How did you learn to sharpen?

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Jan 22, 2014
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Just curious, how did you guys learn to sharpen?
I began when I was in boy scouts. I had a little dual grit pocket stone, and it made me angry that no matter what I did, I couldn't shave hair. :rolleyes:
I then bought a little x sharpener, which, of course, didn't work. Then I got in to stones, figured stuff out by feel, and gradually gained equipment at the pace money allowed. Now I don't consider myself too bad. I'd say I'm fairly advanced at freehanding, which is all I do, but I still have a lot to learn. I can shave and whittle hair now, though, so I hit my boy scout goal. It only took 6 years, haha.
How did you guys start out?
 
No one ever really taught me. I started at a young age with pull through sharpeners that I thought worked. After that, I bought a 4$ dual sided stone out of curiousity. Without really knowing of the vast helpfulness of the interwebs, I figured out what worked through trial and error on that cheap oil(?)stone. Eventually I got my first "decent" system, a smiths tri-hone, and refined what skill I had. I didn't seek out help online until I basically had everything down but I still have improved so much since then because of YouTube and Bladeforums.
I actually still have that cheap stone. Its all dirty from not wetting it enough and uneven from sharpening chisels only with the middle, but i wont get rid of it:)
 
I started with the Sharpmaker, but I wanted to be real man and learn to freehand. So I bought some stones and said what the hell and sharpened some knives up. Of course watched some YT vids. I have a WE as well. Never really use it. Freehand is so much more fun and gratifying!!! I can make some tree topping edges, but I would consider myself as a novice. I've got quite a few stones now. I rotate knives I carry so I really don't sharpen much, mostly strop.
 
Was taught a little bit on an india stone when I was a kid, I have almost no memory of that but by judging from the way my first knife looks I am going to see I did poorly as I chose not to sharpen it despite it being duller than a butter knife because I only make it worse. Than was taught to use sharpening steels in high school than we come to a few months ago and I picked up a DMT Aligner in hopes of having a guided system to reprofile knives and being able to use the stones to free hand on.

That worked but wasn't ideal, but I made it work and got in a lot of practice that way. Most of what I've learned has been through reading these forums and a little bit on youtube. I find most other sources of information for sharpening to be lacking outside of the forums and a lot of time filled with misinformation or the typical 5 strokes this way and 5 strokes that way and your done type of thing.

Than a week or 2 ago I picked up a Norton Economy stone online which was 8x2 and it turns out to be an old india economy stone so I decided to picked up the newer Norton Econonmy silicon carbide 6x2 stone at a home improvement stone as well to go with it. Both stones set me back a total of $13, than last week or that same week I wandered into a store at the mall and found a tube of Craftsman green polishing compound and picked that up. I've been experimenting with using a benchstone free hand and with and without the dmt aligner clamp and using different materials to strop on now that I have a compound to use. It never ceases to amaze me what you can do with some cheap equipment if you know what your doing, the results I get from those 2 stones and cheap compound is great in my opinion and so far I seem to be more limited by my skill than anything.

I find my skill has improved quite a bit once I switched to a benchstone as I don't feel as confined as the 4in stones and the economy stones give much better feedback in my opinion which makes it a lot easier to sharpen. I went from being able to slice through newspaper only after stropping on some compound to being able to do that after the fine side on either stone and the compound just further refines that edge I get and that was a few days ago to now. Having played around with putting the compound on various things I have found that I prefer it on a notecard on top of either a sticky dashboard mat or the back side of a mousepad as it prevents it from slipping and gives it a very small amount of give and feedback. I tried using paper wrapped around a stone to strop on but for me it just wasn't as effective.

I am still in the process of trying to master this so my technique keeps changing and being refined we'll see where this leads me. So far though I think the next thing I will try to learn is how to sharpen with sandpaper, or maybe pick up the 4in DMT EEF stone to see if my skill has advanced enough to allow me to refine an edge enough to whittle hair.
 
My dad gave me a quick course when he gave me my first pocket knife, but it was our scout master that had real lessons on it. We learned on the little silica stones we all called a 'carborunum' stone back then, and he taught us to get it shaving sharp on that stone. A few years ago, I was rooting around in the attic, and found my old "official" boy scout stone with the logo in the leather. Just for yuks I sharpened up a pocket knife on it, and it got shaving sharp. Now it's what I've gone back to as my everyday sharpener.
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Knives on a pocket carbarundum stone when I was 8
Then chisels and plane irons at school in woodworking shop
 
I was taught to sharpen my Cub Scout knife by old 'George the Shoemaker' when I was about 8 years old and just joined the Scouts. He taught me on a two-sided carborundum stone, finishing up on a paddle strop, leather with some sort of compound on it. George would give me scraps of shoe leather to test my edges, and when I had really mastered the skill, gave me scraps of rock-hard sole leather. If my knife could easily slice sole leather he declared the edge finished! If not, he sent me back to work.

George taught me about edges and also introduced me to the different qualities of various leathers and how to get the best from them too. George repaired shoes, but he also hand-made them. To him, his 'Head Knife' and his 'Edging Knife' were his bread and butter. He taught me to love a proper edge, and by the time I was 10 years old could free-hand an edge that would sail through a 14oz (1/4" thick) piece of sole leather without worrying that I was going to cut off my thumb! That was 60 years ago. These days I prefer to use a DMT Aligner, Sharpmaker, or EdgePro. It's like sleeping... I know I can sleep on the ground. I did it for years. But a bed is much more comfortable!


