Sharpen a 6 ended pen mill

[Tiger]

I like to sometimes use my pen mills to square blank ends. The 4 sided one is easy to sharpen, there's plenty of surface area in which to get a diamond hone in. The 6 sided ones have much smaller cutting facets are more difficult to lay a hone on. How do you guys go sharpening these (for those that still use them as I know a number of people are using sanding set-ups)?

 

[nativewooder]

Use a triangle file.

 

[Tiger]

Use a triangle file.

Good idea, I'll give that a try thanks.

 

[sbell111]

Since they only cost about three bucks each, they aren't worth my time to sharpen. When mine get dull, I toss them in the trash can.

 

[Tiger]

Since they only cost about three bucks each, they aren't worth my time to sharpen. When mine get dull, I toss them in the trash can.

Then you may be buying a few as it doesn't take much to dull them, endgrain on some of the harder timbers requires frequent honing.

 

[Sawdust1825]

Get carbide. Whiteside is what I have. Very happy with their pen mill.

 

[sbell111]

Since they only cost about three bucks each, they aren't worth my time to sharpen. When mine get dull, I toss them in the trash can.

Then you may be buying a few as it doesn't take much to dull them, endgrain on some of the harder timbers requires frequent honing.

I buy them about a dozen at a time, but my experience is that they don't dull as quickly as you suggest.

 

[Ironwood]

Some of our Aussie timber will blunten a HSS cutter very quickly, while some timbers they will last a lot longer.

I very rarely use a pen mill these days, but I can shapen mine quite easily with a small diamond lap.