Educate me on sharpening knives

[Joe13]

I use diamond stones to try and keep the best edge I can for as long as possible.

Then I take my knives to a friend that does knives as a hobbie and let him make them mega sharp and repeat.

In fact, I'm headed there now to get a couple knives worked on.

(My kitchen knives are lifetime warretied and includes free sharpening so I send them all to the manufacture once every year or two when I need the edge professionally done)

Practice makes perfect imo - get a similar cheap knife to what you want to sharpen and work on that until its not work anymore.

 

[Certaindeaf]

.Practice makes perfect imo - get a similar cheap knife to what you want to sharpen and work on that until its not work anymore.

I agree. I'd recommend getting some sort of field or kitchen knife of just average steel (though stainless and carbon "averages" are quite dissimilar in how they sharpen.. anyway.. it probably doesn't matter) and a large double-sided carborundum stone from Harbor Freight.
If the knife's not sharp, sharpen it (lol). Then purposely dull and ding the blade and bring it back to/establish a profile. If you can establish a profile (you can do this even with files or stones held in your hand), you can get it razor sharp by simply doing what you just did but with increasingly finer stones. You can then strop it with an abrasive charged strop. Then dull and ding/chip it and repeat. Then buy another knife and repeat.
It's really pretty simple.
Oh, look at what you're doing/what's happening to the edge while you're doing it.. even if you need a magnifying glass. You need to verify via visual inspection that an even and homogenous edge has been established.. and then go to finer stones.
Good luck.

 

[Joe13]

My buddy took my RAT3 and enlarged the finger choil at the base of the blade to accomodate my large fingers (feels fantastic now!), and reprofiled the edge a bit steeper and with a slight convex.

It will shave small sheets of paper off a stick now with no effort.

 

[Member 5605]

https://www.northwestfirearms.com/threads/best-no-brainer-knife-tool-sharpener.194819/#post-1252313

I just used this set minutes ago to sharpen this knife that was an old bastard file.




26 year old knife made by Grandpa and given to me as a small child.

Still sharp enough to shave with and man it keeps an edge for a long time.

By the way I'm using a 20-degree edge.



There is a kit on Amazon that I want. It's $60- it has 15, 20, 30 and 35 degree guides and uses four different stones. Down to ceramic for the final polishing.

http://smile.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00...+15+degree&dpPl=1&dpID=51v7PwDzj3L&ref=plSrch

 

[mrblond]

I use Japanese water stones for most of my knives. I also have a wicked edge for those lazy times.

 

[Certaindeaf]

I use Japanese water stones for most of my knives. I also have a wicked edge for those lazy times.

Nice.
I mainly use a tri-stone rig.. unless it needs real re-profiling.. then I'll use whatever is necessary.



I've got and use about everything, save for a full nice set of Japanese water stones.

 

[mjbskwim]

I think for a newbie the lansky kit is hard to beat.
Just mount up the holder and use the rods to get the proper angle.
Then go on you tube and watch all the vids you can to really confuse yourself lol

 

[jbett98]

I just replace the blades in my day glow green Stanley utility knife when they get dull.

 

[mjbskwim]

I just replace the blades in my day glow green Stanley utility knife when they get dull.

View attachment 250293


View attachment 250291

Cheater

 

[gunfreak]

I'm lazy but love sharp knives so I picked up The Work Sharp Ken Onion Edition. I've had it a couple of weeks and love it. It's very easy to learn and gives you an awesome edge, check it out!

I second the work sharp. My dad got me one for xmas they work great...

 

[solv3nt]

Give me a shout if you want to learn to use waterstones.

 

[U8395279]

I'm lazy but love sharp knives so I picked up The Work Sharp Ken Onion Edition. I've had it a couple of weeks and love it. It's very easy to learn and gives you an awesome edge, check it out!

Wow, this sharpening tool is manufactured in Ashland, Oregon.

.

 

[Don H]

Wow, this sharpening tool is manufactured in Ashland, Oregon.

.

Yep, another good Oregon company!

 

[Joe13]

EZ Lap stone and a learher strop got my little 3" fixes knife so sharp it is sharper then a razor. That'll work for me.

 

[U201491]

You need these tools and then learn to use them from someone that has done it for a long time.
Like these guys
<broken link removed>
They know how to truly sharpen a blade.

or you can just get:

A 12" tri stone in an oil bath, A tormek water wheel and leather wheel, a rubber stop and Aluminum oxide stropping powder, or leather strops.

Or you can use 2 good stones and an old belt.

Look at a search for Japanese water stones if you want an education. They are the global pro's at sharpening anything. When they finish a good blade you can get a shave from 6 feet away.

https://www.google.com/search?lr=&cr=&safe=images&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hl=en&tbm=isch&source=og&q=Tormek and strop&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=aqvGVfOhO8nIogSbiq-YDg#um=1&hl=en&tbm=isch&q=Japanese+water+stones

or

http://www.coticule.be/japanese-hones-a-traditional-approach.html

or

https://www.google.com/search?um=1&...6.6.0....0...1c.1.64.img..4.2.128.pDBpXZzcX1s

 

[Charliehorse]

my father-in-law gave me his lansky sharpener. so far so good. im happy with it. my dad gave me his old leather strop stapled to a 2x4. talk about razor sharp. i can shave with most of my knives.

Lansky's are the best for hunting and pocket knives because you keep that consistent angle. I've used them since the 70's.

Not so great for kitchen knives though because of their length. A good steel is all you need. And once they're sharp, it only takes a few passes back and forth to whet the edge.

As for serrated, throw them away and get some top chef knives.

 

[Certaindeaf]

Wow, this sharpening tool is manufactured in Ashland, Oregon.

.

Yea, and hell is straight down.

 

[Don H]

Yea, and hell is straight down.

View attachment 251611

You mean California?

 

[Member 5605]

I am just now realizing I need a strop. It's on my "to get" list.

I pulled my belt off this evening and took a knife from "oh $hit that's sharp" to the "don't slip of you will lose an arm" sharp.

Surely I need a real chunk of leather for this. I'd prefer not to keep using my belt.

 

[Lange22250]

You don't need to spend much for a good strop.

I go to the local leather store and look in the scrap bin for pieces of the desired size with a medium rough side and a very smooth side. Take them home and use a regular wood glue to stick them to a flat piece of wood (not framing lumber but something like 1x trim stock). extra pieces of wood to act as a "sandwich" and clamps will get you good, flat adhesion. I do both sides, one with the rough nap and the other smooth. Then get the metal buffing compound of your choice, I use green, and heat the rough side with a hair dryer and load it with the buffing compound. Total cost is about 3$ for me to do a 3"x 8" double sided and then I have a couple that are 1" x 6" to toss in my pack.

As long as you strop it frequently and don't wreck the blade cutting in the dirt or hitting metal you should only need to sharpen very infrequently. I hit the strop every half hour or so when carving hard wood.

You can make up the same thing with 400 and 800 grit sand paper to get a good convex sharpener using a soft wood like hemlock.