Both Ron Swartz, “Sharpster” of KME, and Dr.Ashby recommend coating the beveled edge with a felt marker before sharpening. That way, you can see if you’re holding the file at the wrong angle. Take a few strokes on the bevel, then flip the head and remove the burr from the flat side, and so on. In my experience you can’t beat a KME knife sharpener, as it allows you to adjust the sharpening angle to match precisely with the blade bevel. Without Sharpster’s blessing I broke off a length of file to fit into the stone holder in order to maintain a consistent file angle, and it worked great. dp

John — google KME Sharpeners and check their videos. There may be one in there on sharpening with a file. I know that both Ed Ashby and Ron Swartz (KME) have done articles on it in TBM. You won’t be “slicing” the file, since you clamp the head and file it, rather than moving the head over a stone for finish sharpening. There are folks here who are far better qualified on this topic tham I am, but I guess they’re out hunting. You don’t want to file into the edge. I file down and foward.

If the bevel is already 25 degrees don’t change it, most are. Just file from back to front to create a burr. Then flip it over and very lightly remove the burr. Once you get the hang of it it is really easy imo.

The biggest problem is putting too much muscle into it–the final steps reqire less pressure than the weight of the file. Too much pressure raises too much burr and taking it off leaves a less than sharp edge.

I’d say the biggest problem folks run into when hand sharpening anything is changing the angle of the blade/file durring a stroke. Keeping a constant angle while free handing takes some practice.

I’ve found that a warm file cuts much better than a cold one. Just fyi

May I add never use a blunt file it’s the quickest way to ruin any blade, rub chalk into the file before you start to help keep it clean, wire brush the file and re chalk it when fillings begin to fill the teeth.

I like the Oregon chainsaw files and they used to be inexpensive I bought a pack of ten years ago and still have some.

And like Clay says maintain the angle and a big part of that is being comfortable.

PS Try getting a piece of mild steel strip in the vice and just practice filling the top square and then putting an angle on it this will give you a feel for the job.

Mark.