Sharpening Experts ?

[HA556]

We must also consider simply switching to the Ginsu knife of TV advertising fame. Honestly, if have a need to cut up a frozen turkey and then cut a bunch of flowers, then saw a brick in half, then shave your arm and finally slice a tomato into very thin slices, then the Ginsu is your knife of choice. It comes with a lifetime guarantee, looks great with your tactical sunglasses and only costs $9.95! But wait! If you order in the next ten minutes they'll send you a 2nd Ginsu knife for free! Just pay separate charges and shipping and handling. Call now! Operators that don't speak English are standing by to take your credit card information and sell it on the Dark Web. Call Now!

 

[Hawaiian]

For occasional home sharpening and touch up, the Edge Pro works very well. If you want something simpler, Spyderco Sharpmaker works well. Just be sure to get the diamond stones to reset the bevel angle the first time you sharpen it. Then the bevel angle is set for easy touch ups. And always make sure you get a good burr the entire length of the blade before moving on to the finer grit stones.

 

[edzz]

I have a bunch of stones and used to be good at setting an angle by hand. These days to change an angle or repair a very dull or damaged blade I commonly use a Lansky set. I've picked up a few sets at swap meets and garage sales cheep over the years. For quirk touch up I typically use a steel or ceramic sticks, push come to shove the bottom of my ceramic coffee cup works well.

 

[HaveGun]

I've always been horrible at sharpening knives. I had a shift partner at work that was a former SERE instructor and he taught me how to sharpen my knives using a good Arkansas stone. He had all of my pocket knives incredibly sharp. I've been able to put a decent edge on them since, but still not as good as he did. He used a piece of cardboard to finish the edge, and showed me the coffee cup trick.

 

[bbbass]

There is no knife on earth that I can't make duller by trying to sharpen it using any tools or method known to mankind.

 

[Gary Edwards]

I have an Edge Pro clone with a variety of stones, diamond, natural and ceramic, as well as leather. Here's a link to it: Chinese Edge Pro Clone. I works just like the Edge Pro, I don't like it much. I could never get the hang of it. I even glued in some rare earth magnets to help hold the knives, but it never did the job for me.

I finally switched to the never-fail sharpening system, the Wicked Edge. The price is high, but it works, and works quickly. Without much effort you can make knives scary sharp, if that's you cup of tea. I mostly sharpen kitchen knives where scary sharp is not an asset. I highly recommend the Wicked Edge. This is the one I have (plus some additional stones & strops): Wicked Edge W130. There are some good videos out showing how to set up the sharpener and make it work. What you see is what you get. In contrast, Edge Pro also has videos make it seem far easier than it really is.

 

[Siglvr]

The Lansky comes in diamond and regular. Unless you are good and have a lot of time, get the diamond. Also, if you get just one sharpener, get the "Accusharp 066C Knife Sharpener"


No joke, it works great. I use it to keep my wifes kitchen knives razor sharp. What was said upthread about Ezlap stones was correct as well (I've found DMT to be good as well). If you need to do major work, that's the ticket, the accusharp is for keeping them sharp.

FYI, I have a $300 Apex pro and the Lansky diamond set neither of which gets used. I prefer a dual sided EzLap (medium/fine) to freehand sharpen most things, and the Accusharp otherwise. If I could only have one, I'd get an Accusharp.

 

[HA556]

I ended up going with the Lansky system and will be giving it a tryout this weekend.

 

[Lesliet]

I got the Smith's kit, very similar to the Lansky, in that it has a guide to hold a steady angle. That's the part I was always terrible at, but with the guides, and a medium and fine diamond stone, it puts a good edge on all the blades I have. Interesting tips, here, I may have to try some of these to speed up bringing back a really beat up blade.

 

[Pete F]

I use a Craftsman Water wheel stone that I bought in the 70's. It puts the final hollow ground edge on any steel. Rotating stones have been used for centuries to put sharp edges on tools.