Any Handheld Sharpeners Work on Woodsman Heads?

[Nala]

Hey all,

I have a pack of Woodsmans on the way and have been playing around with one that someone gave me to see if I liked them.  I have been practicing sharpening with a file and I can get them pretty sharp, but not RAZOR, HAIR SHAVING SHARP like I hear a lot of people talking about.  Now I don't have a strop or one of those ceramic or diamond sticks to finish, I just use the file.

Anyway, a while back I seem to recall a post talking about how a member used one of the handheld sharpeners like an Accusharp or some such device that has the ceramic or carbide V block on it where you pass the blade through it a couple times and it's ready to go.  I can't remember what he said he used.  I tried one of the gadgets and they work great on my 2 blade heads, but the Woodsmans won't fit in it.  The tip won't even touch the bottom of the V Block where the sharpening takes place.

Does anyone use one of these simple hand held sharpeners on Woodsmans and have great results?  Do you know of one that would work?  I would like to get one that would also work on my other 2 blade heads as well as knives.

Have you heard of anything like this or is the file the only way to go?  If it is, is there anything else I need to add to the file for my Woodsman sharpening?

Thanks for the help and time.

Nalajr

[Bowspirit]

Little secret...a plain flat piece of corugated cardboard= instant stropping material. Just use progressively lighter strokes with the file, then when it's sharp as you can get it, strop. Plenty of folks will swear by the edge it gives...
If you wanna get really fancy, pick up some wet/dry sandpaper from your local Walmart. Goes all the way to a super, super fine 2000-grit. Simple, cheap, and if used between the files and the strops, you'll get an edge that flays hair from an arm and simply makes rubber bands pop...

[Brute killer]

I use one of these: a DMT Duosharp.
It has a different grit on each side.
 
YOu lay the woodsman flat on the "stone" and slide back and forth or in circles.
Use lighter pressure as the edge gets finer.
I have never had much luck using a file on a woodsman. I can get an axe shaving sharp with a file, but not a bh.
This works with Snuffers, too.
Bill Allard is who I got this technique from.

[BigJim]

Yesterday, I held some 400g sandpaper around a 4" pvc pipe and changed the angle on some terminators. Wasn't long and I had scary sharp. Could have gone to some finer grit, but was already cutting my fingers. Oh by the way wear gloves.

BigJim

[pebowbender]

Continually lighter strokes with the file WILL get them shaving sharp. The problem most people(including me) have is trying tooooo hard. The final strokes with the file, you should feel no resistance as it goes across the blades. Dale Karch taught me this at the IBO Trad Worlds this year. I too was over thinking the sharpening process(heavy handed with files and stones). I saw Dale with a small mill file standing in front of his booth just giving light single strokes across two blades at a time and rotating the arrow after each stroke and I asked him to show me how to get them shaving sharp. He immediately took that head and raked a pinch of hair from his forearm. It really is that simple. I do how ever take a ceramic rod to mine after the file with the same light strokes to get a SCARY sharp Woodsman!

[Onehair]

Just a file will make the shave in quick order as stated above. The last few strokes, just the weight of the file. I start with 6 strokes per side, then 5 , 4 etc. When down to single strokes it's so very lite.

[katie]

nice!  I am sitting here trying to get my woodsmans to shave  

[katie]

Awesome!  I was using too much pressure.  Thanks guys.

[Buckhorn47]

Just a file!

[buckracks7]

Try a butchers steel after the file.

[Frisky]

I second the file followed by the steel. Works great.

Joe