A little help from my friends.

Y

YoYojunkie

Joined
Dec 15, 2013
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So I've begun my journey to the proper care and maintenance of my knives and have been wondering are there any books that come highly recommended concerning sharpening technique and tools as well as some useful links for daily maintenance? Also any things that should be mandatory if my tool box for proper knife care?

My local dealer is somewhat of a wash for info as he recommends the smith sharpeners across the board (I am not saying these are bad but I've not had good luck with them while trying to keep a good edge on my wife's kitchen knives.).

Thanks for any recommendations and ideas!

Have a great day!
 
Welcome to BladeForums! No books to recommend, but you've found a great sub-forum that should answer just about all your needs. Read through some of the stickies up top and use the search function and you will find a wealth of information.
 
I'd suggest watching sharpening videos on youtube, it really lets you see the different techniques in action.
 
bpeezer said:
I'd suggest watching sharpening videos on youtube, it really lets you see the different techniques in action.
Click to expand...


But also be extremely careful with "you-boob." there is a plethora of misinformation there mixed in with the good information.
 
The razor edge book of sharpening by John Juranich as found here on Amazon.com or similar places and this if you wanted videos, that would get different suggestions.
 
As you're reading and learning take the advise of start with cheap knives and lots of patience. I bought several cheap knives from pawn shops to practice on. Also agree the stickies are amazing.
 
Ben Dover said:
But also be extremely careful with "you-boob." there is a plethora of misinformation there mixed in with the good information.
Click to expand...

I guess I should have recommended certain channels to watch. Murray Carter is always great, and knifenut on here has a channel that's MrEdgy something or other.
 
ChapmanPreferred said:
The razor edge book of sharpening by John Juranich as found here on Amazon.com or similar places and this if you wanted videos, that would get different suggestions.
Click to expand...


Thank you I'll take a crack at those and begin like others have said with a cheap knife or three of various shapes to begin working the process start to finish.

My local guy was finally in a place where I could speak to him for a few moments and he tells me "an edge doesn't need to have a nice v to the blade it can be lopsided and still be ok." And "run your knife in circles on the stone not ceramic just diamond and maybe glass. Or if you're to lazy smith makes a cheapo system that is just beautiful" I have a feeling he was either high on sething or he was telling no fibs...

The former seem right but I'm not sure.
 
MrEdgy81 is knifenut1013, our resident professional sharpener.
Next would be Neuman2010 (HeavyHanded) and ducha123fly (Magnanimous).
 
Juranich's book is hard to comprehend for me. It was written at a time when sharpening knowledge was in the dark ages. At one time, I thought he was trying to teach microbeveling as his every day technique. Later, I thought he was advocating Murray Carter's "thin every knife" philosophy. I'm pretty sure that's what he really meant, as cutting performance has (at least) two major factors: The geometry of the blade behind the edge, and the finish/condition of the edge itself. In either case, I guess it's worth reading, but I don't think it's going to teach you much you can't find here.

Steve Bottorf's "Sharpening Made Easy" site and book is a resource I personally found very valuable. Chad Ward's treatise on sharpening is long, but it covers all of the basics really well. A google search should turn it up. They both teach a microbeveling technique that I (mostly) don't use any more, but at one time those techniques were a revelation for me.

Speaking of Murry Carter, you could do a WHOLE lot worse than purchasing his DVDs, or *better* his online downloadable instructional video series.

To (mis)quote bladeforums member "Unit": Welcome to the endless discussion of one of man's earliest and most basic tools, the sharp edge. :)

Brian.
 
If your goal is only 'proper care and maintenance for daily use' those videos and stickies (with much practice) are sufficient.
Or perhaps this single thread with a coffee mug:www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/1029230-New-to-Sharpening-Need-help!/

However, it's very tempting to go beyond, to the 'dark side' of how sharp it can be :D and by staying in this forum further for a while, you'll be sucked in ...
Welcome too ... (Darth Vader voice);)
 
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ChapmanPreferred said:
The razor edge book of sharpening by John Juranich as found here on Amazon.com or similar places and this if you wanted videos, that would get different suggestions.
Click to expand...

:thumbup: Well worth the price of the book and it's a good reference tool to keep handy. KnivesShipFree also has some vids on their web site that demonstrate sharpening convex edges with a strop. Someone has already mentioned the stickies at the top of this subforum as a good resource
 
Chris "Anagarika";12989783 said:
If your goal is only 'proper care and maintenance for daily use' those videos and stickies (with much practice) are sufficient.
Or perhaps this single thread with a coffee mug:www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/1029230-New-to-Sharpening-Need-help!/

However, it's very tempting to go beyond, to the 'dark side' of how sharp it can be :D and by staying in this forum further for a while, you'll be sucked in ...
Welcome too ... (Darth Vader voice);)
Click to expand...

I'm looking to pick up the wicked edge pro pack 2 hehehe yes I've been sucked in. I emailed wicked edge but have yet to hear back (I'm thinking it's because of the holidays.) but yes the "a sharp tool is a safe tool." Has set in :).

I have to ask though is the pro pack 2 worth the investment over the pro pack 1? My reasoning for wanting the two is the extras to out a much finer edge on all my cutlery and edc knives as well as start a little sharpening circle with my friends (after much practice on cheap knives with decent steel and cheap steel to see exactly how far I can push those limits).

Thanks for the input I'm definitely enjoying the forums and look forward to becoming an active participant here learning and adding to my skills for proficient knife sharpening and collecting (the bug has hit hehe).

Thanks again for all the help and Input offered here from you guys! It's a joy to find a forum with helpful honest people instead of the run if the mill forum stuff.
 
Guided systems are great - I own and use an edge pro, to great effect - but in the end i think learning to freehand, be it on stones or wheels, is the key to happiness. I'm going to be getting the razor edge paper wheels and a 6" buffer because for all the goodness of spending 20min-hour putting a mirror bevel on a knife, banging out hair-popping sharp knives in 5-10 minutes just screams efficiency, and the more efficient the sharpening system, the more apt I am to use it.

If you do go with a guided system, I'd look into a strop or two to use for maintaining that sharpness. I've never messed around with a wicked edge, but the edge pro is a bit of a to-do for functions like stropping (setting the back-stop correctly for whatever blade you're gonna strop, taping the blade, stropping, putting everything away) as opposed to giving a blade a few licks on a dedicated strop. Of course this means learning to follow the bevel freehand, but as I said before I think this is totally worthwhile. I've heard that the WE can be a pain to figure out exactly how blades were clamped previously in order to meet the bevel correctly.

Whatever you choose, good luck and enjoy it! Sharp tools are wonderful.
Best.
 
Stickies here and knifenut (MrEdgy81 on YT) vids are all you need to get started. Come back and ask questions when you get stuck. You will be well on your way with all the knowledge tools you need.
 
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