Knife Sharpening

[jojo33]

Hello All,

I've been getting into waterstone knife sharpening lately and trying to figure out which technique is best. I've look all around the internet and have found numerous techniques as to sharpening. The first technique I attempted was the Japanese style of sharpening where one would move in sections sharpening from the tip to the heel, pushing and pulling the edge of the blade away from the stone. While I found that this worked pretty well, I found that the belly of the knife was not sharpening evenly, and also that I tend to flatten out between the belly and the heel. Another technique I have tried is the western stroke as done by Bob Kramer where one would do an arcing motion pulling/pushing the edge towards the stone. I found that burr formation took a lot longer than the Japanese method. I also find it easier to get a burr to form one one side than the other. In the end, I feel like one side of the knife is getting worn down more than the other. For both styles, I try to do 10-15 degrees each side regardless of the type of metal that knife is made of. Is there a method I can use that produces a more consistent result? Thanks in advance.

 

[stereo.pete]

What you need is practice. It took me a good three years of sharpening probably once every couple of months until I became proficient at using whet stones. I prefer the Japanese method of sharpening my knives but I have added a few tweaks that work for me. Practice, practice and practice!

 

[awestib]

What you need is practice. It took me a good three years of sharpening probably once every couple of months until I became proficient at using whet stones. I prefer the Japanese method of sharpening my knives but I have added a few tweaks that work for me. Practice, practice and practice!

2nd that! Practice is the only way other than informing yourself about different ways. At the end you will eventually develop a muscle memory that allows you to grind in a certain range of "error". I have tried different ways how to improve the angle stability between flat portion, belly and tip. I used the bubble jig for some time to teach myself a better motor skill etc. At the end I now rely more on how the knife and the angle "feels" in my dominant hand (right). In fact I have praticed blind sharpening a bit just to improve the feel of the angle. I usually end up with a slight difference in bevel width between right and left side of the knife but hey, as long as the knife does what I want it to do, I am ok with that. This is because I don't switch hands, therefore the optical impression of how the angle is, is different. Again, you can improve this with an angle meter, the bubble jig or a wedge to ensure the angle is the same on both sides of the knife and the more often you "check" yourself, the better you get.

 

[Magnaminous_G]

+1 for practice. Observe what is going on as you sharpen, and sharpen a lot of knives.

 

[Cynic2701]

Find whatever technique, or combination of techniques, works best for you, then practice and use it consistently. What may work for some people may not work for others. Personally I find that I do a great job of holding an angle, so I gravitate towards harder stones that I can take advantage of this. Softer stones that create more mud work great if you are more careful with edge leading strokes.

It just depends on what you prefer to do.

 

[bgentry]

I've come to think that the basic idea of the Japanese stroke is nearly perfection for freehand sharpening. One thing that might not be obvious is the hand the applies pressure downward at the edge of the blade. This hand can act as a feeler to sense the blade angle. If you press *right* at the edge, you'll kinda feel it when the bevel is totally flat on the stone. You may have felt this some already.

You mention the belly portion giving you trouble. Using the Japanese stroke, you should do a lot of shorter strokes as you move through the belly. After every short stroke, you should move the blade to hit the next portion of the blade, making sure that you're flat against the stone at each point. You may do 6, 8, or 10 strokes as you move through the belly, only grinding a bit in each small zone. Feeling the blade flat against the stone at every spot is important. If you do this right, you should get consistent results through the belly.

But this might not be enough. I've adopted a swinging, arcing stroke through the belly as a smoothing technique. I do most of my belly grinding as described above, but I always do some arcing strokes too, in an effort to smooth any bit of flat spot that I may have introduced in the belly.

It's very hard to describe in words, so I'll just link you to a video.

This entire video is good, and so are the followup videos; if you have the time. But to see the belly technique, go to around the 5 minute mark and see what he does. Then go to around the 14 minute mark and listen and watch. This is the arcing technique I'm talking about above.

[video=youtube;2VizLyNOr0s]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VizLyNOr0s[/video]

I've been thinking of doing my own video with a number of techniques I've learned over the years, this arcing technique being one of them.

Best of luck to you!

Brian.

 

[HwangJino]

As everyone says, practice.

I was encouraged to buy a cheaper knife to practice, once you get the hang of it youll be asking to sharpen everyones knives haha.