Knife Sharpening HELP/tips

K

Kyo

Joined
Apr 28, 2010
Messages
1
hello, ive been practicing sharpening knives for a little bit with a small cheapo pocket knife and thought i had it down pretty well, then i got my kabar black combat knife but it didnt come as sharp as i was hoping it would. i tried sharpening it but cant seem to get the results i want.. it can barely cut through paper without catching and ripping every inch. but maybe thats just because i need better technique with the larger knife

im basically asking for more in depth and specific tips and advice on how to get my knives really sharp. i already know the basics but cant get any of my knives shaving sharp.

maybe its because of my tools? im using a double sided norton stone this and a honing steel. is it even possible to achieve a razor sharp edge with these tools? the "fine" side is not really that fine.

this is an overview of what i do:
1. grind a new edge on the coarse stone
2. refine edge on fine stone
3. run the blade through wood to "knock off" the burr
4. a few strokes on the honing steel
5. strop on newspaper
result: decently sharp but nowhere near shaving sharp

any advice/help is appreciated. :)
 
Make sure between your step 1 and 2 your knife is already sharp (burr and all). If it's not sharp after step 1 you will struggle to get i sharp on the finer stone.
 
Kyo said:
hello, ive been practicing sharpening knives for a little bit with a small cheapo pocket knife and thought i had it down pretty well, then i got my kabar black combat knife but it didnt come as sharp as i was hoping it would. i tried sharpening it but cant seem to get the results i want.. it can barely cut through paper without catching and ripping every inch. but maybe thats just because i need better technique with the larger knife

im basically asking for more in depth and specific tips and advice on how to get my knives really sharp. i already know the basics but cant get any of my knives shaving sharp.

maybe its because of my tools? im using a double sided norton stone this and a honing steel. is it even possible to achieve a razor sharp edge with these tools? the "fine" side is not really that fine.

this is an overview of what i do:
1. grind a new edge on the coarse stone
2. refine edge on fine stone
3. run the blade through wood to "knock off" the burr
4. a few strokes on the honing steel
5. strop on newspaper
result: decently sharp but nowhere near shaving sharp

any advice/help is appreciated. :)
Click to expand...


The "fine" side of that stone is still only about 325 grit and in most books that's still coarse. I have that same stone and use it for fixing damage or grunt work that I would never put my good stones too. At best you will get a shaving sharp (more like hair pulling) edge from the fine side, the edge will be very toothy and slice well though.

Simply stop using the steel, its hurting more than helping. Also skip running it though wood it too is not helping.

From here you have a few options, once you have set a bevel and refined it a bit with your stone you could use a piece of 1k wet/dry sandpaper on a flat surface and apply a microbevel to the edge. This will make a much finer and very sharp apex at the end of your bevel that should easily be sharper than a factory edge, follow with a strop and you should be mowing hair off your arm. FYI, the micro bevel should take no more than a hand full of strokes per side. Buying better stones is the other option.

Also check out some of my links below.

Welcome to BF :)
 
Also, you need to play around with your angles a bit to find a happy medium. A small pocket knife will have a very small angle compared to a combat/wilderness/survival knife like a KA-Bar. Most likely, you are touching the shoulder of the primary edge, and never really sharpening the edge at all. This is a problem I ran into when I first starting sharpening my larger knives that have beefier edges. Try raising the spine of your knife a little more when sharpening to make the angle larger and see if that helps.

This is just my assumption on what you might need to be doing differently. Ultimately though, I have no idea because I haven't observed you. It wouldn't hurt to get a little more knife sharpening instruction and then take a real close look at your technique. Eventually, it will click and you will get a hair popping edge, but you have to keep practicing and learning.

Good Luck!
 
I couldn't get razor sharp edges either for a long time. I finally broke down and got some dmt diafolds and stropping pastes & sprays. I shaved both arms this morning with a ZT 0301 (thick blade & S30V) that I worked on last night.

I didn't think it was sharp enough yet but the hairs all over the blade said it was ready to go. The Dia-folds might not be big enough for larger fixed blades but they really put an edge on my folders - fast!! :)
 
Just a thought, but with a larger knife like that, you will have to remove much more metal than with a smaller knife, so the amount of time spent will be much much more. Do you check for a burr after the coarse side? If you find one, are you sure it's not one left from the factory? This happens fairly frequently, and can be very misleading.
 
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