resharpening a carving bit

[rlavelle]

does anyone know of any company that can resharpen a carvetight carving bit? or how to resharpen a 1/16 carving bit?

[CarverJerry]

I live in an area with lots of machine shops, which comes with lots of tool and cutter grinders. I took a few to a couple of companies that grinds carbide and they all tell me that it's not worth it to try and set up this cutter and resharpen it. When it is made, it is done on a cnc machine that does all the flutes and sharpening in one operation. I have sharpened many cutters before but were larger than this 1/4" tapered with a ball nose. I understand why no one wants to try and tackle these cutters. Good luck and let us know if you find someone who is willing to do these.

[rmock]

Jerry,
That's what I have found also, up here in NW corner of Ohio. Lots of shops and everyone agrees that its not worth trying to sharpen them.

[rmock]

I get my 1/16th bits from drillman on ebay 2 1/2 inch 4 flutes $30 a bit less than $3 shipping usally get them within 3 to 5 days. every once in while he will run a sale for $25 a bit

[bergerud]

We had a thread going on this before:

http://forum.carvewright.com/showthr...ght=sharpening

[CarverJerry]

I lucked out and my boss ordered me 20 cutters that were exactly like LHR's cutters. He wouldn't tell me how much they cost and wouldn't accept anything for them because I made him a Lithopane of his kids in a shadow box. Guess "one hand washes the other." I'll be set for years.

[CW-HAL9000]

I lucked out and my boss ordered me 20 cutters that were exactly like LHR's cutters. He wouldn't tell me how much they cost and wouldn't accept anything for them because I made him a Lithopane of his kids in a shadow box. Guess "one hand washes the other." I'll be set for years.

Wow, that has to be the highest price anyone has ever gotten for a lithophane. That would be around $800. Great job and nice boss.

[dcalvin4]

thats the way it should work and does a lot of the time I traded a whirleygig duck goose for 2 rolls masking tape and a box of surgical gloves [ STAINING] pLUUS A HOST OF CW WEDDING SIGNS A sign FOR A WALLET 5 SIGNS FOR 5 QUARTS MAPLE SYRUP.. 1 SIGN FOR 6 HAIR CUTS What has anyone else traded for signes?
denny

[ronboley]

Ok this seems too good to be true, but its what I've been doing and it seems to work. There is a U tube video of a guy simply chucking the bit (works in CT adaptor too) into his cordless drill and runs it in reverse against a diamond sharpening plate with a little water or oil. The bit is held at the angle of the bit taper so the flutes run flat against the diamond plate. I have been doing this the last year with the CW 1/16 carving bits and it seems to work. So with the current interest in this subject I thought I would do a little more investigation. I took one of my "old" bits out of an old QC adaptor and spray painted it black. After the paint was dry I chucked it up and went thru my (personal) sharpening procedure of running it in reverse (counter clockwise) against my 600 grit diamond sharpening plate for a few seconds with a little water lubrication. I then viewed the bit with my 10x loupe. The three spiral edges of the bit were shinny from the tip up to the shank of the bit. The shinny area is about 30% of the cutting edge width and seems to follow the angle break in the spiral edge. The diamond left small scratches more or less perpendicular to the spiral edge. I ran the bit against some finer sharpening stones, but the they don't seem to do much to the carbide bit as expected. Might try a finer diamond sharpening plate to get a more polished edge, but don't have one presently. The attached photo is of the sharpened bit. The technique seems awfully simple and quick, but it seems to work. Happy sharpening!

[DocWheeler]

Thanks for posting that, I needed an excuse to buy a diamond plate.