I suck at knife sharpening.(SOME ONE HELP)

I'd go with a flatter angle. I never go over 30; and, most of my angles are 20 degrees or less.
 
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I have become very good and fast at sharpening. I first learned 35 years ago how to use a oil stone and 9 months ago was introduced to the paper wheel system It is with out a doubt the fastest best way for a knife maker unless you go to the extreams of water stones and 20 hours to sharpen. The paper wheel will take a dull butter knife type edge to shaving hair like a razor in less than 3 minutes garanteed . I do it free hand in normally 1 minute or less and have done a few in as little as 2 passes on each side. I took my neighbours wifes kitchen knives last month that had big chips in them to razor sharp in 3 min each knife. I used his lansky diamond hone system but the paper wheel is no comparison . The angle your doing is way off you should be at 20 to 25 degree s for a hunting knife and 15 to 18 degrees for kitchen and fileting knives. 30 to 40 is more of an axe edge . google the paper wheel and dont look back. kellyw
 
klhayes77 said:
Yes the light still reflects off the edge. My spyderco sharpmaker has a 30 and a 40 deg angle settings are you saying use the 30 deg angle?
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Use whichever angle it takes so that you are touching the entire edge bevel to the sticks.

Like was mentioned you can use a sharpie to color just the edge bevel. Then try with the 30° and the 40° settings. Whichever one removes the sharpie from the edge is the angle that your knife is sharpened to.

If you are using the 40° setting and the sharpie is only being removed from the point where the two sides of the edge bevel meet then you need to try the 30°.

If you are using the 30° and you are only removing the sharpie from the shoulder the try the 40° setting.

Remember that your knife was probably sharpened freehand on a belt. It might not be at either 30° or 40°. You might need to work a bit to get it to match your Sharpmaker. If it were me I would reprofile it to match the 30° setting.
 
Thanks alot man. Would it make sense to send it off to have it sharpened the first time then just keep it touched up. At least till i get it better at.
 
I say keep at it. What you need to do, reprofile the bevel, is very time consuming using just the ceramic rods, but it is a great way to build up muscle memory and get familiar with the action of sharpening and keeping a consistent angle. When I was new to sharpening I reprofiled a Busse Game Warden from 20 degrees per side down to around 12 degrees per side just using a fine ceramic rod. It took forever but was very forgiving of mistakes - a few strokes at the wrong angle doesn't cause much damage. I learned at lot doing that :D
 
Ok, I talked to the knife maker. He said that the knife was sharpened on a 14 inch wheel at a 20 deg angle. My sharpmaker only has a 30 and 40 deg setting,but i have a lansky knife sharpener that has a 20 deg setting.I dont know if these are the greatest knife sharpeners or not but will it work. The kit i have has a fine,medium and a course stone.What stone should i use first and so on. I am fairly new to knife sharpening so any advice with this kit would be helpful. Thanks guys for yalls help. I really dont want to send it off to have it sharpened,this is something i would really like to learn how to do.
 
klhayes77 said:
Ok, I talked to the knife maker. He said that the knife was sharpened on a 14 inch wheel at a 20 deg angle. My sharpmaker only has a 30 and 40 deg setting,but i have a lansky knife sharpener that has a 20 deg setting.I dont know if these are the greatest knife sharpeners or not but will it work. The kit i have has a fine,medium and a course stone.What stone should i use first and so on. I am fairly new to knife sharpening so any advice with this kit would be helpful. Thanks guys for yalls help. I really dont want to send it off to have it sharpened,this is something i would really like to learn how to do.
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The guy meant 20degrees per side, which is 40 degree inclusive. The sharpmaker rods are set at 30degree and 40degree inclusive.
 
How dull was this knife from the maker? I would think that the SM at 40 degrees (20 degrees per side) would have polished up the edge to at least hair pulling sharpness fairly quickly.

Would the blade cut copier paper as delivered? I wonder if maybe you've turned up a burr on one side, but not the other.

Any additional information you can provide might help us diagnose your trouble.

Brian.
 
I am gonna keep at trying to get better at knife sharpening,but in the mean time I found out my local knife store offers a knife sharpening service. I dropped off a few knives for a good sharpening. Thanks for all yalls help.
 
Use the 40 degree setting on the sharpmaker, and keep at it with the medium rods til you can feel it's getting sharp (usually feel it with my thumb). Finish up with the fine rods and then strop the blade (leather belt works fine) and it should be hair popping sharp. I don't mean it cuts hair off your arm it literally pops the hairs off with almost no pressure. This method has worked for me on every knife I own, except my S110v Shallot but that blade is tough as hell. I'm thinking you're not getting to the edge, so use the sharpie trick as stated earlier and it'll help you see where you're taking the steel off.
 
Sword and Shield said:
Maybe, maybe not. I have knives I freehand to 20 inclusive.
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I haven't seen any knives sharpened at 20degrees inclusive straight from the factory or maker. If the original bevel was 20degree inclusive then getting an edge from the 40degree slots would be easy.
 
I got my knife back from my local knife shop where they were sharpened to hair popping sharp. Kepping them touched up should not be a problem. I hope.They only charged me 2 dollars a blade. Thats hard to beat.
 
If you're willing to spend a little extra, get an Edge-Pro system, www.edgeproinc.com and you'll be able to sharpen any knife at any angle you choose.

They're not cheap, but IME, they're worth every penny. :p
 
I thought I knew everything I needed to in terms of sharpening, but that article was awesome... Reminds me about why I joined this forum in the first place, there's always more to learn.
 
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