July 2, 2009

Cutting edge miniatures


You would think that a new out of the box knife blade would be sharp. Unfortunately that is often not the case, the one you see in the photo was very dull indeed.

An essential item in your tool box should be a small sharpening stone. I purchased the "stone" in the photo from my local hardware store, it is coated with very fine bits of industrial diamonds. Regular sharpening stones are fine too, just as long as you have something on hand to touch up your cutting edges. A small size stone is handy for taking along in a toolbox or stashing in a drawer with your knife.

Working with dull blades is really frustrating, a time waster and you are more likely to get cut. It only takes a few licks across the stone to make working a pleasure and improve accuracy too. The trick is to hold the blade at the same angle as the cutting surface was ground and then push it along the stone as if you were cutting something. One direction only rather than back and forth works best.


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