Sharpening and deburring tool for single and double edge type cutting blades
A hand-held sharpening/whetting tool has a body including a handle blade guide and finger/hand guard. The tool body has first and second end sections and an open-ring mid section. The end sections are provided with diverse sharpening/whetting elements for use in a first use mode and a third sharpening/whetting element is positioned on the finger/hand guard within the open-ring mid section for use in a second use mode.
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This invention relates to hand tools and, more particularly, to hand held sharpening and deburring tools adapted for sharpening and deburring a variety of configurations of blade edges.
BACKGROUNDMany types and varieties of sharpening and deburring tools are known in the art for convergent-edged bladed implements used in home, business, sports, commercial and industrial environments. Such implements may be provided with processing elements which are adapted to sharpen/deburr/whet either a two-sided blade such as a knife, cleaver, hatchet or the like blade or a one-sided blade such as a scissors or shear blade. These functions are usually obtained by locating processing elements at one or more locations on the tool. An example of this type of sharpening and deburring tool is disclosed in my prior U.S. Pat. No. 5,673,599. This patent, along with my prior U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,488,885 and 5,679,068, are also exemplary of a configuration providing a unitary blade guide, handle and finger/hand guard. With these tools, the handle may be gripped so that the user's gripping hand is shielded from the cutting blade being sharpened as the tool is drawn along the cutting blade during the sharpening/deburring/whetting process. The versatility of this type of tool has been somewhat limited in the past, especially with regard to one-sided blade implements, due to the rather wide variance in not only the size of the implement blade, but also the angle between the flat face on one side of the blade and the converging cutting surface on the opposite side of the blade. This variance in size and configuration occurs between such implements as garden shears and much smaller implements such as common household scissors.
SUMMARYA hand-held sharpening/deburring/whetting tool is provided which has a body including a handle, blade guide and finger/hand guard with the body incorporating a plurality of processing elements. The tool body has first and second end sections and a third mid section. Diverse processing elements, such as sharpening/deburring/whetting elements which may be mounted on the end sections, are positioned to be drawn along a blade with the hand guard means shielding the user's tool gripping hand as the tool is moved in a first use mode. For use in this mode, the tool body may be provided with a blade guide means for confining and guiding a blade during the sharpening/deburring/whetting process. The third section is located between the processing elements of the first and second end sections and comprises an elongated handle on an upper side of the body and an elongated blade guide and hand guard extending inwardly of the end sections. The handle and hand guard form an elongated ring inward of the end sections with sufficient space for a user's fingers to extend between the handle and the hand guard. The blade guide depends from the hand guard. A third processing element is positioned along the extent of the hand guard and may be oriented for processing a blade drawn through the processing element in a direction transverse to the longitudinal axis of the tool in a second use mode, providing even further diversity in the processing units. In the second use mode, the tool may be hand gripped along the handle section exterior of the elongated open ring of the body. With this structure, the tool may be adapted for use on V-shaped double sided blades such as knives and the like as well as various sizes of single edge blades requiring sharpening on one side only, ranging from garden tools, shears and pruners to household scissors.
The hand-held sharpening-deburring tool 10 includes a tool body 11 having a hand/finger guard section 12, a blade guide section 13, and a handle grip section 14. The sharpening/deburring/whetting insert members 16 and 17 are fastened to the front and rear sections 18 and 19 of the body 11 respectively. It will be understood, of course, that the designations front and rear end sections of the tool are used as a matter of ease of description only with respect to the present embodiment. The designation of front and rear end sections of the tool body could be reversed without changing the scope or intent of the present invention.
The end sections 18 and 19 of the tool body in the present embodiment are provided with thumb rests 21 and 22 respectively above each insert mounting. It will be noted that the insert mountings and thumb rests are located both forwardly and rearwardly of the handle grip section 14, the blade guide section 13, and the hand/finger guard section 12. Consequently, the tool is double-ended in that a user's thumb may be rested on thumb rest 21 to apply the sharpening/deburring/whetting members 16 as shown in
The blade guide section 13 depends from the finger/hand guard 12. Section 13 comprises a pair of depending walls 13a, 13b which have interior facing surfaces 13c, 13d that are upwardly convergent when inverted as viewed in
The sharpening/deburring/whetting inserts 16 may be rectangularly shaped flat members made of various known materials such as tungsten carbide, stone, ceramics or the like suitable for blade sharpening. As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, each blade has a ground face to be employed in the sharpening/deburring process with the ground faces intersected and overlaid as shown to provide convergent sharpening/deburring working edges that define a V-shape notch. The ground faces of the inserts 16 may be beveled at about 5° so that the faces themselves lie in convergent planes. Therefore, the cutting edges of a knife blade or like device may be rested upon the working edges of the insert 16 to deburr the cutting edges as shown in
As illustrated most clearly in
The sharpening/deburring/whetting inserts 17 may be similarly fixed in the body portions by means of the insert retainers 28 on the opposite end of the tool body in the manner previously described for the inserts 16. Referring to
According to the present invention a third processing element, providing a second use mode for sharpening/deburring still other blade configurations, is provided by a third processing assembly 31 located on the hand/finger guard 12 as shown in detail in
In order to provide seating for a third sharpening/deburring insert 36, an insert retainer structure 37 is molded into the wall of the body portion 11a as shown in
As seen most clearly in
As seen in
Although the present invention has been described with reference to the preferred embodiments, it will be apparent that alternative structural or mechanical details, as well as variations in design, may be made in order to accomplish the objects of the invention. The scope of the invention, therefore, is only to be limited by the claims appended hereto.
