The introduction of the Edge Pro sharpening machines was, without exaggeration, a revolution. The prices are really high, but no one is stopping you from copying the principle and creating a similar device yourself. We offer design simple machine for sharpening knives, chisels and any other blades that you can make with your own hands.
Machine base
Most parts for a sharpening machine can be made from literally anything, following general principle devices. As an example, let's take laminated or polished box plywood 8-12 mm thick, which was widely used in the manufacture of Soviet radio equipment housings.
The base must be heavy - about 3.5-5 kg - otherwise the machine will be unstable and unsuitable for sharpening heavy chopping tools. Therefore, the inclusion of steel elements in the design is welcome, for example, the base of the case can be “forged” with a 20x20 mm angle.
From plywood you need to cut out two parts in the shape of a rectangular trapezoid with a jigsaw with bases of 170 and 60 mm and a height of 230 mm. When cutting, leave an allowance of 0.5-0.7 mm for processing the ends: they must be straight and exactly match the markings.
Third detail - inclined plane made of plywood boards measuring 230x150 mm. It is installed between the inclined sides of the side walls, while the trapezium of the side walls rests on the rectangular side.
In other words, the base of the machine is a kind of wedge, but the inclined plane should protrude 40 mm from the front. At the ends of the side walls, use a surface planer to mark two lines with an indent of half the thickness of the plywood. Drill three holes in each board to fasten the parts with screws. Transfer the drill bit to the ends of the inclined part and temporarily connect the base parts.
At the rear, the side walls are connected by a 60x60 mm block, which is secured to the end with two screws on each side. You need to make a 10 mm vertical hole in the block with an indentation of 50 mm from the center, that is, 25 mm from the edge. To be sure of verticality, it is better to drill first thin drill on both sides and then expand. Screw two fittings into the hole from the top and bottom with internal thread M10, and in them - a 10 mm pin with a length of 250 mm. Here you may need to slightly adjust the bottom fitting if its threads do not line up with the stud.
Tool support device
Remove the flat inclined part from the base - it needs to be modified by equipping it with a device for fixing and pressing the tool being processed.
First, set aside 40 mm from the front edge and along this line, use a matching hacksaw to file a groove about 2 mm deep. Using a sectioning knife or a shoemaker's knife, chop off the two top layers of veneer from the end of the board to form a recess into which you can insert a 2 mm steel plate flush with the common plane.
The handrail consists of two steel strips 170x60 mm and 150x40 mm. They need to be folded together along the long end with uniform indentations along the edges and three 6 mm through holes must be made. The strips along these holes need to be tightened with bolts, placing the caps on the side of the upper, larger plate. Arc welding bake each cap, welding it to the plate, then remove the beads of metal and grind the plate until a perfectly flat plane is obtained.
Attach the narrower striker plate to the notch on the edge and transfer the holes with a drill, then secure the rest with bolts. It can also be magnetized before installation DC, this will help in sharpening small blades.
Locking mechanism
The second part of the tool rest is the clamping bar. It is also made of two parts:
- The upper L-shaped bar is 150x180 mm with a shelf width of about 45-50 mm.
- Bottom striker rectangular shape 50x100 mm.
The parts need to be folded in the same way as the parts of the tool rest were folded, placing the counter plate at the far edge of the upper clamping area. We make two holes in the center with a distance of 25 mm from the edges of the small part, and through them we tighten the parts with two 8 mm bolts. They need to be wound in opposite directions, with the head of the upper (near) bolt located on the side of the clamping bar. The bolt heads are also welded to the plates and pre-ground to obtain neat roundings.
On an inclined board with an indentation of 40 mm from the edge, draw a line with a thickness planer and make one 8 mm hole 25 mm from the top and bottom edges. Connect the edges of the holes with markings and use a jigsaw to make a cut with an allowance. Finish the resulting groove with a file to a width of 8.2-8.5 mm.
Fasten the clamping and strike strips through the groove in the board. Tighten the bolt protruding from above with a nut so that the bar maintains minimal movement, then secure the connection with a second nut. To press or release the strip from below (in the niche of the base), screw a wing nut onto the second bolt.
Adjusting the sharpening angle
Throw a wide washer onto the pin screwed into the base bar and tighten the nut so that the rod does not rotate in the fittings.
