Hand Sharpening.

65535

65535

Joined
Mar 14, 2007
Messages
3,736
I feel like I'm the only one that takes serious pride in getting a scary sharp edge all by hand.

I use a simple DMT Coarse-Fine-Extra Fine-Cr2O3 loaded strop. All my stones and strops are 10x4" size and will do just about anything you can throw at it. A bit slow reprofiling 6" D2 blades but that's another story.

I know a lot of guys use guided systems, I'm not saying you're cheating, and machine guys same goes for you. I just feel really accomplished when I finish up a knife with a nice satin edge with a hair scaring edge, can't whittle but my edge isn't totally polished.

What say you?:foot:
 
I guess it's not so particular thing that those who sharpen edge by hand do not talk much about it.

Though I generally agree with you about accomplishment.
 
yup, I like freehanding best ;)

And... I CAN whittle hair freehanding :D





So can you by adding a Spyderco 306 UF to your stones. Srsly
 
Being able to sharpen free hand is very important to me.When out in the bush for any length of time,it's the only practical way to keep things sharp without packing around extra gear.All my sharpening is done by hand wherever I am to keep things simple.I use a double sided folding DMT with coarse & fine.Works for me.
 
i really used to enjoy doing it by hand until my hands got so bad i would have to pry my fingers open. it sucks getting old :(
 
I do all my sharpening on one stone, my DMT fine. I get hair whittling off of it fairly easily. I use a DMT X Course or XX Course if I need to reprofile or thin out the secondary bevel from touching up the microbevel frequently. Except for reprofiling work I'd be content just using the DMT fine for the rest of my knife sharpening life.

I don't really feel a sense of accomplishment from it like I used to when I first learned to get a good edge, because getting really good results has become what I expect every time I sharpen. If I don't get at least hair popping sharp, something is wrong. If I do, everything is normal and I just have a sharp knife.
 
I also like to sharpen freehand on natural stones. I can better feel what the steel is doing and it has a nostalgic/historic feel to it. Depending on how sharp I get the knife, I do feel a sense of accomplishment. Freehanding for me depends on my sharpening mojo, sometimes I can get one scary sharp with little effort and other times I have to work hard just to get a useable edge. I still like my sharpmaker for when the edges have to be even and perfect, but I don't use it much these days.
 
BJE said:
I also like to sharpen freehand on natural stones. I can better feel what the steel is doing and it has a nostalgic/historic feel to it. Depending on how sharp I get the knife, I do feel a sense of accomplishment. Freehanding for me depends on my sharpening mojo, sometimes I can get one scary sharp with little effort and other times I have to work hard just to get a useable edge. I still like my sharpmaker for when the edges have to be even and perfect, but I don't use it much these days.
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Me too Brian... and uphold your family name. DM
 
I agree. There's nothing wrong with using guided systems to sharpen your knives. I do however believe that hand sharpening is slowly becoming a lost art. Neither my father or my grandfathers used a guided system to sharpen their knives. In those days, all men knew how to sharpen a knife on a benchstone. It was simply a matter of tool maintenance. I guess I'm just a little nostalgic. I certainly don't mean any offence to those who use guided systems for whatever reason, I just find great joy in free hand sharpening.
 
I have been hand sharpening for 17+ years now, I have tried everything but the edgepro and never liked any of them, I could always get a sharper edge by hand. I see my self as one of very few who can do this without a machine and I take great pride in that. I will continue to hand sharpen until my hands won't let me any more, hopefully thats a long time from now.
 
i also really enjoy putting on a wicked edge with a stone and strop, its nice. when i have alot of sharpening or especially large or heavily damaged blades, i will take it to the belt sander.

one of the main benefits to being able to hand sharpen really well is that you can go anywhere in the world and use almost any abrasive surface to sharpen a blade. systems require that you have the system in order to use them.
 
65535 said:
I feel like I'm the only one that takes serious pride in getting a scary sharp edge all by hand....
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Don't worry your not alone, lotsa people sharpen to scarry sharp around here we just don't feel the need to tell everyone anymore, if ya can do a search and look around you'll find a poo-poo load of "How sharp can ya get yer knives" threads here.

You'll also find most people finish by hand and do the grunt,(rebeveling) work with a system or a jig, it just saves time and if ya don't have a lot of different grit stones it helps to use a system or jig to get that initial bevel.:)
 
I too prefer freehand sharpening and find it more satisfying. I generally use diamond and ceramic hones with the occasional assist from a strop and/or some 3M micro abrasives.

I save the guides/jigs for when I really want to be sure that I've rebeveled a particular knife to the same angle in a neat fashion.
 
I too enjoy the hair whittling edge I get free hand sharpening. I just free hand using a 1x30 belt sander. FWIW, I would consider most sharpening methods free hand except the Edgepro and the Lansky and their related guided systems. The sharpmaker is free hand, as are those who use coins on the stone, tilt one end of the stone up, etc. The angle is held by hand, just has a consistent starting point or easy reference for the angle.

The art of sharpening anything is becoming a lost art. There are surprisingly few who can put a shaving edge on anything, with any technique, let alone free hand. There were only 2 of us on the entire floor of my dorm. I dont know about the other floors.
 
I will admit to a certain amount of pride when I see the look on someone's face after I sharpen their knife on the DMTs I pulled out of my back pocket and shave a patch of hair off my arm to test it. It is amazing how many people had no idea their knife could ever be that sharp. Kind of sad, too...
 
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