1st Sharpening Experience

A

Actuary32174

Joined
May 12, 2005
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I was recently given an old Smith's medium Arkansas stone from a friend of mine. I tried to sharpen some semi-dull knives and was surprised at the results. Prior to sharpening (or what I call sharpening), all of the blades slid right down and off my thumb nail. After my elementary efforts, all of the knives stuck on my nail exactly where I put them. In fact, they wouldn't move even if I tilted the knives towards the hand end of my thumb. I suppose that I must have done something at least partially correct. This stone is about 2 1/2" by about 5" and was pretty old. I didn't add any water or oil to the stone before using it.

Given this decent start, I want to buy a set of larger stones and would like some advice regarding:

1. Number of stones: I was thinking of starting with medium and fine stones as my knives are not that dull to require a course stone. My goal is to get my knives really sharp and somewhat long lasting. From threads I have read, I understand that there is a trade off between blade sharpness and duration that the knives remain sharp. To me, there is no point in giving a razor's edge to a knife if it will become dull after very few uses.

2. Where should I buy these stones? Ebay, on-line stores, etc.?

3. How large should I get?

4. It seems that Arkansas stones work well, but, I am open to other suggestions.

4. Finally, I read many threads on sharpening and have gotten good information. Unfortunately, it's one thing to read about it and it's another to actually observe someone that really knows what they are doing. Any suggestions on either a good video I could purchase or recommendations on an interest site that might have videos on-line that I could watch.

I appreciate all the guidance I can get.

Rick
 
Actuary32174 said:
1. Number of stones: I was thinking of starting with medium and fine stones as my knives are not that dull to require a course stone.
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Sooner or later you will want the x-coarse hone, mainly for adjusting the edge angle.

I understand that there is a trade off between blade sharpness and duration that the knives remain sharp.
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Yes, the sharper you get it, the longer it will stay sharp.


2. Where should I buy these stones? Ebay, on-line stores, etc.?
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Doesn't matter.

3. How large should I get?
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For benchstones as large as you can afford.

4. It seems that Arkansas stones work well, but, I am open to other suggestions.
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Waterstones will cut faster and are available in more grits.


Any suggestions on either a good video I could purchase or recommendations on an interest site that might have videos on-line that I could watch.
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Ed Fowler demonstrates knife sharpening in his video, among other things. Murray Carter has a knife sharpening video, Fikes has one as well as does J.J. of Razor's Edge.

-Cliff
 
Check out Razors edge on the web. I bought the book and a video and later their own produced stones and guides. I have gone from frustration to to hair poping in just a short time. I have been very happy with their products but I am sure there are many others out there, this is just my two cents :cool:
 
Razor's edge is worth taking a good look at.

When I first started seriously sharpening knives, I started with a stone and then moved to the lansky guided system, and finally a 1x30 belt grinder. While I still enjoy using a stone as I watch TV or pretend I'm listening to my girlfriend tell me how her day was, the grinder is the best system I have found. I thought you might find my experience helpful. Good luck.


Matt
 
There is no "trade off between blade sharpness and duration that the knives remain sharp". If you use a knife for typical cutting applications the thinner you can hone your edge the longer (not shorter) it will cut effectively. The limiting factor is that a thin edge won't stand up to hard material, such as bone, as well. So a meat cleaver that you use to chop through beef bones needs to be a tough alloy and to be honed at over 20-degrees per side. If you only used it to chop chicken bones you might be happy with 20-degrees. If you have a chefs knife or a boning knife that only cut meat, fruit, and vegetables you might find that 10 or 12 degrees per side is strong enough and will keep cutting well much longer than a 20 degree edge. This is because as corrosion or wear consumes the apex of your edge a 20 degree edge will get wider a lot faster than a 12 degree edge.

If you want to hone edges to low angles like 12 degrees you have to remove a lot of material. It saves a lot of time and energy if you have at least a medium grit hone. Another thing to consider is that Arkansas hones cut particularly slowly. You might want to get something like a medium grit water stone for rough sharpening.

Here's a link where I posted a graph on honing speed and finish for different hone types.

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=313472&highlight=honing+speed
 
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