Annual Winter chores - DONE!

[wdfifteen]

Every winter I take a day or two to sharpen the cutting tools here. Basically, it's the garden pruners and knife, drill bits, and a tune-up of the kitchen knives.

Over the course of the summer my drill indexes mysteriously empty out and I end up with missing drills. It's a pain, but somehow I never get around to refilling them until winter. I have dozens of drills, most of them inherited, and it has become a winter ritual to go through them, sharpen the dull ones on a drill doctor, and refill the holes in the indexes. I lose some every year, but I still have over a dozen 1/4" and multiples of the common sizes. When one of those gets dull I throw it in the box and pull out a sharp one.







Vicki doesn't like sharp knives or well cooked steaks. She gets a dark look on her face whenever I get out the water stone or meat thermometer. We have an agreement, I won't sharpen the kitchen knives she uses, and she won't use the ones I sharpen. I keep my end of the bargain, but she has no discipline when it comes to knives. When she's really buggered one up I rough it in on an Onion belt sharpener and finish on the water stone.
I was watching a video of a chef sharpening his knives and he said you should just throw your serrated bread knives out when they get dull because you can't sharpen them. Ha! I clamp a chain saw file in the vise and go to town on the flutes in the knife, take the burrs off of the flat side on the water stone, and it's better than new!



I used the newly sharp pruners on the fruit trees yesterday. Time to start use the planning to start the vegetable seeds

[911 Rod]

How well does the Drill Doctor sharpen?
I have dozens of drills, most of them inherited as well.
At the point where I replace them or sharpen them.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by wdfifteen

I was watching a video of a chef sharpening his knives and he said you should just throw your serrated bread knives out when they get dull because you can't sharpen them. Ha! I clamp a chain saw file in the vise and go to town on the flutes in the knife, take the burrs off of the flat side on the water stone, and it's better than new!

Bah! You can absolutely sharpen serrated knives. It works best if you've got some sort of sharpening media that's not flat. I've got a Lansky sharpener that I don't ever use any more but it came with a rounded V-shaped cutting stone for serrations. Or like you've been doing, yeah, a round file should work as well. There are other options as well. Lots of folks sharpen serrated knives.

[MBAtarga]

I was given a Drill Doctor (free) to evaluate so long as I wrote an article on my experience. It's a great product. I think I've got the 500(?) model. It does split point bit sharpening as well.

[Rot 911]

WD, You have got some serious organization skills!

[wdfifteen]

Originally Posted by 911 Rod

How well does the Drill Doctor sharpen?
I have dozens of drills, most of them inherited as well.
At the point where I replace them or sharpen them.

It does a decent job. I don’t try to use it on anything less than 1/8”. It’s kind of slow compared to an Emory belt. I don’t have access to one, but the machinists had one when I worked at GM. You could put an edge on a drill is 30 seconds.