Basic Needs for Knife Sharpening?

TripleB67

TripleB67

Joined
Jan 28, 2016
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183
Thanks to a board member here I'm getting ready to obtain my first knife that's of better quality than the small Case knives I've been carrying around for the last 35+ years.

I'm going to be getting the Lansky 4 Rod (Diamond/Ceramic) Turn Box kit for sharpening purposes...basically because it gets great reviews, it seems to be of better quality than those tiny handheld models, it's on the cheaper side, and it seems to be one of the easier systems to use (and in being a newbie to sharpening I like that idea).

Are there any other basic needs for being able to sharpen a knife correctly that I should purchase?

Thank you for your help.

TripleB67
 
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I find Case knives to be of very high quality. What did the member tell you?

Lansky turnbox is fine. Knowing the basic concepts of sharpening will allow you to use it to its maximum effectiveness. See the stickies at the top. Other members more familiar with the turnbox in particular might chime in to give you specific advice and caveats.
 
Magnaminous_G said:
I find Case knives to be of very high quality. What did the member tell you?
Click to expand...

He didn't say anything about the Case knives...just judging from the price paid for them and the length of time they stayed sharpened for me, they aren't as good of quality as the Kershaw Cryo G10 the board member is sending me.

Thanks for the input.

TripleB67
 
sc00ts said:
I'll refer you to your other thread on this subject.

Sharpener under $25?
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1364091

I really can't emphasize reading the stickies enough.
Click to expand...

Thanks...in that one I was asking about sharpeners under $25 and have decided to go with Lansky Turn Box...I just didn't know if there was anything else I really needed at this point. I see people talking about using some type of leather to finish off their sharpening...I didn't know what that meant.

I've got the toothbrush and something similar to Comet but when I tried to open up your link at the bottome it would not open for me.

Thanks for your help.

TripleB67
 
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The most important thing you can get as a beginner to sharpening is a basic working knowledge of what you're looking for and how to achieve it. Luckily there are some great, informative stickies on here and that knowledge is free. After you've read up and feel you have a grasp of the basics, nothing beats real life experience. If you have some old beater knives to practice on that is a very good idea.

Once you're getting good edges with the Turnbox, the only other thing I could recommend would be some form of strop. You can use an old belt with or without compound. I've made a few from paint stir sticks and work glove leather loaded with the small black and white ryobi polishing compounds from the homeless despot.
 
TripleB67 said:
Thanks...in that one I was asking about sharpeners under $25 and have decided to go with Lansky Turn Box...I just didn't know if there was anything else I really needed at this point. I see people talking about using some type of leather to finish off their sharpening...I didn't know what that meant.

I've got the toothbrush and something similar to Comet but when I tried to open up your link at the bottome it would not open for me.

Thanks for your help.

TripleB67
Click to expand...
Google leather knife strop, you'll get tons of information as to what they're referring to..once you sharpen a knife you can typically maintain it using a strop for awhile before needing to physically sharpen it again. It's also the finishing step in sharpening for many people to remove any remaining burr and refine the edge a lil further.
 
I started out with a Spyderco Sharpmaker, which is similar in operation to your Lansky turnbox. Great tool as long as whatever you were sharpening had an edge bevel that was already at one of the two pre-set edge angles (15 or 20 degrees). However, I found it very time consuming and frustrating trying to reset a bevel or reprofile just using the Sharpmaker. That is what led me to learn more about freehand sharpening.

I would say that if you are willing to pick up just the basics of free-handing - holding a consistent angle, getting a burr on one side, then the other, then removing the burr, that the only other piece of equipment you need is a $6 Norton Economy stone, and a $6 can of Norton Honing Oil to go with it. Use that when you need to reprofile, get the bevel to one of the angles your Lansky box is set at, and then finish up on the Lansky.

I do use a leather strop (old leather belt with some $3 Porter Cable green buffing compound rubbed into it) both for final polishing and occasional touch up, but stropping has its own learning curve. I've rounded off plenty of sharp edges by stropping too long, using the wrong angle, or too much pressure. So read up on that too.

It's not that hard, just takes some time actually sharpening for the light bulbs to come on.
 
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