Nowdays, tool sharpening is one of the easiest things to do in engraving!
Just bite the bullet and buy either a GRS sharpening tool, or one of the Lindsey template setups.
Look at it this way, if you sharpen by hand alone, and you get it right, your graver goes in a straight line, not too deep, nor too shallow. But when you re-sharpen, maybe you don’t get it exactly as before so your graver goes to the left, or right, from before. Or maybe dives in or skips across the patchbox or whatever you’re engraving.
But if you use one of the sharpening tools and learn to use it correctly, your graver will track along exactly as it did before. No surprising taking off to the right or to the left, no skipping across the metal, no diving down, but instead, just cutting exactly as it did the time before.
Yes, true, the tool will cost you a hundred bucks. But your stock cost more than a hundred bucks. As does your barrel, and your lock, and you only get to use those parts once. But you can use the sharpening tool on every gun you build, and with a bit of practice, and if you have the skill, your engraving can easily add more than a hundred bucks to each gun you build!
Plus, you don’t have to go through the aggravation of the dang sharpening blues! Just whip out the sharpening tool, insert the graver and give it a few swipes on the stone, and you’re good to go again!
John
