Anyone here do professional knife sharpening? (I need something sharpened)

G

GarageBoy

Joined
May 23, 2003
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Ok, I have a Browning 679 that I'm getting frustrated, trying to thin down the profile. Who offers this service here and for around how much? Thanks
 
There are a few places in Brooklyn that do knife grinding. Try Third Ave Grinding 43rd & 3rd (my father-in-laws place). They don't do walk-ins anymore, but will if you tell them I sent you. There's also Atlas Tool (wife's uncle) - not sure of location, but in the book. They'll be closed for a few days as the owner just passed away. PM or email me if you need more info. If you email me, put Knife Grinding in subhject line so I don't toss it with the spam! HTH.
 
Reshaping is really easy compared to actually sharpening which takes some skill. The only reason to have a blade reground professionally would be if you wanted the primary grind reworked as this can take a long time on benchstones. However adding a relief grind to the edge is trivial and takes no significant accuracy or precision and is only minutes with a x-coarse hone. If you lived next to me I would do it for free and show you why you would never pay anyone to do it again.

-Cliff
 
43rd and 3rd in Park Slope or Manhattan? Is it ground level?
Cliff- I need to reshape the relief (edge bevel) as it's not even at all. Also, when I hit the edge, I have no idea what angle I'm near. I can't tell the difference between 15 and 30, without a knife thats been referenced
 
Garageboy - the addy is 4116 3rd Ave, Brooklyn (Park Slope). It's between 41 & 42 St (been married to my wife 39 yrs - you'd think I know where the shop is by now! :D ) Yes, its on the ground level.
 
GarageBoy said:
I need to reshape the relief (edge bevel) as it's not even at all. Also, when I hit the edge, I have no idea what angle I'm near. I can't tell the difference between 15 and 30, without a knife thats been referenced
Click to expand...

The main problem most people have is that they try to hold at some specific preset angle which is near impossible for anyone. It isn't like John Juranitch could for example hold a knife at 18.5 degrees exactly on request. Most people who hand sharpen will use natural angles which they prefer and are common on most of their knives. More than 90% of my knives for example are honed at 5/10 or 10/15 degree bevels (primary/secondary). Five degrees is just flat to the spine so I typically only use two different angles and these are not exactly either in being 10.0 and 15.0.

When you pick your relief grind you just want it to be below your secondary bevel. You don't need very much accuracy or precision, these just speed up the process. Usually you can just eyeball a rough guide using the distance of the spine above the hone. Again you are not looking at an exact angle here, it isn't like 13 degrees works exceptionally well but 15 degrees is horrible. I can guarantee that you can do it and that you won't even find that it is difficult. The only thing which is critical on the modern cutlery steels is that they are both fairly hard and high carbide and thus you need decent stones to cut them fast.

A 200 grit silicon carbide waterstone will rip the bevel on that knife from 20 to 10 in just a few minutes. You will literally see the metal flying off the stone. If you don't want to risk damage to the knife you can just develop the skills by reprofiling cheaper knives or even just taking a file to a piece of wood and shaping it. It is the exact same skill. As you get more accuracy and precision you will find that it gets faster, the bevels get easier and the application of the secondary bevel is easier. However you have to start sharpening for this to happen. It isn't as difficult as you might think.

-Cliff
 
Thanks. I had to cut a new bevel tonight on a BM5000S (meaning, chisel edge with serrations) with with a DMT coarse.
This is how it used to look.
dsc00057.jpg

I did what I thought was natural and I have a feeling it's too thick. The flat side, wasn't flat when I got it, so I sharpened it like an asymmetrical V grinded edge.

My main problem is, that I can't how 20 degrees feels from 10 (or 40 for that matter)
I tried using the Norton Economy stone with a brown coarse side (which I THINK is crystolon, but doesn't say on packaging) It clogged right away, even when heavily oiled.
Any insights? Thanks
 
You can easily eyeball 22 as that is half of 45 which is half of 90. So judging under and over 20 isn't difficult. You don't need to make the knife perfect the first run and it will get easier with each knife. Ten degrees is also very low, you are sharpening with the knife flat on the stone unless you have a high flat grind. This is the typical angle for the scandinavian blades for example.

I don't use oil on any stones. I use most of them with water aside from the diamonds ones I use dry. I have a large coarse/fine benchstone which I assume is just aluminum oxide. It works well on the low carbide steels but is actually slick on the high ones, you don't want to try to regrind S30V or similar with it. Just buy a really coarse waterstone, they regrind all steels with equal ignorance of hardness/alloy.

-Cliff
 
Thanks, the norton is aluminum oxide, found out from the website. At what angle should the proper bevel be on the above knife? (chisel edge)
 
Cardboard and blisterpacks and other stuff, I keep my edges away from staples, doors, concrete, etc
I sorta realized that I left a 40 degree edge on the BM. The back side isn't flat either, so I have something like a...60 degree edge?
 
For that light work there isn't really a lower limit to the primary angle on harder cutlery steels aside from issues with carbide tear out. However unless you are willing to rework the primary grind you are limited to working at about 20 degrees included for as you go below that the bevel will get so wide it takes a lot of metal to grind it down. There isn't any need to do it all at once, just go under the existing bevel and grind it down a little then increase the angle and apply a micro-bevel to sharpen the edge. As the relief grind gets more extensive you will note greater cutting ability and ease of sharpening.

-Cliff
 
It is fairly easy to set up a jig by setting a benchstone on a slant and use it like a Sharpmaker. I would suggest though that you forget about this and just judge it by eye. If you have a protractor, or just make one you can check this easily.

-Cliff
 
Ok, judging by eye, I have something between a 20 and 30 degree angle. Cuts ok, I guess I'll leave it at that. I learned that the DMT diamonds work much better for me, wet. Still can't figure out why I can't get the norton working the way I want it to.
Thanks!
 
GarageBoy - the Norton aluminum oxide stones, which they call India and are brown-to-orange in color - aren't as aggressive as their silicon carbide Crystolon stones, but don't tend to dish out and IMO produce a better edge. However I've never liked the coarse India much, find it very hard to use ..... doesn't feel like it's really biting into the steel while sharpening, just leaving some irregular, wide-spaced scratches. Medium and fine India act better for me. If yours is a combo stone, coarse and fine, try WD40 on the fine and see how it works - not very fast cutting but it should produce a nice, clean edge.
 
You reminded me, GB .... I've got a 2x6 Norton economy stone I bought someplace like Lowes or Home Depot. The coarse side is kind of muddy dark brown which could be aluminum oxide, while the finer side is gray which I'm positive is silicon carbide. The brown side just doesn't work well at all, and I even lapped it against another silicon carbide stone thinking maybe it still had a glaze from the factory.

BTW the best cheapy hones I know of are a set of three 2x6 diamond plates from Harbor Freight, brand is 'Diamond Life' if I remember, something like $12 for the set. They're not DMTs but they've held up better for me than EzeLaps I've had. Initially the coarse and medium seem really coarse, but they break in nicely and I've yet to have one give out. Even used them very hard to true up some Spyderco hones and resurface other ceramic rods I use for sharpening.
 
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