How did YOU learn to sharpen a knife?

[stitchawl]

This thread comes around every year or so, but there are enough new folks here these days to justify it starting up once again. The subject says it; how did you learn to sharpen a knife? How long have you been sharpening? Who taught you? How old were you when you learned? Can you remember your first sharpened knife? What was it?

I was about 9-10 years old when I met 'George,' the neighborhood cobbler. He had a shop about a block away from my house, and I went in with my mother so she could have my father's shoes resoled. I asked if I could stay and watch. I was interested in the process, like most kids are. But when George easily sliced through the thick sole leather I was hooked! I was a Cub Scout then, and trying to get my 'Arrow Points' for proper handling of my scout knife. I asked my mother if George could be allowed to teach me to sharpen my knife as well as he sharpened his, she asked George, and the rest is history. Almost 55 years of history. Every time I'd come into the store he'd ask to see my knife, and test it on a piece of hard leather, and if the entire edge wasn't up to snuff, he'd seriously dull it on a piece of emery cloth and make me start from scratch! George taught me so well that after about a year, he was letting me sharpen all his shop tools, including... the Stitchawl! (By the way, everything was finished on a bare leather bench strop!) It was all free hand sharpening in those days, and it gave me a great love of the process of producing an edge as well as a love of leather crafting.

Around the age of 26-27, I met John Juranitch at a sporting goods convention in Houston and saw the power of a guided system. I bought and used his products, along with the DMT Diamond V rods, for several years, adding the GATCO and Lansky systems, Sharpmaker and DMT Aligner and diamond stones, and a great variety of water stones, man-made stones, butcher's steels, sharpening steels, borosilicate rods, and strops. I added half a dozen different stropping leathers (from Horween Leather, from HandAmerican, from Tandy, from Jantz, etc.) and half a dozen or more different stropping compounds. Age has given me the advantage of time to acquire and play with all these various tools and toys. (An understanding wife has given me permission to do so. )

Eventually, as we all must, ... I bought an EdgePro Apex. That was about 15 years ago, and was the last sharpener I ever bought. You just can't beat perfection. :thumbup:

Stitchawl

 

[somber]

I was using the Lansky system for the longest time but was tired of the 'locked in' feeling of using the contraption. I had known of Murray Carter and his sharpening techniques and I finally got some extra money, so I purchased a set of stones and the a video for a smoking deal (too good to turn down). Many fingertips later, I'm here.

 

[Skimo]

Many fingertips later, I'm here.

I'm working on slowly removing any fingerprints on several fingers.

The first time I saw a knife get razor sharp it was a friend of mine with a little whetstone.

For years I tried to work up a decent edge and gave up for a while.

a year or two ago I picked up my edge pro, a few months ago I picked up a double sided benchstone for $12.

Something about the edge pro changed me, I can feel what 15° feel like on the stone (no other angles, just that)

My setup is simple and effective, I put a cloth on the divider of the kitchen sink and put the faucet over it with the water going in a small stream, just enough to keep it from dripping.

So far the cheap kitchen knives are getting razor sharp edges with very even bevels, I've even sharpened some of my "expensive" knives on it with great results.

Ben Dale taught me to sharpen knives ... well his DVD I watched twice and then I started tearing into cheap knives, then the good knives.

Really helped me to see what the angles look like.

 

[somber]

My setup is simple and effective, I put a cloth on the divider of the kitchen sink and put the faucet over it with the water going in a small stream, just enough to keep it from dripping.

So far the cheap kitchen knives are getting razor sharp edges with very even bevels, I've even sharpened some of my "expensive" knives on it with great results.

Ben Dale taught me to sharpen knives ... well his DVD I watched twice and then I started tearing into cheap knives, then the good knives.

Really helped me to see what the angles look like.

