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Thread: Sharpening resources

  1. #11
    Unless I want to change the bevel on a knife, or an edge gets dinged from hard use, I rarely ever need to touch a stone. I found the key to hair splitting upper echelon sharpness is a good strop and using it regularly to maintain a highly polished edge.

    Since your buddy puts a good edge on your knives, I'd suggesting beginning with and mastering the strop and then work backward to the stones -- and then with the stones begin with the super fine grit and then strop. The object is to master hair popping sharpness on blades which already have a good edge so you get used to the angles, etc., before moving over to serious metal moving/removing surfaces.

    There are many ways to skin the cat so to speak.
    You will more often be attacked for what others think you believe than what you actually believe. Expect misrepresentation, misunderstanding, and projection as the modern normal default setting. ~ Quintus Curtius

  2. #12
    What is sharp to YOU? It is not likely the same to me.

    What steel(s) will you be using?

    Sharp maker and a coarse 3-400 grit bench stone is a great start. No need for Sharp maker ultra-fines BTW. Keep your SM rods CLEAN. And break them in properly. Stay off the corners till you understand.

    Understand blade angles, bevels, and micro-bevels.....The edge needs to be sharpened. If the shoulders get in the way then you must re-profile.

    Understand what a "burr" is and how to deal with it. If you over sharpen you will likely end up with a burr.

    Do you prefer a toothy edge? If so then the brown SM rods are as fine as you need. I only use each side twice before I clean them.

    Stropping in my experience gives you a fine WEAK edge (and that may be adequate for you) It's that "burr or wire edge" thing again.

    When you sharpen you MUST REMOVE the old weak metal at the edge to get a good durable edge.

    Buy a midrange steel (S30V for a folder) and practice. Many softer steels will actually be just as frustrating as harder ones to learn on.

    NO power equipment until you know what you are doing.

    If you can't get a knife sharp you are likely not sharpening the edge. If it won't hold an edge it's likely that you sharpened the old weak metal.

    The "Sharpie trick" is your friend.

    I can sharpen a S30V folder to my liking in 3-5 minutes.

    You don't need books and links you just need google (yes Blade Forums is excellent)

  3. #13
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    I used to be really bad at sharpening freehand

    Now I'm just pretty bad at it, but I strop my knives after sharpening them and they are sharp enough to take hair off.

    I mostly have a few old knives that I got for cheap that I don't mind ruining or almost ruining in my pursuit of being better at sharpening and that's why my old Schrade lock back knife is probably sharper than my other knives.

    If I have anything productive to add it would probably be that you kind of have to sense what angle works best and then try really hard to keep the knife edge at that angle while sharpening. Not helpful I know...but that's why I've got practice knives

    I use stones I bought off Amazon...I wanna say an 800/1000grit combo and then a 1000/6000 grit.

    The coarse grits are for really dull blades and the finer grits are just to get them sharper

    My three kitchen knives get the most sharpening done to them just because I use them the most.

    Sent from my moto g(6) using Tapatalk

  4. #14
    Member StraitR's Avatar
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    Jun 2012
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    Spyderco Tri-Angle Sharpmaker is cheat mode. If you only want one foolproof sharpening system, I believe this is it. Added bonus, in the world of quality knife sharpening systems, it's cheap. I use Dawn dish soap on the stones when they get too loaded up (they get dark). You can sharpen anything with it.

    Get a strop, a good one, and some compounds to go with it. If you use your knife daily, try to use the strop daily (5-10 alternating passes a side should do it), and you'll rarely need to break out the Sharpmaker. Bark RIver Knives make excellent compounds and I've had good experience with Flexx Strops products. If you have a local leather or saddle shop, they often have some scraps left over for cheap. You can make your own with some wood and spray adhesive. If away from home, you can strop your knife on just about anything. I often use cardboard, the bottom of a coffee cup, and the top edge of one of the windows in my truck.

    IMO, the key to a having and keeping a sharp knife is knowing when to use your knife and when to use something other than your knife.

  5. #15
    Member GearFondler's Avatar
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    May 2019
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    Southeast Louisiana
    If you're willing to spend the coin the Wicked Edge system is absolutely stellar... Anyone can easily learn to use it and get professional results.
    If you collect and use $600 knives it only makes sense to drop similar dollars on a quality maintenance system to keep them as sharp (or sharper) as the day you bought them.
    It's also the easiest way to alter bevels if you aren't happy with what your knife currently sports.
    And if you use it correctly it's fairly dummy-proof... No fear of scraping up the blade or rounding off the tip.

  6. #16
    Member olstyn's Avatar
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    Sep 2014
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    Minnesota
    Like anything else, probably the quickest way to learn is to start doing. I'm definitely a novice, but a while back, I watched a bunch of videos, agonized over choices, and bought a 1000/3000 grit water stone. I then got after an old paring knife which had gotten very dull. It just required patience and attention to detail and that knife was cutting well again. I can't say it's perfect (I think I could have done a better job on the tip area), but it gets used regularly, and I haven't had to touch it with a stone since, so I must have done an ok job.

    After that confidence builder with a knife I didn't really care about, I also sharpened my Kershaw Leek, with similar results, except that the edge is a lot closer to "polished" than it came from the factory, thanks to the 3000 grit stone. I feel pretty confident that I can sharpen knives adequately now, as long as I go slowly and carefully. I think I'd like to eventually get a coarser stone, as that first sharpening of the very dull kitchen knife took a long time when starting with a 1000 grit stone. I think maybe a 400 or 600 grit would have been more appropriate to that task, but on the other hand, the speed at which I could do damage with a 1000 grit if was much lower than if I'd been using something coarser, so maybe that was a good thing in the end.

    Ultimately, I think that it's something anyone who is willing to put in a small amount of effort can learn to at least be competent at.

  7. #17
    I like the spyderco sharpmaker. And the atoma diamond plate for free hand. Learned w practices and YouTube vids.

  8. #18
    Quote Originally Posted by blues View Post
    Visit this section of bladeforums.com where every conceivable topic on sharpening is hashed, rehashed and then hashed again. There are some great threads and forum members there who can get you on your way. I also recommend videos these days though I have a shelf full of books on the topic. You will find many links there to instructive videos on how to sharpen.
    I've been reading that forum for the past few days. That is truly an excellent source of blade related information... Though there's one Mod who is questionable for sure...
    You will more often be attacked for what others think you believe than what you actually believe. Expect misrepresentation, misunderstanding, and projection as the modern normal default setting. ~ Quintus Curtius

  9. #19
    Team Garrote '23 backtrail540's Avatar
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    Feb 2011
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    I appreciate the feedback, opinions, and comments. Working my way through the threads and videos slowly. I'm sure I'll be buying some equipment soon as well.
    "...we suffer more in imagination than in reality." Seneca, probably.

  10. #20
    FYI, you will want to delete this thread when people know you can sharpen well. I ended up doing a friends restaurant knives.

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