advice on sharpening crampons

Hi, so newbie climber here and tried several time dry tooling this year and managed to severely round out the points on my crampons.  I use these for WI too.  If I could get advise to sharpen them up.

I thought best way is to sharpen them at a more acute angle (lines in red in first photo), is that the proper way of doing it?  Maybe not file both edges on one teeth but one edge or the other at a more acute angle?

If not, which edges or combinations of edge A to F do I file?

Also for the points facing the other way, I've read its better to file the 'flat' face (face A in photo) because it's your 'brake' , not sure what this means by brake.  Does anyone know?

Thanks

DO NOT file the face. This will thin the point.

I'm OK with the angles you've drawn on the first pic, EXCEPT I'd only file the bottom surface of the secondary point (your B) so as to maintain the greatest possible forward reach on those points.

Gunkiemikewrote:

DO NOT file the face. This will thin the point.

I'm OK with the angles you've drawn on the first pic, EXCEPT I'd only file the bottom surface of the secondary point (your B) so as to maintain the greatest possible forward reach on those points.

Yes filing only B makes total sense now.  Should I bother filing the other points?  At a more acute angle again?

Also you think the front point is too rounded and not worth filing down for WI? I was thinking of filing out the first tooth and just use it for DT

Thanks

IMO your frontpoints are barely "broken in". File them back to as close to the original shape as you can.  I consider frontpoint sharpness to be more important than bottom point sharpness.

Gunkiemikewrote:

IMO your frontpoints are barely "broken in". File them back to as close to the original shape as you can.  I consider frontpoint sharpness to be more important than bottom point sharpness.

Again, thanks for response.  I thought to refile the front tooth, since the tip is rounded I first have to run the file parallel to the 'knife edge - where the bevelled cuts meet (file parallel to red line in photo).  File it down to A would eliminate the entire round tip.  Following that, file the sides to get the bevelled edges again.  Am I correct?  I thought that would really shorten the entire front point, but what do I know :)

RWPTwrote:

Again, thanks for response.  I thought to refile the front tooth, since the tip is rounded I first have to run the file parallel to the 'knife edge - where the bevelled cuts meet (file parallel to red line in photo).  File it down to A would eliminate the entire round tip.  Following that, file the sides to get the bevelled edges again.  Am I correct?  I thought that would really shorten the entire front point, but what do I know :)

That’s what I do, but really, it’s pretty simple: make it the shape you want. Someone else mentioned they don’t care about the down points, only the forward facing. I on the other hand, DO care about the down points because on slabby/low angle sections it’s nice to have flat feet and all spikes in the ice. But it’s just what you think will be good for the way you climb. Have fun with it! :-)

DeLa Crucewrote:

That’s what I do, but really, it’s pretty simple: make it the shape you want. Someone else mentioned they don’t care about the down points, only the forward facing. I on the other hand, DO care about the down points because on slabby/low angle sections it’s nice to have flat feet and all spikes in the ice. But it’s just what you think will be good for the way you climb. Have fun with it! :-)

Thanks 

Thank you SO MUCH to both RWPT and folks that answered.  This is super-useful; one of the best threads ever. 

-TPC

I REALLY hope to grow up one day and be able to sharpen my picks and points - like for real, not kind-of, as I do now.

I'm not sure if this adds anything that hasn't already been explained, but I found this video useful to get a visual of how to file the front points. (He also shows how to file tools, and gives examples with and without a vice.)