Best steel for learning to free hand sharpen?

P

pyzik

Joined
Apr 27, 2010
Messages
78
Dear Great Mass of Infinite Knowledge,

What would be the best steel to learn to free hand sharpen?

I have been practicing with a Pakistani knock off folding buck knife and am not doing to hot. I am sure it is going to take time and lots of watching videos.

But I can't help but think there might be a better (softer?) steel to learn to free hand with.

Thank you again for sharing the wealth of your collective brain power.
 
I was poor at sharpening for decades. Then I bought some Moras and started practicing on them. The wide bevel on a saber (scandi) grind makes it a lot easier to hold your sharpening angle. Being able to hold a consistent bevel is one of the key points in getting a sharp knife. For other practice knives check out second hand stores for Old Hickory or similar high carbon knives. They usually have an RHc of 55 -57 so they sharpen up fast.
 
i would trash the pakistan steel knife and get an old carbon steel knife so you can tell when you have it sharp. pakistan steel is sometimes too soft to even take a good edge. if someone wants me to sharpen a knife made in pakistan, i'll tell them to get a good knife and i'll sharpen it.

if you have any problems feel free to send me an email. rje196021@gmail.com
 
I had a feeling trying to sharpening that pakistani knife would be about as useful as sharpening a camel turd. But that's why I chose that knife, I didn't care if I ruined it. I don't even know where I got it.

I have a few decent knives, a Buck Pathfinder, a Kershaw Leek & Whirlwind. I was just afraid I would ruin those.

I will keep my eye out for something with high carbon, thanks for the info!
 
The stainless that Victorinox uses in their Swiss Army Knives is super easy to get razor sharp.Might be a good place to start.
 
Get an old carbon steel kitchen knife at a thrift store or flea market to practice on. Swiss Army Knives are easy and gratifying to sharpen, as previously mentioned.
 
1095 or 12C27. Probably best not to have any carbides in the steel when you're just starting out:thumbup:.
 
Cheap kitchen knives, a fairly coarse stone, and a Sharpie. You can pick up old cutlery at second hand stores by the box. Even that old Pakistani knife can teach you plenty about changing inclusive bevel angles and controlling the bevel around the belly to the tip. Don't go after a better quality knife, or worry about scary sharp when you're starting out. Understand what you're doing creating a bevel, raising a burr, removing the burr, grinding cleanly all the way to the apex. Then work on refining the edge by working up through a finer grit stone. Feedback diminishes with every step up in refinement, so learning the basics on a rough stone will give you invaluable experience/tactile feedback that you might not even notice starting out on a harder steel with a fine stone. Along the way you can do some cutting tests to see the difference in characteristics every change in refinement brings about, and notice what happens when you let your stone get dirty or keep it clean. There's a lot to it, learn slow. You'll get respectable edges fairly quickly, but you want to have a good foundation to control/understand what you're doing, not just sharpening by formula.

The edge quality of any given knife is going to be determined by a lot of factors, heat treat is going to be more important than type of steel, and geometry is going to be more important yet again.
 
what are you using to sharpen on? if you have old stones you might consider using some 3m wetordry sandpaper on glass instead. if you go this route i would star off with a 120 grit so you can get used to shaping the edge and working up a burr.
once you get a burr at this grit, move up to the next grit. i stop at 400 grit since i see no need to go any finer. to finish off the edge you will go to a strop which removes the burr.

just in case you are not sure about a burr, here is a link to a post i made showing a burr i worked up as an example. http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...e-is-important-to-you?p=10279827#post10279827
 
Thanks for all the info. I have an old hone that was given to me. Coarse on one side and fine on the other.

I will try the sand paper trick.

I amgoingto have to look up what the sharpie is for though. I am guessing you paint the blade and see what is coming off?
 
Last edited:
Learning to set your blade angle properly is the most important thing about sharpening, and I believe that holds true regardless of what you are using to sharpen with.
So that Pakistani steel won't hurt in learning to keep the blade at the proper angle, and as you said, if you mess up, you're not out much.
The Camel turd may be difficult however.....

And you're right about the Sharpie....paint what you want gone.
 
Thanks again to all for the help. I dug in my knife box and found an Imperial "multi-use" knife. Got it just barely shaving sharp. But getting better.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top