Having trouble sharpening a knife

S

SideKick

Joined
Nov 28, 2005
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I decided to purchas a Sharpmaker and I have used it on about 10 knives and all but two of them have turned out razor sharp except A small kitchen knife and a knife that my dad bought about 40 years ago that is now mine. I still use the knife everytime I go fishing, hunting or camping. Any way I cant get it razor sharp and I am trying to figure out why. The blade is just about as thick as my pocket knife which is now razor sharp, well sharp enough to remove hair from my forearm. I tried to use the 15 degree angle to set the bevel (says 30 on the sharpmaker) and then sharpen it with the 20 degree angle (says 40 on the sharpmaker). It became very sharp but I want to try to bring it to a razor sharp edge. So I tried to just use the 15 degree angle and sharpen it with there directions 20 strokes on each side for each step. It once again became sharp but not razor sharp. So I tried it again using the 15 degree angle and it is not getting razor sharp. Have been reading on this sight about grinding down the blade to make it thinner I am not sure if this is what I should do or how to do it correctly. How do I do this? Do you have any recomendations on sharpening this particular knife? Can every knife be sharpened to a razor sharp edge?


I would insert a few immages of the knife but I do not know how to do this.

Sorry for the newbee questions.
 
Probably 95% of the time when you're not getting a blade sharp, it's because you're not really hitting the edge with your stones. Use the magic marker trick to see exactly where you're hitting.

Also, forget the whole 20 strokes thing. It's arbitrary and almost always off by an order of magnitude. Work a side until you know you hit the edge front to back.
 
So should I work one side until I rase a burr then work the other side, like using a bench stone?

I will try the magic marker thing.
 
cheung_victor said:
Whats that?
Click to expand...

Take magic marker and run it along the edge and bevel. Then lightly hit it with the Sharpmaker. This allows to let you see just where the stone is hitting the blade.

The reference above would be that the stone is hitting higher on the bevel, rather than on the cutting edge. This happens when your sharpening angle is less than the profile bevel.
 
Like everyone says, "Use the magic marker Sharpie." Some knives can just be plain ornery and unless you want to make a career of it you will get them sharp but not razor-edge.
 
Thanks I did the magic marker thing and found that the scratch marks where above the bevel. I dug around the garage and found a Smiths sharpening kit I bough at wall mart a year or two ago and I only used it a few times. It has three stones on of them is a diamond stone. I used there guide and the 20 Degree angle and I ground the crap out of one side untill I was positive that i raised a burr all along the blade. I found that I could clamp the stone in a bench vice and move the knife that way I only use one hand while the other rested. It was a pretty long process. I then switched to the Smiths fine stone which is supposidly a Natural Arkansas stone. I worked on each side for about 2 minuits or so it still and the burr started flip flopping. So I took it to my grandfathers hous and to my supprise he a very old stropp I used it to knock off the burr. I was even more shocked to see the little hairs fall off my arm. I then used the sharp maker just with the ceramic stones and it is way sharper and the hairs pop off. It seamed to me that right at first the sharpmaker caused a very tiny burr to form I used the edge and then the flat sided. At an attempt to remove the burr I increased the angle on the sharp maker by tilting my hand a little and I did a 2 or 3 strokes on each side like this It seamed to remove it if it was even there at all. Is that the proper way to remove a burr with stones?
 
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