The adjusting block must be made from a small block of hard material measuring approximately 20x40x80 mm. Take carbolite, textolite or hardwood.
15 mm from the edge of the block, we drill a 20 mm end on both sides, the hole expands to 9 mm, then we cut a thread inside. A second hole is drilled at a distance of 50 mm from the axis of the hole made, but in the flat part of the part, that is, perpendicular to the previous one. This hole should have a diameter of about 14 mm, in addition, it needs to be flared strongly with a round rasp.
The block is screwed onto a pin, so it is possible to relatively accurately adjust the height of the eye without complex system screw clamps as in the original machine, which in practice is a little more difficult to implement. In order for the block to remain motionless during operation, it must be secured on both sides with M10 wing nuts.
Carriage and replacement bars
For the sharpening carriage, you will need to coaxially weld 30 cm sections of an M10 pin and a smooth, even rod 10 mm thick. You also need two solid blocks measuring approximately 50x80 mm and up to 20 mm thick. A 10 mm hole should be made in each bar in the center and at a distance of 20 mm from the top edge.
First, a wing nut is screwed onto the rod, then a wide washer and two bars, again a washer and a nut. You can clamp rectangular sharpening stones between the whetstones, but it is better to make several replacement sharpening stones.
As a basis for them, take a light aluminum profile with a flat part 40-50 mm wide. This can be a profile rectangular pipe or sections of an old cornice profile.
We sand and degrease the flat part, and “Moment” glue strips of sandpaper of different grain sizes from 400 to 1200 grit onto it. Choose sandpaper according to tissue based, and glue a strip of suede leather onto one of the bars for straightening the blades with abrasive paste.
How to sharpen correctly
For correct sharpening make several templates from plywood with angles of 14-20º for cutting edges and 30-37º for chopping edges, the exact angle depends on the grade of steel. Fix the blade parallel to the edge of the tool rest and press it with a bar. Using the template, adjust the angle between the planes of the sharpening block and the inclined board of the table.
Start sharpening with a large (P400) whetstone if the edge does not have the correct angle. Make sure that the descent strip takes the form of a straight strip without bends or waves. Reduce the grit and go along both sides of the blade first with a P800 stone, and then with a P1000 or P1200 stone. When sharpening the blade, apply the whetstone with slight force in both directions.
After sharpening, the blade must be corrected with a “leather” block, on which no a large number of GOI pastes. When editing blades, the working movement is directed only towards the edge (towards you), but not against it. And, finally, a little advice: if you sharpen knives with polished blades and engraving, glue them masking tape so that the crumbling abrasive does not leave scratches. It also wouldn’t hurt to cover the surface of the tool rest with vinyl self-adhesive.
Sharpening a knife correctly by hand is quite difficult. It will take some time to develop the habit of maintaining a constant sharpening angle, which is not at all easy. A knife sharpening device can make the task easier. There are factory options. But for good copies you have to pay a couple of hundred dollars, and this is clearly a lot. The good news is that these devices are easy to make yourself. Moreover, many homemade knife sharpeners are no worse in functionality than those from famous manufacturers, but they are many times cheaper.
Knife sharpening basics
Knives have various applications and even in an ordinary kitchen there are several of them. There is one for slicing bread and other soft foods, and one for cutting meat, chopping bones, and other hard objects. And these are just household ones. But there are also those who take them hunting and fishing. If you look closely, you will see that they all have different angle sharpening (this is if they have not already been sharpened at home). It is the sharpening angle that is most important characteristic, which is determined by the purpose of the blade.
At what angle
The sharpening angle is determined based on the main area of application of a particular blade:
This general recommendations, introduced based on many years of experience. There are, however, options: some blades have several zones with different sharpening. This makes them more versatile, but the difficulty of sharpening increases many times over.
From the above it follows that the device for sharpening knives must be able to set the required sharpening angle. And this is the main difficulty in its design and manufacture.
