Hand sharpening practice suggestions?

[Fred.Rowe]

Some knives just will not take an edge no matter what technique is used. I've sharpened thousands and some just will not take an edge. I use a wet belt machine to sharpen and if this wont put an edge on a blade it can't be done.
There a pain in the butt when you come across one of these worthless knives.

 

[ksskss]

So if the goal is to learn sharpening, I would suggest that the goal isn't to take cheapness to extreme. Don't worry about $2 knives, crappy markers and cheap stones and compounds. They are cheap for a reason - they work poorly. If this is what you start on, you are BEGGING for frustration. Really crappy knives are a PITA to sharpen.

Get some cheap knives - something in a grocery store for $15-20, a SHARPIE marker, and a good coarse stone (eg 150 or 220 grit), a 1k stone and good diamond plate to flatten it. Learn to generate a burr first and then learn how not to generate a burr unnecessarily. $2 knives are too cheap.

Get your basics down first. High grit finishes are useless without solid foundation work. Only then will high grit finishes come into their own or else you will just have shiny edges that cut poorly as opposed to high grit great cutting edges.

Learn angular consistency. This incorporates correct posture, lighting, etc etc. The refection of an overhead light should not be flickering around but stay in place if your angles are consistent (useful tip).

---
Ken

 

[WuGod]

If I was re-starting learning sharpening Id get a couple of Moras or cheap straight razors (Gold Dollars arent bad, and cheap vintage ones can be found on the bay) so I didnt have to worry about the angle and learn how to work the burr, scratch patterns and proper pressure first. Those were the things holding me back from getting beyond hair scraping sharp to tree topping. Once I got that down the angle holding was easy.

 

[bucketstove]

Technique isn't perfect but I can still get a knife barely treetopping .....

Well thats interesting thanks tretopping is a high level of sharpness, sharper than Ive achieved (most arm hair scrape shaving and some face so I see what you mean, different expectations

So if the goal is to learn sharpening, I would suggest that the goal isn't to take cheapness to extreme. Don't worry about $2 knives, crappy markers and cheap stones and compounds. They are cheap for a reason - they work poorly. .a SHARPIE marker..

Also thank you for your perspective
Have you ever put 20 pound of force on a knife blade? Without feeling bad about breaking either the knife or the stone? And still got a sharp edge without damaging either?

About the only difference between a sharpie magnum ($4) and the other marker ( $0.33) is the smell -- they both mark the stuff and don't wash off

The reason they are cheap is called economies of scale -- easier to sell 100million units for $1 than 1million units for 10 dollars -- something for everyone to buy

going into a store and paying full retail price is not the same as washing/reusing paper towels ( cheapness to the extreme )

sure the dollar store stones aren't the best, some have slight hollows, most have high corners/edges, fine side has chunks of higher grit...
but a ~$7 stone is also not perfectly flat , also has raised/high corners/edges ... but the grit is better filtered more consistent no big chunks of mixing
but $11-$16 diamond stone is also not perfectly flat and has some high spots ... and diamond "stones" are easier to damage by using too much force

It takes contrast to learn to appreciate more expensive stuff if its worth it