beginner knife sharpening?

I personally started on a cheap double sided stone.

There are so many options and people ha e their own preference. My advice would be to start cheap so you understand your own likes and dislikes. You run the risk of dropping a lot of money on something that does t match with your style and/or usage otherwise.

Only caveat is that is you have high carbide blades you will need some sort of diamond at the finer end of the spectrum
 
If i was starting over I would get a 325 dmt and nothing else. You wont win any ribbons at the fair for mirror edges but working edges are more durable and actually cut better IMO. Reprofiling is done easiest with power tools but plenty of guys do that with their stones.
 
iareconfuse said:
Thoughts on Spyderco Sharpmaker? Surprised it hasn't beenentiones yet. Is there a reason for that?
Click to expand...
I have the sharpmaker and it is great for touch ups and light sharpening! So effortless to get a great edge! But when it comes to reprofiling it will cause you a lot of grief. Granted I don't have the diamond or cbn stones, but I use a Lansky guided system for heavy duty work. I also have smith's tri hone (not diamond) but need to work on my freehand skills!

Love my sharpmaker. Get my main bevel down with the lansky, take it over the top on the sharpmaker. It works well for me. Also have a lansky turn box for touch ups at work. Same principle as the sharpmaker, but the triangle stones get a much better edge with less work imo. Turn box is more portable however.
 
Sharpmaker is nice but it is slow to reprofile knives to match the device and that is with the diamond rods. It's good for maintaining knives though.

I own the Sharpmaker and the ultrafine and diamond rods. I have also used the diamond Lansky turn box, I would get the turn box first and use a protractor and drill to set up a 15dps or whatever new angle you want. Or get the AG Russell crock sticks either their portable one or full sized diamond setup, both of which are setup at 15dps. The Sharpmaker excels in versitility as you can sharpen about everything with it but it comes at a big premium to do so. The sharpmakers ability to do serrations are nice but you can use the corner of a benchstone or pick up a Lansky dog bone that's made for spydercos serrations for $5 if you have a serrated knife.
 
Can anyone that has used both the DMT Aligner and the Work Sharp Field Sharpener recommend one over the other? Or is there another sharpening tool around the same price range that a beginner would be better off with?
 
baldegale said:
there was so many suggestions, im just as confused as i was when i made this post hahahaha
Click to expand...

That's because there are many good answers but no one perfect solution. If you stay at this game for any amount of time, you'll most likely end up with different tools all of which will fill a niche in your sharpening arsenal.

Having used the Sharpmaker, guided systems and freehand methods, they're all good but sometimes one is a bit better for any given application.

Start with one of the suggestions, realize that there will be a learning curve involved and enjoy the ride.

If you are looking for less frustration at the outset, then choose one of the options that will help guide your progress until you feel ready to take on freehand sharpening.
 
Watch outdoors55 on YouTube. He will show you that technique matters, not so much the tools. I've learned a lot watching his videos.
 
Yeah, I started with a Smith's 3 stone setup and after a month or so, bought a Lansky 5 stone system. added a 600grit diamond stone and leather strop. Work's fine, but wanting to go to the next level.I was happy with the sharpness, but could always see small ripples from the stones and want to get the butter smooth appearance. So I bought a Hapstone M2 from a member here and just got it Thursday so I havent used it yet. Already looking for more/better stones for it,lol. Doubt I will ever go wicked edge or Turac.
 
baldegale said:
there was so many suggestions, im just as confused as i was when i made this post hahahaha
Click to expand...

It happens, the best advice is start with a coarse-medium stone and master it, making the edge shave and slice phone book paper, when you achieve this you can begin to explore options if the interest arises or be happy with your sharp edge.
For the steels you named a coarse diamond 325grit or a silicone carbide 320 or 400 is about right.
If you only want to sharpen a knife don’t over think it
 