What to sharpen
To sharpen knives, sharpening stones of various grain sizes are used. They are conventionally divided into coarse, medium and fine. Why conditional? Because in different countries The grain size has its own designation. The most convenient classification is by the number of grains per unit area. It is expressed in numbers: 300, 600, 1000, etc. Some companies also use English terms. Here is an approximate division:
In addition to grain size, sharpening stones are also distinguished by their origin: they are natural origin(shale, corundum, etc.), there are ceramic and diamond. Which ones are better? It’s hard to say - a matter of taste, but natural ones wear off faster and are rarely fine-grained.
Natural ones are soaked in water before use or simply moistened with it. They absorb water and, during sharpening, an abrasive paste is formed from water and separated abrasive particles on the surface, which increases the efficiency of sharpening. For the same purposes, you can use a special little (honing oil) or a mixture of water and soap (whichever you prefer). In general, you should try all these options with each sharpening stone and choose the best one.
The shape of a whetstone for sharpening knives is a block, and it is desirable that its length be much longer than the length of the blade - it is easier to sharpen. Bars with double grain are convenient - coarse on one side, finer on the other. To sharpen knives for ordinary purposes, it is enough to have two bars with medium grain (different) and two fine ones (one can be very fine).
Manual sharpening procedure
A device for sharpening knives only makes it easier to sharpen the edge, so knowledge of manual sharpening techniques is mandatory. Without them, it is impossible to sharpen a knife correctly.
The procedure for sharpening knives is as follows:
At this point, we can assume that sharpening the knife is complete. Some people are still finishing the edge on the old belt. A piece of belt can be secured to a wooden block (glued, not nailed), rubbed with goyim paste. Then pass several times alternately with one side or the other, but turning the cutting edge back. This way the last grooves left by the abrasive are polished and the belt is not “cut” in the process.
How to make a homemade knife sharpener
All homemade knife sharpeners solve the main problem - they allow you to accurately maintain a given angle of inclination of the block to the blade, which is very important for obtaining a good cutting edge. There are very simple devices, there are a little more complicated ones, but they allow you to work with greater comfort. Choose according to your taste.
Some of the options are from improvised means
A simple device for sharpening knives
Essentially this is a holder for sharpening stones. Everything is elementary: two triangles made of wood, which are connected by pins with wings. A block is clamped between the corners at the required angle. You can set the angle using a protractor, a special program on your smartphone, or using the rules of trigonometry (right triangle).
Knife sharpening device - abrasive holder
When sharpening on such a device, the knife must be kept pointed strictly vertically at all times. It's much easier than holding it at a certain angle.
The same idea has another embodiment: on reliable basis make movable holders into which the bars are inserted and secured in the desired position. The corporate prototype is pictured below.
A homemade device for sharpening knives is made of wooden blocks. It turns out to be light, so that it does not move from its place, it needs to be fixed with something. To avoid holding with your hand, you can use clamps.
Rotating holders allow you to set a given angle, and then fix it with the help of “wings”
Such a device for sharpening knives, of course, makes the work easier, but it is still quite difficult to maintain the angle: you must constantly control the verticality of the blade. Such a habit can be developed over time, but starting is difficult.
Device on wheels
An interesting version of a manual knife sharpener with a fixed block and a wheeled cart on which the knife is mounted. It is made on the basis of sharpeners for knives, chisels and planes. This device also works well with a knife, but you need to get used to sharpening a rounded edge.
In this version, as in manual sharpening, the block is stationary, but the blade of the knife, mounted on a movable cart, moves. The angle is set by the height of the bar relative to the platform on which the blade is mounted. The peculiarity of this device is that the table must be level. This could be a countertop made of natural stone, you can at regular table put glass.
In the version presented above, the angle changes slightly, which is usually sufficient for sharpening similar types of knives - kitchen knives, for example. If necessary, the design can be improved by adding holders (pictured below).
All this is implemented very simply, as it resembles a regular construction set: strips with holes in them, everything is assembled with bolts and screws.
There is also a device to ensure the immobility of the block.
The advantage of this whole design is that it is easy to unfold the knife while maintaining perpendicularity on the rounded area, and it is also very easy to handle on the other side: you need to turn the cart over. For this purpose, four pairs of wheels were made.
Homemade manual machine for sharpening knives
Slightly more complex and much more convenient homemade devices, which are made on the basis of well-known branded devices. They have an adjustable platform on which the knife is fixed. The site is set at a given angle. The block is mounted on a movable rod attached to the stand.
