Have $100 new knife or sharpening system?

J

johnnyKnives

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Sep 21, 2008
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I have two knives. A benchmade rant bowie and a swiss army knife cadet. I thought about buying the RC-3 but I don't have a sharpening "system." Should I get the sharpening tools or the RC-3? Thanks.

edit: if sharpening system I was hoping for recommendations

edit: the spyderco sharperning systems seems to get a lot of good recommendations here. I'll probably get that.
 
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It largely depends on whether you prefer sharp knives, or don't care about sharpness.
 
I'd invest the money in a basic set of bench hones and learn to freehand sharpen but that's me.

Once ya can get a handle on freehand sharpenin' you'll be able to sharpen forever, it's very Zen and relaxin', save money on cocktails and beer.:)
 
I am still planning on buying some better equipment, but I am getting by with a DMT diafold sharpener. I have fine on one side and extra fine on the other. I would feel prety comfortable about it if I had an extra extra fine too. NOTE: It is only large enough for average pocket knives and it cant do recurves. The sharpening "systems" like the gatco kind of anoyed me -I have been trying to learn freehand, and from my trials with the diafold, it does not take too long to catch on.

It only costs about 25 bucks.
 
Get a Spyderco sharp maker and save the extra $ for a later purchase. It's the only system I use now and it's completely noob proof. It's very easy to get super sharp edges, and no screwing around with clamps and rods so you can touch up a knife in a minute or two. With this system I sharpen my EDC every week so it stays scary sharp when using my old clamp and rod systems I never felt like going through all the BS so I waited for a dull edge before sharpening.
 
If you get the sharpmaker, which i strongly suggest you do, at least get a DMT coarse and maybe a medium paddle or benchstone, whichever you prefer. The sharpmaker just doesn't remove metal fast. So having some lower grits makes things so much easier.
 
When i was a kid, i kept knives usable sharp on an old carborundum stone. I finally bought an el-cheapo 2 sided stone (med/course) and later yet,a smooth arkansas stone. Believe it or not, all that has really changed, is the addition of a crock stick. With some cheap stones and an old knife,practice till you get an edge. Believe it or not, i have never used anything but a crock stick on my Swiss army knives. There are better and worse methods. Mine is cheap and works,and like previously mentioned very therapeutic.
 
Agreed. i find working with my arkansas stone very relaxing.after spending 8+ hours in school and work (or both achieving sometimes 14h+ days) nothing feels better than actual take a knife, put some oil on stone and gsharpen the knife, after spending 30-60 minutes working knife and no more stress.

The sound and movement are very relaxing. You don't get such thing with crocsticks ( while they're great ) sometimes old ways have more advantages then modern, engineered ones which quarantee good sharpness with little effort and little skills.

Granted it took me quite a lot to use stones and free hand sharpening but I wouldn't change that anything. Its good skill.

Edit: Imho: Get sharpening system. It will serve better your needs. If you get everytime new knife when you dull one, you will soon pack huge amount of dull knives. Better learn sharpen the knives and then all your knives are sharp and you find how much easier it is do chores with them...
 
I hate sharpening knives. (For some reason I don't mind doing straight razors though.) So I like to get it over with quickly, especially on kitchen knives. For those, I use a Harbor Freight 1 x 30" belt sander, some decent belts, and a leather honing belt. The other day I sharpened ten kitchen knives in about twenty minutes, which included three belt changes. They come out sharp enough to shave hair off of my arm, but not crazy sharp like a straight razor.

I have pretty much all of the sharpening systems, stones, and jigs you can think of, but the Harbor Freight belt sander is cheaper than most, and faster than all of the others. You can get the sander on sale for about $35. Decent 1 x 30 belts are $1.15 each from Pop's (I usually use 220 and 600 grit), and the 1" x 30" SURGI-SHARP Leather Belt is $15.95 from Moon's Saw & Tool (it's 17.95 if you get the abrasive stick with it). (Put "Surgi-Sharp" into Moon's "Quick Search" to find the page.)

So, unless you are into extreme sharpening and have lots of time to kill, the little belt sander is my recommendation.
 
What are your standards for sharpness?

If you want something to whittle hair, you'll probably need about $100 worth of equipment.
I use a 2"x8" coarse grit diamond hone (to re-profile the blade), the full set of Spyderco Alumina Ceramic benchstones, and a strop. The whole set up costing around $140.
If you just want your knife to shave, a $10 two grit utility stone from Home Hardware can do that (with some practice).

If you like to use your knives more than "ohh" and "ahh" at them, I'd just get a utility stone and the RC-3. No sense in having a buttload of sharpening equipment if you're never going to take ZDP-189 down to ten degrees per side.
 
Yard Sale bench grinder ~ $25. Richard J's paper wheels ~ $45. Hair splitting edges within minutes.

Or a good set of bench stones. The Harbor Freight belt sander is a good investment too, especially if you are into re-profiling your edges. The leather belt loaded with green or white makes for an excellent power strop, but the paper wheels will also give you the same polished edge results.

If I only had 2 knives, I'd want to make sure they stay sharp before I bought another knife.
 
T. Erdelyi said:
I'd invest the money in a basic set of bench hones and learn to freehand sharpen but that's me.

Once ya can get a handle on freehand sharpenin' you'll be able to sharpen forever, it's very Zen and relaxin', save money on cocktails and beer.:)
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:thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:

The problem with sharpening gadgets is they don't fit in your pocket or wallet. Get a small pocket diamond hone and learn to sharpen freehand and you'll be able to touch up your knife anywhere, anytime.
 
johnnyKnives said:
Nothing. I don't have anything.
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In that case, I would definitely suggest a Sharpmaker and perhaps a pair of diamond rods for it. You'll have a nice, complete sharpener setup that will benefit you regardless of what knives you purchase in the future. :)
 
johnnyKnives said:
I thought about buying the RC-3 but I don't have a sharpening "system." Should I get the sharpening tools or the RC-3? Thanks.
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You can get a Smith's diamond hone at Wal*Mart for less than $20, coarse/fine (for removing metal fast).

Add a coarse/fine india stone, and maybe a soft Arkansas stone.

If your knives are fairly sharp, and you don't need to remove a lot of metal, you can skip the diamond hone. it's easier to keep things sharp than to redo an edge.

Then save for a couple more weeks and get the RC3.
 
Sandpaper and a mouse pad works quickly, is cheap and portable. I've also had good results with emery boards from the nail care isle.

Frank
 
Don't forget the fun factor. Pay more money for a sharpening system, more fun you have sharpening. Get Japanese natural waterstones.
 
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