Bill Tuttle

TO BEvel OR NOT Bevel
 
Sharpening metal can be done by hand or by machine. It can be done fast;
 
1- Sanding a new blade on a metal sanding blade
 
Or it can be done slowly like :
 
2- Finishing the sharpening on a surface grinder  1/10000 inch at the time.
 
 
Sharpening can be done by hand. When a small refresh of sharpening is needed :
 
3- begining with diamond stone up to about  # 1000
4- to water stones up to 8000. It can be even higher with porcelain but the difference is minimal to the use. To finish in beauty; some passes on a leather strop is use  to eliminate burs.
5-  different additives  with various grit# can  help to increase the finish.
 
The same job can be done faster mechanically or when a major regrind is needed.
 
6- Different kinds of abrasive wheel can be used depending of the intensity needed
7- Grinder with an adjustable angle is very helping to keep the blade without moving. Right side white abrasive, left side diamond wheel. Diamond are on the side of the wheels to have a flat surface. Because if diamonds were on the front of the wheel, the surface would be curved making the job harder to do.
8- For the finishing, different solutions more aggressive to begin and softer to finish. Felt wheels  or cotton wheels with compounds. To clean these kind of wheels,  I use sandpaper with a backing of wood and get rid of polishing compounds and at the same time it does resurface the front of the wheel
9- Leather wheels, hard rubbers
10- (Left side, little table to cut metal) right side 3M wheels, another kind of porous artificial rubber, I like this one very much, 3M made a very good job with this one. This is the best one for mirror finish, better and faster than felt or cotton wheels.
 
Now the question to ask ourself is why would we add a bevel. In fact I think it would be better to ask ourself is where would we need a bevel?
 
11- Let’s suppose I want to make a turning knife. I will use O1 steel, tool steel, .25 X 1 inch and I will cut a 1 feet lenght. The cut will be at 90 degrees. If I sharpen the end and get rid of burs I will get a scraper, very efective to bring a plank straight., but it would be prererable with a thinner blade
12- To turn this scraper into a blade, I just need to put a bevel at one end of the blade.
13- To sharpen a drill bit, I use a drill bit holder (photo 5)
14-  A milling cutter with a bevel? No it is more a relief angle wich is often added  to help to reduce friction with metal
15- On the last picture, we can see on the left 1 of the knife that I prefer. Even if it is a knife, there is no additional angle close to the edge. This knife cut extremely well.
 
In my opinion, for wood knives with narrow blades, there is no needs to a  second bevel. By example if a cutting angle of 25degrees is made, adding  a secondary bevel of +/- few degrees will absolutely not change anything in the cutting properties. We could try with a 25 and 30 degrees blade and very good is the one who can feel the difference.
 
For the long blades, it is different. The 2 sides of the blade thickness have 1 angle and 1 of the reason to save time, a bevel is added. To give an example. Few weeks ago I did grind the knives of the jointer with the surface grinder. Blades are about 6 inches long. There is a bevel on the blade. To sharpen I only need to sharpen the bevel. The rest of the side of the angle does not need to be sharpen because his single purpose is to hold the blade. By grinding the bevel only; it saves a lot of time. To sharpen just the bevel of the blade takes by example 2 minutes. If I would grind the complete angle, it would take 2, 3 or 4 time longer.
 
On the contrary with a narrow blade, if you sharpen the complete side and then you add the sharpening of a bevel, it will take much more time and you will risk, if you do not use a guide, to run the previous job. But if you only grind the bevel and not the complete side, then you could save some time. But because  a narrow blade has by definition a  very small area, there is not much time to save…

The wax is being printed, i.e. extruded hot from the printer's nozzle.

Very nice.
 
Michael

Beautiful Did I understand it right, that you print the wax, make a mould and then cast the final propeller, or am I missing something? What kind of material can you print the wax in?

In functional boat and ship models, many modelers use brass props made of stamped blades soldered to machined hubs. Nicer props, having a more realistic shape, are made by casting in brass or bronze. The process used for these is lost wax, or investment, casting. Usually, the waxes are made by injecting wax into a rubber mold; the rubber molds can be made from a carved or machined master.
 
Should you need a unique prop design, you’ll need to commission a master and a mold; don’t forget to allow for casting shrink when you specify the master! Need a left and a right? Twice the masters and molds.
 
Another option? 3D print the waxes- no need for masters, no rubber molds, and complete freedom to scale and mirror the design.
BTW: You can also machine the waxes on a 5-axis mill… but that’s another challenge.
 