Self-made devices in some ways repeat the design presented above, but there are some differences. There are many options. Let's give some.
Option one: a fixed platform on which the blade is fixed
This device is made from leftover laminate (can be used), two steel rods with a diameter of 8 mm and a movable fastener.
This design has a fixed base, to which a platform with a knife lock is attached on regular hinges. The near edge of the platform can be raised at some angle convenient for work. But otherwise she is motionless.
On a vertically mounted steel rod there is a movably mounted latch, in which a loop is attached to the side. A rod is inserted into it, on which the block is fixed. This loop is simple, but not the most The best decision: there is no rigid fixation, which means the angle will “walk”.
Particular attention should be paid to the bar lock. An emphasis is placed on the rod at some distance from the edge (about 30-35 cm). This will be a permanent fixture. The second one is made movable; it is fixed after installing the bar using a screw and a thread cut into the body of the holder. The second option is to cut a thread on the rod and tighten the installed bar using a nut.
Knife holder - one or two steel plates mounted on a movable platform. They are fixed movably using screws and wings. Having loosened the fasteners, insert the knife blade and clamp it. It is very difficult to move it. Then, installing a pin with a fixed bar in the loop, adjust its height so that the required angle is set.
You can, as in the photo, make templates with the required angles and ensure that the planes match. After the crossbar is secured, you can work - move the bar in the desired direction.
This device for sharpening knives works well, but you can only move the abrasive along the blade when sharpening a kitchen knife. Classic sharpening - movement perpendicular cutting edge. This can be achieved on the straight part of the blade. If the blade is short, this will be almost perpendicular, but on a rounded part on a fixed holder this cannot be done. And all such devices “suffer” from this drawback. Once again: they - great option for sharpening kitchen knives (below is another good option from the same series).
Option two: with a movable platform and a magnetic holder
In this version of a homemade device for sharpening knives, the problem of previous sharpenings is solved. Here the frame remains motionless, which sets the angle of movement of the bar. The bar holder moves freely along a guide set at the desired angle. The knife is mounted on a movable table. You can, as in the presented version, do magnetic holder, you can - a regular one made of a metal plate and “lambs”. Move the table so that the movement of the abrasive is perpendicular. Actually, everything is in the video.
One clarification: in this case it is very important that the surface on which the table with the attached knife moves is horizontal and level. You can put glass or use a polymer tabletop (marble will also work).
With repeated use of knives, every housewife faces a problem when they begin to become dull and it becomes simply impossible to work with them. In addition, this is unsafe, since the knife can slip while cutting and injure you. To prevent this from happening, knives should be sharpened in a timely manner using a special sharpening device.
You can purchase a knife sharpener at your nearest hardware store or market, where you will be offered various types of devices. You will have to choose yourself. But in order not to make a mistake, you need to know how to correctly evaluate them in terms of convenience and quality of use.
The offered options do not always satisfy consumers, so many make sharpeners with their own hands, using special stones, tools and drawing sketches with dimensions. The photo shows options for homemade knife sharpeners.
Features of knife sharpening
When sharpening knives, the main thing is to make the correct angle of contact between the edges of the blades so that they serve you for a long time and effectively. Therefore, when sharpening knives yourself, it is necessary to maintain the existing angle of the blades.
Each knife blade has its own characteristics optimal angles tilt:
- from 10 to 15 degrees - for a medical scalpel or straight razor;
- from 15 to 20 degrees – for household knives used for cutting bread products, vegetables or fruits;
- from 20 to 25 degrees – for multifunctional knives for cutting a variety of products;
- from 25 to 30 degrees – for reliable companions of hunters and tourists on long hikes;
- from 30 to 40 degrees - for cutting materials that are particularly hard.
To sharpen the correct angle of the blade, you cannot do without special tools, since it is difficult to do this manually.
The design of such devices is not complicated, so it is easy and quick to make it yourself, and detailed instructions for making sharpeners you can borrow from the Internet.
Types of knife sharpeners
Choose from a large assortment of different types of knife sharpeners the right option simple enough for yourself.
The main elements of the sharpening device are a stop for fixing the knife and an abrasive stone, which is used as ready-made abrasive materials (stones) or self-made. But before you get to work, you need to learn how to properly make a knife sharpener with your own hands.