I know exactly the feeling you're talking about in regards to the angles. It's an interesting 'Ah-ha' moment, or at least it was for me, and I still watch Murray Carters' videos about twice a month with a notepad to write down things I've noticed or that I want to try. This is my set up here, I find that it works pretty good at keeping the stones clean, while not worry about any other variables:

Just thumbprints for me, though. :thumbup:

 

[KennyB]

I can't really remember too well how old I was, somewhere between 8-10--so about 11-13 years ago. I found a sharpening stone in my Dad's tool box. I recalled having seen one of them on the show "Home Improvement" used by the character "Al" to sharpen a knife, and at that point in my life sharpening a knife was kind of magical to me. I had the idea that knives just got dull and once they were dull you couldn't use them any more, and I had always been amazed by the electronic sharpeners on the back of can openers and what not, and then there was an element of challenge and perfection in it to live up to that the show's character had.

In any case, I found a sharpening stone in my Dad's toolbox. I actually remember it was a Norton Sic stone. In any case, I asked my dad if I could use it, and if he'd show me how, and he said no, but I wouldn't take that for an answer and I just snuck it out of his toolbox one day since I had seen how to use it on "Home Improvement" and I just started rubbing the blade keeping the same angle. I remember counting how many times I did it for each side, and then seeing if it was "sharp yet". I learned a lot on my own like that, and even discovered the key to the burr without realizing it, had some pretty sharp edges. The only problem was that I couldn't brag about it since I had stolen the stone.

I had two knives I sharpened back then, both of them were just cheap knives. One was a dollar store swiss army knife, and the other was a $10 balisong out of a comic book store. I had the swiss army knife so sharp it would shave, but at the time I was mesmerized by how easily the edge off the coarse stone tore into things so I only used the coarse side on the balisong--and many many knives for a long time. One day after using the fine sine I discovered that the swiss army knife would shave my arm hair and was pretty amazed by that, and just wanted to get sharper and sharper.

Eventually my dad found out, and was less than 100% encouraging. Yelled at me for using the stone because "I didn't know how to use it" but eventually explained he was only angry beacuse I dished the stone out and used it without his permission. He did buy me a few sharpening kits after that. One was just a pull-through style sharpener but with weird circular stones, and the other was a Lansky guided system, but I didn't really have as much interest in these because I didn't see it as the same challenge.

It kind of puts my dad in a bad light the way I tell it, but he was really encouraging afterward, and I don't think he actually knew how to use a benchstone himself--as far as I know the one I dished out actually belonged to my grandfather. Just had to put that out there since I don't want to make him seem like a bad guy.

Anyway, not really sure what interested me in it again, I guess I was just looking for something to occupy my time so I started reading books like John Juranitch's. I thought it was interesting though because after I read about the burr I remember going, "Oh, so that's what that was," recalling when I was younger and had raised the burr up on my balisong. That was about 1 1/2 - 2 years ago, and I've just been sharpening and reading about it since then just for kicks.

 

[stitchawl]

I'm working on slowly removing any fingerprints on several fingers.

The first time I saw a knife get razor sharp it was a friend of mine with a little whetstone.

For years I tried to work up a decent edge and gave up for a while.

How old were you when you tried to sharpen your first knife, and how old were you when you finally succeeded?
How long ago was that?

a year or two ago I picked up my edge pro, a few months ago I picked up a double sided benchstone for $12.

Something about the edge pro changed me, I can feel what 15° feel like on the stone (no other angles, just that)

.... yeah. It will do that to ya!! *grin*

So far the cheap kitchen knives are getting razor sharp edges with very even bevels, I've even sharpened some of my "expensive" knives on it with great results.

Are you using the EdgePro, the bench stones, or both?

Ben Dale taught me to sharpen knives ... well his DVD

I think he taught a lot of us!!


Stitchawl

 

[stitchawl]

I was using the Lansky system for the longest time

How old were you when you started using the Lansky? How long until you switched to bench stones?


Stitchawl

 

[stitchawl]

Anyway, not really sure what interested me in it again, I guess I was just looking for something to occupy my time so I started reading books like John Juranitch's. I thought it was interesting though because after I read about the burr I remember going, "Oh, so that's what that was," recalling when I was younger and had raised the burr up on my balisong. That was about 1 1/2 - 2 years ago, and I've just been sharpening and reading about it since then just for kicks.

