first time sharpener here-whats the best?

P

paulwesley

Joined
Sep 5, 2005
Messages
655
first time to get a sharpener but when you look at them they look kind of confusing all the rods and such. Can I get some tips on sharpeners yAll please.....thx/paul
 
Hi Paul,
There's no such creature as "the best sharpener", but, you can get a system of some sort that will greatly help you with getting (and keeping) your edges as sharp as you need/want them to be.

The answer to getting the right sytem for you is going to be based on what kind of knives you want to sharpen, how many knives you have to sharpen, how often do you think you will sharpen these knives, are you looking to increase the performance (as in reprofiling) these knives ,and how much money are you willing to spend.

My first recommendation, if you haven't already done so, would be to pick up a copy of "The RazorEdge Book of Sharpening" by John Juranitch. This book, while being a little dated and self promotional, is largely considered to be "the Bible of Knife Sharpening". It's a great book for learning all the secrets there is to sharpening a knife.


For sharpening systems, I suppose I would offer up the usual recommendations....

For touch-ups the Spyderco Sharpmaker would be a good choice.

For more all around use the EdgePro is a great system.


Personally, I would suggest forgoing the above two systems and trying to learn to "free hand" on waterstones as that's my choice of poison for applying the ultimate edge. Look at either Norton or Shapton (Pro Series) waterstones.


My above recommendations are just the tip of the iceberg for knife sharpening systems. Please let us know what your particular situation is and the good folks here will surely be able to point you in the right direction.


--Dave--
 
D_R_Sharpening said:
Hi Paul,
There's no such creature as "the best sharpener", but, you can get a system of some sort that will greatly help you with getting (and keeping) your edges as sharp as you need/want them to be.

The answer to getting the right sytem for you is going to be based on what kind of knives you want to sharpen, how many knives you have to sharpen, how often do you think you will sharpen these knives, are you looking to increase the performance (as in reprofiling) these knives ,and how much money are you willing to spend.

My first recommendation, if you haven't already done so, would be to pick up a copy of "The RazorEdge Book of Sharpening" by John Juranitch. This book, while being a little dated and self promotional, is largely considered to be "the Bible of Knife Sharpening". It's a great book for learning all the secrets there is to sharpening a knife.


For sharpening systems, I suppose I would offer up the usual recommendations....

For touch-ups the Spyderco Sharpmaker would be a good choice.

For more all around use the EdgePro is a great system.


Personally, I would suggest forgoing the above two systems and trying to learn to "free hand" on waterstones as that's my choice of poison for applying the ultimate edge. Look at either Norton or Shapton (Pro Series) waterstones.


My above recommendations are just the tip of the iceberg for knife sharpening systems. Please let us know what your particular situation is and the good folks here will surely be able to point you in the right direction.


--Dave--
Click to expand...
Dave,

It's very nice to see you have joined this forum. From reading your many threads over at KF I will tell everyone here at BF, that with Dave joining us, we just added a powerful sharpening resource with a wealth of knowledge to our "Toolshed".

I'll be looking for more of your enlightening posts. You'll probably recognize others here that you are familiar with; thombrogan for one.

Welcome again.
 
Hi Tim,
Thanks for the welcome!! :)

I'm looking forward to sharing with, and learning from, the members here in "The Toolshed".


--Dave--
 
Yep, I'll agree with Dave (and he has enough sharpening goodies to turn a blade freak green with envy!) :)

Hi Dave (^o^)/"
 
yuzuha said:
Yep, I'll agree with Dave (and he has enough sharpening goodies to turn a blade freak green with envy!) :)

Hi Dave (^o^)/"
Click to expand...