Types of sharpening stones
There are several types of whetstones:
- aquatic. Sharpening stones used in water are less likely to wear out during use.
- oil The structure and configuration are similar to aquatic ones, but with a more oily surface.
- natural. For their production, only natural raw materials are used with pre-treatment during the production process.
- artificial. In this case, the name speaks for itself, i.e. the abrasive material is created artificially.
- rubber. They are not as common as the previous ones, and they are also inconvenient during use.
What can you make a sharpener from?
To make a whetstone with your own hands, you can use the most in a simple way. Take a small rectangular glass plate about 5mm thick. Using double-sided tape, attach strips of coarse and medium-grit sandpaper to it on both sides.
The block is ready for use; if necessary, worn sandpaper can be easily replaced with a new one. This method is the most budget-friendly.
The disadvantages of this device include:
- rapid wear of the abrasive and fragility of the product (when fastening the timber you need to be careful that the glass does not crack).
- possible overheating of the material during rapid movements during the sharpening process.
You can find the best ideas for knife sharpeners on their respective websites.
Wooden bars
This method of making a tool for sharpening knives is also simple and accessible to everyone. You will need four identical bars: two abrasive and two wooden.
Before starting work, sand the wood blocks with sandpaper so that their surface becomes smooth without burrs. Mark the block according to the required angle of inclination. Attach grindstone and mark its width on a block of wood.
Note! 
Make cuts 1.5 cm deep according to the mark and insert abrasives into the grooves. Secure the stones with bolts. A piece of rubber attached to the bottom will give the structure stability.
In addition, you can make an adjustable sharpener with your own hands, but the next article will tell you how to do this.
Photos of DIY knife sharpeners
Note! 
Note! 
The service life of any knife directly depends on the methods of its operation and the procedure for sharpening the blade. Devices for sharpening knives are so diverse that they allow to modern man do not resort to the work of specialists, but do all the work yourself at home. To sharpen knives you can use: special device industrial production, as well as any device manufactured with my own hands. It's important to know that simple elements for sharpening knives (for example, a whetstone), which are at hand, can do a bad job and the sharpness of the product will not only not return, but gradually the product will completely become unusable. Moreover, any homemade device for sharpening knives can be based on the use of these simple sharpening devices. Detailed information How to make a sharpening device with your own hands can be found below.
A homemade manual machine for sharpening knives, provided that all the requirements for its creation are met, will simplify the sharpening of knives and its performance will be no worse than that of a professional. Proper sharpening includes next rule: each type of cutting product has a certain edge sharpening angle, which must be constant along the entire length of the blade (see table No. 1). Sharpening device, which will be initially based on this principle, will give the master a sharp knife edge for a long time.
Table No. 1. Sharpening angle in parallel with the type of cutting device
When sharpening the edges should be processed evenly. To fulfill this condition, the following rules must be observed:
- the blade must be fixed in the vice of the device reliably and efficiently, without exposing the metal of the blade to damage;
- the movement of the whetstone along the axis of the knife edge must be uniform and strictly at a certain angle;
- the point of contact of the blade must be strictly perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the sharpening device;
- the pressure on the knife blade should change smoothly depending on the change in the area of contact between the blade and the sharpener.
A simple device for sharpening knives
The simplest device for sharpening knives is based on the use of an angular frame and a whetstone. The price of such a primitive factory-made device is quite high, as is the price of replaceable whetstones, but making such a device for sharpening knives at home will not be difficult for a craftsman. You will need the following equipment:
- Wooden blocks same size- 4 things.
- Drill (or any other drilling tool).
- Bolts and nuts (about 4 pieces each).
- Touchstone.
- Protractor.
First you need to make a pair of wooden corners, placing the bars to each other strictly at an angle of 90º (Fig. 1). Close the resulting wooden corners together parallel to each other as a single whole and drill holes through the diameter of the bolts. Insert bolts into the holes and tighten the corners slightly with nuts.
The point of this invention is that it is possible to sharpen simply by holding the knife vertically in relation to the sharpening surface located at a given angle.
