How did you learn to sharpen?

Been freehand sharpening everything since I first had a knife. I would love to say dad taught me, but mostly it was trial and error on my part. Once I was able to move away from super coarse stones, it just went downhill from there, and I will never forget the first time I found a ceramic sharpening rod, and from then until last year sometime, that was all I ever used ever. Then strops came along and that was all she wrote. I tried my Lansky setup last year at one point, and the results from that were... unsatisfactory. I won't be messing with that again anytime soon.
 
I have found the best way is just to buy a new knife once a month or so.

Just kidding. I am still a novice but I will use any combination of medium/fine stones, sandpaper, ceramic rod, or a strop. Can put some pretty good working edges on them but there are only certain knives I can really get shaving sharp depending on the steel/blade shape.
 
My father tried to teach me but I never practiced enough to make it stick. When I did a tour in Iraq I had a lot of down time, so I practiced on crappy steak knives and a few of my buddies cheaper knives. Still after about a year of practice it seemed every other time I touched a blade I turned it into a butterknife. Wasn't until I started working on Navel vessels that it clicked. It started when one of the nukes saw me sharpening my Leatherman and asked if I could do his knife. The stars aligned and I put a razor edge on it. Word got out and before I knew it I had half the ship bringing me their knives. Six months and thousands of knives later I finally had it down. Still there is always room for improvement, I am always trying to improve. Not up to RichardJ's level yet but maybe in about 10-15 years...... :D
 
RogueBowie said:
I have found the best way is just to buy a new knife once a month or so.

Just kidding. I am still a novice but I will use any combination of medium/fine stones, sandpaper, ceramic rod, or a strop. Can put some pretty good working edges on them but there are only certain knives I can really get shaving sharp depending on the steel/blade shape.
Click to expand...

I will buy all your old dull knives off ya! ;)
 
I learned by watching every method I came across and trying it. Found a few ways that worked and put them in the bank. If I see something different, I still try it. I had never seen Mr.Fisk's method of turning a burr on a convex edge then taking it to a stone and strop. It works. Boy does it work...
 
I wouldnt say I HAVE ''learned to sharpen'' yet..I can get decent edges..but not laser hair splitting, cut an atom in quarters, sharp like some here seem to be able to.
 
I can't sharpen all that well yet. I bought a Smith's Diamond guide system, but I don't care for it that much. I find myself using the components freehand a lot.
 
From Pops when I was a kid. Then trial and error. We didnt have internet and youtube in the old days lol.
 
Man, I can't sharpen to save my life. I've tried stones of all kinds, a few of the sharpening "systems" that several knife manufacturers pimped a few years ago, and still seem to screw everything up. My lastest endeavor however, is the 1x30 HF thingy. I've got belts from 80-1200 and a leather belt...guess what? Still can't sharpen worth a crap. But I did go and get a box full of thrift store kitchen knives and I'm practicing on those. It's getting better...I think.
 
I actually used to torture blades but when I was at the Fall beckerhead gathering I met Mr. Fisk. He spent 10 or 15 minutes with my BK2 and explained what he was doing the whole time. Then he walked me through fixing the broken tip on my kershaw Blur. He was a wealth of knoweledge and enjoys sharing it with people. There was a video that Doc posted of Mr. Fisk explaining how to sharpen one.
 
My dad showed me how to sharpen when I was probably 10. He just did a couple short quick swipes on a hone that belonged to his father. The whole "lesson" took maybe a minute. Well after several years, my sharpening has developed into not stopping until I have a shaving edge.

MikeyJ,
One of the things that helped me most was when I understood the concept of raising a burr. Just keeping a consistent angle long enough to work up a burr and then switching sides, and repeating through the grits.
If there is anything that I can do to help let me know.
 
Sharpening is like anything else. The more you do it & the more different ways you try, will eventually lead you to one that works best for you. I have just about every sharpening device known to mankind. They all work to some degree & some work better for some things than others & some work REALLY well. But mostly it is about practice. I am certainly no Guru on sharpening & still am learning all the time. I am 48 & have been sharpening since i was about 6 or so. I have so many blades & have gotten into a little customizing of some of them, that i bought a HF 1"x30" belt sander & some high quality belts from somewhere else & a leather belt as well. It saves me SO MUCH time by using it. But, even though it saves me time & works so fast---it can f*** up a blade just as fast. Practice with cheap knives first. When you get em sharp, give them away. I just sharpened 3 machetes the other day for a friend. Less than 5 min each & they were shaving paper. He was impressed. Kind of the right tool for the job thing. They had no edge at all. Now, a knife that i already have sharpened would NOT go to the belt sander. I would use my butchers steel & then my buba stick 1" ceramic rod.

I have a course/fine 6" stone
Lansky PUCK
2 angle ceramic sticks/block
carbide pull sharpener
Gatco Diamond set w/ honing stone
HF 1"x30" belt sander
Butchers steel
1" ceramic Buba stick
serration sharpener
pocket diamond rod that retracts into handle
& some others i can't think of right now

I sharpened my double bit axe on my belt sander the other day. OMG-it has never been sharper. Pressure is important. More at first & gradually less & hardly any once it is sharp.
 
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