Draw knife sharpening.

[Strichev]

It seems like the previous owner changed the angle. It could be intentional, maybe he wanted a more durable blade less prone to chipping.

 It should also be noted that some people like to have a convex bevel on their chisels and drawknives. This supposedly makes sharpening easier as the curvature allows for more natural arm movement during sharpening. Paul Sellers of Youtube fame is one proponent of such sharpening. I've also read that historically such bevels were the most common blade geometry for drawknives. I couldn't find any sources to confirm that, though.

I prefer a flat bevel on my drawknives but I accidentally ground my first drawknife into that shape with a file. It took ages to get it to cut well again. It retains the convex bevel and I sharpen it by holding the drawknife in one hand, the other handle shouldered. I run the whetstone along the blade with circular motions, holding the angle as well as I can. The flat side of the blade I sharpen only to remove the burr. Were it flat, I would lay it flat on the stone, but I ruined that side too when starting out, so it's not flat either. I thus just run a whetstone as flat as possible over that side to get the burr off.  works fine for the size of the drawknife.

All in all? I'd say that having a perfectly flat bevel and flat of the blade is beneficial and gives good results while allowing for easy sharpening that maintains the angle easily.

In your place I'd flatten the bevel and go from there.

[Eric Krewson]

I have used a belt sander as well on an older nicked drawknife but only enough to get the nicks out. I use a worn out 220 grit belt to keep from being too agressive.

All this bevel stuff is vastly overrated, a nicked blade is bad but a little off one the bevel won't hurt a thing. The only thing that matters is a smooth, sharp cutting edge.

[Strichev]

It depends on just how obtuse the angle used by the previous owner is. A convex bevel works just fine as long as the cutting edge angle is good. Otherwise regrinding is in order.

[SLIMBOB]

Agree with Eric. Sharp is all that really matters to me.

[Bryce]

As you progress in your building you’ll get to know your tools and what you need. I only have 6 drawknives straight-concave-convex two of each and one sharp and on a little less sharp.

[Hamish]

Agree with Erik and Slim, a couple of nicks already in the blade aren't going to effect the use of the tool for hogging off wood. Just keep the tool sharp, and the nicks will eventually be removed in subsequent sharpenings.

A convex bevel can be okay, but it usually means you need to angle the knife up more than a flat bevel, (when used bevel down) which is not always comfortable.