The most important thing is to properly secure the touchstone between wooden corners devices. To do this, using a protractor, you need to set the desired angle of inclination of the touchstone and tighten the bolts tightly to clearly fix the position of the touchstone.
With some modification of the device, you can also fix the position of the knife relative to the sharpening stone. A significant disadvantage of such a machine for manual sharpening is the inability to smoothly adjust the angle of inclination of the sharpening stone.
Device for sharpening from mounting angles
The diagram and drawings of a homemade knife sharpener made from mounting angles, based on a Lansky device, are clearly shown below.
To assemble this device you will need:
- Metal corners 90*90 mm with a wall thickness of 6 mm.
- Stud with M6 thread and length 160 mm.
- Thin rod (electrode, knitting needle, etc.).
- Touchstone.
- 2 rectangular pieces of metal (sponges for clamping the whetstone).
- Pliers.
- Hacksaw for metal.
- File (or any other tool for processing sharp corners).
- Set of hardware (nuts and bolts).
In both metal jaws, intended for fixing the keystone, you need to drill for a connecting bolt. Fix the touchstone. A thin smooth knitting needle, previously bent at an angle of 90º, must be inserted and secured in the hole of one of the jaws. In the future, using this knitting needle-shaped clamp, a certain angle of inclination of the touchstone will be set. Such a device for sharpening knives is characterized by a wide range of sharpening angles, which will undoubtedly be of interest to most craftsmen.
Locking blade machines
Knife sharpening machines with locking blades will attract the attention of those people who want to sharpen a knife not only efficiently, but also quickly. The design, which rigidly fixes the knife blade relative to the sharpening stone moving at a set angle, allows you to accurately set the angle of inclination.
To create such a homemade machine with your own hands you will need:
- The base is a rectangular wooden plate with dimensions 440*92 mm and a thickness of 18 mm.
- Wooden die 92*45*45 mm (for fixing the vertical threaded rod).
- A wooden block 245*92 mm and 18 mm thick (the plate to which the knife will be attached).
- Iron plate 200*65 mm and metal thickness 4 mm.
- Piano hinge, 92 mm long.
- M8 hairpin 325 mm long.
- Nuts and bolts with M8 thread.
- Drill 6.5 mm.
- M8 tap.
- Self-tapping screws 50 mm, 4 pcs.
The die intended for fixing the vertical threaded rod must be drilled through with a 6.5 mm drill. The hole should be located at a distance of 15 mm from the edge of the die, approximately in the center.
Next, in the resulting hole you need to cut a thread for an M8 stud. The wooden block prepared in this way must be screwed to the base at a distance of 265 mm from the edge using ordinary self-tapping screws 50 mm long, screwed in with reverse side grounds.
After securing the wooden part of the holding device, you can begin to attach the iron plate. In the center of the 200*65 mm plate, you need to drill an oblong groove, 90 mm long and about 1 cm wide. The groove should be located from the edge of the clamping plate at a distance of 60 mm. Additionally, you need to drill a hole at a distance of 20 mm from the opposite edge and cut a thread in it for an M8 bolt. Then you need to attach the clamping plate to the previously prepared wooden base. Using another bolt and a suitable washer, you need to fix the clamping plate in the center of the cut groove. The fixation should be clear, but at the same time neat, so as not to damage the surface of the blade.
The most difficult part of assembling this device is preparing the control device that will set the sharpening angle of the knife. For this you will need:
- metal square profile 40×40 mm;
- furniture bracket, 40 mm wide;
- a pair of rivets;
- a piece of plywood 42×25 and 18 mm thick;
- bolt and nut M5;
- a pair of M8 wing nuts;
- whetstone;
- steel bar with a diameter of 0.8 cm and a length of 40 cm.
You need to drill a couple of holes on a piece of plywood: through hole with a diameter of 8 mm with a cross-section of 42×18 mm (set the distance from the edge along the 42 mm side to 15 mm) and a through hole with a diameter of 5 mm along the side with a cross-section of 42×25 mm (the distance from the edge is 10 mm). Square pipe should be cut in half so that you get a “U”-shaped bracket with a width of 40 * 15 mm and ears of 20 mm. You need to drill 8 mm holes in the ears, into which an M8 pin will later be inserted. Connect the resulting bracket with furniture hinge using rivets. To the resulting structure, using the second part furniture bracket, tighten the plywood block with an M5 bolt.
