advice on sharpening

bdws1975

bdws1975

Joined
May 19, 2006
Messages
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Hi Steve,
I have a question and you were the first person I thought to ask.

If I were to buy a sharpener to have in my pocket for touchups in the 'field' (office), what would you recommend?

I see dmt, lansky, etc, but have no idea.

Thanks!

Brett
 
I have a Lansky but its used in the shop primarily for taking off rough edges on knives I'm making and on occasion I'll use it for touch ups on an edge. Its a good one and works well but only when its clean. I've noted that it needs cleaned after every use to work as it should. What I have here is the little triangle shaped sharpener. Its a nice field sharpener and I rate it probably as good as anything for field use providing you have an eraser or rust eraser to clean it good also.

I have used and like both the DMT and EZELap diamond sharpeners as well as the little Smith's sharpener sold at Wal-Mart and all of these in all grits work but I prefer the well used one with a lot of the grit worn off. For field use the xxfine do a great touch up if used lightly.

The thing I've noticed and what you need to watch out for with these diamond sharpeners is that they are great at touching up an edge in just a few very light swipes to bring back a nice bite but if used too strongly or if they are too aggressive on a fair edge already formed they form a burr on the edge because they actually take off more than is needed. Once a burr is formed any other sharpening after that is just oversharpening in my opinion and after that the ceramic or some polish compound is always best to help try to remove that but in the field usually you just live with it until you get home.

Many times just puttting the blade back to work will knock off a part of the burr but the theories for removing them are about as varied as many of the other theories being put forth by makers and users. I strop and cut straight into a bar of polish and sometimes will strop them edge trailing on the diamond lightly instead of making the swipes like a cutting stroke. Other folks tell me they use a swirling pattern to avoid a burr. I have not tried that one personally though.

STR
 
Thanks Steve. I think the local knife shop has one of those for sale.

Is stropping necessary on all knives? If it is beneficial, would you point me toward a thread or forum to find out more. I hear so much about it but have never really given it much thought. The more I get back into knives, the more I become intrigued with the idea.

Thanks for answering my q's.

Brett
 
Stropping on a cardboard backing from the back of a legal pad on a hard table top is about all you really need and I usually do that right after sharpening and right before moving to a ceramic rod which for me is the final step. Most of my maintenance after that is always done with the Edge Pro 1200 grit ceramic or once in a while in the field we always made use of those diamond pads for light strops or strokes to touch up the egde to a nicer bite again.

STR
 
Cool. I never would have thought of a legal pad back. Nice!

Have you any experience with the spyderco duckfoot sharpener? Looks interesting.

Thanks again Steve,
Brett
 
No but Sal started out with making sharpeners before he moved into knives. Listen to what he says because the man knows sharp. His Sharpmaker is one of the best values out there and certainly worth every penny. I assume the one you speak about is also up to his standards or he wouldn't sell it but no, I have not even seen that one.

STR
 
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