Knife sharpening questions

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milesandrews

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Dec 5, 2016
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I am new to knife sharpening. I just ordered a knife sharpening stone off of amazon that has not arrived so I don't know how well it will work. But after a little research, I have found that I think I was a whole sharpening system. I have a feeling that I will have trouble matching the angle of the blade when sharpening. I have seen systems that hold the blades and you basically just move the stones, but have no clue if that is overkill or if it is even what I need. I am looking to spend under 100$, but again, not sure if that is even doable. I am new to this and have no clue how much this stuff costs and am trying to learn. I have a good amount of decent quality knives that I don't really ever use because I know that when I use them, they'll get dull, and other than taking them somewhere to get the sharpened, as of now I have no way to make them usable again. Please let me know your thoughts. Thanks in advance!


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Welcome to Bladeforums!
We have a whole subforum for sharpening, so I moved your thread there.
 
Miles - you really don't need to spend a lot. The type of equipment you need depends on what type of steels you are trying to sharpen.

It's really not that hard to learn how to freehand sharpen. Just takes some practice.
 
milesandrews said:
I am new to knife sharpening. I just ordered a knife sharpening stone off of amazon that has not arrived so I don't know how well it will work. But after a little research, I have found that I think I was a whole sharpening system. I have a feeling that I will have trouble matching the angle of the blade when sharpening. I have seen systems that hold the blades and you basically just move the stones, but have no clue if that is overkill or if it is even what I need. I am looking to spend under 100$, but again, not sure if that is even doable. I am new to this and have no clue how much this stuff costs and am trying to learn. I have a good amount of decent quality knives that I don't really ever use because I know that when I use them, they'll get dull, and other than taking them somewhere to get the sharpened, as of now I have no way to make them usable again. Please let me know your thoughts. Thanks in advance!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Check out this video about the easiest serious knife sharpener I use, the Spyderco Sharpmaker. It is a small package that does everything related to sharpening a tool.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GB0r6GvESGg
 
just got back into knife tools in 2013, with a background as a young meat cutter, life long fishermen, outdoors lover. Always used stones to get edges i wanted, but... we started with a Sharpmaker which was great for me, but my oldest son could not hold the knives vertical, and the sharpmaker is not designed to reprofile edges (although i used 80, 240 and 400 grit sand paper held to the sharp maker stones with paper clips to re-establish, reprofile, and iron out chips and rolls).
next, this year we got a KME, that perfectly meets our training and sharpening needs with incredibly consistent edges. this old guy, stunned at guided systems repeatability, would say save your money and get a used KME or edge pro to start learning to maintain your edges. -youtube is your friend-
 
scottc3 said:
just got back into knife tools in 2013, with a background as a young meat cutter, life long fishermen, outdoors lover. Always used stones to get edges i wanted, but... we started with a Sharpmaker which was great for me, but my oldest son could not hold the knives vertical, and the sharpmaker is not designed to reprofile edges (although i used 80, 240 and 400 grit sand paper held to the sharp maker stones with paper clips to re-establish, reprofile, and iron out chips and rolls).
next, this year we got a KME, that perfectly meets our training and sharpening needs with incredibly consistent edges. this old guy, stunned at guided systems repeatability, would say save your money and get a used KME or edge pro to start learning to maintain your edges. -youtube is your friend-
Click to expand...

But the Sharpmaker does reprofile edges. For reprofiling you use the 30 degree setting for the ceramic rods. Then to finish off the edge you switch to the 40 degree setting. This will give you a very good working edge for 99.99% of all things you might use a knife for.
 
milesandrews said:
I am new to knife sharpening. I just ordered a knife sharpening stone off of amazon that has not arrived so I don't know how well it will work. But after a little research, I have found that I think I was a whole sharpening system. I have a feeling that I will have trouble matching the angle of the blade when sharpening. I have seen systems that hold the blades and you basically just move the stones, but have no clue if that is overkill or if it is even what I need. I am looking to spend under 100$, but again, not sure if that is even doable. I am new to this and have no clue how much this stuff costs and am trying to learn. I have a good amount of decent quality knives that I don't really ever use because I know that when I use them, they'll get dull, and other than taking them somewhere to get the sharpened, as of now I have no way to make them usable again. Please let me know your thoughts. Thanks in advance!


