Beginner seeking advice on a sharpening kit

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Password is Taco

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Hello. Thank you in advance for your opinions. I have got myself a few knives (pocket folders - Benchmade, Pro-Tech, Spyderco) and want to learn how to sharpen them myself. There are tons of options out there - its overwhelming to be honest. Ive been watching youtube tutorials on using a stone block and would like to try this method first. I also want to try the leather thing (strop?) as well.

Is there a beginner set of stones out there? What grit is commonly used (there are all kinds).

Should add Im not looking to spend a fortune on this. Is $50 reasonable for a starter kit?

Thank you all very much.
 
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In my opinion, you really can't beat the ease and simplicity of the Spyderco Sharpmaker. I've had mine for almost 5 years and it has served me very well. The DVD that came with it was very helpful in getting me started on the right foot and I've been able to get all my knives shaving sharp. Some took quite a bit of time to get there but once you got those angles right, maintaining is a breeze. From what I've seen with sharpening, patience is a necessity. You just have to keep at it.
 
For a beginner learning to freehand sharpen, I would go for a 1-by-2-by-8-Inch Fine/Coarse Norton India Combination Oilstone for normal steel and a course/Fine DMT diamond plate for the "super" steels.

That's what I started with anyway.
 
I have a Spyderco Sharpmaker with diamond rods and a course/fine DMT. Both were more than $50, but they cover all my bases. Also...add a Sharpie pen in the mix.
 
danbot said:
For a beginner learning to freehand sharpen, I would go for a 1-by-2-by-8-Inch Fine/Coarse Norton India Combination Oilstone for normal steel and a course/Fine DMT diamond plate for the "super" steels.

That's what I started with anyway.
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This is precisely what I would recommend and I have been hand sharpening for a long time. You can pick up (or make one) a leather strop later. The fine DMT is my most used. An alternative to the fine + coarse would be fine + very fine. Don't use the very fine that much, but the coarse seldom gets used. The Norton is inexpensive while I would consider the DMT expensive. Treat it right and it should last a long time.
 
danbot said:
For a beginner learning to freehand sharpen, I would go for a 1-by-2-by-8-Inch Fine/Coarse Norton India Combination Oilstone for normal steel and a course/Fine DMT diamond plate for the "super" steels.

That's what I started with anyway.
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Please define normal and super steel for me. Are you referring to the blade steel type? is there a list somewhere of normal vs super?
 
It isn't magic. But generally speaking the carbon steel blades get sharpened on the Norton and maybe touched up on the DMT. The larger DMT size is easier to use, but more expensive. "Super steels" or simply very hard steels are everything that seem to take forever on the Norton. You basically aren't hurting the knives switching between stones. I sharpen my SAKs on the Norton generally. A guide (angle guide) might be handy starting out, but not necessary. Watch the sharpening video at the Bob Dozier website using the DMTs.

Most of the new steels with a V in them are "super steels". Things like M390, Elmax are super steels.
 
By "normal" I mean High carbon steels like 1095, 1084, 0-1 etc. and some stainless steels like 440c, AUS8-A to name a couple. The "super" steels are ones like S30, S35Vn, ZDP 189 to name a few of those.

If you do a search on the forums for "supersteels" you will find a bunch of discussions on the topic.

Hope this helps!
 
22-rimfire said:
It isn't magic. But generally speaking the carbon steel blades get sharpened on the Norton and maybe touched up on the DMT. The larger DMT size is easier to use, but more expensive. "Super steels" or simply very hard steels are everything that seem to take forever on the Norton. You basically aren't hurting the knives switching between stones. I sharpen my SAKs on the Norton generally. A guide (angle guide) might be handy starting out, but not necessary. Watch the sharpening video at the Bob Dozier website using the DMTs.

Most of the new steels with a V in them are "super steels". Things like M390, Elmax are super steels.
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So I really liked the setup the guy was using in the Bob Dozier video. That is something like I had pictured in my mind. I like the gadget that kept the knife at the same angle. I looked on their website - I do not see where they sell that stuff though. Also, the steel in my knives are either s30v or cm154, which I guess is a super steel.
 
For beginners, please consider NOT using free hand stones on your valuable folders like Benchmade and Spyderco. You will scratch the hell out of them, ruin the bevels, and regret for quite a while. A cheap guided system like Lansky plus some patience is the way to go.
 
You can find that guide at the one knife sharpening supply web sites. There are quite a few of them. I spent time with the DMT folks at Blade every couple of years chatting. They don't push the guides, but actually demonstrated the one on the Dozier web site. I suggested Bob Dozier's website for the sharpening video because I find it so practical and educational. You can probably sharpen both the S30V an CM154 on the Norton. They are like $8-$10. They're quite useful. I use WD40 as the lubricant (vs oil) which never occurred to me until Ethan Becker suggested it to me. You use the diamond stones dry.

As Sharp Edge mentioned, if you forget about the sharpening angle freehanding, you may scratch up the sides of your "pretty knives". Just part of learning however the way I see it. It is not rocket science. But it can be frustrating as hell sometimes especially if you are trying to re-profile a factory blade that say is only sharpened on one side which is not uncommon from companies like Queen, or GEC (on occasion). That is where the coarse side of the DMT is useful.
 
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sharp_edge said:
For beginners, please consider NOT using free hand stones on your valuable folders like Benchmade and Spyderco. You will scratch the hell out of them, ruin the bevels, and regret for quite a while. A cheap guided system like Lansky plus some patience is the way to go.
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That is a very good point. When I started learning to freehand sharpen I practiced for a long time on very cheap knives I didn't care about until I was confident enough to try my better knives.
 
If you go slow and are deliberate, you won't scratch your blades. Sure if you start sharpening like a mad man, not paying attention to your push/pull angles on the stone, yeah, you're gonna scratch the hell out of blades. A few passes on each side and check. I can't recommend free handing enough. It's how knives have been sharpened for thousands of years before the evolution of guides and guided systems!
 
sharp_edge said:
For beginners, please consider NOT using free hand stones on your valuable folders like Benchmade and Spyderco. You will scratch the hell out of them, ruin the bevels, and regret for quite a while. A cheap guided system like Lansky plus some patience is the way to go.
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Would you mind linking me to what you are referring to?

I do understand your logic here regarding the free hand method. Wont the edge guide take care of that though? Or am I not fully understanding.
 
Password is Taco said:
Would you mind linking me to what you are referring to?

I do understand your logic here regarding the free hand method. Wont the edge guide take care of that though? Or am I not fully understanding.
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http://www.bladehq.com/item--Lansky-Deluxe-Sharpening--2921

If you look hard you may find a few bucks cheaper than above from other dealers.

The keyword is guided, i.e., once you clamp the blade using the system and choos a sharpening angle, it will remain the same and hence result in a consistent and even angle of the blade bevel, on both sides. See my avatar for an example.
 
I have the Lansky system and never use it. I don't have the patience for them. The useful thing about the sharpening systems is that you maintain a fairly precise angle sharpening rather than guessing or eye balling it like I do. If you go with diamond bench stones, it's important to understand the grind on the knife (flat, convex, and so forth) as you can litterally ruin them and have to start all over re-establishing as Sharp Edge hinted at.
 
I do appreciate everyone's help. I just rummaged thru my old tool box and found a couple old knives - think maybe those will be my test subjects on whichever route I go. I also just contacted Spyderco - I can send my PM2 into them and they re-sharpen for free, lol. So there is always that route...
 
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