Stitchawl
 
Trial and error. Self taught. I have always fascinated with sharpening and repairing stuff. Growing up nothing was ever sharp or repaired unless it was needed to make money. Understandable but it always bothered me. So over the years I'd try different things thinking whatever widget would be the magic bullet so to speak. Then I moved up (I thought) to a Tormek and thought wow now I'm set. Oops. Not so. Not to say the Tormek isn't a good unit just not a magic bullet. I use mine daily. So back to square one. Stones and free handing. After awhile the light bulb finally came on and realized the best tools you can have is your own two hands and experience. Then the belt grinders which really are a great tool. Combine good technique and the proper tool for the job and thats that.
 
My first sushi chef job.

Headchef picked up my new knife and showed me how to sharpen it. Obsessed ever since (his knife was scary).
 
On a Smiths tri hone and had good results with Case and Boker pocketknives with carbon blades but got only frustrated trying to hone Buck 110 and a Gerber FS both with stainless blades.Then after entering the USAF my powerline maint shop had a Norton tri hone and and the coarse,medium,and fine India stones easily allowed me to get an edge on those hard stainless blades.My supervisor was a retired AF powerlineman and i not only learned how to use those India stones to get a fine edge I also learned about burrs and how to remove them and how to use a strop.This was in the early 80's and I have acquired many different Arkansas stones from a hard black to a Lily White Washita and also lansky and DMT guided setups and a Sharpmaker.Also bought DMT diamond stones from x coarse to x fine but while all these are great i still find that a coarse/fine 8x2 India benchstone is what i use most.
 
I learned (??) on Lansky "Crock Sticks" after seeing them demonstrated at a gun show.

I was not satisfied with the edges I received from "professional" sharpeners, so I decided to try it myself. I had tried freehand in the past and was unable to obtain satisfactory edges.

The "Sticks" worked well on a few knives, but the angle limitations made them less than satisfactory.

While attending a seminar in Seattle, I had drinks one evening with a professor from Alberta. He was an avid hunter, as am I. The subject eventually turned to knives, and he gave me a website for a device called the Edge-Pro.

Upon my return home, I called Mr. Dale and discussed the device with him. I ordered an Apex, and almost immediately I had the sharpest knives that I had ever seen.:):)

I soon re-bevelled all of my knives to either 15 or 20 DPS so that the Crock Sticks could be used for minor touch up work.

I have since upgraded to a Professional model, and strops. Today, all of my knives will dry shave facial hair.:thumbup::thumbup:
 
It's great to hear all of your stories! It's interesting how many of us here are self taught.
 
When my dad bought me my first knife (Case Sod Buster Jr.) at age 9, he sat me down on the back porch, placed his sharpening stone and oil on the table, and said if im gonna own a knife I gotta know how to sharpen it.
 
I bought my first knife (a Buck Duke folder) when I was in the Cub Scouts. I soon realized I needed to sharpen it, and I bought a set of 2 stones that came with a little yellow plastic angle guide. I practiced with the guide the first time and then I've free handed it ever since! I still have those stones although I have no idea what grit they are, I since purchased a travel DMT dual-sided diamond stone and I'm just getting into stroping my recently aquired knives that have a convex edge. Been watching youtube videos to learn that technique.
 
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I think the best way to learn how to sharpen is to learn first what sharp is. Handle a lot of sharp pointy things that are very sharp and then work towards this. It may seem an odd approach but there is something to this.
A short story: my brother standing in my shop, working on a small sheepsfoot, for an hour. He twirled and twisted and stroked the stone; he tested the edge and stroked some more. At the end of an hour, he handed me this Sharpened blade saying " now this is what sharp is about " I took the knife from him and I could have run either the spine or the edge across my wrist with the same results; a red mark and thats it. That thing was stone cold dull. That was my introduction to sharp and I new this knife was not sharp; so what is sharp, now I know. :) My brother did not know what sharp is. :(
 
I'd just like to know how you all keep a steady consistent angle on your blade when freehanding?
I try all sorts of ways to keep the blade steady, just can't seem to get it right....


Thanks!

Eric
 
I'd just like to know how you all keep a steady consistent angle on your blade when freehanding?
I try all sorts of ways to keep the blade steady, just can't seem to get it right....


Thanks!

Eric

Never thought of that really, I would just practice till you find something that works for you.

For me I typically hold the handle in my right hand and have my middle finger on my left resting on the tip of the blade to steady it. To me that just feels natural.

Though I just recently tried adapting it to something else starting last night and went back to resting multiple fingers on the blade but this time where I am sharpening. Though there is a reason for the second approach as my practice sharpening knife is a thinned out paring knife and the blade is concaved and very slightly bent and that additional pressure on one side makes where I sharpen makes it easier to get a better sharpening experience.
 
I'd just like to know how you all keep a steady consistent angle on your blade when freehanding?
I try all sorts of ways to keep the blade steady, just can't seem to get it right....


Thanks!

Eric

Doesn't matter how you do it:). Just pick a way and get in a lot of practice. Lots and lots of practice.
 
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