Help with sharpening...

Learnme:

You're asking a lot of basic questions about sharpening and that's totally ok. However, you seem to really want to learn to do convex sharpening and not the conventional V grind. I'll confess to not having ever done convex sharpening (well at least not on purpose :) ). I kinda consider it "advanced", though I've read some people here say it is quite easy.

I think it would do you good to know both, but what do I know?

These videos look like they were made by someone who knows what he's doing with convexing:

http://www.knivesshipfree.com/pages/Sharpening-Videos

There are two "go to" guides online for sharpening:

Steve Bottorff's Sharpening Made Easy
Chad Ward's Knife Maintenance and Sharpening Primer

Both are very good; I think Chad's is better, though longer.

You should probably read at least one of these so you get an understanding of "conventional" sharpening. The burr is enormously important for example. You don't seem to have gotten the concept from what's been written here so far. A picture is worth a thousand words though. From Chad's article:

sharpen103.jpg


The burr you see in that picture forms because the metal gets so thin that the stone pushes it over doing "plastic deformation". I.E., it's so thin that it pushes over like it was made of clay.

I hope this helps some.

Brian.
 
Hey bgentry, that was great! Thank you. I will go on to all the links after i finish writing this. The picture and explanation of what a burr is cleared things up for me perfectly. The picture really drove it home. Thanx again...now, on to the links ;p
 
OK, went through it all and i have to admit, being the technical guy that i am, i think that getting a knife guide is the way to go. Free hand doesn't seem to compare. *I think* not sure though. So, after some more reading, i found that the Edge Pro Apex system seems to be at the top of the hill. Should i go for this or should i just stick with manual free handing?
 
learnme said:
OK, went through it all and i have to admit, being the technical guy that i am, i think that getting a knife guide is the way to go. Free hand doesn't seem to compare. *I think* not sure though. So, after some more reading, i found that the Edge Pro Apex system seems to be at the top of the hill. Should i go for this or should i just stick with manual free handing?[/QUOTE Start with free handing. Its all about metal removal, and not so much about how you get there. Free handing is a skill you can take anywhere, and the principals apply to all methods and sharpening systems.
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If you have benchstones buy a DMT aligner clamp, just the clamp and use it with your benchstones it will quickly improve your freehand ability.
 
learnme im not sure how you are gonna use the clamp systems to keep the convex edge on your knife. with those systems they give you a consistent v grind. you can do the v grind with the clamp system and then knock the shoulder off by hand which will give you a very sharp knife but if you want to stay true to your convex edge then freehand is the way to go. its an invaluable skill once you get the hang of it...
 
justintyme said:
learnme im not sure how you are gonna use the clamp systems to keep the convex edge on your knife. with those systems they give you a consistent v grind. you can do the v grind with the clamp system and then knock the shoulder off by hand which will give you a very sharp knife but if you want to stay true to your convex edge then freehand is the way to go. its an invaluable skill once you get the hang of it...
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LOL :o completely forgot we were talking about convex. It does work well for those V bevels just like the edge pro but its not much help for the convex.
 
When I was a little kid someone gave me one of those paint by the numbers pictures to do. I worked on it for some time. One of my grandfathers did some great oil paintings.

I took it to show him that I was an artist too!

He praised my work then gave me a white piece of paper and some paints. Set an apple on a table and suggested I paint my version of it.

Painting by the numbers resulted in a picture, painting an immage of the apple taught me there was a little more to it but it was MY portrait of the apple.

Free hand sharpening gives you the freedom to develop the edge you want on your knife. Call it freedom, independence, an art or skill it will be yours and you will be able to sharpen a knife just about anywhere, any time.

Last year at Blade Show I "sharpened" a knife on a beer bottle. (Actually the edge was rolled)
Some collectors were slicing paper with their knives one knife kept tearing the paper, I merely aligned the edge on the beer bottle, it sliced very well and they thought I was magic.

Just my thoughs, thanks for reading them!
 
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Ed, you are the man! I will stick to my free handing. And now, I'm hoping to find a shop that sells compound because that's all I need to complete my home made strop ;p I'm in Sweden btw, so its a long shot, but if anyone out there knows of a place....I would go online but I don't know about shipping times and I will be traveling abroad soon so... yea
 
The Dc4 used correctly will be perfectly suited
for touching up your knife or for reshaping and
restoring a damaged or nicked edge. With that stone
you can sharpen the factory convex edge or you can
work the edge into a flat grind. Hand sharpening a convex
edge with a small pocket stone is easy especially
if a circular motion is used while varying the blade
stone angle a bit as you go. Most people slightly convex
their edges slightly in this manner even while trying
to keep the edge flat and this is on the end
users favor and to his good fortune. As a added
bonus the leather pouch included with your fallkniven
stone works well to strop the edge. I use the edges of the
pouch with the stone in place to stiffen the pouch. The f13g
is a fantastic knife and I used mine this evening to make fuzz
sticks for the campfire we enjoyed tonight. I used my dc3 in the
manner described above and the edge is fantastic
and cuts extremely well. Good luck and excellent
choice in gear.
 
I've actually been using my dc4 pouch as a makeshift strop. Wasn't too sure it was working though because I still have not been able to get a mirrors edge. How long does it normally take?
 
Unless its compressed strop leather it will do nothing until you put compound on it. I would suggest diamond compound , fast, effective and theirs no mess.
 
Handamerican diamond spray or classicshaving.com carries amplex paste (good stuff), I would suggest starting at 1 micron.
 
that's 3 micron. 4000 grit in the Japanese system & 8000 mesh, like DMT and Norton use to grade their stones.
 
The 3 micron will be more coarse than the 1 micron. So the edge will not be as fine, but should still be very sharp.
 
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