doogoon, check out this vid of a knife i made that is on a private passaround. if you want to get your knives this sharp, check out the paper wheels like kennyb mentioned. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8q_eMwRaHYg
-
The BladeForums.com 2024 Traditional Knife is available! Price is $250 ea (shipped within CONUS).
Order here: https://www.bladeforums.com/help/2024-traditional/
Best way to sharpen your knives?
- Thread starter Doogoon
- Start date
- Joined
- Oct 7, 2006
- Messages
- 2,437
To directly answer the original post...you do not need a mechanically powered sharpening system to sharpen your knife. Although, powered sharpeners used properly can be very fast in delivering a very sharp edge. A few seconds on a belt sander/grinder could equal a few hours on a stone.
There are some thoughts to consider: 1. How portable does your system need to be for your sharpening needs? 2. How often will you be returning to your sharpening system? 3. How much time do you have to invest in learning and using a sharpening setup? 4. How much money are you willing to invest in your sharpening setup?
I have a 72"x2" belt grinder from Grizzly, multiple 1"x30" belt grinders from Grizzly and Harbor Freight, Three setups of Paper Wheels (yes one is a cheap version and no it does not work as well as the proper ones sold at Grizzly and other stores), multiple Spyderco Sharpmakers, a Lansky Crock Stick, Spyderco bench stones, hardware store bench stones, pocket stones that I actually carry everyday at work, and loads of automotive sandpaper. All of these things can be used to sharpen knives and I can achieve very good results will all of them because I sharpen a lot of knives per year. The most important part of getting the most out of your setup is to practice with what you have and observe what shortcomings are present.
For example in your original post, you mention using "a waterstone" and that you are not seeing results. Is the issue you are facing that your one waterstone is too fine an abrasive to remove enough material in a reasonable amount of time, or is it too coarse and you are lacking edge refinement? Have you read any posts about the Sharpie trick? This trick will give you some insight into your sharpening issue. It will show you if you are sharpening at the edge or hitting the shoulder (above the edge at which point you are reprofiling the edge which is not always a bad thing if that is your goal). As mentioned before there are lots of great threads and videos on the topic of sharpening.
Give us a little more information about your current setup and details on the knife/knives you are sharpening and you will have much more relivant replies to read.
Good for you for asking the questions, it is the begining of the road to the solution!
Best wishes to you.
Doug
There are some thoughts to consider: 1. How portable does your system need to be for your sharpening needs? 2. How often will you be returning to your sharpening system? 3. How much time do you have to invest in learning and using a sharpening setup? 4. How much money are you willing to invest in your sharpening setup?
I have a 72"x2" belt grinder from Grizzly, multiple 1"x30" belt grinders from Grizzly and Harbor Freight, Three setups of Paper Wheels (yes one is a cheap version and no it does not work as well as the proper ones sold at Grizzly and other stores), multiple Spyderco Sharpmakers, a Lansky Crock Stick, Spyderco bench stones, hardware store bench stones, pocket stones that I actually carry everyday at work, and loads of automotive sandpaper. All of these things can be used to sharpen knives and I can achieve very good results will all of them because I sharpen a lot of knives per year. The most important part of getting the most out of your setup is to practice with what you have and observe what shortcomings are present.
For example in your original post, you mention using "a waterstone" and that you are not seeing results. Is the issue you are facing that your one waterstone is too fine an abrasive to remove enough material in a reasonable amount of time, or is it too coarse and you are lacking edge refinement? Have you read any posts about the Sharpie trick? This trick will give you some insight into your sharpening issue. It will show you if you are sharpening at the edge or hitting the shoulder (above the edge at which point you are reprofiling the edge which is not always a bad thing if that is your goal). As mentioned before there are lots of great threads and videos on the topic of sharpening.
Give us a little more information about your current setup and details on the knife/knives you are sharpening and you will have much more relivant replies to read.
Good for you for asking the questions, it is the begining of the road to the solution!
Best wishes to you.
Doug
- Joined
- Jul 13, 2011
- Messages
- 2,090
Free hand sharpening all the way. 
Watch a few vids on YouTube to get the gist of the technique and concepts. Then just get a stone and a dull knife and start practicing. The good thing about sharpening is that the edge of the knife you are sharpening will always tell you everything you need to know. And after a while, you get a sense of when to move to a higher grit, etc. by the sound of the steel on the stone. But it's one of those things you just have to jump in feet first (after watching lots of videos or watching an experienced sharpener for a while).
Here's a tip that someone gave me when I started sharpening, regardless of what method you choose to use. And I don't see it mentioned very often, so here it is: get a 10X power loupe. When you are just starting sharpening, looking at the edge and seeing what's going on up close is very helpful, especially when it comes to forming a burr, determining when your edge is ready for the next grit, etc.
You don't have to spend a lot of money, and there are very inexpensive and pretty good Arkansas stones out there. But personally, I like to have the best, so I have 10" DMT Duo-Sharp bench stones, Duo-Fold hand-held stones, 8" Spyderco Ultra-Fine bench stone, and a KnivesPlus Strop Blok.
Watch a few vids on YouTube to get the gist of the technique and concepts. Then just get a stone and a dull knife and start practicing. The good thing about sharpening is that the edge of the knife you are sharpening will always tell you everything you need to know. And after a while, you get a sense of when to move to a higher grit, etc. by the sound of the steel on the stone. But it's one of those things you just have to jump in feet first (after watching lots of videos or watching an experienced sharpener for a while).Here's a tip that someone gave me when I started sharpening, regardless of what method you choose to use. And I don't see it mentioned very often, so here it is: get a 10X power loupe. When you are just starting sharpening, looking at the edge and seeing what's going on up close is very helpful, especially when it comes to forming a burr, determining when your edge is ready for the next grit, etc.
You don't have to spend a lot of money, and there are very inexpensive and pretty good Arkansas stones out there. But personally, I like to have the best, so I have 10" DMT Duo-Sharp bench stones, Duo-Fold hand-held stones, 8" Spyderco Ultra-Fine bench stone, and a KnivesPlus Strop Blok.
- Joined
- Oct 7, 2006
- Messages
- 2,437
Good suggestions Magnaminous_G!
For already dull blades, use the sharpmaker. Buy the diamond rods and work your way to the ultrafine stones. Once you have a sharp blade, strop the blade on a 1000 grit sandpaper and a leather strop with compound after each hard use. Another more expensive and time consuming option is to to send the knife in to get it professionally sharpened and then follow the strop suggestion. I have a number of high end folders that stay razor sharp.