McCormick Sickle Knife Sharpener Stone

[Phillip W. Lenke]

Fellows
I recently aquired a sharpener. I want to dress the stone. Does anyone know the correct angle. I plan to chuck it in the lathe and dress the stone.
Can someone help.
PWL

[Clem]

If you are going to Dress it and it's for a Cub I would recommend a Black Tuxedo with a Red Bow tie.

[John *.?-!.* cub owner]

and I thought I was a smart aleck. LOL

Can't give it to you in degrres, but look at a new knife ofr the sickel, the ston shoudl match the bevel on the cutting edge, or maybe jsut a little stteper os it contacts the dege first. We never treid to drss ours with anything that fancy, just held an emeory dressor against it. No matter what angle, after a couple of sharpienings the knives will match the wheel.

[Rudi]

Phil:

I plan on dressing mine with a normal dresser. Basically, I think I will probably do it free hand the first time. If it then fits the knives, I may end up making a jig for the dressing head...

I showed Dad pics of my sharpener... waiting for it to arrive --" please hurry ", and he said that his Dad had one just like it.. it got burned up when the barn caught fire a number of years before Em and I got married... he also said that it was quite common to see these stones available as a replacement part in most Farm Equipment Stores. He remembers these stones very clearly....

Sooo... I have another quest... to find new stones... and see what I can scrounge up..

[Jim Becker]

When I was restoring my L-22, I clamped the knife into my sharpener and gave it a few turns. The stone hit way up on the sections. The angle was way off. I don't know if the sections were off from some previous sharpening method or if the stone had been dressed with too little angle. In any case, I knew I wasn't going to crank on that thing long enough to sharpen that knife. I got out my air powered die grinder and did it free hand. It works fine.

[Phillip W. Lenke]

I'll check it out when I get a good angle I will let you know what it is. Just thought it would save me the time Not sure if I will crank as Jim says but want it to be available and look restored.
Thanks Phil

[Rudi]

Phil and Jim:

Dad also said yesterday that his Dad had converted his sharpener to an electric motor when they got power in the mid 50's I guess.. He said it went must faster , but it would scare me to put a stone like that under power....

I am also trying to figure out how one would do that effectively and somewhat safely...

Thoughts?

['Country' Elliott]

The "Key" to using these old sharpeners is in the "L" shaped screw that adjusts the knife frame (part #115 in the manual). This screw adjust the angle of the clamped down sickle bar with the knife blades attached so that the sharpening stone hits the knife blade from TOP to BOTTOM correctly.