Freehand Sharpening Question

A

alan aragon

Joined
Dec 10, 2003
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this question could probably be answered by a sharpening book or video, but hey.. why not use this forum for some additional feedback/gems of wisdom while i don't yet have that stuff.

i've checked out joe t's FAQ on sharpening, but read no mention of sharpening motion/direction, nor whether it's more effective to move the blade itself, or to move the stone over the blade while keeping the blade relatively still.

so..

1st question: what's the optimal direction/motion to move the blade over the stone, given that the stone is laid still? move the edge toward its spine (like stropping) or away from it? do a circular motion? what direction? etc, etc...

2nd question: is it more effective to move the blade itself over the stone, or to move the stone over the blade while keeping the blade relatively still?

i'm a sharpening newbie, so bear with me. the freehand method is something i'd like to master, so for the time being, i'm not that interested in getting an edgepro or sharpmaker. if there are good links on these aspects of sharpening, please drop them. thanks.
 
IMHO:

1.- Any direction will work as long as you can keep the angle constant, but spine first will make a bigger burr.

2.- Whichever way you can better maintain the angle constant will work better for you.
 
thanks for the input. are there any "finer points" to this (whoa! no pun intended)?

uppin for more angles.
 
For most of my sharpening I have used a Eze-Lap diamond sharpener , 1/4" x4" rod on a handle. They have different shapes and grits and diamond will sharpen everything.As for flat stones or diamond I find it easier to sharpen blade edge away on one side and edge toward me on the other and use a circular motion. But it's really what works best for you.
 
You need to experiment to see what works best for you. There is no single way. As pointed out above, the method that helps you maintain the most consistent angle is the best.

For me, what works is to move the blade like I'm taking a slice of it. I go in a circular motion when I'm trying to remove material faster, and a slicing action, drawing the knife along/down the stone, when I am finishing the final edge, gradually applying less presure.
 
Assuming that I am doing all of the sharpening freehand using bench stones what I do is:

When removing a lot of material (reprofiling) an edge I use any stroke that allows a lot of pressure and is easy to do. This is usually back and forth with the stone at about a 20 degree angle away from my body. In some extreme cases I use the edge of the stone rather than the top so that I get high pressure on the edge.

Actual sharpening is done with an edge-forward stroke to reduce the amount of burr formed. I use the side of my finger or thumb as a guage to hold a constant angle. I work one side until I just begin to feel a burr then I work the other side until the blade mostly feels sharp. I double my sharpening angle (say from 15 to 30 degrees) and do a few light strokes edge first to knock off the burrs. At this point I start to do edge-forwards strokes on alternating sides. All this is done with a relatively coarse hone. I don't switch to a fine hone until I have the bevels formed the way that I want them.

I work out the scratches from the coarse hone using a medium fine hone. I work on one side for about 20 strokes using the side of my thumb as a guage to match the angle that I used for my rough sharpening. Then I flop it over and do 20 strokes using the side of my finger as a guage. I do a few strokes alternating sides then I super-elevate my honing angle and to a few more light deburring strokes. (All of this is edge-forwards). I go back to my regular 15 degree angles and get a sharp edge using alternating strokes.

I move on to ultrafine hones and work alternating sides till I am happy with the edge. I finish by raising my honing angle to 20 degrees and do a few light edge forwards strokes alternating sides. Depending on the type of steel I may do a little stropping on leather--with or without polishing compound.

The above was somewhat hypothetical. In reality I mostly use my belt sander for reprofiling and I virtually always finish up with my Spyderco Sharpmaker after my bench honing stages. I like the edge texture that I get from the brown ceramic rods.

I only use circular strokes on water stones which helps build up a slurry of abrassive grit.
 
For the direction, I basicly slice across the hone. I think of it as putting a 45 degree scratch patern on the edge.
 
The link below will take you to instructions by Hall's Proedge Arkansas Stones. They are my favorite source for whetstones.

http://www.hallsproedge.com/sharpening.htm

Like mete said above, I do most of my sharpening on diamond hones, I just polish the edges on the stones after setting the edge. The final step is stropping on hard leather mounted on a wood block with CrO rouge.
 
thanks a ton for the advice & the links, everyone. i'm gonna investigate that black arkansas offered by proedge.
 
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