Help a noob choose first knife sharpening equipment

J

joepa150

Joined
Mar 15, 2010
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I am on a budget of $50 to get me started on equipment for sharping my pocket knives, a few fixed blade hunting knives, and my kitchen knives. Growing up I used to have a Lansky Sharpening set. While that worked pretty good, I didn't like the way you mount the knife and the clamp on the rods.

I was thinking about the Spyderco Sharpmaker but if I have any blades that doesn't have a 15 or 20 degree edge then I would have to rig it somehow or re-profile the edge. Also if I have a dull knife I would probably need to buy the $45 diamond rods. So right there I am about at $100.

Is there any other options?

I was thinking of getting a combo bench stone to start out with and then I could always add a coarser or finer stone to that in the future.

Would Spyderco, DMT, King, Norton, or another brand be better?
 
joepa150 said:
I was thinking about the Spyderco Sharpmaker but if I have any blades that doesn't have a 15 or 20 degree edge then I would have to rig it somehow or re-profile the edge.
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I think the SharpMaker is a fine sharpening system, that will put a good edge on just about any knife with minimal skill. I am no edge fanatic so I have been satisfied with the edge a SM puts on my knives, and I have yet to find a knife that I can not sharped using one of the standard angles without any nessesity for reprofiling.

Also if I have a dull knife I would probably need to buy the $45 diamond rods. So right there I am about at $100.
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I think the diamond sleeves are really only needed to seriously reprofile a knife, they are not really necessary to routinely sharpen even a dull knife.

Is there any other options?
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Sure, lots! From Lansky to paper wheels to Japanese water stones. They all have advantages and disadvantages but most also require at least a modicum more skill than the SM.

I was thinking of getting a combo bench stone to start out with and then I could always add a coarser or finer stone to that in the future.
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Should work fine. People got by for generations with nothing else than that. If you find a passion for sharpening (like many people here) you can add more stones to your collection as you can afford them.

Would Spyderco, DMT, King, Norton, or another brand be better?
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The only "stones" I currently have are a couple of folding DMT diamond shapeners for field touch up. If I wanted to get into free hand sharpening for around $50, I would probably get a couple of the 6-inch DMT DiaSharp® bench stones (fine and coarse). I'm sure there are other good brands, though.
 
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a norton india 8inch fine/course combo stone sounds like would serve your needs well and is used by some of the best knifemakers around besides being inexpensive..
 
You could also go the really cheap route of sandpaper and mousepad. Varying grits of wet/dry and a mousepad, leather or other somewhat hard backing.

Leather and polishing compound for final strop and you should have hair splitting convex edges.

The advantage is it's easy, cheap and extremely effective. :thumbup:
 
I like Norton stones, Diamond edge makes good diamond sharpeners too. Learn to do it free hand , and you won`t have to spend a lot of money on expensive sharpening systems that are a pain to carry in the field.
 
I started with the inexpensive Lansky "Crock Sticks" and they worked fine for what they cost (about $25.00).

I have since ordered a Spyderco Sharpmaker and I like it a lot. It is a good system and it very easy to use. It comes with both white & gray rods. One advantage of the Sharpmaker rods is that because of the shape of the rods you are able to sharpen serrations on knives that have them (if you're in to serrated knives).
 
Raining said:
You could also go the really cheap route of sandpaper and mousepad. Varying grits of wet/dry and a mousepad, leather or other somewhat hard backing.

Leather and polishing compound for final strop and you should have hair splitting convex edges.

The advantage is it's easy, cheap and extremely effective. :thumbup:
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To show you just how effective it is look at this thread :P
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=724811
 
justintyme said:
a norton india 8inch fine/course combo stone sounds like would serve your needs well and is used by some of the best knifemakers around besides being inexpensive..
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You could add a decent leather strop to this and still be under your 50$ limit . Norton makes good quality, economical stones .DM
 
David Martin said:
You could add a decent leather strop to this and still be under your 50$ limit . Norton makes good quality, economical stones .DM
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Is see that Norton has some combination stones in the $12-16 range and some combination wet stones in the $40-60 range. Which one would be the preferable choice and do you know a cheap and reliable online store that sells these?
 
I would suggest the Sharpmaker by Spyderco. It not only gives you a very effective tool, but also provides a wealth of knowledge in the printed and DVD format media that comes with the system. Major benefit is angle control and ability to sharpen serrations as well as a multitude of other edges.

If you want to stay more in the less expensive side of sharpening and you do not want to intensionally convex your edges, you could use hardware store glass and wet/dry sandpaper in a variety of grits. Benefit is cheap and lots of grit choices.

Let us know what you decide to go with and keep asking questions!

Cheers,

Doug
 
Joe, Try, http://www.sharpeningsupplies.com ask for John he usually answers the e-mails . The last time I checked you could get a Norton AO 2X8"stone, coarse/fine delivered for under 25$ . Or the crystolon coarse/fine in the same size . They also sell leather strops and the green compound (CR2O3)or diamond paste . DM
 
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