I **SUCK** at Sharpening! Dammit!

fsatsil said:
+1
I think people tend to over complicate things when all that's really needed is a coarse/fine diamond hone and a strop. Ill also add that TheHorta should goto the 99cent store and buy a whole bunch of cheap knives and practice for a few weeks. Sharpening is not something that most people get right the first time so don't get discouraged. Happy sharpening :)
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Good call on the cheap knives. I agree. That way Horta, when you fubar a few, they aren't Elmax's. No harm, no foul.
Also, when you do get it right, you can use your knife, and when it dulls, you are actually touching up your micro bevel. This A. keeps you from hogging off blade material for no good reason, and B. will go super fast. Like, you will have it to shaving sharp, in a few minutes.
 
No, you do not suck at anything. Your skills might suck, but guess what? They can get better. Here is a my three step solution:

1. Buy the stones knifenut recommended (the most economical options are probably the 6" bench stones)
2. Read this sticky because I wrote it just for people in your situation: http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/1014274-What-is-sharpening-a-knife-about
3. Watch knifenut's vids: http://www.youtube.com/user/MrEdgy81

Then start practicing. That should get you started.
 
knifenut1013 said:
Lastly, buy a coarse/fine DMT diamond hone and call it a day.
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+1

And an Arkansas Hard. All I've used for the last three decades is a DMT coarse and fine to sharpen; an Arkansas Hard to hone; and noncorrugated cardboard to strop. Bought the stones in 1984 from a now-defunct knife shop on "VD" drive outside of Fort Benning and have never needed or looked for anything else.
 
OHALLUM said:
Well, this answers a lot of questions! Go DAWGS!

Seriously though, just slow down and think things out. You are trying to get the two sides of your beveled edge to meet at an apex. (the very top of the edge for Alabamians) You do this by very gently grinding down each side of the bevel, again gently so as to not remove too much steel. quote: "My wife walked in and asked me if there was supposed to be that much dust floating all over the place. I told her "Woman! This is man's work. Of course it's supposed to do this."

Really, though your wife was right. (the gulp sound is him swallowing hard) You want to remove only enough to make a small burr (it will feel like a ridge) all along the edge of your blade. (formally referred to as the apex) When you obtain this small ridge, you have succeeded in the proper sharpening of your knife. Now you need to finish the job by carefully removing the burr. Drag the edge of your knife through the edge of a piece of soft pine lumber, and then with caution, slowly and with very light pressure strop with some of the green compound on one side of your strop. The idea is to polish lightly at the same or slightly less of an angle than you ground the blade in the first step. OLA! You should be able to shave hair and push cut paper. Do not over strop. Just a few swipes on both sides of the blade will do it. ( a few being 6 or 8 swipes per side ) Good luck and remember practice makes perfect. You can do this!!

Blessings

Omar
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This is classic! Georgia teaching Bama! Oh well, I guess the cro-magnons learned something from the Neanderthals too! ;).
Geaux Tigers!

Seiously though, listen to Omar. (No matter where he's from). He laid it out pretty straight there. And I agree with everyone about the diamond stones. I also use the sharpmaker with great success. A coarse diamond stone and a sharpmaker can handle pretty much any knife made with very little effort.

And get rid of that machine! Give just a bit of energy and spend a little time and you will quickly develop a very enjoyable skill.

Lance
 
Don't over complicate it or over think it.

This has traveled the world.
Sharpening.JPG
 
Magnaminous_G said:
Nice field kit. :thumbup: Looks like it has been well-used. Is the nickel for scale or do you use it for something?
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Scale. For me, not a field kit. My only sharpening kit (less a DMT fine) for the last few decades.

As an aside, every man ought to have a light/medium duty sewing machine (you can buy decades old ones pretty cheap). No end to what you can make. Ditty bags, duffles, sheaths/cases, hammocks, etc, etc. That ditty bag is over 30 years old.
 
Just get an Edge-Pro and be done with it. I've tried free-hand, didn't like it, Wicked Edge, nice machine, but for my taste not the equal of the Edge-Pro and more expensive.

Now, I use the Edge-Pro exclusively, (except razors) and all of my knives will dry shave facial hair. I even use the EP for stropping with compounds.
 
I use an edge pro apex. I think most people mistakenly try to sharpen with too high of a grit and get frustrated when they don't sharpen it all the way to the edge. I start at 120 grit and it will shave hair before I go to the next grit. I finish with a green strop.
 
This happened to me about two years ago, the pictures show my blade worn not from use but from sharpening, it was my first S30V knife and I bought all kinds of sharpeners ceramic, diamond. aluminium oxide, leather strop, white compound, green compound, even accusharp, damaged the blade completely; shortening it, completely rounded the tip, made the recurve disappear, still couldn't get the knife to be sharp.




But I used the blade to practice, what I found out is I always use a very low angle because I always believed it will give me a sharper blade, but don't need a blade that sharp and since I'm doing it free hand I do not keep a perfect angle.

Now I have learned that it is better to use a higher angle and keep your wrist as steady as possible no need to be absolutely the same angle on both side but try to keep it consistent, slight variations are fine, you may slightly convex the bevel but you will still get an edge sharp enough to cut newsprint. Presently I use only a medium ceramic stone, a fine ceramic stone, and a untreated leather strop with no compound.



Credit to Benchmade's customer service, they send me a replacement blade half way around the world, the scratches on the blade are now from use, the bevel is a bit convexed from free hand but usually I can get this knife from dull to cutting newsprint in 10 mins.
 