But if you can create a 3D CAD model of the prop, and don’t mind machining the bore yourself, you can use very convenient 3D printing services like Shapeways to source your own custom props.
 
In this example, I made some props for Monterey Clipper fishing boats, using the Yuba-Hicks “weed cutter” design that many of these boats carried. While it’s possible to draw a convincing prop from scratch with some basic knowledge of prop blade shape, I had the benefit of the original factory drawing to work from:

 
CAD rendering of the design:

 
Raw cast bronze prop from Shapeways-  2.5” diameter:

 
From the same CAD model, a 2.25” opposite hand prop (on left):

 
Machining the bore and threads on my lathe:

 
Prop with a 3D printed Hicks engine model:

 
The 2.25” prop went on this 1:8 scale model Monterey:

Cliff,
 
Not trying to answer for Druxey but I usually split the bamboo down to a smaller size with a scalpel or xacto and then begin to pull through the drawplate.

Cliff,
 
Not trying to answer for Druxey but I usually split the bamboo down to a smaller size with a scalpel or xacto and then begin to pull through the drawplate.

Fellow Modelmakers,
 
I am bringing this subject back to life for two reasons.  First of all to thank Druxey for his original post of introduction to Mihail Kirsanov and his fine chisels as well as Vossiwulf for the pictures and review that he posted.  Secondly, to let everyone know that these are available again for anyone interested.
 
After reading the original posts, I contacted Michael and attempted to order a set of these only to find that he was out of town and would not be producing them until October of this year.  By some stroke of luck, my feeble mind recalled this information and I contacted him in October and ordered a set.  As previously noted by others, the order from Russia was painless, paid with PayPal and received the chisels within 16-20 days of shipping.  I do not want to bore you folks with a reiteration of the past posts but these chisels are beautiful and far superior to anything I have seen offered anywhere else.  I have seen pictures of his model work and he is also a fine modelmaker as you would expect.  As mentioned before, there will be a learning curve on sharpening but Michael provides instructions for this by e-mail. 
 
Druxey has previously offered to provide his contact info if interested and I will do the same by PM.  I would also remind you as stated in the previous e-mails that Mihail does not speak English so you will have to use some form of translation software.  I found Google to be very easy to use. 

Fellow Modelmakers,
 
I am bringing this subject back to life for two reasons.  First of all to thank Druxey for his original post of introduction to Mihail Kirsanov and his fine chisels as well as Vossiwulf for the pictures and review that he posted.  Secondly, to let everyone know that these are available again for anyone interested.
 
After reading the original posts, I contacted Michael and attempted to order a set of these only to find that he was out of town and would not be producing them until October of this year.  By some stroke of luck, my feeble mind recalled this information and I contacted him in October and ordered a set.  As previously noted by others, the order from Russia was painless, paid with PayPal and received the chisels within 16-20 days of shipping.  I do not want to bore you folks with a reiteration of the past posts but these chisels are beautiful and far superior to anything I have seen offered anywhere else.  I have seen pictures of his model work and he is also a fine modelmaker as you would expect.  As mentioned before, there will be a learning curve on sharpening but Michael provides instructions for this by e-mail. 
 
Druxey has previously offered to provide his contact info if interested and I will do the same by PM.  I would also remind you as stated in the previous e-mails that Mihail does not speak English so you will have to use some form of translation software.  I found Google to be very easy to use. 

Cliff,
 
Not trying to answer for Druxey but I usually split the bamboo down to a smaller size with a scalpel or xacto and then begin to pull through the drawplate.

Fellow Modelmakers,
 
I am bringing this subject back to life for two reasons.  First of all to thank Druxey for his original post of introduction to Mihail Kirsanov and his fine chisels as well as Vossiwulf for the pictures and review that he posted.  Secondly, to let everyone know that these are available again for anyone interested.
 
After reading the original posts, I contacted Michael and attempted to order a set of these only to find that he was out of town and would not be producing them until October of this year.  By some stroke of luck, my feeble mind recalled this information and I contacted him in October and ordered a set.  As previously noted by others, the order from Russia was painless, paid with PayPal and received the chisels within 16-20 days of shipping.  I do not want to bore you folks with a reiteration of the past posts but these chisels are beautiful and far superior to anything I have seen offered anywhere else.  I have seen pictures of his model work and he is also a fine modelmaker as you would expect.  As mentioned before, there will be a learning curve on sharpening but Michael provides instructions for this by e-mail. 
 