Save up the money to buy a KME precision knife sharpener. It comes with Diamond stones you need and perfect laser edges can be achieved with little practice by ANYONE. I can turn a butter knife into a scalpel with a KME but with my poor freehand skill the opposite is true using stones freehand. Just sayin
 
baldegale said:
there was so many suggestions, im just as confused as i was when i made this post hahahaha
Click to expand...
Not too surprising, but what you should take away is that there are many good choices. More than one way to skin a cat.
We each learned to sharpen on different things, for different needs. Woodworkers, machinists, straight edge, and J-knife people have their separate tastes to a certain extent.
For instance in the J-knife (Japanese kitchen knife) you usually aren't talking about high carbide steels. So diamond stones aren't in real demand, nor sheer speed. Instead you have a lot of talk about the feel of stones and using natural stones because of the enjoyment of sharpening. And they are all about freehand sharpening on stones or a rig like Wicked Edge.
With EDC knives, with more wear resistant steels you won't see that. You see more expedient solutions like Sharpmakers, more diamond stones, even pull through sharpeners.
Big world.
 
baldegale said:
there was so many suggestions, im just as confused as i was when i made this post hahahaha
Click to expand...

Good! Now go get some immediate experience sharpening with equipment you already own.
Grab a dull paring knife from your kitchen and bottom of a coffee cup
Rub left side for a 10 mississippi
Rub right side for a 10 mississippi
Try cutting stuff (paper)
Repeat until cutting improves
Give it 5 minutes and see what happens
Talk about your experiences, ask questions, get answers
No substitute for hands on experience


baldegale said:
you can easily buy/make your own guides though, cant you?
Click to expand...
Binder clip?
Clothes pin?
Cut some paper/plastic and fold/tape?
Cut a popsicle stick or rubber eraser?
NYNuSp5.jpg
 
After years of sharpening everything from kitchen knives to axes, and everything in between I've come to realize it's pretty simple.
Forget about all the confusion here, it's really not that difficult, you dont need any fancy specialty sharpening systems.
Just buy yourself a basic combination wet stone, and if you want get a piece of leather for a strop.
You dont need to spend $500 on stones to get started.
Just pick up a King 1000/6000 wet stone and start sharpening every knife you own. Even butter knives if you want, you just need to put some time in and you'll be able to put any edge on any knife in no time. They can be had for 40 or 50 bucks.

Down the road you can spend more money on expensive stones if you want, or just use the combo stone for the rest of your life. It's really not that complicated.

Edit: Apparently no matter how many times I try to upload a photo from imgur it doesn't work. I've tried doing the bracket thing before and after the copied link, still doesn't work. How can it be this hard?
Also why when I try to edit my post the photo I'm trying to attach is not there to edit.
I really suck at this...

Nailed it!

flpf8kA.jpg

cawwFdK
 
Last edited:
Wogger said:
...
Just pick up a King 1000/6000 wet stone and start sharpening every knife you own. Even butter knives if you want, you just need to put some time in and you'll be able to put any edge on any knife in no time. They can be had for 40 or 50 bucks.

...
Edit: Apparently no matter how many times I try to upload a photo from imgur it doesn't work. I've tried doing the bracket thing before and after the copied link, still doesn't work. How can it be this hard?
Also why when I try to edit my post the photo I'm trying to attach is not there to edit.
I really suck at this...
cawwFdK
Click to expand...

Images links usually have a jpg extention like this https://i.imgur.com/flpf8kA.jpg

flpf8kA.jpg

I've never used one, just posting the image Wogger referred to.
 
Last edited:
The king is too soft to be used for the harder steels that are pretty prevalent in the edcs we see around. I used one for razors which are mostly carbon steel. And it needed constant lapping to keep it flat. Not looking to argue but a diamond plate in the long run is much more economical and will not require lapping.
 
Bill3152 said:
The king is too soft to be used for the harder steels that are pretty prevalent in the edcs we see around. I used one for razors which are mostly carbon steel. And it needed constant lapping to keep it flat. Not looking to argue but a diamond plate in the long run is much more economical and will not require lapping.
Click to expand...

I'm not trying to start a war here, but even my expensive Japanese Whetstones need maintenance to keep them flat. That's just a part of using stones.
It doesn't matter what steel your knives are made from, stones wear by nature.

IMO the king is a great stone to learn on. Then go from there
 
FWIW, I like the 1000 grit King for my wife's inexpensive / gummy stainless paring knives, (not to mention some of my carbon steel blades), that respond better to it than my diamond hones. It all depends. I wouldn't recommend it, necessarily, to a beginner, however. Just depends on how much effort they're willing to put into learning.

(I also don't know that it was being recommended above, or if it was just being used as an example of posting an image.)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top