How I Sharpen my Knives

Thanks for sharing.

Some tips for your tips. Ease up on the pressure you are sharpening with and stop with the tip still on the stone. All that swiping off the end of the stone and steel is rounding your tip. Your also being very rough with the steel and making WAY too many passes which over works the edge and makes it weak. Just a hand full of passes on the steel is all that is needed.

The beginning of your strokes starts with a push into the sharpening surface from about the belly of the blade to the heel and from the heel you make a complete pass to the tip. You seem to be slamming the blade into the stone and steel at that starting point which could contribute to excessive burring and deformation of the edge apex.
 
Shaving sharp can be a lot of things and if your happy with your results then run with it. I am just offering some constructive criticism on ways you can improve your technique.
 
I'd listen to this guy. Jason B is probably one of the best freehand sharpeners out there. He helped me out with getting my first hair whittling edge a while ago (nothing compared to what he can do), but I'm improving, and I'm not saying you're bad or anything, but you also have a lot of room to improve.
 
Hey guys, I am not trying to get into a battle here. This is how I sharpen knives, works good for me. I am not saying this is the best or only way, but it works great for me. I have scene all kinds of methods, methods that work for certain people, and not for others. As long as your happy with how you do things that's cool. I sharpen knives for a lot of people, that are happy with the end result!
 
No one is batteling with you, advice was given and opinions shared, you will get a lot of that here.
 
Remember, even the most mastered sharpeners can improve their technique. You are getting advice from easily one of the best sharpeners around these parts. You don't have to follow it, and the quest for a sharper edge is a slippery slope with no good end, but the journey sure as hell is fun.

Stick around, there are always good tips to be shared here. I thought I was good, but I am learning more and more than I barely knew a thing about sharpening.
 
Right on dkb45, I am with you there, there is always room for improvement! And Jason, I will take your advice on the tip of the knife, that seems to be my area I have to spend extra time on!
 
2:00 - 3:00 You talk about being consistent all the way to the tip , but when the edge is facing the camera on your circular strokes the front 1.5" of blade doesn't touch the stone...

3:20 - 4:10 , same deal , edge faces the camera and never once does the front portion (beyond the belly towards the tip) touch the stone.

4:30 - 5:10 , same deal still , your missing about 1/4 of your blade...

5:30 - 6:15 , still not getting the entire blade , your turning your wrist in to do the edge leading stroke towards you , hitting all the way to the tip , but going away from you your missing the entire front half of the blade by keeping your wrist fixed. Go back and look for yourself , its there.

6:45 - 8:45 , unless you are using diamond or ceramic rods , theres no such thing as a "sharpening steel" , a steel when properly used is only for realigning rolled edges. It is literally the only usefull quality they have. I would focus on removing burrs on your stones.

8:55 - 10:30 , Ughhhhhhh... An old leather belt does NOT make for a great strop , You can see how thick and soft it is , leaving lots of room for unintentional convexing , but theres also embedded contaminants to think about , if you wore that for a few years prior to hanging it in your closet to use for a strop , theres all kinds of embedded dirt, dust , salt , metal shavings and other yuckies that don't contribute anything usefull to stropping. Hanging strops are also a poor idea in general.

10:30 - 11:30 , knife stumbles on cutting test when it gets to the front portion , how surprising...

11:30 - fin , That diamond steel is going to gobble up that little peanut if you continue to use it like that , diamonds remove metal fast and that little peanut doesn't have a whole lot to lose. And when you went to the steel , you were almost holding the knife 90* to the steel at times , removing any edge you did have. The only reason the knife cut paper at all was because the geometry is so thin on a little knife like that , that any kind of apex that meets will whizz through paper.

Overview: Your technique needs work. I would start by slowing down , mounting your diamond plates to some blanks and using them like a waterstone , (ie not holding them in the air and banging the knife around on them). This is more precise , and will allow you to better control where the knife is contacting the plate , as currently your missing a full quarter of that blade on all three of the plates.

Your strop I would throw away... But if you insist on using it I would cut it up and mount it on a paint stick or something so it has a more rigid backing. After giving it a thorough cleaning and conditioning of course.

Throw the steel away , at the steep angles your putting on these knives they are never going to roll.

If your doing a good job at burr removal you should be able to clean shave armhair off the coarse stone.

This is all in addition to what Jason said.
 
I've had edges roll an be restored by a steeling at nearly 30 degrees per side. Not the near 90 mentioned here, but steeper than usual.
 
Hey Jason b. I checked out a couple of your videos, pretty cool, you kinda made it an art form! Today I just got a handmade bowie, made from tool steel ( old saw mill blade). It is a very nice knife, but the edge is kinda rounded. Big knives I do. Not have a lot of experience with, any ideas? Looks like it needs a lot of metal removed!
 
You must use a photo hosting site like photobucket.
 
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