Parting tools

[A.Merrill]

   What size parting tool do you guys like for doing incised carvings ? I'm not sure if I like the sizes I have.    Al

[rich pierce]

Small. I make my own from triangular files. I’m guessing 3/16” at the wings.

[David Rase]

I have a Pfeil 12-1 and a 12-3.
David

[hortonstn]

Rich
How about showing us how you make them

[S-SFlint]

I have 1/16", 3/16", and 1/4", in both bent and straight and by a number of English makers. . .  I mostly use the 1/16" and the 1/4". The most important aspect in using these tools is proper sharpening. If the the bottom bevel has not been ground back far enough and in a smooth enough curve they will never cut to satisfaction. Likewise if one of the side edges is over or under worked the tool will not give straight lines. When used for incising carving I've found that a slight nose to the edge is ok, but slight to none is prefered-- relief carving almost always benefits from a nose.

[rich pierce]

Rich
How about showing us how you make them

The only trick is finding a triangular file of the right size. Small but not needle file size.

Clamp it in the vise with some sticking out and snap off any extra length with a hammer.

Heat it to orange with a torch in a little brick cubby and back the torch off slowly, allowing it to turn black. Keep the torch on it backing off slowly. The slower temp drop will help anneal it.

File or grind the teeth completely off. Square up the end. Decide which flat will be the top flat. 

Clamp in the vise with the tip pointing right at you. Now take another triangular file and file a V trough in the top flat.  Keep it straight. Now this is a half hour job.  Take your time. Use magnification. Look at the face and see if your v trough is even relative to the sides of the v file.  The v trough you are filing tapers and is widest and deepest at the face.

Unless you do a great job of filing the v trough the parting tool will be lousy. Any irregularities of the v trough at the face will make it impossible to sharpen it well and get a clean cut. The V trough is the whole key to a good parting tool.

After filing you want to polish the v trough. Pick your poison. A triangular stone will work as will a stick filed into a triangle and loaded with fine grit polishing compound.

Ok let’s say you’ve got the v trough done such that there’s about 0.030” of “wall” to the edge of the file. It’s a V with the walls 0.030” wide. Now you need to file the heel.  Basically mark about 1/8” back from the edge and file from there to the face under magnification. Leave a smidge of thickness to sharpen after hardening and tempering.

Now you will see that the trough is slightly rounded at the bottom.  It’s not a perfect v. You have to file the sides AND the bottom of the tool to establish the edge.

LRB is right- one can do much better.  But now I heat the front 2” of the tool to orange and quench in brine. I wash it off, polish it in and out, and stick it in the oven at 450 degrees for an hour and turn the oven off.

When it’s cool, I clean it and put a handle on it and sharpen it.  Below is one of my tools plus a couple small triangular files. One is too big in my opinion.

Of course some folks are used to a different size or length and this would not work for them.

[Mike Brooks]

I think mine is a 1mm.

[hortonstn]

Thanks rich the sharpening is hard for me to do

[rich pierce]

Thanks rich the sharpening is hard for me to do

On a tool this delicate, I use a magic marker to paint the area to be sharpened. With magnification I start sharpening and seeing if I am getting it right. If it gets messed up I square up the face and start over. It’s the bottom of the V that matters most and is most difficult.

[martin9]

That magic marker trick is a great idea....I always struggle sharpening these. Gonna try that tomorrow, Thanks!

[TommyG]

I use a 16-1 Pfiel.  Yes, the sharpening is tricky.  What I found works best for me is a Worksharp machine that has the tempered glass round plates, using 1000g paper.  Normally I enjoy sharpening by hand with stones and diamond stones.  But for some reason I get the best results on this tool using the Worksharp.  I think it's because it has a toolrest.

[A.Merrill]

   Thanks guy's I don't have a 12-1 so that's my next new tool.   Al

[Acer Saccharum]

I've got a 16-1 for small work, but oh, what a bear to sharpen. To hone the inside of my parting tools, I made a brass lap to fit each carving tool. Charge it with fine abrasive.

To repeat what Rich says: the groove of the tool is the only thing you can't change easily. All the outside sharpening has to be continually referencing the groove. Make a big effort to keep the outside wings parallel with the sides of the vee, and keep them of even thickness as you work them down.

The outside bottom of the parting tool has to radius around the point of the vee. Words are hard, so here's an image.

[Not English]

I use a small 1'X3" arkansas stone. These are the ones you typically see for sharpening fish hooks. I grind a bevel on a backstand grinder that matches one side of the inside of the V. This works great for lapping the inside of the  V one side at a time.

[Eric Smith]

[A.Merrill]

   I was looking at the 16 - 1 that's really small, I just don't know how much use I'll have for one.   Al

[P.Bigham]

My favorite

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

I use both the 60 and the 90 degree parting tools sold by Brownell's...Dem Bart tools.  They are not difficult to sharpen and cut very nicely!

[JBJ]

You may want to check out Paul Hamler's approach to sharpening v chisels.


J.B.