Pick up a copy of Steve Bottorff's book, "Sharpening Made Easy." It's a quick read but packed with a lot of great information. Steve has a wealth of valuable information on his website; http://sharpeningmadeeasy.com/index.htm
Not as technical as Verhoven, lots of comparisons of all the available sharpening systems, and methods, links to site such as;
Wayne Goddard's Edge Holding Tests,
Cliff Stamp's Excellent website.
Chart of Abrasive cutting speed vs. sharpness,
Why a blade needs to be re-ground to maintain the proper angle, from the Tormek manual,
Table comparing grits of stones, grinding wheels and abrasives including Scotch-Brite
... and lots more!

Stitchawl

 

[neeman]

8 years old with a pen knife and a 2" cabarundum stone
And a cut thru to the bone.....

Cubs and Scouts on a 6" fine / course carbarundum with oil for my sheath knife
Axes on a weighted grindstone with a water resevoir for water with a foot pedal to turn it

At 14, in woodworking at school Chisels and Planes on a 6" fine/course carbarundum

At 20 when I moved to the US, I discovered a Buck honing kit with two Arkensaw stones, and my knives became sharp......

Many years later with D2 blades, I went to DMT diamonds

Perhaps one day I will learn to strop

 

[zyhano]

Some nice stories guys, this is where the fond memories of us all come up :thumbup:
I got my first knife from my brother, he took it with him from a holiday. I remember being very excited since I already liked knives, all boys do.

I remember getting a knife from my dad to use when sailing, when I was probably around 13 or so, which we did a lot. It was a wichard knife (boat oriented) with glow in the dark handles, still have it, and I never sharpened it untill last year. One day a couple of years later, we were sailing in the shipping lane in the channel between Belgium and England and one of the boats in our party contacted us on radio that they had a piece of plastic stuck in the screw and they needed help. We went back for them and in the middle of the waves I took a dive and cut out the large piece of plastic from the screw underneath the ship. Now that is something that will make you appreciate the use of knives.

When I inspected it last year the edge was not sharp by any means, but still cutting.

In my military service I never needed to sharpen my SAK and had it done for me once.

Now, as for when I learned sharpening:
After that, I got a buck nighthawk and a handheld sharpening stone. I learned sharpening by reading the 4 lines of information in the SAS survival guide on sharpening... You guess what happened... not really as laser sharp as could be..Funny to see after all these years that I wrote '20 degrees' on that page in 1995 or so..
With this setup, I did a lot of hiking and outdoor stuff.

In 2009, when I rekindled my love for knives, I got a spyderco sharpmaker and japanese waterstones so I could enjoy my hobby to the fullest. Years after my buck knife and some throwing knives, money was not as scarce as it used to be so I got the sharpmaker to make sure I did not ruin my blades and the waterstones to learn how to freehand.

Then I got into blade forums in december 2009 and this is what really got me into sharp knives.
started reading the forums, the books and the papers: Leonard Lee, John Juranitch, steve bottorf, verhoeven, Ian kerby, everett ellenwood.

And practice..
The combination of theory from different sources, with sometimes different conclusions, and the practice is what is a very nice combination. It adds to the depth of enjoyment I get from it which is important, because you DO have to practice imo.

Now, it seems I can sharpen on a couple of different media, and get my knives fairly sharp consistently without ruining them. So I'm pretty happy with that :thumbup:
It has sometimes been frustrating, but that has only been rarely.

Around the age of 26-27, I met John Juranitch

Eventually, as we all must, ... I bought an EdgePro Apex. That was about 15 years ago, and was the last sharpener I ever bought. You just can't beat perfection. :thumbup:

Stitchawl

Did you try the axe shave too?

Please stop with the edgepro stuff... I might have to buy one....

 

[somber]

How old were you when you started using the Lansky? How long until you switched to bench stones?


Stitchawl

I was 21 when I started using the Lansky. My brother recommended it and I bought the deluxe set. It worked, and still works, I just don't care for the rods (which are never perfectly straight) and some of the stones weren't even flat. It was discouraging to spend so long and not really accomplish much. I switched to waterstones maybe eight months later? I'm not sure, but it was a short time after I got the Lansky system.

I'm 22 now, so the total relative time that I've been sharpening knives hasn't been very long at all, especially when compared to a large percentage of the people here.

 

[stitchawl]

8 years old with a pen knife and a 2" cabarundum stone
And a cut thru to the bone.....

'They' say; 'you never really own a knife until it cuts you!'

