Lansky Question

[MoHeadhunter]

I bought the "Lansky Standard Diamond Knife Sharpening System" I really do not think I am doing it right at all. Plus the knife just don’t seem as sharp as it was before I sharpened it. Do I take really short strokes or long strokes from bottom to tip? Also, the knife I tried it on was a Columbia River with a tanto tip. I plan on trying a strop, but I don’t know if I should use one on a partially serrated knife or not, it don’t seem like a good idea. Dose anyone know of any videos on this sharpener? I am new to all of this and I plan on getting into higher end knives so, I would like to know what I am doing before I try anything on them. All of my knives have some sort of finish on them other then plain SS look
Thanks for any help.

 

[Dakki]

Hi and welcome.

This is a good intro to sharpening:

http://users.ameritech.net/knives/index.htm

Short version is, make sure you're working on the edge and not the shoulder. There are two ways to ensure this. The first is to match the angle on the bevel using the "marker trick." Take a sharpie, mark down the bevel and run the stone at a given angle. If it's scraping off the marker from the whole bevel, you've got it right. If it's scraping it off from the shoulder your angle is too acute, if it's only taking it off the very edge it's too obtuse. Second way (and my recommendation) is to pick a reasonable angle and then work away at the shoulder with the coarsest stone until the whole bevel matches that angle. This might take quite a while depending on the type of steel, the length of the blade and your new angle vs the old angle. This changing of the bevel angle is what people call "reprofiling" or "rebeveling."

I should note here that most factory knives bevel angles are horribly obtuse, change from side to side and along the length of the edge, and often don't even meet all the way down the edge. This is why I suggest the steps outlined above.

Now that you've (finally) got the bevels to where you want them, sharpen the knife all along one side until you can feel a little burr with your fingernail all down one side of the edge. If the knife is short I'll do it in one shot by clamping the Lansky halfway down the length, if it's longer I'll divide the blade into sections about 3" long, clamp the lansky halfway down one section, sharpen that, and move it to the next. Once the burr is all down one side, do the other until there's a burr along the side you sharpened first. Then, raising the angle one step above (from 17 to 20 deg, for example), polish away at the edge with the finest stone, using very little pressure and alternating sides, until the burr is gone.

Edit: Wipe off the knife between stones or you'll ruin the finer ones!

As for serrations Lanskys don't really do them well, I suggest you try a Sharpmaker.

 

[MoHeadhunter]

Thanks for the reply, I will give it a try tomorrow. The blade, is just under 4 inches.

 

[Nosetotail]

It is very important that the clamp be placed in exactly the same place everytime, particularly after your have rebeveled the edge to match a desired angle on the lansky. I used my extra coarse stone to scratch a permanent hash mark against either side of the clamp against the spine. If you are having trouble getting the angle down along the whole edge, don't be afraid to go in circles with your ex coarse stone up and down the edge. You will know you have the edge rebeveled correctly when you can "wipe" away the magic marker with just a few swipes. The magic marker should wipe away clean along your entire bevel. When this happens, concentrate on making long smooth strokes from heel to tip. It is best to try to do this with one complete stroke, but when raising the burr, you can cheat and do this with two or three strokes to get you from heel to tip. I would throw a few one strokers in between. Make sure you keep the stone moving so you don't ground down one spot on the blade. After the burr is raised, several one stroke swipes from heel to tip.

This will take several strokes per side, and you want to try to give the same amount of attention to each side. Progressively bring the number of strokes down per side and progressively get lighter until you can make one stroke per side. Then you can move to the next stone. Also don't move to the next stone until you smooth the coarser scratch lines out to match the stone you have.

Don't push real hard! Light to medium when raising the first burr on each stone, then progressively work to the lightest pressure you can apply when working down to one stroke per side before moving on to the next stone.

You should understand that even the lightest pressure will raise a burr if your bevel is correct, so nice and easy. The burr is you friend and your enemy all at once. Work diligently to raise one, and then very delicately to remove it.

Also, and this is equally important. Be certain your rod and stone holder are "true". Lay the assembled stone on a flat surface and adjust the rod up and down until there is no noticable uneveness along the entire plane. You may have to bend the rod a little. If that is the case, then once you get a rod correct, I'd stick with that rod.

