Must have tips for free hand sharpening?

linuxology

linuxology

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Dec 31, 2010
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Would you post your opinion or reference other sources for free hand sharpening? I'm a noob and trying to learn. So any tips and references are appreciated. Have had issues since moving to thicker stock knives.
 
[video=youtube;SuGwd9YZ8_g]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SuGwd9YZ8_g[/video]

and put into action:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DWdfhnpBe0

I also have a main user's video on the website through which I sell my sharpening block (linked below). Start the first video at 7 minutes in to skip over the product specific content - the rest is all basic freehand sharpening tips.

Study your hands and identify where your technique allows too much slop. When starting out and for a good bit after, there's a lot of low-hanging fruit when it comes to improving freehand sharpening. You can only learn so much from a video, but just keep all these little tips in mind while practicing.

Martin

Edit to add:
Jason B youtube channel -
https://www.youtube.com/user/MrEdgy81

Korin -
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4KWkDM4vFKnQyBObytr09A
 
Read the links in JasonB's signature, and watch his videos on YT (he's MrEdgy). Here's one to get you started. As he sharpens, he stops and explains things and provides tips along the way.
 
There are millions of ways to sharpen a knife and we all have our own unique spin on how we get there in terms of technique just keep in mind the end result is what you want. A fully apexed burr free edged that is free of defects, or put it simply a sharp knife.

So don't get hanged up with how one person sharpens compared to how someone else sharpens, just do what feels more natural to you and try to progress your skill as a sharpener. Consistency is the key in producing a sharp edge too, but don't overthink it.
 
Bob6794 said:
There are millions of ways to sharpen a knife and we all have our own unique spin on how we get there in terms of technique just keep in mind the end result is what you want. A fully apexed burr free edged that is free of defects, or put it simply a sharp knife.

So don't get hanged up with how one person sharpens compared to how someone else sharpens, just do what feels more natural to you and try to progress your skill as a sharpener. Consistency is the key in producing a sharp edge too, but don't overthink it.
Click to expand...
:thumbup: perfect
 
My biggest tip for people trying to move around big heavy steel objects at precise angles... Hold your wrists and move your hips. Lock in the angle with your hands and wrists and use your back and legs for the movement. I picked this up when doing file work at a machine shop, it's a lot harder to hold an 18" bastard file at a perfect 45 degrees if you have to move your hands to drag it along while maintaining the angle. Split the work up to other parts of your body.

Second tip... Use a stack of pennies or something for a reference to what angle you're holding the blade at. All these guys that talk about muscle memory are super skilled and that's great, but again if you want to make it easier on yourself then delegate. Don't make your muscles remember the angle the knife is at, use a reference, check against it ever few strokes, and let your muscles focus on holding the blade steady more than worrying if the angle is correct. Overtime the muscle memory will build itself.
 
Good thread. I tell folks starting out to get comfortable. Set yourself up so your sharpening station is sized for you. Get yourself one of those plastic sharpening guides that clips over the spine. A good way to get used to keeping the angle consistent on both sides of the blade.

In addition to the excellent advice above keep your elbow parallel to your wrist. If your elbow is moving it changes the angle your sharpening at.
 
KennyB said:
My biggest tip for people trying to move around big heavy steel objects at precise angles... Hold your wrists and move your hips. Lock in the angle with your hands and wrists and use your back and legs for the movement. I picked this up when doing file work at a machine shop, it's a lot harder to hold an 18" bastard file at a perfect 45 degrees if you have to move your hands to drag it along while maintaining the angle. Split the work up to other parts of your body.

Second tip... Use a stack of pennies or something for a reference to what angle you're holding the blade at. All these guys that talk about muscle memory are super skilled and that's great, but again if you want to make it easier on yourself then delegate. Don't make your muscles remember the angle the knife is at, use a reference, check against it ever few strokes, and let your muscles focus on holding the blade steady more than worrying if the angle is correct. Overtime the muscle memory will build itself.
Click to expand...

I lock my wrists and elbows and move my shoulders. Another thing is listen to the stone . With experience you can hear and feel when you are on the edge or if you are hitting the bevel. The pitch gets higher when you are on the cutting edge vs the bevel.

When you start out don't be afraid to sharpie your bevels as many times as it takes to make sure you keeping that angle .

The burr or feeling the burr can be pretty difficult sometimes. Depends on the steel . I've had knives I couldn't feel a burr on but I knew they should be sharp but they weren't ,it was a burr.

I suggest either a strop or the debuting block FROM CT or what I use , a piece of wood. I run my blades through the wood after every grit just to take the burr off. Also do some edge trailing or stopping strokes at every grit before the wood , all to get rid of a burr.

Starting out you'll probably find your angle and do x amount of strokes on one side then x amount on other instead of flipping sides more often ,that is why keeping that burr down is so important . They can be tricky too. Actually burrs especially the tiny ones you can't really feel were my biggest hurdle in sharpening .

Angle consistency will come with practice. Only you know what works best for you . I watched tons of people and developed my own technique that works best for me . If the end result is sharp there's no right or wrong . Learn the basics first then refine your technique.

Also font jump grits too fast . Many people will jump say from a 1k stone to a higher grit with a fairly dull knife. A 1k stone or a 325 diamond stone are capable of putting screaming sharp edges on a knife. If it's not Sharon off the coarser stones keep at it . Actually more time on coarse grits makes sharpening so much easier .

I don't go too low . I may thin my bevel with an extra coarse stone but I don't like apexing with my coarser stones.
 
