Favorite Sharpening Method/System

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okbohn

Joined
May 26, 2006
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I am trying to sort through sharpening systems. What do you guys use? What do you like best about it? Do you handle sharpening any different for traditional knives vs modern folders?

For me, I sharpen my traditionals to a convex edge. I have the luxury of having a slack belt grinder and grinding wheels to make it go really fast. Then later, I maintain the edges on a leather hone with an abrasive on the leather. I use Bark River green and black compound or a diamond spray.

What about you guys?
 
Spyderco ceramic bench stones and a leather strop with compound.I have a water stone that I reprofile with
 
Freehand on Fallkniven combo stones, DMT Duofolds, a Smiths diamond bench stone and pocket rods.
 
Dmt stones. The eight inch duosharp in 25 micron and 9 micron, then a duofold in 9 micron and 3 micron. I have been thinking about picking up a nice ceramic stone, but haven't bit the bullet.
 
I'm pretty lazy so I use DMT diamonds and a Sharpmaker followed by green rouge on a strop.

I really need to get around to ordering another of your strops with some compounds.
 
A 30+ year old diamond lansky kit I bought new way back then.
Thought about giving KME Sharpeners a try if this lansky set ever completely wears out and I don't replace piece parts.
 
I'm not a very good sharpener, but I'm working at it. I want to get a couple high quality Arkansas stones. Currently I use a turn of the century (I can make out 1900) medium stone of unknown manufacturer that I inherited. I then use a flexco strop I picked up in Amish country and then I free-hand (without a guide) on a worksharp with the polishing belt. I ruined two blades trying to use the guide and medium abrasive and the guide doesn't allow you to sharpen all the way back to the tang, and be very careful or that nice point on a spear will turn into the rounded end of a butter knife real quick.
 
okbohn said:
At 30 years, I would say you got your money's worth!!
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I certainly can't argue that Lol.

It does have some wear on the rod guide, but no worry, the angles aren't perfect anyway. I still manage to get blades shaving sharp with the lansky. I always finish off with a lansky ceramic hone. Doesn't come out mirror polished but shaving sharp is good enough for me.

The only problem with the lansky and like sets is that it CAN take a looong time to sharpen a really dull knife or re-profile a blade. But that can be said to some degree about any stone system I suppose.
 
If an edge on a 'junk shop rescue knife' is a real mess I've been known to hand-convex it on sandpaper with a mousepad underneath. Recently I am using an EdgePro to do "real" sharpening and touching up as needed on a Sharpmaker (just because setting up the EdgePro is a bit of a to-do.)

In either case I strop with a piece of leather belt and some Mother's mag-wheel polish, but that stuff cuts pretty slow, so big burrs are a bit of a pain -- quitting on a coarser stone and leaving a toothier edge is not very workable. I keep thinking I should swing by your shop and pick up some of that green stuff you use, but haven't gotten to it yet.

I don't do anything different for moderns, few that I have to deal with. I don't go in for thumbstuds, though, and I suppose they would be trickier with the EdgePro.

Believe it or not, one of the most useful pieces of sharpening kit I've got is an old magnifier my grandpap used in his machine shop, kind of like a loupe. It's great for spotting where a goofed-up grind is keeping me from getting out to the edge. Takes the mystery out of it when you're having a hard time working-up a burr.

--Mark
 
The 30+ year old diamond lansky set. I got it in the mid to late 70s, so it's prolly close to 40 years old actually. The rod guide is the old original lansky rod guide. They've since "upgraded" with a larger tightening knob on the rod guides and maybe other stuff. Anyway, it still has ton's of life left in it and will probably outlast me Lol. All the diamond hones are nice and flat and of course the ceramic hone is too ...

DSC09174.JPG


The most time consuming part of the lansky is in the set up and making sure the rods are all straight and hone/rods are flat and level and all the same. I just leave it set up as pictured and ready to go.
 
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Spyderco Sharpmaker. DMT 3-hone set of coarse/fine/ex fine diamond hones if needed. Strop on old leather belt with Porter-Cable green polishing compound rubbed into it.

I use the same set up for traditionals and modern knives (and kitchen knives, scissors, whatever I need to sharpen).
 
I used a standard Lansky kit for 20+ years myself. I never had the diamond stones until I bought my first Queen knife with D2 steel. I remember reading all the horror stories about how difficult it can be to sharpen D2. I actually took a vacation day from work just to sharpen my 3 blade Queen stockman because I wasn't sure what to expect. True story. I think it took me 3 or 4 hours to re-profile all three blades with the diamond stones.

The Lansky kit always gave me good results but I found myself afraid to use my knives sometimes because I didn't know when I could set aside some time to sharpen them again. That was unacceptable so I knew I needed to find a quicker method.

About 5 years ago I decided to try a Paper Wheel set up. It turned out to be just what I needed. It took some practice but now I can sharpen a completely dull blade to shaving sharp in about the same time as a regular commercial break on television. D2 steel is only slightly more difficult than 1095. Might take one minute longer. In most cases I'm only touching up the blade on the slotted wheel which takes even less time. A huge time saver and I get excellent results.

I don't worry about using my knives anymore and that is a big weight off my shoulders. I always have a sharp knife in my pocket now because I can sharpen them daily if necessary. Not a big deal anymore. The Paper Wheels aren't for everybody and some folks might curse them but they have been a real game changer for me.
 
okbohn said:
II have the luxury of having a slack belt grinder and grinding wheels to make it go really fast. Then later, I maintain the edges on a leather hone with an abrasive on the leather. I use Bark River green and black compound or a diamond spray.
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Probably the best set up there is. I just never had the luxury of a good belt grinder set up for cutlery. Nice
 
It depends on the knife.

For my fixed-blade Doziers I freehand with DMT diamond benchstones.

For my Northwoods mini-moose, Bark River PSK and other convexed edges I use strops with wet/dry sandpaper and then your green and black compounds.

For other knives I use a coarse Norton (for a pure working knife) or an Edge Pro (for knives I care about looks) to hog off a lot of steel and create an acute edge, then touch up as needed with Arkansas stones, a steel, strop, or Sharpmaker as needed. I can go years with only touch ups.
 
Railsplitter said:
I think it took me 3 or 4 hours to re-profile all three blades with the diamond stones.

The Lansky kit always gave me good results but I found myself afraid to use my knives sometimes because I didn't know when I could set aside some time to sharpen them again. That was unacceptable so I knew I needed to find a quicker method.
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3-4 hours isn't that bad with the lansky for three blades, sadly Lol. My quicker method was to buy more knives. That way if it took quite some time to sharpen one that had been worked hard, I could be using one of the others as I worked on the needy one HA. I'd LOVE to use and develop the skill set for use of something much faster too. It's just that the lansky is what I'm used to and my hand/eye/mind know all about it. I have NO idea what a Paper Wheel set up is, so off to google ~~~
 
Just about every knife I have hits the KSF strop with green on one side and bare leather on the other, this is usually for maintaining an edge. If I receive a new knife that is less than "sharp enough", it goes on the Spyderco tri angle thingy, and if the grind is leaning to one side, and there are quite a few of these (meaning that the cutting edge is not perpendicular or in line with the spine) then it gets the DMT aligner.

~Jim
 
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