Recommendation? as a beginner, I'm overwhelmed by the number of sharpening options, looking for advice

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ripe_turnip

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Dec 31, 2020
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Looking to build a complete sharpening setup and my budget is about $100 for everything.

I've spent hours looking at reviews, watching videos and reading forum posts.

The knives I have to sharpen currently are:

- a 16 deg angle chef knife with a neglected blade and chips
- a 3.5" folder with thumbstuds and 20CV
- a 3" folder with thumbstuds
- a 1.9" automatic

here is what my research has found:

plates - seem appealing to be because any angle can be achieved. I'm worried though I will ruin my knives trying to learn to use these from youtube videos.

Options:
Sharpal 8" fine/coarse at $60 fits my budget.

DMT 6" Dia-Sharp Kit - 4 grits, 2 plates and a holder - 90 bucks.

Systems:
WSKO - seems to be well regarded, but also seems like if your knife has thumbstuds or is tiny, you need the blade grinding attachment which pushes the price to over $200. Outside my budget.

Sharpmaker - seems to be the best regarded of rod-style sharpeners, but will ceramic be good enough for 20CV? Also it won't do 16 deg - Is this good enough to grind the angle down to 15 deg?

DMT Aligner Deluxe - looks like it does multiple angles

Others: Lansky, Gatco - forum posts indicate people are not happy with these.

I'm kinda leaning towards the DMT 6" Dia-Sharp kit plus some plastic angle guides.

What do you think?
 
6” Diasharp continuous surface sharpening stones in 4 grits, that’s the way I’d go... and a simple strop and flexcut yellow stropping compound.

edit: that’s basically the setup I use.

learn to sharpen knives by hand and you’ll be able to sharpen knives almost anywhere. I’m sure fancy setups do a great job, but I can shave with all my knives.
 
In your position, I'd buy a Shapton Glass 500 and a Shapton Glass 1000, and spend some time learning sharpening skills. That's from my biases, which are that I think the SG stones are really great, and I think hand sharpening is really really fun and a great skill to have.
 
Uncle boots has good advice. I do like my gatco diamond. It takes some getting used to. I’ve worn one out and ordered another. I also free hand and I love the sharpmaker for touching up the edge after profiling with the gatco.
 
From your options I would go with the DMT. I have heard good things about the atoma but I have no experience with them myself. The stickies above have a lot of great information. I would also get a couple of cheap knives to practice on before sharpening your better knives.
 
The DMT kit is a good one. Gives you a full range of grits. Doing a Chef's knife on a 6" stone is doable, but not the funnest.
While Shapton Glass stones are good, that 20CV steel limits your choices.
 
Personally I would spend a bit more to get something that you won’t end up replacing over time. For your budget the entry level systems are really out of the question. That therefore leaves stones/plates. In this space (and in my opinion) the 8inch size is what you want, especially if you plan on sharpening kitchen knives.

Your first purchase should be a coarse stone that is coarse enough for you to remove chips and reset bevels. To give some context this should be something in the 120-240 range. The next step up, say 300-400 range will take you a long time to grind out all but the most minor chips.

You could go for something like the manticore ($15), dmt coarse (c$80) and a strop/compound (make your own strop and get diamond compound for less than $10)

This will give you kit that will get all of knives sharp and will be something that you will always use no matter how far down the sharpening road you end up going for around $105.

I would also advocate the plastic angle guides you mention - especially for a beginner. I still use mine to get my eye in.

Edited to add: finishing a kitchen knife for me at 400 grit is not refined enough but it will certainly get it very sharp. A lot of people like this level of refinement for EDC. It’s worth saying that for $100 you are simply not going to get a set up that will do absolutely everything and therefore compromises need to be made with the potential to add in the future. For instance at a later stage you could get a King 1000/6000 for that kitchen knife etc.
 
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I have a different approach as I would rather spend more money on a good sharpening system and then you will always have a sharp knife. I went the Edge Pro - Pro route and added to it over time.
 
jjg6319 said:
I have a different approach as I would rather spend more money on a good sharpening system and then you will always have a sharp knife. I went the Edge Pro - Pro route and added to it over time.
Click to expand...

I would rather have a pocket size sharpening stone that I can keep at hand so that I always have the means to sharpen my knife.

n2s
 
I have had numerous different approaches over the years and yes, for some jobs you need certain stones/strops. For me after years of trying, I found that a DMT 6inch diamond "Whetstone" in coarse (well broken in) and some strop (e.g. paper over that stone in fact with white compound or something similar) works well. This is highly mobile, you don't need water or slurry or oil and with the right touch, you can sharpen any knife to a good enough edge. The DMT tends to leave some burr, even with a light touch, that's why I think a strop is useful. I use it in hand.