 

[MoHeadhunter]

What about a Tanto tip? Should I go from heel to tip or heel to the angle then angle to tip?

 

[MoHeadhunter]

I gave it a second try today, it worked great as far as I can tell. Even looks better to the eye. I do not have a leather strop, would a leather belt work for now? I used the sharpie idea and it was a HUGE help! It was nice to see what was going on as I was using it.
Thank you!
Also, would this sharpener work on a recurved blade like this?

Buying this at the end of next month.

 

[DrThunder88]

I think strops usually are loaded with a very fine polishing compound (CrO green or white rouge). A "dry" belt might be good for burnishing any leftover burr, though.

 

[Nosetotail]

I have learned through trial and error, or should I just say error, that a strop is as good at dulling a knife as it is at sharpening one. I just bought a nice two inch piece of leather to make a stropped backed with wood and I will be shopping for some rubbing compound tomorrow, but my advice is to become well versed in the proper use of one if you want to use one. You can get pretty good results with several alternating light (ultra light) strokes with your lansky ultra fine stone. If you don't use the strop right, you will only diminish the results you got from the lansky.

 

[JackBauer24]

I dunno if it's been mentioned or not, but are you sure you're at the right angles? CRKT's like that usually have different angles on both sides. Personally I think the lansky system is leaps and bounds better than a sharpmaker. But thats just me. Use whatever strokes work the best. I dont' even go all the way down with a stroke. I more or less just go back and forth down the whole thing, prollly 8-10 times on a 4" blade. If you make sure you have the same size burr all the way down it works fine.

 

[Nosetotail]

I dunno if it's been mentioned or not, but are you sure you're at the right angles? CRKT's like that usually have different angles on both sides. Personally I think the lansky system is leaps and bounds better than a sharpmaker. But thats just me. Use whatever strokes work the best. I dont' even go all the way down with a stroke. I more or less just go back and forth down the whole thing, prollly 8-10 times on a 4" blade. If you make sure you have the same size burr all the way down it works fine.

I agree that the guide is better, but you have to eliminate a lot of inconsistencies to get the best results. With care, you can produce as close to a perfect edge with your guided sharpener as you can get.

 

[MoHeadhunter]

I did both sides at 25, one bevel is a lot wider then the other.

 

[Dakki]

That's normal. If the bevels do not meet, for example, the side you do first will have to be ground down quite a bit more than the other in order to meet that bevel.

Some people will try to keep it the same for aesthetic reasons, I'd just try to remember to start from the opposite side next time.

 

[MoHeadhunter]

When the knife was new there was a wide bevel on the same side the serrations, on the “back” there was next to no bevel.

 

[rifon2]

When the knife was new there was a wide bevel on the same side the serrations, on the “back” there was next to no bevel.

Right, that is the typical bevel for serrated edge blades.

 

[MoHeadhunter]

I thought that was the case because serrations are only sharpened on one side.

Will the Lansky work on a recurved blade just as well?

 

[rifon2]

Will the Lansky work on a recurved blade just as well?

Depends on the level of recurve in the blade.

In other words: if you have a very tight recurve, you'd be better off with something like the DMT convex hone.
But for something "lightly" recurved, like, let's say a Benchmade 710, the Lansky should work well enough.

 

[MoHeadhunter]

I posted a picture of the recurve knife above.

 

[rifon2]

I posted a picture of the recurve knife above.

Yes, I see now, sorry.

Anyway, it's sort of tough to tell without having the blade right up against the stone. But that ZT knife doesn't look so recurved that a Lansky wouldn't work.

If you find, however, that the geometry of the Lansky stone and the recurve of that ZT aren't a good match, you can pick up the DMT convex stone which I mentioned. It's great for recurves.

Might need the DMT guide rod for it to work with your Lansky clamp, though.

http://knifecenter.com/kc_new/store_detail.html?s=DMTASCG

better link here: http://www.dmtsharp.com/products/other.htm

 

[MoHeadhunter]

Cool, thank you the link rifon2.

 

[Peregrin]

I've used my Lansky on this Lightfoot and it worked well:

It looks to be about the same recurve as yours.

Gary