VERITAS Mk.II, Руководство пользователя

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57
General Sharpening Procedures
Scorps
A scorp, commonly used for carving spoons, is a variation
of an inshave and should be sharpened in the same manner;
obviously the scale of equipment should be reduced to fi t
the size. Fortunately, new scorps come with a far better
fi nish than inshaves and frequently need only honing.
The outside of a scorp can be honed on a belt sander or
by hand. I would avoid trying to do it on a felt wheel,
because it is not an easy tool to control on a wheel. For
the inside of the scorp, I recommend a wooden form,
shaped as shown in the photo below, charged with
chromium-oxide compound and used much like a fi le,
always stroking from the back to the edge.
For the outside of the scorp, a custom-shaped wooden
form is fi ne, only in this case you should have three
grooves – one for the center of the tool and one for each
edge. Again, always stroke from back to edge. In this case,
you would push the scorp through the formed troughs.
The included angle on the edge of both inshaves and
scorps can be quite low, somewhere around 15°. Any
damage that does occur to the edge in use is usually
caused by a scraping or prying action on end grain, both
of which are incorrect uses of the tool.
Micro-Scorps
These small tools bear about the same relationship to
regular scorps as chip-carving knives do to butcher
knives. A relatively recent innovation, micro-scorps
are the ultimate miniaturization of the spoon gouge.
They are unquestionably tricky tools to sharpen. You
want to keep a semicircular edge all in one plane. Edge
irregularity will cause fi ber trapping and make the tool
diffi cult to use.
To hone the inside of a micro-scorp, use a wooden
dowel (a bamboo skewer also works well) charged with
chromium-oxide compound. The dowel should be just
slightly smaller in diameter than the hole of the scorp,
and it should always be passed through in one direction
only so that there is a trailing stroke on the edge. If you
try to run it back and forth in the hole, you will cause
edge dulling.
The easiest way to hone the outside of a micro-scorp
is with a small wooden-backed leather strop (see the
photo below). It has just the right amount of forgiveness
to prevent putting fl ats on the edge, and if you hone
with a quartering stroke (diagonal to the edge) you will
detect any problems before they become too great.
Hook Knives
Hook knives serve similar purposes to scorps and
inshaves in hollowing vessels and are sharpened in
a similar way. Carver’s hooks, which have a gently
curved blade with a tight hook on the end, are best
sharpened on a belt sander on the convex side and with
an abrasive-covered wooden form on the inside. An
appropriately sized wooden dowel can be used to hone
the inside of a tight hook.
The larger hook knives of the Swedish style are honed
similarly on the convex side but require slightly different
treatment on the inside. Since these are double-edged
knives, inside honing has to be done carefully, otherwise
you might dull one edge as you are sharpening the other.
A wooden dowel charged with green honing compound
will still do the job, but I prefer to use one that is no
more than three-quarters the diameter of the inside of
the hook. You are honing through what is, in essence,
a section of a cylinder. If your hone is the same size as
the inside of the cylinder, you cannot tilt it at all to avoid
scraping against the entry edge. If you use a smaller
hone, you avoid this problem.
With the cutting edge of the tool facing away, use a
chromium-oxide-charged wooden form to hone the inside of
a scorp. Move the form much like a file, from the back inside
of the scorp toward the edge. (Photo by Susan Kahn)
Use a leather strop to hone the outside of a micro-scorp, honing
the edge with a quartering stroke. (Photo by Susan Kahn)