Connect the touchstone to a guide rod, which is a steel rod with a cross-section of 8 mm. When connecting the keystone and the guide rod, you should strictly ensure that their center lines coincide. If desired, for ease of use of the sharpener, a handle-holder can be attached to the whetstone on the reverse side. All that remains is to secure the whetstone in the guide mechanism, secure it with a thumb and the homemade device for sharpening knives is ready.
Machines with fixed sharpening surfaces
Machines with fixed sharpened surfaces are a simple modification of the device for processing household knives. IN similar device There is no possibility of adjusting the sharpening angle, but you can pre-set several different angles for sharpening different types of knives. The work of sharpening blades using such machines is not difficult; you just need to move the blade along the abrasive surfaces in the recess.
The device consists of a pair of planes inclined to each other at a certain angle, one of which is a grindstone.
Electric knife sharpeners
The procedure for creating an electric sharpening machine is simple: it is enough to equip almost any device for sharpening knives and scissors with an electric drive. Like sharpening machine allows you to quickly and efficiently sharpen the product and at the same time provides a better concave shelf at the edge of the blade.
The mechanism of an electric sharpener for sharpening knives contains a guide, which is located along the axis of rotation of the sharpening stone, and with the help of which the blade is adjusted at a given angle. The sharpening angle is set and set by the guide, and the clamping force is determined by the master.
Particular attention must be paid to the speed of sharpening, because... The electric drive allows you to sharpen the product with high speed, causing the surface of the knife to heat up. Such surface heating leads to tempering of the hardened steel, as a result of which the knife can quickly lose its hardness and its service life will be noticeably reduced. To prevent tempering of the steel, sharpening should be done on a high-speed electric sharpener in short periods of time and with sufficient breaks to allow the knife to cool.
Making sharpening stones
It will not be difficult for a modern craftsman to make sharpening stones with his own hands. For this you will need:
- a wooden die to the size of the future sharpener;
- epoxy resin;
- cardboard boxes according to the size of the block;
- abrasive;
- protective rubber gloves.
You can use ready-made powder as an abrasive, or you can prepare an abrasive own production, for example, from an old block Green colour still of Soviet production. Such a block can be ground into powder and used in the future as an abrasive.
The wooden die needs to be treated on one side with sandpaper and frequent cuts must be made with a saw. Mix epoxy resin with abrasive chips. Having previously placed the block in a cardboard box glued to the size of the block, cover the prepared surface wooden block mixture epoxy resin and abrasive. Once the resin has completely cured, the block is ready for use.
Another option for making your own sharpening stones is to create a sharpening stone from small rectangular glass plates about 5 mm thick. Using double-sided adhesive tape, stick to the surface of the glass plate. sandpaper. The sharpening stone is ready for use.
Device for sharpening from wooden blocks
A simple device for sharpening knives is a tool consisting of a pair of wooden slats and a pair of abrasive bars with the same geometric dimensions.
Wooden slats should be thoroughly sanded with abrasive sandpaper. Then, after applying auxiliary markings, depending on the sharpening angle of the knife, make cuts to a depth of 15 mm. Insert sanding blocks into the resulting holes so that each groove matches, then secure them with bolts. To give sharpening device For greater stability, the lower part of the surface can be padded with a piece of rubber.
Types of sharpening devices cutting tool are different and each master will be able to choose the manual machine that will fully satisfy his needs.
Modern housewives use a large variety of knives for cooking. A tabletop device with a correctly selected sharpening angle will help maintain kitchen knives in order. Special sharpening of the blade is used for hunting and tourist knives. A properly sharpened blade can save the lives of hunters, and serve as a tool for tourists to prepare wood chips for a fire. A lot of various knives used by man, there should be a perfect sharpener for everyone. IN living conditions everyone can have table machine for sharpening knives with your own hands, which will help housewives, without waiting for help from the stronger half of humanity, to sharpen the blades of working tools on their own.