Perhaps one day I will learn to strop

It's the icing on the cake. You don't really need it, but it makes it sooooo much better!!

Stitchawl

 

[stitchawl]

Some nice stories guys, this is where the fond memories of us all come up :thumbup:

That's exactly what I was hoping for!

And practice..
The combination of theory from different sources, with sometimes different conclusions, and the practice is what is a very nice combination.

And THAT is the name of the tune!!

Did you try the axe shave too?

The last day I shaved my face was the same day I got discharged from the Military. I was 22. I've worn a beard ever since.

Please stop with the edgepro stuff... I might have to buy one....

"I never resist temptation, because I have found that things that are bad for me do not tempt me." William Shakespeare, 'King Richard the Third'
Would you like Ben Dale's phone number now, or shall I give it to you next week?

Stitchawl

 

[stitchawl]

....the total relative time that I've been sharpening knives hasn't been very long at all, especially when compared to a large percentage of the people here.

The length of time we've been sharpening isn't as important as the time we are willing to spend learning to sharpen...

Some of us folks finish learning in a few months. Others of us are still learning every day. It's one of the reasons we are here. :thumbup:

Stitchawl

 

[HandofCod]

I'm still learning and I hope I never stop. For me sharpening a dull knife until it shaves hair is part of the whole attraction to collecting these lumps of metal.

 

[Robert.B]

I taught myself, and my technique is not perfect yet...haven't started to strop yet but only a matter of time!

 

[stitchawl]

I'm still learning and I hope I never stop. For me sharpening a dull knife until it shaves hair is part of the whole attraction to collecting these lumps of metal.

How old were you when you started? What was your first method? What was the first knife you brought to an edge that made you happy? Tell us more!!!!


Stitchawl

 

[stitchawl]

I taught myself, and my technique is not perfect yet...haven't started to strop yet but only a matter of time!

Come on mate!! Aussies are famous for their stories... Tell us more. Tell us HOW you taught yourself? Did you use stones or the curb of the sidewalk? How old were you when you 'discovered' knives and wanted a sharp one? Give us 'the rest of the story!'


Stitchawl

 

[NotSoSharpBob]

Ok Stictchawl I'll bite.

I started as my dad's sidekick knife collector when I was 8 or 10 getting mostly his hand downs as he upgraded. Sharpening really didn't come in to play until about 15 or so when my dad was finally fed up with all the sharpening gimmicks and spent what he saw as a ton of money on a Loray Powered Belt Sander sharpener. I never really appreciated keeping a knife sharp but my dad taught a quite dis interested 15 year old nonetheless.

Over time my dad experimented with every new stone and sharpening gadget that came out and collected a box of stuff. His second favorite was the miracle of the crock stick as a touch up tool but he always went back to his Loray and shaving his arms after 2 or three minutes on that.

Later in my 20s my dad retired and hung a sign out front advertising his skill and for $1 a blade few would ever leave dissatisfied including my dad losing a little more hair on his arm to prove it. The UPS and Fed Ex guys made him a regular stop on their route and my dad never reached legend status but he did ok. Over time he collected alot of junk scissors and the machines to sharpen those as that was his next challenge but he passed away before seeing that through.

We cleaned out my dad's shop after he passed and I couldn't bear to touch his sharpening station. I kept up with the regulars a little bit but soon the business dropped off because what my dad had to offer I could not in the busy times of a career and raising afamily. He was always a "while you wait" service regardless of what he was doing. Customers knew if his truck was there he was open for business and they got small talk as the new edge was forming in front of their eyes. I could get the blade almost as sharp but not with the personal touch my dad would bring for that buck a blade.

Recently I've resurrceted that Loray sharpener, cleaned and oiled it up got some new belts and can still put a nice edge on a knife. I've bought the lansky, the Spyderco and a few others but I just feel more comfortable on the old Loray. Plus I can get it pretty down sharp too.

I will probably never get rich at $1 a blade but if anyone around the neighborhood asks that's what I charge but I will only do it while they wait.

Thank's Stitchawl for the trip

Bob

 

[Tostig]

My Grandpa taught me the basics more than once.

The rest I learned myself , I only sharpen freehand , stones and oil.

Tostig