For me the four biggest factors, all related, in improving my edges were:

- learning to feel the location of the edge on the stone. Being able to differentiate from the feel of the apex, the bevel itself, the shoulder. On convex being able to feel that I'm getting close to the apex without hitting it. Prior to gaining this feel, I'm certain I was occasionally elevating the spine to feel for the edge, making the apex more broad than I'd intended. I was also floating between the shoulder and apex, and therefore unable to really dial in the edge to the best of what my mechanics can produce. Muscle memory can only work on tools that have a common configuration, having to work on a variety of tools leaves one looking for other means of holding the angle.

- second one goes with the first - using the fingertips of my off hand to control for angle, pressure, and to help 'feel' the edge as it moves across the abrasive.

- third, working consciously from shoulder to apex. On edges with a good sized shoulder I will lower the spine to 'bump' the shoulder off the stone with a light pass or two, and that calibrates the tactile feedback on the fly. Then I elevate the spine till the feedback tapers off and I know I'm not letting the edge angle get larger.

I also can tell when I'm operating at max precision for what my mechanics can produce. When working from the shoulder out, you reach a point where the bevel is 'trapped' between the sensation of the shoulder dragging, and the apex catching. A burr is certain to have formed even without inspection, and the edge is as flat as I'm capable of creating.

- forth was when I got into machetes for backpacking and had to do a lot of work out of the box to get them up to snuff. Working on such a large tool that is essentially a scaled-up knife allowed me to easily study my mechanics as I worked. Then pretty easy to adapt what I'd learned to smaller tools.

All of the above I find make it exponentially easier to detect and remove burrs, spot warps in the edge etc, basically providing a consistent baseline to improve on.

Martin
 
You got to have PATIENCE when you're first learning! Remember you're teaching yourself hand/eye co-ordination on an entirely new movements. Start with 440 stainless before you go after any nice knives. Cheap Kitchen knives are always fun :) You can take a lot of material off going perpendicular then ease into any subtle imperfections at a 30-40 degree sweeping action to blend everything together. For me, I'm right handed, the toughest part of any blade is the right tip/bend area since you can't see it and it's an odd angle to do. S110V and Titanium is hard/impossible to sharpen with what I have presently to sharpen with. Smith's tri-stone, 2x arkansas stones fyi.

I've done several hundred by hand since starting to learn since this last Christmas. Last weekend, I fixed a farmers knife that literally didn't have a straight edge it was so chunked away. I sharpened it on a picnic table in front of everyone.... ten minutes later it was straight, polished mirror edge slicing phone book paper sharp. Get yourself a premade leather strop... it will take your edges to 5 more levels of sharpness!! I love both mine I bought in the last 3 weeks!
 
KennyB said:
My biggest tip for people trying to move around big heavy steel objects at precise angles... Hold your wrists and move your hips. Lock in the angle with your hands and wrists and use your back and legs for the movement.
Click to expand...

That technique seems to work really well. Some combination of moving at the ankles and/or hips seems to let you isolate the other joints the most. My arms usually swing just a bit at the shoulder joints, with the elbows and wrists essentially locked. I liken this to my body being a big robotic fixture holding the blade, sliding back and forth on a platform. The angle doesn't change because the "fixture" is fixed in place. The whole thing just moves back and forth, parallel to the stone.

This is *almost* worth making Secret #8 of The Seven Secrets Of Sharpening. Though it's really part of secret #2. I should perhaps write some supplemental material to T7S including this and some other things I've been thinking about.

Brian.
 
Good tip, sounds like putting in golf where consistency comes from the shoulders, not the wrists.
 
That link to Knives plus is where i got my big and small leather strops from..... Trust me.. THEY WORK! :)
 
You guys are making this way too complicated, and you're not wrong....

If you watch 10 videos on freehand sharpening, the technique's will all look different but the results will all be excellent.

For the most part, everyone develops their own style, and everyone goes through a period of trial and error before they get there.

The key is to pick up a knife and start. Mess it up, try to fix it, but above all else, be PATIENT.
It's important to understand what you are trying to do first, and then figuring out the way you want to get there....

It takes patience and practice, all the video's in the world and all the direction we can give (which sometimes makes things harder/more complicated) won't replace the way we all learned to free hand.

Trial and error.
 
HeavyHanded said:
[video=youtube;SuGwd9YZ8_g]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SuGwd9YZ8_g[/video]

and put into action:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DWdfhnpBe0

I also have a main user's video on the website through which I sell my sharpening block (linked below). Start the first video at 7 minutes in to skip over the product specific content - the rest is all basic freehand sharpening tips.

Study your hands and identify where your technique allows too much slop. When starting out and for a good bit after, there's a lot of low-hanging fruit when it comes to improving freehand sharpening. You can only learn so much from a video, but just keep all these little tips in mind while practicing.

Martin

Edit to add:
Jason B youtube channel -
https://www.youtube.com/user/MrEdgy81

Korin -
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4KWkDM4vFKnQyBObytr09A
Click to expand...

Just watched your video...excellent.

Kinda Ironic, I have been playing around with the "Japanese Style" of sharpening.

It's going to take me some more time to get used to it and to get to the point where I feel comfortable enough to say that I can do it and get the results I am looking for....

Gonna have to watch some more of your vids!
 
Different kind of tips:
- don't sharpen when under the influence of whatsoever
- good light is important
- steady work space is a must
- get wife kids pets etc away, no TV or other source of disruption
- have more time ahead than you think you need
- enjoy what you are doing, it's no chores!
- have a DOPS book (Datas On Previous Sharpenings) where you write down the grit of the stones used and the angles (if you use an adjustable system)
 
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