first time sharpening a knife :(

C

carspidey

Joined
Mar 12, 2010
Messages
722
Hello all...

I bought a sharpening stone on saturday and tried it for the first time last night...

I have sharpened knives before but never with a stone... :D

I was going to try it on my ESEE RC6 but decided to first try it on another blade (I think it's a victorinox)...

Before I sharpened, I try slicing a business card with it, and it would not...

So, I tried the stone for a few passes and nothing... a few more and more and i was getting something... but i could not get it razor sharp...

Any tips??? I've watched videos and tried applying that but nothing..

thanks...
 
Keep in mind, that if you have a dull edge, you will need to work on it for a bit to get the edge geometry back to where it will start cutting things. From there and to a shaving sharp edge will take more work and time. Also, never undue force to sharpen a knife, as it will not do you or your knife any good, and may infact harm both.
 
I use a Smith's 800 grit Arkansas hard stone, and then finish up with 1000 and 2000 grit wet and dry. Gives me a good useable edge that doesn't take forever to apply. Plus it's cheap.
 
what kind of stone do you have?

heres some steps to follow

1.draw the right bevel along the stone multiple times until you have raised a burr.
2. repeat on the left side
3. draw the edge along a peice of wood to knock off the burr
4. make 20-40 strokes alternating sides each stroke
5. remove the burr again
6. 10-20 strokes again alternating
7. test your edge, if its not sharp enough you may need a finer stone.
 
You might want to consider getting a stick system to learn on, spyderco makes a nice one, lansky makes a cheaper one. Also, you want to practice on softer steel, so definitely not your RAT, get a $20 Cold Steel in AUS6 to work over.

EDIT: And don't let it bother you if this get's moved, they like to keep the content in this forum pretty focused, just the rules of the road in W&SS.
 
might want to get the MODS to move this to MAINTENANCE & TINKERING, tons more people there to help you.
 
Practice, practice, practice. Working on stones takes experience! It took me a long time and many blades to get where I consider myself satisfactory.
 
Like I said... I got it sharper but not razor sharp...
I got the stone at a Mr Stuff... it was cheap...
There is a barber school next door to it... And the lady told me that most of the students there by this stone...

The specs on it are teh following:

Aluminum oxide grain
Resin on resin bond
Both medium and fine gritd
Wear-resistant stone...

I might consider trying a strop :D

But like i said... i got it sharper... so i must be doing it OK... i'll practice practice practice :D :D

Thanks...
 
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