Wire Inlay tools

[frogwalking]

Sorry about asking a question I know has been answered many times.  I searched wire inlay but did not find the answer to my question.

I have made some tools from X-acto chisels as I have seen on this site.  My question is how they are sharpened?  Do you leave the one sided bevel?  Cut the bevel from both sides?  Is the cutting end of the blade even sharp or is there a flat space to punch in the wood rather than cutting? 

I am waiting on my rifle to come back from the engraver so I can finish it.  The finish includes a very small amount of silver wire inlay.  I have done a few practice pieces, but need nore before I cut on the rifle.

Thanks

Frog

[John Archer]

I sharpen mine from both sides...and they are sharpened to a razor edge. I think if you only sharpen one side you'll find it difficult to stay precisely on the line you're cutting...the bevel on one side will kick the blade over.

John.

[Dave B]

I have done the tools made from hack saw blades route with good luck but have found that a trick that Mr. Gussler showed me with my own twist has been my main stay for all my wire work. I have seen the section with the use of the exacto blades is shown. Its a great Idea. You can use them with this modification. I have used saber saw blades lately for my tools(they throw them away at work). For sharpening I do a double bevel edge for the bottom of the chisel. Just like you would for your hunting knife. The width of this is bevel maybe 1/32nd-3/64 th up from the cutting edge.

When you are looking at the business end of the tool it has a rectangular profile.
We want to change that profile by the removal of the  corners of the side sections. Using a coarse sharpening stone I literally take and change the end view of the tool to an elongated foot ball shape. Now when you drive the tool into the wood instead of a rectangular hole you now have an elongated football shape(saucer shape to the UFO buffs)The purpose of this is to allow you to fallow the line of the detail with out having the corners nicking the sides of the channel you are cutting. With this arrangement you will only need three tools vs 5-6 with the other arrangement using different radius. Gussler talked about making the tool cut just deep enough for your wire and his tool used a stop to make sure it was not too deep. He had ground down a steel shank to make his tool so the surounding metal at the top of the blade let you see when you were deep enough.