Am I sharpening correctly?

E

EightTrack

Joined
Mar 28, 2004
Messages
24
I've always used my lansky rod and guide sharpener with great success but I've decided to learn how to sharpen freehand. I can get a decent edge, but not as nice as I could with the guide. I have a few questions...

1) I hold the knife still and move the stone in a circular motion. I seem to have no trouble maintaining the angle and getting a burr going. Is there anything wrong with using a circular motion as opposed to a slicing or filing motion?

2)Once I'm done with the fine stone how do I go about removing the burr? Can I just raise the heel of the stone a few degrees and do a light pass on each side?

I'd like to be able to get a good edge on my knife whether I'm at home or out backpacking so it would be nice to be able to sharpen with a minimum of gadgets.
 
I have used stones in the past, but don't anymore.

I like to always move the blade in the same direction, as if slicing a long thin slice, and doing it with the same srtoke time after time rather than using a circular motion because that is a harder motion for me to make consistently.

When I have raised a burr I will do various things to remove it. If I'm working at a wooden work bench I will drag the edge along the edge of the table as if trying to cut it. This will usually remove the burr. Or, I will strop the edge on my pant leg, which will also usually remove the burr. Or, I will strop the edge along the edge of a piece of heavy cardboard. This works also.

Andy
 
Try useing the same method you use with the Lansky. You should get very simular results. Angle control isn't real important as long as you arn't raising the spine up and produceing a large angle edge.
 
Eight Track - Just posted a version of this in another thread - but think it might be of benifit to you as well Sir.

Free hand is a lot of fun - but it can be frustrating (at least it was for me) when I was first learning how.

The fundamental question is are you getting - "the burr" - once you get that, your on your way man!

It will save you a lot of time and frustration if you just go ahead and buy "The Razor Edge Book of Sharpening" by Juranitch

Tons of pictures and illustrations etc - and he delivers his methods in an extremely easy to understand way - gifted writer.

I used to think that it was some super incredible thing to get a killer edge - then I learned in his book that he even taught his daughters ( they were like 9 & 10 I think) to get a knife so sharp they shaved their dad with it..

Point was once you understand the basics - it takes the guess work out of it.
From there you can then experiment with whatever stones/system or rods etc will get you to the end result ASAP.

Please forgive me if I am insulting your inteligence by this post, I just remember a few years ago searching and searching to find how to get an edge that would shave, and stay shaving sharp.

The kind folks on this forum suggested the book - I bought it - and God allowed it to give me the instruction I needed to make a blade give me the best of it's potential.
 
EightTrack said:
...2)Once I'm done with the fine stone how do I go about removing the burr? Can I just raise the heel of the stone a few degrees and do a light pass on each side?...
Click to expand...

Before you increase the angle ("raise the heel...") try less and less pressure as you alternate sides. If the burr is still there, then increase the angle slightly.

I prefer a slicing motion once on each side, over and over for 5 or more repititions using less and less pressure with each repitition. => Burr no more.
 
Hey thanks for all the replies. I'll have a look for that book next time I stop by the book store.

Does using the stone in a filing motion towards the blade (like I would with the Lansky guide) prevent a burr from forming in the first place? Like I said, I'm having no trouble getting a burr, so should I stick with what I'm doing and just work on getting rid of the burr or try something different altogether?
 
EightTrack said:
Hey thanks for all the replies. I'll have a look for that book next time I stop by the book store.

Does using the stone in a filing motion towards the blade (like I would with the Lansky guide) prevent a burr from forming in the first place? Like I said, I'm having no trouble getting a burr, so should I stick with what I'm doing and just work on getting rid of the burr or try something different altogether?
Click to expand...

A slicing ("filing") motion will form a burr. Creating a burr is the biggest part of the battle. Try some of the advice you have already received to get rid of the burr. If it works, problem solved. No need to try something "different altogether" unless you are not pleased with the edge thus created. Try and see what works for you.
 
It isn't the motion that produces a burr. It is grinding on one side until you've ground past the edge. All motions filing, slicing, circular, edge leading, and trailing will produce a burr if you do that. To remove a burr alternate sides after each stroke, 1 left side then 1 right side until the burr is gone. I prefer to do a slicing motion to remove the burr but others use other strokes with great results.
 
Barrabas--

My experience was much the same as yours. I tried for a long time to get the freehand edge I wanted, using a lot of different methods and following a lot of different advice. It was very frustrating. When I read The Razor Edge Book of Sharpening everything finally came together for me and my search was over. A lot of the methods and advice I got before were correct, just that I'd never seen the "big picture". Everything had been in bits and pieces and I wasn't able to put it all together before I read the book.

The most important thing I learned is that most of sharpening is about creating a burr, as you and Zeasor said. After thinking for a long time that getting a great edge by freehand sharpening was a big mystery, I couldn't believe how much just that one fact simplified it.

As an added bonus, the best hones I've found so far are Razor Edge.
 
EightTrack said:
1) I hold the knife still and move the stone in a circular motion. I seem to have no trouble maintaining the angle and getting a burr going. Is there anything wrong with using a circular motion as opposed to a slicing or filing motion?

2)Once I'm done with the fine stone how do I go about removing the burr? Can I just raise the heel of the stone a few degrees and do a light pass on each side?
Click to expand...

Am I reading you right? You are holding the knife still and moving the bench stone over the knife?

If I am reading you correct then maybe you might try setting the stone on the bench and moving the knife along the stone.

IMHO a burr isn't necessary. If you are raising a burr you are removing more material than is needed to make the two edge bevels meet. I try to make as small a burr as possible.

I use a GATCO which is similar to the Lansky. Free hand sharpening is pretty much the same as using a guided system. Take away the rod, turn everything upside down, move the knife instead of the stone, maintain the angle by sight and hand instead of letting the rod maintain it.

With my GATCO I go down to the finest hone they have and have very little burr. I remove the burr on a bench strop.

You could do lighter passes alternating sides on your finest hone to remove the burr. You can use some sort of stropping media (I have heard of leather, cardboard, pants leg...). I have read of guys cutting through a scrap of leather. There are a lot of methods. I like my two scraps of leather on the bench. One loaded with white polishing compound and the other with red.
 
Andrew, before Cabela, "The Worlds Foremost Outfitter" began operating there was a company called Herters that had been in the outfitting business up north forever. They had a booklet that featured among other procedures for maintaining outdoor equipment the instructions for sharpenning knives. Circular motion of blade on stone and or stone on blade were definite no nos. Maintaining the proper angle, which becomes second nature with a little experience and using the motion as if your taking long slices off your stone was always their one and only recomendation.

When my every day folder quits being able to shave hair, it gets half a dozen such strokes on the Arkansas stone on alternating sides of the blade. That's all it takes unless the blade has been abused somehow.
 
Easiest way to learn to freehand is the Coin Method. Use a stack of coins on the left and right of the stone corresponding to the angle you wish to maintain. Using the slicing motion and the spine of the blade just touching the top of the stack of coins, draw the knife towards the other end of the stone. Do that 6-10 times per side until you bring up a burr. Add a dime to each stack of coins and lightly do the same thing with alternating blade sides until the burr is gone. It's that easy.

NJ
 
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