How many free hand sharpen?

I sharpen freehand on my diamond stones. Works just fine for all of my shorter knives but I admit to being a bit ham handed with it and larger blades. Gotta figure something out for my new BK-9.

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Beckerhead #42
 
I learned how to sharpen on the Sharpmaker, which I still use, and now I also use DMT fine/coarse DiaFold and the Spyderco Double Stuff, especially for difficult or special edges (convexing).
 
I freehand sharpen my knives, but I don't take it to the level a lot of people here do.

I usually just use my Spyderco med/fine pocket stone.

I have some CrOx and my cheap beginner strop from my straight razors though, so I may put me together a few bench strops to try out stropping my knives to see how I like it.
 
knifenut1013 said:
Like most I've tried most systems but could never get the results like freehand, so I've stuck with what I know.

But.........

This thread is useless without pic's :D

Picture1632.jpg
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May I ask, Sir, how did you do that with that hair? I've never seen anything like it. I've split a hair for nearly an inch and carved one into 3 pieces, but that just looks cooler than all hell.
 
I freehand sharpen all my knives.

I use DMT Diasharp diamonds on the Stainless Steels.

Arkansas and Norton stones on the Carbon Steels.
 
I also have always sharpened freehand. All the guided systems seem too akward and cumbersome.
Not to mention the satisfaction of learning and being able to sharpen your knives freehand. With just paying attention of what you are doing, you can go long way.
 
I used to use the sharpmaker for most of my sharpening, but turned to waterstones fore my plain edge blades and never turned back :D. I usually start on a coarse stone for removing nicks ( 120 or 220 grit sandpaper if there are serious nicks or alot of them) , then work my way through 800 grit, 4000 grit, then finish with 8000 grit. I then strop on mdf with mother's mag polish , and finish with green compound on mdf. So far it's served me well in getting frigtheningly sharp edges, and can treetop hairs and produce extremely tight curls with printer paper ( my usual test). Oddly whittling hairs doesn't come as easily, but isn't impossible ( probably just cutting technique lol).
 
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GG, extreme sharpness and the often forgotten factor of good bevel geometry :)
 
I have sharpened freehand since I was a kid. I had a lot of good teachers; my father, his 4 remaining sisters + one of them had an "boyfriend!?!" which was an superior inspiration with knife stuff. I used a Spyderco Sharpmaker for several years, and was happy for some years, but found it finally to be less...personal, satisfying...?
I use carborundum, diamond hones, sand paper, sometimes some Japanese water stones, but mostly Spydeco Double Stuff for general maintainance.
timann
 
I sharpen a lot of ways.

When I sharpen freehand, I use a stone or rod and a knife (no surface other than perhaps to rest one end of the stone or rod)....not sure why I do this, but I always have...as shown in this video.

[youtube]yH12Cld6_sA[/youtube]

Most of the time however, I use a ramp that I set the stone on. Like this:

[youtube]mvl-Y5bZwtw[/youtube]
 
I'm 16 and I freehand Sharpen on a stone. It took about 2 years of practice for me! I destroyed tons of edges but I finally got it one day and now all of my knives are razor sharp. I don't know how I do it I just know what angle to put my blade at when I sharpen and its actually really easy. I guess practice makes perfect :)
 
I use japanese water stones, start with a 1200 grit and then move to a 6000 grit stone, then strop with white compound and final stage green compaound.

Started out with a regular oil stone, however the edge was always very rough, so Started to practice on the waterstones till I got the hang of it.....a lot of practice until got a ....." like that other guy said"...a OH MY GOD edge...then after I decided to make my own trop and give a try stropping after achieving the oh my god edge...turned out that my edge wasnt that OH my God after all and realized that after the strop it got a HOLLY CRA..... that is sharp. now it can slice a paper without almost any resistance.

bottom line......it is practice however in the end it is very rewarding...
 
Always have. It came out of impatience and not having the money to buy a system. Ive stuck with it and it works great for me. Found a double sided waterstone at a yard sale a few years back for $5. It is very high quality for my needs.
 
My father taught me how to freehand sharpen on benchstones when I was a kid. I also use Diafolds freehand, paper wheels freehand, and the Sharpmaker. The guided systems give a very attractive result, but I do fine without them, and the skills are always with me, so I can sharpen competently on other people's setups. That is the greatest thing about freehand sharpening, it is versatile and adaptable to changing conditions.
 
Bill1170 said:
... and the skills are always with me, so I can sharpen competently on other people's setups. That is the greatest thing about freehand sharpening, it is versatile and adaptable to changing conditions.
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:thumbup:
That's the 'holy grail' of sharpening, so far as I'm concerned. It's what I'm shootin' for. The ability to skillfully use whatever's available, no matter where I happen to be. Good technique is universal.
 
I learned how to hand sharpen a few years ago after getting into knives. I had tried in the past, but had no clue what I was doing, so none of my results were pretty. Then I read something on knifecenter's sharpen tutorial, and learned about raising a burr and removing said burr. At that point I began sharpening mine, and all my friends knives. They were impressed with my ability to take a dull chipped, abused edge and have it shaving hair in seemingly no time flat. After that, I started looking into refining my edges, so I bought a nice set of Hand American strops and some SiC powder in 800 and 1200 grit as well as some CrO2 powder, and started taking my edges to the next level. Problem was, after spending so much time on one knife making a nice, polished edge, I found I didn't want to use the edge. :( Well, having a touch of adult ADHD doesn't help in the hobby area, so as is typical with some folks that have ADHD, I got bored with my new-found skill, and put my stones and strops in the closet for a few years, only hitting my knife on a stone to restore an edge to a decent toothy utility edge. Now that I've 'gotten back into my hobby' again, I decided to purchase the Wicked Edge system, which I have put some really nice edges on my knives. While home on my last leave for Christmas this past year, I reprofiled the knives I had, then broke out my Hand American strop and Cr02 powder and hit the strops until I could drag a fine hair across the edge and split it. Now I'm back in Afghanistan, without my WE sharpening system, so I decided to purchase some DMT Diafolds from coarse to EEF grit, and also purchased the Magna-guide Aligner adapter. I have played with it some, and surprisingly, I can get a very sharp edge with it too. Almost as nice as my WE edges, at a fraction of the cost. Only issue I have with the Aligner is the difficulty putting a shallow primary bevel on a small pocket knife like my Kulgera. At one point, the stone filed a bit off my thumbstud. Not noticeable unless you look closely, and even then, you wouldn't know it unless you looked for it specifically. Anyway, I can still hand sharpen if I need to and put a very useful edge on, but I find my bevels are more consistent with an aligner system like the DMT or WE.
 
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