First freehand sharpening

R

rintinchin

Joined
Jan 6, 2017
Messages
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Hey all, this is my first post but i thought this was pretty cool so i figured id share it. So i have had my spyderco sharpmaker for a few months now and have always used it the normal way with the stones in the angle slots and have gotten pretty good results. It was time to sharpen my crkt minimalist and i thought why not try out free hand so i screwed the base to a cardboard box and layed a diamond stone flat on the base and went to work. I went about 20 degrees until I raised a burr on one side then switched and just kept flipping the burr around then broke it off on a piece of wood. I went to the brown stones and did about 10 passes then the white and again 10 passes. After that i stropped it on leather with 5 then 3 and 1 micron diamond paste. I tested it on some phonebook paper not expecting much but to my surprise it flew threw the paper with no effort. Then just for fun i tryed to whittle some hair and i was amazed to find it whittling hair with ease. Not too bad to get a hair whittling edge on my first freehand sharpening huh? Anyways i guess im going to look for some nice water stones now.
 
I have lots of stones.
I just hand sharpened an S110V blade on diamond. Yes it shaves. Yes it whittles hair.
I HATE free hand sharpening. Wastes metal. The results are less than the perfection I get from guided sharpening . . .
My advice : Get an Edge Pro Apex with Shapton stones.
 
PS: Congratulations ! ! !
It is something to be proud of and I respect that you took the time to learn freehand sharpening.
A good feeling isn't it to be able to finally "get it".
 
I'm not even sure about wasting metal.

Guided systems are so rigid (if they work well) they require steel be removed all along a precise plane even if a degree of deviation would have the same effect in terms of performance.

Introducing even that one degree will actually decrease the amount of steel needing to be removed, unless one is touching up a guided rig-sharpened edge. In that case if your rig matches the same deviation along the belly and tip as what was last used to grind the edge, a guide is going to be much quicker. If it doesn't, you'll be grinding away to match what's there...

There comes point where instead of being helpful, high levels of precision are an added drag on the process without delivering additional benefit. They are aesthetically much nicer to look at in most cases!

To the OP, darn good job! My first freehand sharpening attempt killed the knife AND the stone.:eek:
 
Keep a couple of things in mind when using your Spyderco 204 Sharpmaker. I'm a big fan of the Spyderco 204 Sharpmaker and have used the Sharpmaker tool even before they released the 204 model. The 204 model also has extra stones you can buy and I highly encourage you to check them out. They have a diamond stone, an ultra-fine stone and now they also have CBN stones you can buy extra. If you are serious about sharpening and use your 204 kit a lot you will find it to be money well spent.

Now I'm not at all comparing the 204 Sharpmaker to advanced systems like the EDGE PRO or the WICKED EDGE systems because they are truly more advanced units. But for everyday sharpening and field use I truly believe that the Spyderco 204 Sharpmaker is by far the best kit type sharpener out there on the market IMO.

Also I believe if you watch the video of of the 204 Sharpmaker over and over you can really get the principles of sharpening from using that unit. Also there is a great book on subject of sharpening that I recommend to everyone>> it's called "The Razor Edge Book Of Sharpening" by John Juranitch. That book along with Leonard Lee's book of Sharpening will show you the basic methods of freehand sharpening. Good luck and keep us informed.
 
Wowbagger said:
I have lots of stones.
I just hand sharpened an S110V blade on diamond. Yes it shaves. Yes it whittles hair.
I HATE free hand sharpening. Wastes metal. The results are less than the perfection I get from guided sharpening . . .
My advice : Get an Edge Pro Apex with Shapton stones.
Click to expand...

I've kinda gone both ways on this... started with guides and the "science" of sharpening... now more into trying freehand.

I say, if the OP is getting great results freehand... stick with it. Unless going for "ultimate sharp"... there's a lot of benefits to sharpening freehand... and based on initial (first time) results?.... no need to switch IMO.
 
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