Beginner's Luck?

G

Gene K

Joined
Aug 21, 2008
Messages
74
Beginners luck?

1. Grab Norton IB8 Course/Fine India Stone (Got to start somewhere).
2. Grab a 3.5" 1095 Pairing Knife with an awful factory bevel.
3. Spend 20 minutes (?) putting on a primary (10-20 per side?).
4. Push cuts paper but only after started and barely shaves.
5. Spend 5 minutes on micro-bevel (about 5-10 degrees steeper)
6. Starts and push cuts paper and now have a 3" x 4" patch of hair gone on my arm.
7. Dull, re-microbevel, and re-test and repeat 2 times.
8. Start over and repeat 3 times with $1.00 Frost (Unknown SS).
9. Relative shapness level seems about the same as my unused factory Victorinox Solo.
10. Need more hair. My arms bald!

Is free handing supposed to be this easy? I know my edge still needs refined but I thought this was supposed to be harder?

Should I just practice on lots of different blades at this level for a while or go ahead and get some better stones?

Gene
 
keep practicing and get a strop...you will be amazed at what a strop can do to your edges.

if you are happy with your stones, no reason to upgrade.

freehanding is supposed to be a skill, but not necessarily a hard one.

congrats on your sharp edges!
 
If I had it to do over again, the Course/Fine India would be where I stopped. Its possible to get edges off the fine side that will whittle beard hair. Well, mine anyway. Some beard hair is courser than others. For my mom's heavily damaged kitchen knives, I repair/rebevel them with a 120x belt on a 1x30 sander and then finish free hand with the fine side of an India Combo stone. If it wont shave afterward, it means I didnt get all the damaged and weakened metal off the edge. Sander and stone are done free hand, by the back steps.
 
Yeah, first time I got a couple of knives shaving sharp, albeit not on benchstones, I had no hair on either one of my arms or legs in about a day...
 
Sharpening knives is one of the ways I relax after a particularly hard day. It's one of the very few things I can do that lets me be completely at ease, at peace and free of everything. When sharpening a knife the only thing that matters and the only thing on my mind is the edge of the blade.

It's upsetting to see so many people look at freehand sharpening as a chore, or as something they really need to learn, but don't want to. There's nothing wrong with the Edge Pro systems, Lansky or the Sharpmaker. My Sharpmaker gets a lot of use, but those old benchstones are special to me and using them means something.

You've got a good start here, and you'd be surprised with what you can do with benchstones without spending a lot of money. Keep at it.
 
It's just hand-eye coordination plus experience and knowledge. The better coordination you have to begin with and the more you read, the faster you progress. Most people can aquire this skill but some have to work harder at it.
 
Psychopomp said:
Sharpening knives is one of the ways I relax after a particularly hard day. It's one of the very few things I can do that lets me be completely at ease, at peace and free of everything. When sharpening a knife the only thing that matters and the only thing on my mind is the edge of the blade...
Click to expand...

Nicely put, my sentiments exactly..

Also the wealth of information I've
obtained on this particular forum is
beyond priceless..

Gene, I'm not sure I would chalk this
up to beginners luck, your outline sounds
pretty sophisticated for a beginner.

I also highly recommend a strop.

Sometimes you can snag a nice black or
translucent Ark. stone at a reasonable
price, worth thier weight in gold to me.

I recently scored a Norton 4000/8000
waterstone, this is a different world but
does a nice job of polishing before the strop.

GL - Ron
 
440hard said:
Nicely put, my sentiments exactly..

Gene, I'm not sure I would chalk this
up to beginners luck, your outline sounds
pretty sophisticated for a beginner.

GL - Ron
Click to expand...

I used to watch my Grandfather work his slipjoints on a little pocket stone including checking for the burr. I never asked any questions just watched.
He checked the final edge by carving a layer of calous off his thumb. He only had one arm so the hair test on the opposite arm was out.

I googled this site and read first. A little information goes a long way.
 
my buddies claim that sharpening freehand is the hardest way to sharpen a knife. wen they watch me do it and end up with a blade that whittles hair they are amazed. im not claiming to be a master by any means, but i can do it because that is the way i learned how to sharpen my knives. its the only way i know. i took me forever to learn, but once i did it is like second nature to me.

JLee
 
siguy said:
keep practicing and get a strop...you will be amazed at what a strop can do to your edges.
Click to expand...

This is very true. Just don't roll the edges on the strop. I did this the first few times using a leather strop with CrO. Knives were shaving but after stropping were not push cutting and were worse off than before. With the right technique a strop will get those edges screamin sharp.
 
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