Druxey has previously offered to provide his contact info if interested and I will do the same by PM.  I would also remind you as stated in the previous e-mails that Mihail does not speak English so you will have to use some form of translation software.  I found Google to be very easy to use. 

Fellow Modelmakers,
 
I am bringing this subject back to life for two reasons.  First of all to thank Druxey for his original post of introduction to Mihail Kirsanov and his fine chisels as well as Vossiwulf for the pictures and review that he posted.  Secondly, to let everyone know that these are available again for anyone interested.
 
After reading the original posts, I contacted Michael and attempted to order a set of these only to find that he was out of town and would not be producing them until October of this year.  By some stroke of luck, my feeble mind recalled this information and I contacted him in October and ordered a set.  As previously noted by others, the order from Russia was painless, paid with PayPal and received the chisels within 16-20 days of shipping.  I do not want to bore you folks with a reiteration of the past posts but these chisels are beautiful and far superior to anything I have seen offered anywhere else.  I have seen pictures of his model work and he is also a fine modelmaker as you would expect.  As mentioned before, there will be a learning curve on sharpening but Michael provides instructions for this by e-mail. 
 
Druxey has previously offered to provide his contact info if interested and I will do the same by PM.  I would also remind you as stated in the previous e-mails that Mihail does not speak English so you will have to use some form of translation software.  I found Google to be very easy to use. 

I’ll second what Bill has just said. I too tried to place an order a while back but had to wait until Mihail returned in October. I received my set last week and they are every bit as beautiful as others have said. Again, communication was via Google translate and payment via PayPal - both painless operations. Mikhail has been a thoroughly nice person to deal with as well.

Fellow Modelmakers,
 
I am bringing this subject back to life for two reasons.  First of all to thank Druxey for his original post of introduction to Mihail Kirsanov and his fine chisels as well as Vossiwulf for the pictures and review that he posted.  Secondly, to let everyone know that these are available again for anyone interested.
 
After reading the original posts, I contacted Michael and attempted to order a set of these only to find that he was out of town and would not be producing them until October of this year.  By some stroke of luck, my feeble mind recalled this information and I contacted him in October and ordered a set.  As previously noted by others, the order from Russia was painless, paid with PayPal and received the chisels within 16-20 days of shipping.  I do not want to bore you folks with a reiteration of the past posts but these chisels are beautiful and far superior to anything I have seen offered anywhere else.  I have seen pictures of his model work and he is also a fine modelmaker as you would expect.  As mentioned before, there will be a learning curve on sharpening but Michael provides instructions for this by e-mail. 
 
Druxey has previously offered to provide his contact info if interested and I will do the same by PM.  I would also remind you as stated in the previous e-mails that Mihail does not speak English so you will have to use some form of translation software.  I found Google to be very easy to use. 

Fellow Modelmakers,
 
I am bringing this subject back to life for two reasons.  First of all to thank Druxey for his original post of introduction to Mihail Kirsanov and his fine chisels as well as Vossiwulf for the pictures and review that he posted.  Secondly, to let everyone know that these are available again for anyone interested.
 
After reading the original posts, I contacted Michael and attempted to order a set of these only to find that he was out of town and would not be producing them until October of this year.  By some stroke of luck, my feeble mind recalled this information and I contacted him in October and ordered a set.  As previously noted by others, the order from Russia was painless, paid with PayPal and received the chisels within 16-20 days of shipping.  I do not want to bore you folks with a reiteration of the past posts but these chisels are beautiful and far superior to anything I have seen offered anywhere else.  I have seen pictures of his model work and he is also a fine modelmaker as you would expect.  As mentioned before, there will be a learning curve on sharpening but Michael provides instructions for this by e-mail. 
 
Druxey has previously offered to provide his contact info if interested and I will do the same by PM.  I would also remind you as stated in the previous e-mails that Mihail does not speak English so you will have to use some form of translation software.  I found Google to be very easy to use. 

Druxey:
Are you able to split the Bamboo thin enough to start drawing through holes such as in Jim Byrnes' drawplate, or do you start with a larger drawplate?

Fellow Modelmakers,
 
I am bringing this subject back to life for two reasons.  First of all to thank Druxey for his original post of introduction to Mihail Kirsanov and his fine chisels as well as Vossiwulf for the pictures and review that he posted.  Secondly, to let everyone know that these are available again for anyone interested.
 
