AusBonsai

hi,

I was wondering what types of sharpening stones etc are commonly used for sharpening bonsai tools, specifically scissors. Are their specific types made just for sharpening bonsai scissors?

cheers
Adrian

I use this little puppy for most of my tools Simple, and easy to carry around, just need to make sure you sharpen at the correct angle... which isn't too hard



http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/3in1-Diamond ... 461310cb12

I use the stone in my Dremmel kit. Gets 'em nice and sharp, quickly.

Raymond wrote:I use the stone in my Dremmel kit. Gets 'em nice and sharp, quickly.

hahah I've not been keen to use my dremel on my tools too paranoid about overdoing it lol

Hi Ado, the stone below (Sorry mate I just can't upload this attachment) was sold to me by a chap called Mr Tanaka in Kyoto Japan. I told him (through a translator) what I was looking for and , out of the hundreds of natural waterstones he had in his store (from his own mines) he handed me this one. It is a splash and go stone (which means it does not need to be soaked in water for any length of time) , and it produces it's own mud/slurry. It is equivalent to about 8,000 to 10,000 in terms of it's cutting grade which is typically what cut throats are used on.(Very fine) It is much narrower and much taller than a typical stone. Notice how in the photo, I can rest one of the blades flat on the stone but the other blade will not touch the ground. If I used any other stone I would have to mount it on a block of wood to avoid this. The bad news is you will not find this stone in Australia and I doubt you will even find the store if you went to Japan. I CAN tell you it gives me a razor's edge.

John

PS Email me if you want me to email you the picture. Don't know why I can't upload it here as I have not had a a problem before

I'm interested in this topic, as I need my scissors sharpened. Doesn't sharpening the blade without adjusting the spacing between baldes (somehow?) lead to a gap between blades? How is it done properly?

bonsai was meant to keep me away from the computer

I use standard waterstones. 1st one 800, and 2nd one 4000. They can be a pain for concave cutters and this is where thinner stuff comes in handy. Shane, never ever grind the flat mating surfaces of the scissors. Only ever work the outer edge. what you can do is run the inner edge over a VERY light stone just to take any burring off right at the end. If you work the inner edge you must remove the pivot pin and flatten the whole surface and that's a pain!

The other thing that works is a piece of glass with some waterpaper glued to it. You can get this nice and thin and the waterpaper can be replaced as necessary.

Cheers,

Andrew

Raymond wrote:I use the stone in my Dremmel kit. Gets 'em nice and sharp, quickly.

Raymond, I've heard that using a fast turning tool heats the steel and destroys the tempre on the material. This means that you'll get your tool sharp, but it will dull much quicker. Not sure how true it is, but thought I'd throw it out there anyway.

If you don't want to use a stone or whatever, there are some everyday things you can use to sharpen your scissors

I stumbled across this link while I was looking for a tool to sharpen mine... but have never actually tried any of them

http://www.wikihow.com/Sharpen-Scissors

I use a couple of diamond files. A larger sized Fine block to get a straight edge and then a Super Fine smaller file to hone the edge. There is no added heat to the metal and diamonds will not wear for a few thousand years.

The concave cutters sharpening still annoys me though.

In the big green shed is a product called an ISTOR sharpener it is swiss and like most things swiss works well. It will square a round peice of steel so be careful and read the instructions.
I have 3 and swear by them even for knob cutters and branch cutters, even fish hooks can be sharpened by them.
The only thing I have not been able to sharpen with them is Drill bits I still use the grinder wheel.

Cheers Pup

Pup wrote:In the big green shed is a product called an ISTOR sharpener it is swiss and like most things swiss works well. It will square a round peice of steel so be careful and read the instructions.
I have 3 and swear by them even for knob cutters and branch cutters, even fish hooks can be sharpened by them.
The only thing I have not been able to sharpen with them is Drill bits I still use the grinder wheel.

Cheers Pup

Thankyou Pup! I have been wondering what they were called. The man working next to me a Bill's workshop showed me his, but I had forgotten what they were called

L