IMO everyone should learn to sharpen free hand first. Sharpening systems like the Edge Pro or Wicked Edge are great but they are useless if your in the woods camping or hunting and need to sharpen a knife.
 
fsatsil said:
IMO everyone should learn to sharpen free hand first. Sharpening systems like the Edge Pro or Wicked Edge are great but they are useless if your in the woods camping or hunting and need to sharpen a knife.
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:thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:

On the other hand, there's always a coffee mug around, someplace.
 
Wow! OK, I've read the whole Magnanimous thread (sick), watched Knut's videos (though they seem to be mostly wet stones with carbon blades -- the Becker and the Kitchen knife) and I'll take the diamond stones advice. I would like to lick freehand first before I get a WS or EP system.

Also, per my "Introduction and HTM Gripe" introductory post last week, I was born in Boston and worked in Manhattan (NYC, not Kansas) for the last 20 years -- so I'm a Yankee (though a Boston fan in all sports). For my wife's 40th birthday (2007) we both retired and bought a farm here in north Alabama. We have cattle, hogs, turkeys, chickens, dogs and cats, large gardens, a fruit and nut tree orchard, and try to "live off the land" as much as possible. It's a frickin' AWESOME lifestyle, and I recommend anyone in the Constitution-hating, communist-loving Northeast move to the South -- immediately! :thumbup:

More to follow. I have some "cheap" $20 Kershaw "Speedburst" knives I will try sharpening, and save the rest of my Elmax and CPM blades for when I won't do more harm than good.
 
TheHorta said:
...and I recommend anyone in the Constitution-hating, communist-loving Northeast move to the South -- immediately! :thumbup:
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Wife and I grew up in the south. Tennessee. She has much family in the Huntsville area of Alabama. Always thought I'd return to that area after retiring from the Army, but we found a home in central Virginia. Still Constitution-lovin' and self reliance-expectin' here.
 
You've gotten a lot of good advice here, but I have a little bit to add.

You want to start simple so you don't confuse multiple systems or techniques. The few knives you mention have steel that's much more difficult to sharpen than average steel. Check to see what your practice knives are made of. Cheap stainless would be fine. 8Cr13Mov, Sandvic steel, AUS8, "440C", or any regular stainless steel would be fine. No super steels! :)

Start with one fairly coarse stone. That could be your King 1000 grit. Or a hardware store Norton stone (Silicon Carbine AKA India). Or a coarse diamond stone if you decide to buy those. Just make sure you have a coarse stone. You need one more item: A black, red, or green sharpie.

Ok, practice knife you don't care about. Coarse stone. Sharpie. Color the edge of the blade with the sharpie and use that to see where you are hitting the edge. Grind a few strokes, then look to see where the sharpie has been scratched off. If you don't know what part of the knife you are grinding, you probably won't make good progress. The sharpie will show you exactly where you are grinding. Reapply it often and keep observing where you are grinding.

Do you know how to check for a burr? That's huge. Forming a burr should be your #1 goal, with edge angle control being #2. Stick with that one stone, one knife, and sharpie until you form a burr on the entire length of the edge. Then do it again on the other side of the blade. Then remove the burr with lighter strokes. At this point, the knife should be relatively sharp. With a King 1000 or a DMT Coarse, it should shave at this point *if* the burr has been formed and removed.

The keys here I'm trying to emphasize: Coarse stone. Burr formation. One technique. Repetition.

This is longer than I intended, but I hope it helped.

Good luck.

Brian.
 
What I usually do (and several others on here) is use the diamond stones to put a 25-30 degree bevel on the blade, then use the added accuracy of the sharpmaker to add the final 40 degree micro bevel. I know a lot of the pros on here are past that and do everything freehand, but I find it a nice accurate process that provides just enough guidance to get a nice clean micro bevel. If I set my bevels right with the diamond stones (ie. get it around 30 degrees with a good apex) the sharpmaker takes care of the "razor sharp" part quickly and efficiently. I think this is a good technique for a beginner to start achieving some really sharp edges. Look back at some of L2bravos posts over the last couple of weeks. He describes using basically the same technique, but articulates it better than I do.
 
Surfingringo said:
What I usually do (and several others on here) is use the diamond stones to put a 25-30 degree bevel on the blade, then use the added accuracy of the sharpmaker to add the final 40 degree micro bevel. I know a lot of the pros on here are past that and do everything freehand, but I find it a nice accurate process that provides just enough guidance to get a nice clean micro bevel. If I set my bevels right with the diamond stones (ie. get it around 30 degrees with a good apex) the sharpmaker takes care of the "razor sharp" part quickly and efficiently. I think this is a good technique for a beginner to start achieving some really sharp edges. Look back at some of L2bravos posts over the last couple of weeks. He describes using basically the same technique, but articulates it better than I do.
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I am hardly more eloquent with words than you. In fact, I live vicariously through you, as an islander. LMAO.
As far as the Sharpmaker goes, I don't think it is anymore a set of training wheels, than all of the guys that use an Edgepro, just different. I sharpened my new PM2 in S30V today on my Coarse/Fine diamond stones. All freehand, and it will poke your eye out. However, I enjoy the ability, to have everything be perfectly straight, and easily predictable. Not to mention the super quick and easy touchups. Hey, we all enjoy sharp knives right? Thanks for the compliment. Just when you think you are really good, you go buy a SE blade like I did, and get your teeth kicked in. I've got it okay, but there is that little something "extra" missing. I either find it, or make my Endura a PE in the process.
 
[. It's a frickin' AWESOME lifestyle, and I recommend anyone in the Constitution-hating, communist-loving Northeast move to the South -- immediately! :thumbup:
Lost the quote somehow


The south is a great place to live I'm sure but all of us Northerns aren't commie liberals.
It's a shame there's so many of them here though
 
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