Advice on new budget sharpening setup

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Bob6794

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Apr 21, 2013
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Currently I am using a hand held 600 grit diamond stone which has 2 handles which fold out to hold and fold back in to protect it. And than 2 rods of unknown grit which all I know so far is that they are both higher grit than the 600 grit stone. And I finish it off with trying to strop on some cardboard. It's not the prettiest setup but it gets the job done, and I have yet to find a knife as sharp as one of my own. But I know I am still leaving a lot on the table as I am just a beginner and still have a lot to learn. (In fact I keep missing a very small part of the blade to sharpen on the 600 grit due to my hand position, so a new system is in order as I can't break that habit. It's also a problem I probably encounter if I attempt to free hand with the DMT DMG-4 Magna Guide stones.)

I am currently looking at the DMT Credit Card diamond stone kit, course/fine/extra-fine ($30). Or the DMT DMG-4 Magna Guide which has Course/Fine/Extra-fine/Extra-Extra-Fine for $60, which is already in the territory that I feel uncomfortable paying but the option of having a wide variety of stone to freehand with if I don't like it interests me (though I probably still have an issue using them like this), as well as allowing me to set the angles of a blade percisely which is something I want to do.

My question is would the extra-extra-fine grit which I think is 8000 be a major improvement over the extra-fine which I is 2200? If it makes any difference I am more into budget knives, so I have knives in Aus-8, 8cr13mov, 440a (rough rider/kershaw), and a carbon steel opinel in my rotation. And would the guided system even be of any real use with how I am more into smaller traditional slipjoints now. I remember hearing that you encounter problems with some of the guided systems when you start trying to sharpen blades with a small width.

Beyond that I just found a few old leather belts so I will probably look into re-purposing one of those into a strop. Any advice or recommendations will be greatly appreciated, thank you.

(And I prefer smaller stones if possible I think my ultrasonic cleaner has a max length of 6in, which I will be using to keep the stones clean. If you decide to make a different recommendation)
 
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Personally I don't find the extra extra fine stones to be as useful as a good strop and careful strokes with light pressure.
 
600 grit is already fairly good. One more step (a finer diamond around 1000-1200, a hard arkansas, or a known grit fine ceramic) would probably do you a lot of good.

I have been sharpening and playing with knives a long time and have never seen the need to get into the 4000-8000 grit territory. Of course those who want a true razor or mirror edge do.... to each their own. But since you are starting and budget conscious I'd just go a step at a time until you decide what's enough.
 
pmeisel said:
600 grit is already fairly good. One more step (a finer diamond around 1000-1200, a hard arkansas, or a known grit fine ceramic) would probably do you a lot of good.

I have been sharpening and playing with knives a long time and have never seen the need to get into the 4000-8000 grit territory. Of course those who want a true razor or mirror edge do.... to each their own. But since you are starting and budget conscious I'd just go a step at a time until you decide what's enough.
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This man knows what he's talking about. If your primary use of the blade you're sharpening is EDC; i find it ideal to leave a somewhat toothy edge to really bite into cutting tasks. I would also suggest to invest $18 in a quality strop that will last you a lifetime rather than using cardboard.
 
I am now thinking about the normal DMT aligner that has the 3 stones, coarse/fine/extra fine as from the sounds of it that will be all I need for my current uses and I want to precisely re-profile my blades. I will probably end up using a sticky dashboard mat on a table to keep a stone in place when I sharpen by hand and just use the aligner to re-profile the blade.

Though for right now I have 1-2 old leather belts I found that don't fit anymore that I will try out as a strop before investing in a quality one. Right now I have money, but that is going to other things that take priority so I think I settle for the stones for now and see where I am when everything is said and done and if I am happy with the leather belts as a strop.
 
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I use a piece of material, rubbery, used for lining a drawer...very inexpensive at Lowes, etc...just a few bucks for a good sized piece...it is grippy and holds well.

A good, old, used leather belt seems as good as an expensive piece of strop leather. If it were worn enough I'd use the polished side for non compounded final stropping and the back side for the compound.
 
Kai Winters said:
I use a piece of material, rubbery, used for lining a drawer...very inexpensive at Lowes, etc...just a few bucks for a good sized piece...it is grippy and holds well.

A good, old, used leather belt seems as good as an expensive piece of strop leather. If it were worn enough I'd use the polished side for non compounded final stropping and the back side for the compound.
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The dashboard mat is pretty much a rubbery/sticky material, I was given one for free a few years ago and have been using it on my desk for the last few years as an improvised cup saucer and make it more difficult to accidently knock the drink over due to earthquakes (live in California) or acts of me (far more likely sadly). So it sounds like they are pretty the same thing as what you use.

I have 2 leather belts that I can't wear anymore and it may be smart to cut one of them down the middle because if I recall correctly it was pretty much 2 strips of leather and both sides were polished. So with any luck they may give me a polished and non polished side. Probably be a few days till I can get ahold of the belts to check though as the room their in is occupied by a family here visiting and I typically don't remember this sort of thing till late at night when everyone else is asleep.
 