In the kitchen (no high hardness vanadium carbide knives or something like that), I now use the BYXCO arctic fox field stone, also in hand. If I am in the right mood and form, no strop needed after that. If needed, again, paper over stone and white compound.
 
Sharpmaker and a strop. Buy some green compound and use and old belt or something for a strop. The good thing about a sharpmaker is u can use the angle to get sharp knives while your learning. U can use the stones flat on the stand to practice free hand. Then finish with the strop.
 
1- DMT XC
2- Ultrasharp 300/1200
3- A couple of cheap kitchen knives to practice on.

Realistically you could get a Norton Crystalon stone and a bottle of mineral oil, use the mud off the stone on a sheet of paper for a stropping compound/finisher.

#3 is the most important item on the list. DO NOT LEARN FREEHAND ON YOUR GOOD KNIVES.
 
ripe_turnip, you don't mention if you want coarse or smooth edges.

Without first determining this, if you prefer toothy, coarse edges, which it seems most people do, then you could easily waste money buying higher grit abrasives that you don't need.

I have nothing against guided sharpening systems or machines but personally prefer freehand sharpening. It's much less expensive and simpler (I don't use waterstones), takes up much less storage space and set-up time than bulky equipment, can be done anywhere (a big advantage if you roll or chip an edge, or just want a quick touch-up, and are away from your equipment), and I get a sense of satisfaction freehand sharpening that I don't get using guides or machines.

Craig James said:
Your first purchase should be a coarse stone that is coarse enough for you to remove chips and reset bevels. To give some context this should be something in the 120-240 range.
Click to expand...

I agree with you that a first purchase should be a coarse stone but abrasives in this grit range are too slow for me for hogging off metal. I went with the 60 grit Baryonyx Manticore, which I see you also mention, and am very happy with it for quick metal removal freehand. In fact, I use it for probably 90% of my sharpening and reprofiling, finishing with grits in the 220-400 range for a toothy edge.
 
Sharpmaker will only cut it for your high VC steels *if* OP buys either the diamond, or the cbn, add-on rods (cbn recommended). As either of these sets add roughly $60 to the cost of Sharpmaker, pushes total cost north of $130, so that would break the $100 budget limit. Apart from that, if OP is willing to spend that much to get the cbn, Sharpmaker could be a better choice than starting freehand, for some people.

If you're really really committed to learning freehand--and honestly, most people who come thru here and say they are, actually aren't and quickly give up--then either go with the 6" DMT set you're looking at, or HH makes the best other suggestion.

More important than which gear to buy, IMHO, is how to get started. First off, as HH says, *DO NOT LEARN FREEHAND ON YOUR GOOD KNIVES.* You need knives that you're not afraid to hork. :D Is the only way to experiment and learn without handling them like egg shells. Get a few cheapo practice knives, you can get a cheapo set of kitchen knives under $30 at various retailers, that gives a way to practice on kitchen-shaped blades. And get a few cheap folders--Kershaw and Schrade both provide some models under $15 on sale--at Knifecenter.com. And find an old fixed blade hunting or utility knife with a deep belly curve, as doing those takes practice.

Next thing, follow an actual guide. Don't just guess or do trial and error. There are a few different things offered in our sticky threads here on the forum, but they're not consistent with each other, and some info is dated as well. Here's what I'd do to get started and not overwhelm yourself with too much detail all at once.

- Read the Buck Guide to sharpening your knife as an overview. It'll give you good basic concepts to get started and is actually backed by a lot of solid real-world data and research about knife sharpening. (Note: I'd ignore their little comment about the 'circular sharpening' style as an option. Yes it works, but it'll just confuse things and make your edges even more convex).
- Read @Jason B. 's 2-part guide to sharpening, which is accompanied by lengthy threads with photos and discussion around the concepts.
- The first sharpening | BladeForums.com
- The burr | BladeForums.com
- Here's a video of Jason's above technique, to illustrate what's in those threads: My Sharpening Technique - YouTube
 
Either way you go, drop by a local pawn shop and pick up some cheap clunkers to practice on. preferably a fixed blade and pocket knives. Most of them will, once they know what your doing will work you a deal.
 
DMT 6" Dia-Sharp kit plus some plastic angle guides will last you for a long time. Mine have lasted for over two decades of use and still work as good as new. I clean them with BreakFree CLP when the swarf builds up a bit.
 
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