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Click to expand...

Buy some cheap knives to practice on and learn to freehand on the stone you've ordered. DO NOT LEARN ON KNIVES YOU VALUE. Later you can get better stones etc.

Guided edges are nice, but you're limited to the gear and the selection of stones available. And ultimately even if you go the guided route, you'll want to learn freehand anyway. Guides are for power equipment and for people selling cosmetic edges. If you find you have no proficiency, or want optically clean cosmetic edges, then turn to a guided system - start out freehand on a rough stone.

the sticky at the top of this page is a good resource:

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...hat-is-sharpening-a-knife-about-(2015-updates!)

And Brian's post:

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...Secrets-of-Sharpening?highlight=seven+secrets

There are tons of videos out there that can help as well, its relatively easy to learn a good working edge or a touch better.

The videos on my site are applicable to all freehand sharpening as well, linked through my signature below.
 
GatorFlash1 said:
But the Sharpmaker does reprofile edges. For reprofiling you use the 30 degree setting for the ceramic rods. Then to finish off the edge you switch to the 40 degree setting. This will give you a very good working edge for 99.99% of all things you might use a knife for.
Click to expand...

Technically it does reprofile... but not very efficiently. Since the original post mentioned "a good amount" of knives... an option with bigger and/or better abrasives, (and better method) should be considered. Lots of examples in this forum.
 
GatorFlash1 said:
But the Sharpmaker does reprofile edges. For reprofiling you use the 30 degree setting for the ceramic rods. Then to finish off the edge you switch to the 40 degree setting. This will give you a very good working edge for 99.99% of all things you might use a knife for.
Click to expand...

But the coarsest stone that comes with the stock Sharpmaker kit is the medium rod, that is somewhere between eight and 900 grit or 12 to 14 µ (microns)
(You can get other coarser stones, 2 Spyderco products, as well as Congress products)
But I chose to use sandpaper which I had on hand while I saved for the KME guided system, recognizing my son did not have the motor skills yet to master the Sharpmaker (my plan is to give the Sharpmaker to my oldest son sometime next year as it is an excellent portable tool for non-abused edge maintenance).
It took me a long time, hours, to eliminate rolling and chips to create a new edge with the medium ceramic rod (stone) on AUS8 steel. I experienced quicker results using sandpaper that had more appropriate course grits for re-profiling (80, 150, 220/240, 400, and then the medium rod in sequence). And, the AUS8 knife required repair three times in the first year of ownership.
The next knife that needed repair was a Benchmade D2 steel, and by the time it needed its first and only repair, I had learned enough to begin with the coarse sandpaper. Which, the OP should understand is another part of the sharpening learning curve.
 
Buy some cheap knives to practice on and learn to freehand on the stone you've ordered. DO NOT LEARN ON KNIVES YOU VALUE. Later you can get better stones etc.

+1 Because it's the path of least resistance, and the experience will benefit your understanding of knife sharpening, no matter what trajectory you follow afterwords. I cannot express how helpful it was later on in life, to have worked eight hours a day for a year as a meat cutter with band saws, case knives, steals and a three-way stones. The experience of reaching for the steel because the drag on my knives was not "right", and working the finest grit stone on the three-way because the steel was no longer giving me the edge I wanted to work with. These kinesthetic experiences reinforced earlier experiences where consistency meant mastery: fishing, hunting, bowling, baseball, banging around fire roads on dirt bikes and dancing with gravity on the street, you get the idea.
 
cbwx34 said:
Technically it does reprofile... but not very efficiently. Since the original post mentioned "a good amount" of knives... an option with bigger and/or better abrasives, (and better method) should be considered. Lots of examples in this forum.
Click to expand...

First of all you rarely have to reprofile good knives. Second, you don't want to go nuts reprofling, taking off a lot of steel that you really didn't have to remove. Third, the stones provided with a Sharpmaker work very well and if you really want to remove some steel when reprofiling, not recommended, you can buy the course diamond rods.
 
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It's really not that difficult to learn how to freehand sharpen. Just be focused, slow, and observant. It isn't rocket science. Find the angle of the bevel, and focus on maintaining it throughout the stroke. Pay attention, and focus on consistency. You can watch your swarf move in front of and over the edge. Try to keep it consistent throughout the stroke. Before you know it, you'll be turning rolling X strokes without even thinking about it.

