Sharpening #11 blades?

Tools, Techniques, and Reference Materials Tools
1

Hey all - I just bought some Bare Metal foil, and they instruct me to sharpen a #11 blade on a honing stone for trimming it.

I have two questions:

Has anyone ever done this, and what type of stone did you use?

Aren’t the blades pretty much as sharp as they can get (when new)?

thanks,

stinger

2

Yeah,

If you use a brand new #11 blade, I doubt you could get it much sharper. I always use a new blade with BMF and it’s plenty sharp enough.

However, I do sharpen #11 blades every now and then. I just use a nail file/buffer with the three grits on it. Sharpens it up fairly well.

Murray

3

Thanks, Murray.
I use the triple grit buffers also for sanding seams on my A/C.

When you use it to sharpen blades, do you wet it, or use it dry?

4

I resharpen #11 blades all the time. Assuming that you don’t break too big of a piece off of the tip. I bought one of those pocket diamond honing stones. They come in three grades. I got a medium and a fine. You can use them dry or with a little bit of water. The problem is not sharpening the blades, it’s honing the edge that rolls over when you sharpen them. It’s minute but you need to buff this edge off before using the blade. I do plastic models and a lot of airbrush art so it’s not practical to throw them away every time the tip gets dull.
gbritnell

5

I have always wondered how this sharpener from Micro-Mark works:

Has anyone ever tried this thing? Does it work?

Thanks

Mike

6

gbritnell - Expensive I know! You can’t even buy them in bulk of more than about ten or so. I’ll try your technique, thanks.

MikeV, that looks pretty cool, especially since it’s made for that type of knife. I check that out also.

thanks, guys

stinger

7

I usually dip the buffer in water. Seems to work better for me.

Murray

8

Thanks for all the tips, guys. I’ll give them each a try!

stinger

9

Mike

I have one of those sharpeners and really like it. We have a big 3 day celebration here every year which includes a humongus flea market. There is one gentleman who shows up every year with about 20 tables of new surplus tools and one year he had about 30 of those sharpeners and was selling them for a buck apiece. Unfortunatly I only bought 2 (and my youngest latched onto one of those). I’ll see if he has them again this year.

10

Thanks Quincy.
That’s a great buy. [:0]
Do they make the blades as sharp as new again or is that even possible?

Mike

11

Here’s a little update…

I won’t have to worry for a little while about sharp blades. A friend in the medical field gave me two scalpels, and here’s something I didn’t know…

The two scalpels were labeled a #11, and a #10, identical in shape and size to the Exacto brand! I always wondered how they got to be numbered that way, but thought it was Exacto’s terminology. Is this numbering system some kind of medical or other industry norm???

12

Mike

With a little work, the blades seem to be as sharp as origional (or close enough as not to make a difference). It just takes a little time to get used to using it. I now keep it in my travel kit (That’s so I can work on models when I have to spend a week at work at the west end of the state) Only take a couple of blades with me and sharpen as needed.

Murray
Think the origional numbering system for blades (#10, #11 etc) came from the medical field. By the way, see if your friend can find you some #15 blades. They are shaped like a #10, but are a little shorter and only about 1/4 the width of a 10. Great if you need to work in a confined area of a model.

13

Thanks Quincy.
I will have to look at the flea market here the next time I am there as there is a guy that sells tools and has a lot of Dremel accessories so I am hoping he has X-acto blades and that sharpener too. [;)]

Mike

14

I have about a half a box of #11 scaple blades at home…somewhere. Got them from a friend in the military. I used them many times, but they seem to dull quicker… guess skin’s not as tough as plastic and wood. But for the price, I can’t complain. I did find a shop in England that sold them in bulk. Should have bought them then. But now that I’m back in the modeling business and my world travels are over, I may just search for bulk again. I’m 47 now, planning on living till I’m 120, how many do you think I’ll need in the next 73 years.[:D]

Don [alien]

15

I only plan on using my new scalpels on decals and canopy maskings. I wouldn’t want to use them for carving plastic (and if I slip, I’ll definitely be needing some sutures to go with the scalpels).

I like your attitiude.

16

micromark sells boxes of 100 xacto’s

just a little ot: my friend James got caught in metal work for making a knife out of bar stock…

i sharpen them with a hard-core 1/4 hp grinder… need… more… power…tools…