If you want to go diamonds right now is the time to buy them on a website named after a rainforest...They had Dmts on sale yesterday , and I found a few others that people seem to get good results with one is $7.95 and can be found just by searching diamond sharpening I believe , another option is the ultrasharp plates , again it's cheaper than dmt.
 
In my experience, the aligner clamp is going to give you some issues if you like traditionals and want to sharpen them with it.
 
Also if your getting good results freehanded why would you want to go to a guided system?? just practice practice practice, that is the only thing that will get you better at freehand sharpening, a jig or clamp style system is going to be a step backwards IMO and instead of progressing your skills.
 
I want to go with a guided system to have the ability to reprofile my blades, i feel better about using something to assist in that and it make me feel better knowing it's precise. Beyond that it probably be more freehand as it's just quicker to pull out the stones than to do the entire setup of a guided system, not to mention the thought of doing that every time to sharpen a knife annoys me just thinking about it.

I actually expect to run into problems using the aligner with traditionals. My understanding though is it deals with how wide the blade is though, so I may just create a spacer to get past that. Though if I am mistaken please correct me.
 
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Bob, I tried using a guided system years ago and wound up doing everything freehand, I found the guides too klutzy. However, maybe I need to go though that to get the confidence to freehand..... Do what you are comfortable with, but I suggest you might try reprofiling a couple of cheap older knives freehand to see if you can get comfortable with that. Some folks seem to love the guides, some just don't like them, I guess it's just a personal preference thing.
 
Either way I look at it I need to get my hands on some new stones and it's a slightly larger upfront cost to get the guided setup. I might try out reprofiling blades free hand latter down the line after I get used to the new sharpening stones but for now I feel more comfortable with using a guide for that, than free hand sharpening after it's reprofiled.
 
I've free handed most of my life and prefer a guided system. I really like using my Lansky system and started with their Arkansas stone system which was around fifty bucks and worth it. I added a coarse and fine diamond hones and the yellow and blue ceramic hones...the diamond and ceramic hones are not cheap but worth it...I bought them one at a time from Lansky when I had a few bucks lying around.

I mounted the base on a 6x6 inch by one inch thick piece of oak I had in my left over lumber pile...this works great...

I've not used any other guided system so no comments on the others but suspect they all work as well, or better.

Good luck and keep us informed.
 
While we are talking "guided" what about the sharpmaker? I've just started dabbling with freehand and find that the way I sharpen, my angles tend to be about 13 degrees per side. I work up from coarse diamond to a hard Arkansas. But the final touch is a few swipes on the sharpmaker with the fine rods set at 30 degrees inclusive (15 per side) this gives me a nice little microbevel at a nice fine grit to smooth out the edge and makes it STUPID sharp. I know eventually I would like to be able to get it there completely freehand but this seems to work well for me now. Yall have some great advice! :)
 
I probably order the DMT Aligner latter tonight, I try to keep you posted on my results if time permits and I remember. The more I look at it the more I like the setup, I may end up just expanding on it and picking up the extra course and extra extra fine latter down the line if I ever feel the need.

Having a base sounds like a good idea, I think I might try that out. I think I look around the house and see what I can use to test it out on before I build something more permanent if I like it.

As for other sharpening systems I've looked into them briefly but I like the ability to use the stones for free hand sharpening to keep costs down as I know myself and I can get this out of hand and wind up overspending if I don't try to plan it out ahead. And taking this route allows me to get a good set of sharpening stones and test out a guided system. So that alone knocked out a lot of the other guided systems. And as much praise as hear for the sharpmaker I don't think I can get the same results as other people due to having a lot more coordination moving something horizontally than vertically even if all I have to do is keep it in a straight vertical line. Even trying to mimic the motion is awkward to me, though a horizontal motion you use to do something like sharpen a knife feels far more natural.
 
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I like my dmt aligner,got the black and grey stones as extras.Painters tape on the blade spine helps with grip in the clamp,and prevents marking the blade.short learning curve and great results.
 
That's a good idea with the tape, though I may just use some old hockey tape I have. Won't mark up the blade minus a sticky residue and should grip it even better. As for the sticky residue that's what the ultrasonic cleaner or alcohol swabs are for :).
 
Just got in my Aligner in an hour or 2 ago and had the time to reprofile one blade so far. So far it seems to be slightly better than what I put on it before by hand in terms of sharpness. But feels a bit more consistent in the cut so it seems my freehand sharpening skills need some work. Never noticed that before I used this. I think I am going to reprofile a few more blades and and compare it to what I had on it prior when I freehand sharpened the knife.

Actually I think I will freehand sharpen the knife with the new stones, do some cuts on cardboard. Than use the Aligner so I can do a better comparison, use this as a teaching aid.

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Freehand Sharpened and than reprofiled an opinel #6 on the aligner. I am quite happy with the results of both, took the angle down to the lowest settings just because I could and used hockey tape to get an secure grip on the blade so now it is a little bit sharper than before. I can see why sharpening can be addictive now. I just have to get used to how much steel these stones remove as I think I am removing excessive amounts right now.
 
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