Tuning edges with a steel

Just wondering if others have had experience with this.

I've recently begun tuning my edges with a cabinetmaker's sharpening steel, and am quite pleased with the result.

Admittedly suffering from gearhead disease, I check my edges before each trip, and remove any little burrs. I've always done this with a file, and then touched things up with a small India stone, but it seems a waste to file away metal that has merely been pushed out of place. And if you file off very much on the running surface, the ski can end up base high eventually requiring a major re-tune. 

So why file or hone off the burrs when they might be amenable to being pushed back in place with a steel? I've been using my steel just the way I would to prepare the burr on a cabinet scraper, but not pushing so hard as to create the actual burr. I use a triangular steel, which is designed to apply more pressure than the standard round steel, so it requires a light touch. A round steel might work better.  A very light coat of honing oil on the steel prevents it from chattering.

It's quick, easy, and really gives a sense of the condition of the edge as you are doing it. You can feel even the most subtle burrs, and most of the larger ones can be coaxed back to where they came from. Of course if metal is actually missing....

Anyone else tried this? Clem? 

Of course the next step for those really icy conditions might be to try to actually create a miniature burr, like that on a cabinet scraper. O Kayyyyy...

Larry

Can't say I've tried this. Larry, but maybe I'll give it a try. I use my burnisher to create burrs, not remove them.  Are you sure you are not just bending over the burr from one aspect of the edge to the other? I'd have to think a bit about the concept of "pushing" a metal burr back into place and expecting it to stay...

Can't say I've tried this. Larry, but maybe I'll give it a try. I use my burnisher to create burrs, not remove them. I'd have to think a bit about the concept of "pushing" a metal burr back into place and expecting it to stay...

Clem, I figure that if I can move the metal to create a burr, maybe I can push it back. It took me a bit of time to get the right feel using the steel. Too much pressure might just bend the burr over the other way, but most of the 'burrs' on the edges seem really to be small dings. That is, they don't have the relatively narrow base that a burr on a scraper has. With my steel, too much pressure just seemed to shave metal off. Not much, but removing metal. Repeated passes with a light touch on both edge surfaces would gradually remove the dings and burrs, leaving a polished or burnished edge.

I'm going to experiment further, but I think I can fine tune, or even remove the 'line of light' along the entire length of the edge, to use a  sharpening term. Burnishing also work hardens an edge; perhaps this will also help - - or it will make them more likely to chip.

So now I maybe I should carry a suture kit in the BC?? 

Larry

Cool idea. I'll have to try that out. Makes me want to look at dinged edges with a magnifier...

When you sharpen a scraper, aren't you hardening the surface of the metal a bit? If so, that might be a nice benefit of this technique.

When you sharpen a scraper, aren't you hardening the surface of the metal a bit? If so, that might be a nice benefit of this technique.

Right. Some woodworkers burnish the 'side  egde' of the scraper to work harden the steel before putting the burr on. For me, it depends on the hardness of the scraper steel. Do this too much with some scrapers and the burr will crack, or have a rough cutting edge.

So yeah, it's entirely possible that this might help keep the ski edge sharp longer. Time for a controlled experiment! 

That's right - that's how my former boss taught me to do it (a long time ago in a land far, far away...). I use Sandvik scrapers (and a Stanley for the type that goes in a holder - seems like much softer steel to begin with on that one) and never had a problem with the burr when I was resharpening pretty darned frequently due to production-level use. I'm guessing the steel on the ski edge is quite a bit different in nature, so indeed time for some experimenting...