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Location: Orlando, Florida
The original post mentioned beading blades or something similar. If sharpening the flat with a powered wheel like a WorkSharp, there's a risk of removing more steel than is necessary to keep it sharp. You still will need to deal with the burr it creates on the bevel side. I like to remove the burr using fine grit sandpaper wrapped around a dowel, or a slipstone used for carving tools.. My personal preference is to not use a power tool to sharpen hollows and rounds. I don't want to risk inadvertently changing the profile by being too aggressive removing metal. If I'm reprofiling a blade, then yes, I'll use a power tool. Once sharpened, frequent stropping the back side and a couple of light swipes on the bevel side to remove the burr should keep your tool sharp for a long time.
Still Learning,
Allan Hill
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If using a work sharp and doing the flat of the cutter doubt that there is much danger of removing to much material. As far as the bur is concerned usually a couple of cuts in a board will brake off what ever burr that develops. The hardest part is getting the old cutters sharp tp begin with, maintaining is a lot easier. It is not rocket science, don't make harder than it needs to be by over thinking it and over doing.
In a tool and die shop it is called time in the chip. All the planning and everything else, dose not get you any closer to getting done. One is only making money when producing chips or in this case shavings . If a cut is not taken in the next 5 years, then the project will be in exactly the same place in 5 years.
Tom
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We use slip stones to sharpen beading cutters for the 45 plane and for moulding planes like hollows. Flattening the back will work if you want to fool around a little and then put it on a shelf. But you will soon run out of real estate with that method.
It is nice to have a coarse or medium India slip and an Arkansas slip.