Small sharpeners for kitchen knives
A tabletop machine must have several blade sharpening angles. Such a simple device will not take up much space. Meat knives and vegetable peeling knives have double-sided blade sharpening with the same angle. The fish knife-saw has a single-sided blade. The bread serrator can have single-sided or double-sided sharpening. And each knife is given a certain sharpening angle provided by the manufacturer. The degree of inclination of the knife is set by adjusting the bar. Changing the angle will lead to a dull blade, making the knife unsuitable for safe work.
Most manufacturers of miniature machines use a "universal angle" of double-sided sharpening of the blade. Such a device can be used for sharpening flat knives. The vacuum suction cup sharpener is easy to install on smooth surface table. It is almost impossible to sharpen blades made of very thin steel without serrations, since it is designed for medium-thick steel knives. This device is not intended for serrated knives. His emery has a strictly defined trajectory.
Long but high-quality blade editing
A professional sharpener will be much better in this case. True, the cost is quite high. Its working part is the same block that is used for manual sharpening. Its peculiarity is that a professional sharpener allows you to install and secure the knife blade at a certain angle relative to the moving block. The process will take a little longer, but there will be no jagged marks on a steel blade of any thickness, and the knife will last longer. True, the professional universal sharpener does not have such attractiveness - it does not have a plastic case.
It is more advisable to use a set for sharpening knives with adjustable clamp angle, despite its high cost. The set includes a tabletop mount. When purchasing such a set, it is more profitable to allocate a special place for its permanent installation in order to secure the case. The set includes 5-6 bars with different degrees of grain. Sharpening is carried out in several stages, starting with a whetstone that has a smaller grain size. It is not recommended to press the bar too much, as it is no different large thickness. It is better to make more passes of the block along the blade.
In some sets, in addition to sandpaper, there is a block covered with leather. It is intended to give the blades a natural metallic shine using special pastes, for example, “Goya”. You can also find a jar of oil in most sets. A drop of this substance helps to clear the block of metal chips stuck in it during operation. It is worth noting that full professional sharpening 1 knife on a manual machine can take up to 2 hours.
Electric sharpener
An electric knife sharpening machine gives faster results. Its structure is quite simple - the working part is diamond-coated emery; an abrasive disc is used for rough sharpening. Using magnets that serve as guides, the sharpening angle of the blade is set. As a rule, most electric household sharpeners have one sharpening angle of 20, 30 or 40 degrees. Some have replaceable blocks in which the sandpaper has a different sharpening angle. It should be noted that such a device is also not capable of sharpening a wavy blade. Serrates cannot be sharpened on such a machine.
Most mechanical and electric knife sharpeners are designed to sharpen flat knives that do not have a wavy blade. By correctly positioning the knife between the guides, you will get a sharpened blade, but at the angle specified by the manufacturer. The quality of sharpening is affected by the grain size of the emery used in a particular model; as a rule, this indicator is indicated in the product labeling. Unlike sets, processing is carried out with one type of abrasive rotating disk. In rare cases, a device is provided for 2-phase processing of the blade.
The mechanical device, as well as the electric sharpener, can be assembled independently. Each device is equipped with a sharpening stone. For manual machine bars are needed, and an electric sharpener, the design of which is determined by the motor used to set the movement, requires a stone shaped like a circle. Most often, when constructing a homemade machine for sharpening knives, motors from washing machines activator type, setting rotational movement.
A desktop homemade machine consists of a motor, a rotating sandpaper and a movable adjustment table. Right set table will make the sharpening process safe and accurate.
The engine is mounted on metal frame, which in turn is fixed on the table. A bushing is attached to the engine, and a grinding stone disc is secured to it. On the side of the person working on this machine, a device is installed to adjust the inclination of the blade in relation to the stone. This device is no worse than guide magnets, but the main thing is that the hand does not tremble, otherwise you can get hurt on the sandpaper if another device is not used as a stop - a stop. For sharpening hunting knives with thick steel, perhaps this is the only correctly selected device.
The emery of the whetstone consists of silicon carbide and corundum. Finer emery is made from corundum and chromium oxide. The stone itself must be very durable. For a long time, silicon rocks have been classified as such rocks. Silicon dioxide stones can be found on sale. These stones are cheaper because they are not as rare as Arkansas stones. Arkansas stone is a fine-grained homogeneous rock of crystalline silica - quartz. A properly selected sharpening stone will not become clogged with metal chips. The sandpaper will last longer.