It’s a tool that rounds off the edge of a strap of leather, like in the photo. I go through these things at an alarming frequency, and they are stupidly expensive. Is there any way to sharpen a curved blade? There must be, there are hooked knives, aren’t there?
I’d try a diamond rod sharpener in a small size, like the three at the bottom of this page. You might find one at a cutlery shop or sporting goods store.
Spyderco Triangle Sharpmaker. It has triangular ceramic sharpening sticks and a base that allows them to be positioned in many ways. It can be used to sharpen an amazing variety of tools. It includes an extremely useful instructional video.
Does the bottom of this tool have a flat or gently curved shape? If so, the easy way to sharpen it would probably be to grind/polish that surface (on a stone, or perhaps with 220 to 320-grit paper), and then simply hone the inside of the “V” (can be done with abrasive paper backed by a stick or thin piece of metal).
Boy, you guys are the best. I actually have to run to a sporting goods store this afternoon, so if they don’t have a diamond rod sharpener I’ll go hunting for sandpaper tomorrow.
Thanks again!
I spent the time looking for the best for this application. I knew this would get answered before I went to post. I should have just posted the first link I found for the rod sharpeners.
There’s two flavors of edging tools - one’s a cheapie Cub-Scout grade and has got a flat bottom and you can generally touch them up on a flat stone, ignoring the inner bevel.
The other is double-beveled. Most Osborne tools (such as the one in your pic) are like this. We used what looked like a paint stirring stick with long grooves that had a strip of #320 or so emery cloth glued to it to sharpen the underside, again, ignoring the inner bevel, because it’s concave in so many axes and nearly impossible to get anything into without bending the tool’s shank. Like so much stuff in a leather shop, nobody had no idea where it came from, so I can’t help much with a name of the thing itself or a maker.
A rod sharpener or “slip” stone is what you need, assuming you can’t find the grooved paint stick-esque sharpener.
Whatever you use, take a light touch at it, or your #3 edger will fatten out into a #4 or beyond.
Here are a couple from Smoky Mountain Knife Works www.eknifeworks.com
Select “sharpening”, and wander through over 250 sharpeners. There’s a multitude, in various sizes and grits. These are tapered.