? for all knowing,all seeing cliff stamp.

[donny b]

Would you be so kind, and entreat us on the treaties of why some of us will notice a bevel on one side is much better than the other side while useing or stones? I myself being right handed have noticed more difficulty on my left bevel; perhaps some pictures for us children of a lesser sharpener would help.tnx

 

[gud4u]

a bevel on one side is much better than the other side while useing or stones

I'm not Cliff - nor am I anti-Cliff.

I'm going to assume - since you don't care to specify - that uneven bevel angles are the problem. You should understand that all hand-honers produce uneven bevels, simply because they're not machines. The disparity is usually on the order of 2 to 5 degrees for even a skilled hand-honer. And that amount of bevel disparity is not a problem for cutting - just looks a little untidy on close inspection.

A simple aid in establishing uniform-angle bevels is the use of a simple 'jig', placed under the spine of the blade, to establish a uniform starting angle for the honing stroke- for each bevel. It's up to you to maintain that angle for the duration of the honing stroke, but it will help establish uniform honing angles.

The 'jig' can be anything (short stack of coins, whittled wood piece), as long as it's used in both directions. I'd suggest something like 5 strokes on one bevel, 5 strokes on the other bevel, since alternate-stroking with the jig is a PIA due to jig-juggling left and right.

Hope this helps!

 

[Cliff Stamp]

The main problem as gud4u noted is that most people are hand dominant and will not produce a perfectly symmetric bevel. This applies to the person who ground the blade as well. Often the primar grinds on knives are significantly uneven which has often lead to people to make false assumptions about grinding because they attribute the uneven bevels they produce to something they have done when in fact it is the fault of the primary grind. A common example of this is people blaming the burr sharpening method as proposed by Talmadge as producing uneven bevels.

Uneven primary grinds happens not only in inexpensive knives, my small Sebenza for example has a very uneven hollow grind and even if the edge was jig sharpened exactly on both sides, the resulting bevel is still very uneven in width. The primary has such a large variance that it actually pulls to the side like a chisel grind when cutting cardboard. Many initial edge angles are also very uneven, they can be 10 on one side and 20 on the other. If you sharpen at close to 15 degrees you then note that one side gets sharp immediately but the other side ignores the hone for a long time.

-Cliff

 

[donny b]

thank you! is it possible to have a pull through that will take my caffine induced coffee hands out of the picture,and yet be embraced by the blade community? or is this just crazy thinking?

 

[db]

I'm not Cliff but something like this? http://www.warthogsharp.com/

 

[Cliff Stamp]

thank you! is it possible to have a pull through that will take my caffine induced coffee hands out of the picture,and yet be embraced by the blade community?

There is elitism from some who hand sharpen so you will catch some flak. The pull through sharpeners do work ok for applying a small secondary bevel so are fine for keeping most blades sharp. You will however likely need to adjust your edge angle to be more acute than the existing angle of the rods. The rods will also tend to load up quickly and will lose all abrasion but you can scrub them clean.

-Cliff

 

[Old CW4]

db: Went to the Warthog Site and watched their videos. Slick product. However, I'm always suspicious of a company who won't list its prices and wants your personal info so "an agent can call."

So, nice, but I'll wait.

 

[db]

I understand that and agree I am too. I haven't used the thing nor do I have any idea on how much they are. I just remember some talk about them on the forums and thought it sounded like something you were describing. Sorry cann't help any more than that.

 

[Cliff Stamp]

I have used the Mousetrap which is a similar system which is designed just for steeling, no abrasion. It offered no advantage to a non-novice over a normal steel aside from cutting the number of strokes in half. It does have the advantage of a preset force from the counterweights and a jig/angle to eliminate those variables which can be confusing to someone starting out. I have had lots of people say for example the Sharpmaker is too complicated because there are too many options, two slots, two grits, two surfaces, that is eight different possibilities, what are you supposed to do.

-Cliff

 

[Old CW4]

db: Did some googling on the web re Warthog. It's made in South Africa and sells for 65 to 80 bucks. One Brit knife forum had a mini review. Guy said "it does a good job of sharpening but will also scratch up polished knives, the coarse diamond rods with the Warthog were about 340 grit and very aggressive." He recommended using it only on working knives. If used on polished knives, apply masking tape to leave only the bevel portion exposed. Also said it was "fussy" to change rods. His final remark---he was going to give it to his wife for her kitchen knives and use something else for his fancier knives Hmmm. Still, an interesting concept. I might take a flyer if I see one for sale somewhere.