Cant get my knife as sharp as it came, help please

It's your technique man, once you get it down you can use a brick or the bottom of a mug. Read and watch videos till you learn good technique, create your burr, refine and remove the burr.

Put the knife down and do about 18 days worth of reading, it's not just 5 strokes on one side, 5 strokes on the other.

Your smiths sharpener may not be top of the line (or even very popular) but it can do the job, it's your technique/skill that you need to concentrate on. Don't worry, and I'm not trying to be hard on you, we've all been there, you'll get it eventually. At least you're practicing on cheap knives.
 
I’m no expert ,but most sharpening problems are getting the "V "on the blade set to the correct angle.Try the sharpie trick to see what part of the blade is hitting the stones.There are many good threads about sharpening,have a read thro.
 
I already have watches and read slot about it. I can get it sharp. It cuts paper great but I pulled out a new knife and it is just that much sharper and it irritates me
 
And this is my 2 cents:

I found some very useful advice: use sharpie to mark the edge, control your angle, try moving cutting edge first (as if you slide the stone), and most important for me, apply some pressure while sharpening.
 
wolverine_173 said:
I already have watches and read slot about it. I can get it sharp. It cuts paper great but I pulled out a new knife and it is just that much sharper and it irritates me
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I am just a newbie but I need to ask you how are you determining sharp? New blades are generally very toothy and feel sharper to some of us. Find a system that fits you to determine sharp.
 
I recommend 9 days of Youtube. Things I would research on youtube

- The sharpener that you have
- Sharpening in general
- Burrs
 
wolverine_173 said:
I already have watches and read slot about it. I can get it sharp. It cuts paper great but I pulled out a new knife and it is just that much sharper and it irritates me
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It push cuts paper or you have to saw?

As for a strop you can use an old belt but it really depends on the leather how well it'll work. I found old tack leather to be much better material. (And stroping will help you). The more compressed [hard] the leather the better it'll do. You also need some compound, green to start. You can pick it up locally at a hardware store.
 
Patience and practice.

I learned a lot by watching one of my friends sharpen some knives. It is much better than video. There were some very subtle things that I picked up on such as the sound and feel that the blade has as it moves across the stone.

Ric
 
Its gonna be a higher initial investment but I would highly recommend a ceramic stone or diamond plate over any sort of oil or "water" stone. First off with an oil stone your going to have the lifetime cost of lubricant you have to consider the price of and secondly if/when you start to get into harder/higher-end steels your going to be hard pressed to sharpen them on an old school stone. Just something to consider.

My recommendation- start off with a medium spyderco ceramic stone and build your setup from there.
 
wolverine_173 said:
http://www.amazon.com/Norton-614636..._indust_2?ie=UTF8&refRID=1QK0VCRQFDSQCWC0BBVA

Is this stone gonna work better than the smith ?
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A lot of people swear by the Norton Combo India stone especially if your going to be sharpening more traditional steels like 1095 etc. Here is a great video on the Norton Stone. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yezGZyUaI_U&feature=c4-overview&list=UUE26EcDitVFMi9Ls_IlGLxQ

I'm very new to sharpening myself and what I've kind of concluded is for me it would be best to start off with a guided setup to get my initial edge and bevel set properly. Then I will get a bench stone set down the road. Right now I'm going to order the Lansky Diamond setup and finish with a Stropman 2 sided strop. Once I have mastered that setup I will probably go with a nice bench stone set but not sure which route I will go when it comes to bench stones yet. Probably a few diamond plates finished off with a Spyderco Ultra Fine and strop.
 
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Its hard to spend that much money when most of my folders cost 30 bucks and my fixed blade bk2 only cost $70. Wont the indian stone get the job done if i get my technique down?
 
wolverine_173 said:
Its hard to spend that much money when most of my folders cost 30 bucks and my fixed blade bk2 only cost $70. Wont the indian stone get the job done if i get my technique down?
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The India stone will do a real nice job on most steel. It might take a bit longer on high carbide content stuff, but will still give you a very nice edge. On more common grades of steel like your BK2, it will do an even better job. I personally prefer a Norton Crystalon stone (silicon carbide vs the aluminum oxide of the India stone) - for me it has better feedback and works a bit faster. It also has the added advantage of using as a stropping compound, the mud that forms when the stone is used with oil (grocery store mineral oil is fine, a $3 bottle will last many years). Here's a video I made using one to sharpen a kitchen knife and then I strop with the reclaimed grit on a sheet of paper wrapped around one of my Washboard blocks. This technique can be used wrapping the paper around the same stone. I pick up with the SiC stone at 10 minutes in.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=6Y2EMOQRLiA
The textured block seen in the video is one of my Washboard blocks - it makes for a full service sharpening set-up and might be a good fit for you - sale thread is linked through my signature, as are a handful of videos applicable to many forms of freehand sharpening, and the electronic copy of the manual - might be very helpful.
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Most of knife sharpening comes down to technique, try to read up on how to sharpen knives and learn. Than try to apply it by practicing a lot, just keep in mind there are several ways to get a knife sharp in terms of techniques you use. Just because one person uses one technique and another guy uses a different one doesn't make either of them wrong. It's more important to understand the science behind it and find out what works for you so you can reach your goal. Knife sharpening part art and part science.

Though if you find that your getting frustrated take a break and come back latter, your knife will still be there waiting for you. It will probably happen, we all fall a lot when we first learn to walk same story here. So expect some failures before you get what you want. As others have said use a sharpie, to say it helps greatly is a understatement. Beyond that try to keep a consistent angle and use light pressure and just let the abrasive do the work for you.
 
If you think your applying too much pressure I can almost guarantee it that you are. Use the weight of the blade and let the abrasives do the work.
 
Wolverine, this is not an overnight process. Don't be discouraged if you don't get the results you want quickly. And there will be days you feel like giving up because everybody has a super sharp edge when you don't. I had one of those days just this past week. I have been sharpening seriously for about a year and I still can't get an edge to come out right every time. Read on here and ask questions when you don't see your answer. And practice, practice, practice... [ad nauseum]
 
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