A cutter born again

[blueeyedbum]

For about a year I've used a cheap Reindeer double blade cutter. It cuts up to a 60 ring gauge, but it became dull and started to mangle caps. I bought an Xikar, but haven't received it yet. This afternoon I had a thought . I grabbed the ceramic hone I had left over from my days of working as a chef. Ran it lightly over the edge of the blades. I think it makes a cleaner cut now than when it was new. I'm sure a crock stick out of my tackle box would have worked too. I am still anxiously waiting for Xikar.

[stfoley]

Good to hear. I used to do that to my cutters regularly (before buying the palio).

One word of advice for those new to honing: the blades in a double guillotine are what is referred to as a "chisel edge" meaning that there is a bevel on only one side of the blade...the other side is perfectly flat. What you want to do is sharpen along the factory lines, or if you are a perfectionist...grind the bevel down to a narrower angle...make sure it's correct on both blades. This will give a VERY sharp edge.

I did this once to a $2 house cutter...it was sharp enough that I could easily hurt myself if not careful...I ended up giving that one to a BOTL who lost his cutter one day...it was great seeing the smile on his face when he cut the back end off that gar.

I actually think that is part of why people prefer Xikars and Palios, is the blade is ground with a narrower bevel than the cheap cutters.

[zitro_joe]

Gents,

What side of the blade do I sharpen? Flat or angled? Do I just sharpen one blade or both?

Thanks

[blueeyedbum]

I did the angled side on both blades, if the blades are tight the back side will take care of itself. Rather than honing across the edge of the blade, I pulled the blade back to a point where I could follow the semi circle and the existing bevel. The object is not to remove material, but to remove tiny flaws from the blade edge and increase the bevel ever so slightly.

[stfoley]

Angled side only. Sharpening the flat edge will actually hurt performance.

[guy g]

After doing the angle side, check for a burr on the flat side, and hone off as necessary.

[stfoley]

I would just run some old denim away from the flat side of the blade...that should catch the burrs without messing up the edge. If the burrs are big enough to be easily visible, too coarse a grit hone is being used. Cutter metal is super brittle...so it should come right off with a rub.