Make a few strokes, test your edge. Repeat as necessary. I use a 30x jeweler's loupe to inspect the edge both on the bevel and at the apex to make sure gouges and deep scratches are eliminated, and the bevel is joined at the apex along the entire length of the blade. I also check to make sure the bevel angle is symmetrical and consistent on older knives with a bit of hone wear or damaged edges. Observing what is happening in detail at the edge can be very beneficial in developing an understanding of what is happening when you rub steel against stone to make it sharp...
 
Here is a good video about the history of cutting edges, and the evolution of sharpening tools to the Sharpmaker. I'm a fan of it because it is easy and works, and is compact and easy to store or travel with. It is not the end-all, be-all of blade sharpeners but does probably 95% of most blade/tool related sharpening tasks. Did I mention how easy it was?


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GB0r6GvESGg

I can free hand. I sharpen my axes and hatches on the sidewalk for a good working edge. But for quick touchups I use my Sharpmaker, for probably 30 years at least. It is just very easy and I keep it set up on my work bench. Most of my sharpening is my wife kitchen knives which it handles easily.
 
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GatorFlash1 said:
Here is a good video about the history of cutting edges, and the evolution of sharpening tools to the Sharpmaker. I'm a fan of it because it is easy and works, and is compact and easy to store or travel with. It is not the end-all, be-all of blade sharpeners but does probably 95% of most blade/tool related sharpening tasks. Did I mention how easy it was?


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GB0r6GvESGg

I can free hand. I sharpen my axes and hatches on the sidewalk for a good working edge. But for quick touchups I use my Sharpmaker, for probably 30 years at least. It is just very easy and I keep it set up on my work bench. Most of my sharpening is my wife kitchen knives which it handles easily.
Click to expand...

I agree with this, especially the "quick touchups" part.. The only thing I would add is, even though it is easy, practice on your "not so nice" knives first, until you learn the 'ins and outs' (like how to not grind the tip off).
 
My suggestion is to buy some cheap knives to practice on and practice what you see in this video:

[video=youtube;cWU_qTp3DLM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWU_qTp3DLM[/video]

Until you can reliably reproduce the level of sharpness shown at the end of the video.

I made that tutorial to try and explain the basics of a burr based sharpening approach as simply as I could for someone who had never sharpened a knife before.
 
Best advice I ever read was this: Get a good mid-range grit stone (I use a 600 grit DMT Diasharp) and learn freehand. How do you hold the knife? Like you are trying to peel the stone, as though it were a fruit. I usually do 20 strokes one side, 20 strokes the other, then 10 alternating strokes. That seems to give me good, arm-shaving results.

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bucketstove said:
Hi,
I suggest going into the kitchen, shirley there is a practice knife in there already :D
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That is a great way to practice sharpening, the kitchen knives probably need it, and who knows, the cook may be so grateful there will be some goodies made especially for you.
 
A nice trick to learn angle control is to mark the edge with a black marker so you can see exactly where the bevel contacts the stone. Especially helpful for the tip on larger knives.
 
The one Brother hit the nail on the center of the head when he recommended the Spyderco 204 Sharpmaker. You just can't go wrong with that tool at all. However I recommend to everyone that buys one to view the video/DVD at least 2 to 3 times before attempting to sharpen one of your higher quality blades. Also there are two addition sets of stones you can by extra for the 204 Sharpmaker. They have a set of diamond stones and they also offer a set of Ultra-Fine stones as well. In my humble opinion the kit isn't complete without those extra stones that are available. It's an investment you won't regret.

Also the other Brother that recommended that you learn the techniques practicing on "not so valuable" knives like maybe kitchen knives that have been purchased at discount stores or ones you might have got from a garage sale or estate sale. Don't start out sharpening your premium pieces just in case you make a serious mistake of some type.

One last recommendation I can give you>> there is a book that I recommend to everyone that shows the very basic techniques of sharpening. It's available through "Razor Edge Systems" out of Ely, Minnesota. It's entitled "The Razor Edge Book Of Sharpening" by John Juranitch. The book is not that expensive and it really shows you the basics to help you get started. Hey good luck and keep us posted
 
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