I am a sharpening novice and looking for a good system to maintain a sharp edge. I borrowed a older Worksharp MK2 from a friend. I had never used one and simply read the instructions. I had a assortment of knives to practice on. I had a 10" chiefs knife that i literally found in the woods, almost butter knife dull. My well used Falkniven F1 which i broke the tip off of and had a few snags, chips or roles in the blade. it was sharp but would snag paper when cutting it. A old RH Russel survival knife that had been sharpened in the past. I felt like it had too steep of an angle on it. I could get it sharp but not super sharp. Also had my Bugout in M4, it was sharp but as an EDC it wasn't shaving sharp. That was the only one I didn't want to mess up.
My friend that lent me the sharpener said he only used the medium grit. On the Falkniven and the old chief knife I started with course just a little bit. They all got about 10 passes per side with the medium. Then they all got a few passes with the fine grit on each side. Then a few alternating passes with the fine. Then i stropped then a little on my cheap leather strop.
They all literally turned out shaving sharp. The RH Russel survival knife was the surprise. That thing slices paper insane and pops hairs all day. The Falkniven was supper easy because of the convex grind. The Bugout was the hardest to match the angle and because I didnt want to mess it up. I am sure the convexed the edge. But it is still supper sharp. Sliced my thumb playing with it and pulls hairs off my arm like a razor.
The only downside I can see is that it convexes the edge rather than a true angle. Is there really any disadvantage to this? I have a few higher end knives like Randalls that I would be hesitant to sharpen with it. But for other knives is there ANYTHING wrong with using it? Anything wrong with the slight convex edge it puts on the blade?
I dont really want to end up with multiple systems. But I kind of think a fixed angle system would be the best for the Randalls and things I want to use but preserve. Or maybe using the MK2. But mostly using something like a Sharpmaker and the strop to maintain the edge? But then I still end up with the MK2 and the Sharpmaker.
My friend that lent me the sharpener said he only used the medium grit. On the Falkniven and the old chief knife I started with course just a little bit. They all got about 10 passes per side with the medium. Then they all got a few passes with the fine grit on each side. Then a few alternating passes with the fine. Then i stropped then a little on my cheap leather strop.
They all literally turned out shaving sharp. The RH Russel survival knife was the surprise. That thing slices paper insane and pops hairs all day. The Falkniven was supper easy because of the convex grind. The Bugout was the hardest to match the angle and because I didnt want to mess it up. I am sure the convexed the edge. But it is still supper sharp. Sliced my thumb playing with it and pulls hairs off my arm like a razor.
The only downside I can see is that it convexes the edge rather than a true angle. Is there really any disadvantage to this? I have a few higher end knives like Randalls that I would be hesitant to sharpen with it. But for other knives is there ANYTHING wrong with using it? Anything wrong with the slight convex edge it puts on the blade?
I dont really want to end up with multiple systems. But I kind of think a fixed angle system would be the best for the Randalls and things I want to use but preserve. Or maybe using the MK2. But mostly using something like a Sharpmaker and the strop to maintain the edge? But then I still end up with the MK2 and the Sharpmaker.