I have a few goodies but you're the one with all the good stuff - especially when it comes to stones. :)

Anyone wanting to know about waterstones, or probably any sharpening stone for that matter, would do well to consult with "yuzuha" as she really has done a ton of research on the subject. She's quite the authority - trust me. ;)


--Dave--
 
I'll disagree a little with most. For a beginner who doesn't want to spend much $ and still get a really shgarp knife I'd say the Lansky rod and clamp system is the best choice. 2Nd choice I'd say the DMT system. All the systems work very well and they all have good and bad points to them. However, the best way to learn to sharpen, if a person really wants to learn how, is to read everything you can find, and get a basic idea on sharpening. Then get a coarse long bench stone and start grinding away. You have to do it to learn it. Then the madness begins and you read more and more and start getting more and more hones. :)
 
I'll join db on reading all you can find. When you go looking for the most refined of sharpening goodies, go track down Yuhuza's posts on lapidary supplies for links to suppliers of very fine diamond and aluminum oxide powders. You may also want to look into getting some good lighting and magnification. Radio Shack has some 10x/60x handheld microscopes for about 10 bucks.

I think that a belt-sander and a Spyderco Sharpmaker will handle 98% of everything a budding sharpening-geek will need, but, then, my experience with waterstones is highly limited (plus, you can buy a belt sander and Sharpmaker for less than the price of a single high-quality waterstone in some cases).
 
thombrogan said:
I think that a belt-sander and a Spyderco Sharpmaker will handle 98% of everything a budding sharpening-geek will need...
Click to expand...

I would caution use of the belt-sander for various reasons, overheating, altering the curvature, ruining the tip, etc. . It doesn't take much skill for it to be useful, but for a novice with powertools, it may be problematic.

I would suggest in order of importance :

1) knowledge of what you are trying to do, "Sharpening made easy" by Steve Bottorff and the FAQ by Joe Talmadge are solid places to start

2) a small lighted magnifier, you can get this at radio shack for $10, without it, many knives will be very frustrating to sharpen, a quick glance under the scope solves many problems

3) an x-coarse stone to reset edges, a japanese 200 or lower SiC grit works best, but you can find cheap SiC stones at any hardware store for much less if you are on a budget as db has noted

4) some way to actually hone the edge, the Sharpmaker does this well and is very versatile, much more so than the basic v-rods

These items will not only allow you to start really quickly but you can expand off of them and there isn't much you can't do with them. Those tools will allow you to handle everything from a paring knife to a machete to an axe.

It is also best to start off with knives which are inherently easy to sharpen, Spyderco's VG-10 and Buck's 420 models are good because the steels are easy to machine, the edges thin and acute, and in general don't have excessive problems with burrs.

-Cliff
 
I would suggest the Spyderco Sharpmaker plus a course whetstone (you can get dual sided whetstones at the Depot, get at least 6") and a strop/hone.

The Sharpmaker comes with a DVD and good instructions. It doesn't weight much or take up any space. It can be setup very quickly and doesn't have any clamps to mess with.

I think it is perfect for a beginner.

Oh yes! Glad to have you at the party!
 
Paul-

I would suggest the Spyderco Sharpmaker plus a course whetstone (you can get dual-sided whetstones at the Depot, get at least 6") and a strop/hone to finish polishing the edge.

The Sharpmaker comes with a DVD and good instructions. It doesn't weight much or take up any space for storage. It can be setup very quickly and doesn't have any clamps to mess with. You can easily sharpen both edges at common knife angles, plain and serrated edges.

I think it is perfect for a beginner.

Oh yes! Glad to have you at the party!

http://forums.egullet.com/index.php?showtopic=26036

The most important thing I learned when I started was that I lacked patience. I actually believed that you only did so many passes on a sharpener and wham-bam you had it! I wasted lots of time moving up to finer grit stones before I had the knife sharp at the courser grits. I learned the hard way that the BURR is the PROOF. I also learned that many good knives can be made much better with a little regrinding and sharpening at more acute angles.

Mr. Joe Talmadge, our resident wizard for the forum, has some really great info about knives that I highly recommend you print off and read weekly until you understand what he is saying.

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=368828

Again, great to have you here. Let us know how you do and if you have any questions/comments/suggestion, etc.
 
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