The embodiments of the invention in which and exclusive property is claimed are defined as follows:
Claims
1. A hand-held blade sharpener tool comprising, in combination;
- an open centered ring shaped body defined by spaced longitudinal handle and hand guard members,
- first blade sharpener means mounted on said body exterior of said ring and positioned to sharpen a blade shielded by said hand guard in a first use mode, and
- second blade sharpener means mounted on said body interior of said ring and positioned to sharpen a blade passed through said ring transverse to said hand guard in a second use mode.
2. A hand-held blade sharpener tool comprising;
- a tool body including spaced longitudinal extending body members joined at opposite ends to form body end sections and an open central ring,
- external blade sharpener means mounted on the outer surface of at least one said body end sections for processing a blade to be sharpened passing along one said body members in a first use mode, and
- an interior blade sharpener means mounted on one said body members within said central ring for passing a blade to be sharpened as it is passed through said central ring in a direction transverse to said body members.
3. A hand-held sharpener tool comprising;
- an open centered ring shaped body defined by an upper handle and a lower hand guard joined at their opposite ends to form first and second body end sections,
- exterior blade sharpener means mounted on the outer surface of at least one said end sections positioned for contacting a blade to be sharpened passing beneath said hand guard during a first use mode,
- a groove formed in the top surface of said hand guard extending transversely the full width thereof and providing a bottom and opposing side surfaces,
- a blade sharpener insert,
- an insert retainer formed in said hand guard and including a retainer well opening into the bottom surface of said groove and dimensioned to receive said blade sharpener insert,
- said insert extending into said transverse groove and including a sharpening edge for contacting a blade to be sharpened,
- said insert contacting one side surface of said groove and forming a V-shaped notch with the opposite side surface thereof, said opposite side surface forming a guide surface to receive the blade to be sharpened as it passes through said V-shaped notch during a second use mode.
4. In a hand-held blade sharpener tool having a flattened open centered ring shaped body defined by a handle on an upper side and an elongated hand guard on the lower side extending in the direction of the longitudinal axis of the tool body, said hand guard including a top surface interior of said ring shaped body, said handle and said hand guard being joined at their opposite ends to form first and second body end sections, exterior blade sharpening means mounted on the outer surface of at least one said end sections exterior of said ring shaped body, said hand guard shielding a user's fingers from a knife blade passing therebeneath during a first use mode for applying said exterior sharpening means to a blade to be sharpened, an interior sharpening means located within said ring shaped body comprising;
- a groove formed in the top surface of said hand guard extending transversely the full width thereof and providing a bottom and opposing side surfaces,
- an interior blade sharpening insert,
- an insert retainer formed in said hand guard and including a retainer well opening into the bottom surface of said groove and dimensioned to receive and retain said interior blade sharpening insert,
- said interior blade sharpening insert extending into said transverse groove and including a sharpening edge for contacting a blade to be sharpened,
- said interior blade sharpening insert contacting one side surface of said groove and forming a V-shaped notch with the opposite side surface thereof, said opposite side surface forming a guide surface to receive the blade to be sharpened as it is passed through said V-shaped notch during a second use mode.
5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein;
- said exterior blade sharpening means includes exterior sharpener inserts located on the outer surface of each said first and second body end sections.
6. The apparatus of claim 5, including;
- blade guide means extending between said body end sections providing a blade receiving channel along the outer surface of said hand guard to guide a blade to be sharpened as the tool is drawn therealong during said first use mode.
7. The apparatus of claim 6 wherein said ring is elongated to provide a ring interior having a length and height sufficient to accommodate several fingers of a user's hand when the user grips said handle.
8. The apparatus of claim 7 including a shallow cavity in the outer surface of said handle adjacent each said body end section, providing a thumb rest for the user's thumb during said first use mode.
9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein;
- said tool body is composed of mating halves,
- said exterior sharpener inserts and said interior blade sharpening insert being clamped between the body halves, and
- clamping means to clamp said body halves together.
10. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein;
- said interior blade sharpening insert includes top and bottom portions, said bottom portion being received in the retainer well and the top portion extending into said groove,
- the top surface of said interior insert having a first surface in contact with said one side surface of the groove and a sharpening surface inclined downwardly therefrom in the direction of the opposite side surface of the groove to form said V-shaped notch,
- said sharpening edge comprising one inclined edge of said sharpening surface,
- whereby said opposite side surface of the groove provides a guide surface for the blade to be sharpened during the second use mode.
11. The apparatus of claim 10 wherein;
- said tool body is composed of mating body portions, each said body portion having an outside surface and a mating surface,
- said inset retainer and retainer well positioned between the mating and outside surface of one of said body portions,
- the other body portion including an alignment pin extending from the mating face thereof into the groove in said one body portion and contacting the bottom portion of said insert,
- stop surfaces on said one body portion extending into said groove, and
- clamping means to clamp said body portions together,
- said alignment pin serving to pressure said insert against said stop surfaces to retain said insert in the retainer well.
Type: Application
Filed: May 19, 2006
Publication Date: Nov 22, 2007
Applicant:
Inventor: Gary L. Byers (Columbia Falls, MT)
Application Number: 11/437,369