Keepinum Sharp!

tonym

tonym

Joined
Mar 18, 2008
Messages
9,491
Hey Fellas,

I am new to the B.F.s and I guess new to the whole quality knife game. I have been camping, fishing, etc my whole life, but I always used cheaper crap. About 3 months ago I purchased a RAT-5, and since then I am a proud owner of an RC-3, RC-4, Falkiniven F-1, I just ordered a BRKT fox river, and I am on the list for an NWA Camp knife. (love the one I saw he made for Tknife)
Point is I think I caught the disease, and I like it!

My skills are minimal, I can do the basics feather sticks, fire starting, tent poles, etc., but I am not the best at sharpening a knife. I have always let a pro do it for me.

My question is what are your preferred sharpening stones for both your pack and and your home?
( I currently have a Buck Portable Diamond Sharpening System for my pack, it works pretty well on my Emerson Commander)

Anyway, Thanks, any advice will be greatly appreciated!

Oh 1 last thing, any good outdoor schools you can reccomend will be helpful also?

Tonym
 
The edge-pro apex is a nice system. If you have to time to learn, freehand is the way to go.
 
Buy a Mora for $10, and use it to practice your freehand sharpening. The bevels are wide so it is very easy to feel that you are holding it at the right angle. Once you've become proficient sharpening that knife, then freehanding other grinds will come more easily.

P.S. you can get them here www.ragweedforge.com under Swedish knives. For only $10 you don't even have to use it, just sharpen and resharpen it to practice.
 
I am far from an expert sharpener, but I use a spyderco sharpmaker and large two sided benchstone at home, and a foldable dmt medium grit in the field.
 
Thanks guys.

Stingray, I have a couple of Moras I grabbed when I was in Sweden, but I will mess around with them before I screw up my other blades.

Kdstrick, that looks like a nice system, I like the fact that it has an instructional dvd too.

Any others maybee in the hundred dollar price range, or am i better off going for the more expensive stuff?
 
Also depends on the grind of the blade THe rat models have a flat grind and can be sharpened with a stone the fallkniven and barkriver models have a convex grind which can be sharpened quite easily using some sandpaper and a mouse pad and kept sharp fpr a long time through simple stropping.
 
To add to what RescueRiley said- It all depends on how confident your are in your skill level and what you are sharpening. Your conventional double bevel knife (like your Rat) can use pretty much any method to sharpen. Whether that be stones or a hi-tech piece of gear like the edge-pro. Convex grinds like those on BRKT knives need to be sharpened on sandpaper to maintain that curve. This is possible on stones as well but a little difficult. For scandi grinds like on Moras you are going to need stones wheter that be one of the numerous types that are available.

Nick
 
One of the best pieces of advice I can give is to buy a Mora or even use a plain edged kitchen knife (no serrations) and buy a Norton double sided India bench stone. Like at least 6" long with some honing oil. Practice "cutting" the stone on the courser side until you have a "burr" of metal then repeat on the finer side. Then use the finer stone to do the same again. Now just do a couple of light strokes on the burr side to realign the burr a little bit then strop on leather for the final polish.

I started years ago with a cheap stone and can't describe how much easier it is with the Norton stone. For hard stainless super steel knives I sometimes start a real dull knife with a course DMT diamond and then use the Norton. I also really like the Spyderco sharpmaker for touch up, light sharpening, and polishing after the Norton.

Practice makes perfect and you will be much better prepared if you learn the angles needed without a sharpening guide or system IMO. Have Fun!
 
I'm probably no better than you when it comes to sharpening, I just get by , but one thing I have found is that very often they don't actually need sharpening. Very often they just need the edge re-aligning with a steel and you are good to go again, the steels used on knives are so good these days that unless you are doing a lot of cutting every day then very rarely should your knife need re-sharpening !
 
I've given up stones personally and pretty much use sandpaper and strop exclusively now.
 
I am with beroya, i primarily use sandpaper and my new recent purchase a strop bat. I bought this from jre and love it. For those BRKaT you may want to think about getting one as well
 
Wow, Thanks for all the great info. I will practice on my cheaper knives and when the time comes I will hopefully have sort of a clue so I don't screw up my better blades. Who am i kidding i will still screw them up. I will probably go with the something like the edgepro since it has an instructional video.
For now they are still like new, as I did not get out much this winter. My RC-3 will be the first that will need to get sharpened, I take that little guy everywhere.

Oh well thanks again fellas
 
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