, eventually the knife will need to be reground and resharpened. A back bevel works fine as long as the included angle is within the desired angle. In practice, a small amount of rounding always occurs when sharpening and stropping: the goal should be to minimize it.

[2] Not relying on jigs will give you much more freedom, and speed, in sharpening a variety of tools.  Many bookbinding knives do not fit it standard jigs, which are often designed for woodworking tools. The hand motions and muscle memory necessary to sharpen freehand is often very similar to the skills necessary to use the knife properly. Throw away your crutches and walk!

[3] Looking at the visual evidence of what you are doing when sharpening is paramount. Even slightly changing the angle of the knife when moving to a finer grit will show exactly what the new grit is doing.  A 10 power magnifying lens is very revealing. Always sharpening in the same direction will disguise the effects of the new grit, often resulting in an unpleasant surprise when a final stropping reveals many deep scratches.

[4] Always use the lowest possible blade angle for the task at hand. For paring leather, this is around 13 degrees.

[5] Knives are very personal.  You need your own, and get to know how to use and sharpen the particular angles it develops.  Most people sharpen with small idiosyncratic deviations from a geometric ideal, and learn to work with these deviations in practice. A well made knife will last the rest of your career, don’t purchase or make an inferior one. In the bookbinding world, it is a major faux pas to borrow a colleague’s paring knife — don’t be a rube!

[6] It is much easier to maintain a consistent bevel sharpening side to side freehand (parallel to the cutting edge), rather than sharpening from the cutting edge to the start of the bevel. I have noticed this in student work as well as my own.  This does necessitate a flat stone or sharpening surface, however.  Of course, it is possible to sharpen in almost any direction, as long as you hand is comfortable and you are able to maintain a consistent angle.

[7] It is much faster and easier to have a series of small grit progressions, rather than one or two large ones.  This also results in less wear per stone. Always buy the longest stone you can afford and use the entire surface of it — moving the blade 10 inches once is basically the same as moving the blade 2 inches,  5 times. Hogging the center will wear a stone unevenly.

[8] Always use a lubricant.  A glazed system will generate heat and cut very slowly.

[9] Feeling, or looking for the burr lets you know that the two planes have exceeded the point where they meet. This assures you there are no flat (dull) areas on the cutting edge. With very fine grits it may not be possible to feel or see this.

[10] Almost any sharpening system can work, if you know what you are doing. I’ve seen people break every one of these commandments and still get a great edge.

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RECOMMENDED SHARPENING RESOURCES

Hock, Ron. The Perfect Edge: The Ultimate Guide to Sharpening for Woodworkers. Cincinnati: Popular Woodworking Books, 2009.

Ron Hock’s brief sharpening notes

Lee, Leonard. The Complete Guide to Sharpening. Newtown, CT: The Taunton Press, 1995.

Maurice Fraser’s sharpening notes

Sugai, Chiharu. The Chef’s Edge: Traditional Hand-Sharpening Techniques for Japanese and Western-Style Yanagi Knives. (DVD) KORIN Japanese Trading Co., 2003.

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Upcoming Events: Boston for the Guild of Book Workers and a Lecture at Columbia University


This Thursday (October 6, 2011) in the afternoon, through Saturday (October 8, 2011) I will be a vendor at the annual Guild of Book Workers Standards of Excellence Seminar.  The two vendor rooms are open to everyone, not just conference attendees. Location: The Boston Park Plaza Hotel, located at 50 Park Plaza Arlington St.  I have some new items, including wider Swiss style knife, a bargain box full of sale items, and even a few free things.  I’ll be sharing a table with Jim Croft, who makes beautiful elk and deer bone folders, wooden boards for books, and other handmade items.  Please stop by and say hello!

Next month on November 15, 6-7:30, I will be giving a lecture , open to the public, as part of Columbia University’s Book History Colloquium.  The presentation is titled Reconstructing Diderot: Late 18th century French Bookbinding Structure. Blurb: The extensive documentation of late 18th century French book structures, as found in Diderot, Dudin, and other sources, forms a unique starting point in the examination of the larger questions associated with the history of craft and material culture, the transmission of textual information, and, of course, the history of bookbinding. Book structures of the late eighteenth century stand at the cusp of one of the most radical transformations since the invention of the multi-section codex: by the early 19th century, the machine-made cloth case binding begins to dominate bookbinding practice. In this talk, Peachey will illustrate the historical context of bookbinding through the construction of a typical full calf binding using reproduction and antique tools, while acknowledging the impossibility of doing so with total accuracy.

More information and directions at: http://www.columbia.edu/library/bhc

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Kafka on Craft

“Intellectual labor tears a man out of human society. A craft, on the other hand, leads him towards men.”

-Franz Kafka

I want to believe this appealing quote.  I want to believe that the thousands of hours spent learning, practicing, preparing and performing craft — usually alone — lead back to humanity at some point.  I want to believe that the products of craft will also somehow connect with other people. If thinking separates us from society, do reading rooms in libraries and gathering together in coffee shops somehow compensate by letting us be physically together? But Kafka’s conception of  intellectual labor in opposition to craft is troubling. Isn’t he separating the hand from the head? Most craftsmen I respect have a tremendously wide curiosity and intellect, encompassing history, technique, tools, materials and many other seemingly unrelated things. Craft is not about just having made something, or even being able to make something.  It is consciously participating in the tradition of making something.  Is this how it might lead us to others?

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Gustav Janouch, Conservations with Kafka, trans. Goronwy Rees. 2nd rev. and enlarged ed. (London: Andre Deutsch, 1971) p. 15 in Paul Virilio, Ground Zero (London and New York:Verso, 2002.) p. 7.