Learning to sharpen

N

Newbish

Joined
Mar 1, 2012
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As I am planning to get a cv pocket knofe soon, i figured now would be a good time to learn to sharpen. what is good to practice on? dulled razor blades? I do not like tung-carbide sharpeners because they take off quite a bit of metal. My only stone right now is my dad's old pocket stone or a coffee mug:p. I have tried on a couple beaters before, and ended up scratching the sides (they were high polished, so it was very unsightly) what is a good reliable sharpness test? thanks ahead of time,
Newbish
 
No shame in scratching the sides of a blade during sharpening. It can be unsightly, but it won't hurt anything. As your sharpening skills grow you'll mar the blade less, though after a while even leather clad knives will show signs of usage.

As for sharpening tests it depends on you and the type of edge you like. I keep a polished edge on my pocketknives. When my knife is able to cut a free hanging hair I figure that's sharp enough for me.

- Christian
 
DiamondSharpener-590x441.jpg


I carry around one of these. A diamond impregnated pocket steel. It works great for touch-ups. I actually have a set tweezers I carry in the case, it acts as a retention spring for the steel, and I've got a set of tweezers if I need it! You can find these in many hardware stores.

*edited to add some more traditional knife content!

img3463l.jpg
 
thanks all. I thought it was just me that marred the sides. I tried on a dull utility blade and I got paper shearing sharp. i suppose that would be a good standard to go on. would marring a blade scratch the patina on a cv knife?
 
If you have any elderly neighbours particularly widows who you are on friendly terms with ask them if their kitchen knives need sharpening.
Its good practice, you're doing a good turn and most of them will be blunt to start with so you can't make them worse.That's what I do .
 
thanks all for the wonderful ideas, the next time i am at my grandfather's house, i will sharpen up my grandma's paring knives (pitted to hell) and borrow my grandad's daimond sharpening block.
Newbish
 
most households have a drawer full of cheap kitchen knives, practice on those.
your dads old pocket stone is probably just fine. use that. if you need more it will become evident with time.
 
Perhaps this demonstration by our own Jackknife will give you some ideas:
[video=youtube;SEMLu8e34ck]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SEMLu8e34ck&list=FLNBPjWvbUDvUkiMZQRtVfSw&index=3[/video]
 
J D Wijbenga said:
Perhaps this demonstration by our own Jackknife will give you some ideas:



Just finished watching this - great stuff! You make it look so easy, a couple of passes and it's sharp! Anyway, it's given me some stuff to think about and to try. Thanks Jackknife for making this video, and thanks to J D Wijbenga for posting it.
:thumbup:
Click to expand...
 
jwren said:
J D Wijbenga said:
Perhaps this demonstration by our own Jackknife will give you some ideas:



Just finished watching this - great stuff! You make it look so easy, a couple of passes and it's sharp! Anyway, it's given me some stuff to think about and to try. Thanks Jackknife for making this video, and thanks to J D Wijbenga for posting it.
:thumbup:
Click to expand...

You're very welcome. And it really is that easy, you just need to practice it on some old paring knives, or an Opinel. Every knife person should own an Opinel.
Carl.
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