LukeWebb wrote on Aug 12
th, 2013 at 9:49pm:
An emery stone grinder would work but you would need a wet grinder as you can't breathe the dust. I always kind of consider using power tools to be cheating, especially when it is quite easy to do it the old way.
It's the time factor. I only have about 3 evenings a week when I'm home, which also involves jammies-and-stories-and-bed-O-My! with the broodlings. As soon as I get some lights in my shop I can actually use more of my free time. And this falls into one of those "just to see if I can do it" categories.
LukeWebb wrote on Aug 12
th, 2013 at 9:49pm:
You will have a lot more fun shaping it with sandstone or cement anyway, and even if you did use a grinder you can't sharpen the edge with it, it will chip it away as it gets narrower, you would still need to wetstone it.
True, I don't expect to get it very sharp with a grinder. I can't even do that with steel. I get my steel edges close, then spend a few hours with some files, then some stones, and, and finally, the unglazed bottom of my favorite coffee cup (this is actually why I bought this particular cup).
squirrelslinger wrote on Aug 13
th, 2013 at 11:23am:
actually you can just use a piece of smoother concrete or much finer sandstone.
Or a file like I do.
it can get surprisingly sharp!!!!
i don't see using a whetstone for that... slate is pretty fine grained but not THAT fine grained... at least not the stuff I have...
I wore out a good file trying to shape stone. It's now on its way to becoming a nice dagger. That's why I was looking at my disk grinder. Disks I have plenty of. Files I do not.
Thanks for the advice!