After reading the original posts, I contacted Michael and attempted to order a set of these only to find that he was out of town and would not be producing them until October of this year.  By some stroke of luck, my feeble mind recalled this information and I contacted him in October and ordered a set.  As previously noted by others, the order from Russia was painless, paid with PayPal and received the chisels within 16-20 days of shipping.  I do not want to bore you folks with a reiteration of the past posts but these chisels are beautiful and far superior to anything I have seen offered anywhere else.  I have seen pictures of his model work and he is also a fine modelmaker as you would expect.  As mentioned before, there will be a learning curve on sharpening but Michael provides instructions for this by e-mail. 
 
Druxey has previously offered to provide his contact info if interested and I will do the same by PM.  I would also remind you as stated in the previous e-mails that Mihail does not speak English so you will have to use some form of translation software.  I found Google to be very easy to use. 

Here is what I had in my archives. Materials and artifacts were gathered at Home Depot, Ebay, Craigslist and local curbside during garbage collection days.
Picture inside porthole was printed on light through film in a printing shop. Lamp and roll top desk required some work but I got them cheap. Design idea taken from Cutty Sark interior. There still some work left on the ceiling and opposite wall were I have a small countertop with a sink and shelves.

I was a bit concerned that it might be too far off-topic, but I was impressed by the woman's efficiency of cutting the strips to width and then thinning them.  I would suppose that a small-holed dowel plate could be made as a custom order.
 
About the thicknessing planer, I remember seeing illustrations of similar machine using a blade from a  hand plane blade mounted in a stationary fixture.  Half the width  of the blade was ground back at a slight angle bit so that a thick piece could be inserted and drawn through to shave down progressively, and then passed through the other half  to the final thickness.

Hello,   Aside from being  generally entertaining and culturally informative.  I think you'll see some tools and techniques that could be adapted for dimensioning think strips of wood, e.g. the 'planer', the 'bender', the 'splitter'.   
 
 

I think I can come up with something pretty quickly.  I have several handplanes that are not worth tuning up, and so I can use one or two to imagineer a planing fixture, probably by using the frog mechanism to make an adjustable fixture.

Interesting.  Soaking (in water?) seems to be an important part of the process.  I tend to crush the ends of bamboo when drawing through a Byrnes draw plate.  Maybe using a "parallel pliers" will help that.
Maury

I too was impressed by this video...I've actually reached out to a domestic bamboo rod culm supplier of Tonkin bamboo and have some pieces in route to me along with a Bamboo splitting knife. 
 
I also picked up several types of bamboo kitchen skewers from my local kitchen store...for testing against the Tonkin bamboo. 
 
There are a couple of things I need to work out in my mind, and a couple of tools to make....one tool to make is the "thinning plane" device, and one nagging issue to sort out is details surrounding the soaking of the bamboo culms at the beginning of the process. 
 
I used to work for a Japanese electronics firm, so I'll contact some of my old co-workers to get that part of the video translated.  My guess is the soaking helps with the initial splitting and cutting process, but need to find out how long and any other pertinent details.
 
In the end I hope to work out a superior means of creating high quality bamboo treenails.....maybe overkill, but we'll see...
 
I'll report on my success (or failure) here on the forum.
 

Fellow Modelmakers,
 
I am bringing this subject back to life for two reasons.  First of all to thank Druxey for his original post of introduction to Mihail Kirsanov and his fine chisels as well as Vossiwulf for the pictures and review that he posted.  Secondly, to let everyone know that these are available again for anyone interested.
 
After reading the original posts, I contacted Michael and attempted to order a set of these only to find that he was out of town and would not be producing them until October of this year.  By some stroke of luck, my feeble mind recalled this information and I contacted him in October and ordered a set.  As previously noted by others, the order from Russia was painless, paid with PayPal and received the chisels within 16-20 days of shipping.  I do not want to bore you folks with a reiteration of the past posts but these chisels are beautiful and far superior to anything I have seen offered anywhere else.  I have seen pictures of his model work and he is also a fine modelmaker as you would expect.  As mentioned before, there will be a learning curve on sharpening but Michael provides instructions for this by e-mail. 
 
Druxey has previously offered to provide his contact info if interested and I will do the same by PM.  I would also remind you as stated in the previous e-mails that Mihail does not speak English so you will have to use some form of translation software.  I found Google to be very easy to use. 

I'll post the pictures again. It has not been a good digital day.