beginner needs help sharpening kitchen knives and pocket knife

[Citizen Snips]

My advice is for a beginner to not even try to count passes and just go back and forth for a steady hand until there is a burr, that is is much faster.
Diamond IMO is much more effective for most sharpening because it doesn't load up like conventional stones.
I recommend getting a guided system and getting the coarsest diamond stone for it.

Will you still form a burr if you keep alternating sides? Don't you need to keep doing the same side for awhile to actually form the burr?

 

[Obsessed with Edges]

Will you still form a burr if you keep alternating sides? Don't you need to keep doing the same side for awhile to actually form the burr?

Yes, eventually the burr will form. Whether counting strokes or not, the basic idea is to keep the work evened up on both sides of the blade. In the early stages, it's more important to make sure you're grinding fairly equally on both sides, so the shape of the bevel is symmetrical. Once you start getting close to the apex, that's when it may be appropriate to do just a few passes at a time on each side, keeping a very close eye on the edge, to watch for the burr formation. The burr will likely start to form in one section or area of the edge, and that's when you start tailoring each pass according to where it's actually needed.

 

[grelcar]

I think that it is well worth the effort to learn to sharpen freehand. It takes some practice, can be frustrating but in the long run you are better off. Once you learn this skill you can do a reasonably good sharpening using any type of sharpening stone and lots of other items that may be at hand. If you have purchased nothing at this point I would recommend starting with a coarse/fine combination diamond stone. You can make a strop from an old leather belt, a piece of MDF or lay some paper on a flat surface. Learning to maintain a fairly constant angle and raising a burr are the most important steps. Later on add a 6000 grit waterstone to bring your sharpening to the next level. Practice, practice and then practice some more. I can usually sharpen the dullest knife in just a few minutes using just these stones.

Greg

 

[FoxholeAtheist]

As many folks have said, the Sharpmaker is a great tool for maintaining an edge, but not all that great for getting a knife from *dull* to sharp. If you want to do that without taking a ton of time, there are a few options.

One option is to pick up an Edge Pro and a diamond for it. I've got the Atoma 140, and it cuts steel really fast. Of course, you're looking at some bigger money to do this, but it's a good investment long-term. Also, it packs down pretty small so that when you visit parents/relatives/etc you can take it with you and touch up their knives, which is always appreciated.

A faster, but more dangerous option is to pick up the Harbor Freight 1x30 belt/disk sander and a few higher-quality higher-grit sharpening belts. This is more dangerous in that a) it's a power tool that you can hurt yourself on if you're not careful b) it removes material very quickly, so you can ruin a knife if you're not careful c) it potentially can ruin the heat treat if you aren't careful (notice a trend here?). On the other hand, you can go through a pile of knives in very little time and take them from super-dull to very sharp, then touch them up later with the Spyderco you've already got. The other dangerous part, btw, is that you'll get tired of the limitations of the little Harbor Freight and want to move up to something smoother/bigger.

Finally, there's the classic option of buying some bench stones and learning that way. If you can do it, more power to you... but the sander is still faster.