need help/mentoring

9

91xlt

Joined
Nov 17, 2008
Messages
558
i am fairly new to the blade field.
i am an advid hunter/camper, and have had/used my share of very good/good/not so good blades.
i am recently trying to configure my blades to activity/duty/use of each. not having too much of a problem doing so...imo.

my problem has become getting a good edge and keeping it, i am not doing so well. is there anyone here...possibly in phila are or via tel/internet who can really help/educate me to the art of sharpening knives.
with some of my carbon steel blades i do ok...but with stainless and even more so with sv30...i suck!

looking for help/mentoring!
my email is
project91xlt@aol.com
i would be happy to either "trade" knowledge, knives, camp equip., or send some funds for the help
 
Sharpening by itself is pretty basic, all you need for a very good edge is patience and decent sharpening tools.

When working with tools that have been sharpened without experience or just have been used to hell without sharpening you need a fairly coarse stone do get them up to snuff, cheap SiC stones at hardware stores work well start with the coarse then use fine, then go to your normal stones.

I think what a lot of people fail to realize about sharpening is how easy it is. The real key to sharpening is a steady angle. If you have seen the edgepro system and the videos you'll see that the only difference between that and a stone set is a smaller sized stone is guided at a constant angle to grind the knife edge.

Take your cheapest most hated plain edge knife and a rather high grit (smoothest) sharpening stone and just practice holding the knife at the same angle throughout the stroke. It's something you get into with muscle memory and it just gets easier and easier and you get better results.

If you want to get some video help I use AIM and can use my laptops webcam to give you some help sometime.
 
The Razor Edge Book of Sharpening by John Juranitch.

It cuts to the basics of sharpening theory and practice with plenty of good photos and drawings to make understanding easy. I highly recommend it and wish I had read it before I spent time and money trying several different methods and techniques, none of which worked nearly as well.

Learning to freehand sharpen (without guides) is a great skill to have plus it forms a convex edge, the best for most uses IMO, which can be maintained with stropping.

This is the best online sharpening tutorial I've seen, from the moderator of this forum. http://www.knifeart.com/sharfaqbyjoe.html
 
The Razor's Edge and also Sharpening Made Easy by Steve Bottorff. The latter is a real basic book, quick reading. It will keep you on edge. OK, barf to my pun. :barf:
 
The key is very simple. Scrape the steel on a rock until the two sides meet. After that it is just refining and deciding when it is sharp enough.

Maintaining the angle is important. The sharpie trick can help in your practice and in applying your sharpening skill.
 
91xlt said:
i am fairly new to the blade field.
i am an advid hunter/camper, and have had/used my share of very good/good/not so good blades.
i am recently trying to configure my blades to activity/duty/use of each. not having too much of a problem doing so...imo.

my problem has become getting a good edge and keeping it, i am not doing so well. is there anyone here...possibly in phila are or via tel/internet who can really help/educate me to the art of sharpening knives.
with some of my carbon steel blades i do ok...but with stainless and even more so with sv30...i suck!

looking for help/mentoring!
my email is
project91xlt@aol.com
i would be happy to either "trade" knowledge, knives, camp equip., or send some funds for the help
Click to expand...

There are certainly those here much better than me, BUT I can offer a little advice. Whatever you are using: guided, bench stones, paper, files, keep it approtriately cleaned.

I use mostly bench stones. I have read a number of posts reguarding this same question, and just the other day it hit me that when it "clicked", was when I changed the LOCATION where I sharpen best. The bench top was changed from 29" to 47". yes, now I do stand up. Fluke or not, I guess I don't know. My family and friends are either impressed, or embarrased for me (don't think it is that) and that is what works for me.

Hope this helps.

Matt
 
I'd Say technique is WAY more important than the tools. I saw this dude on youtube sharpen a knife with a cinder block and strop the knife in cardboard. Just practice on a cheap knife before you do your good ones.
 
65535 said:
Sharpening by itself is pretty basic, all you need for a very good edge is patience and decent sharpening tools.

When working with tools that have been sharpened without experience or just have been used to hell without sharpening you need a fairly coarse stone do get them up to snuff, cheap SiC stones at hardware stores work well start with the coarse then use fine, then go to your normal stones.

I think what a lot of people fail to realize about sharpening is how easy it is. The real key to sharpening is a steady angle. If you have seen the edgepro system and the videos you'll see that the only difference between that and a stone set is a smaller sized stone is guided at a constant angle to grind the knife edge.

Take your cheapest most hated plain edge knife and a rather high grit (smoothest) sharpening stone and just practice holding the knife at the same angle throughout the stroke. It's something you get into with muscle memory and it just gets easier and easier and you get better results.

If you want to get some video help I use AIM and can use my laptops webcam to give you some help sometime.
Click to expand...


This is a very good offer. Have a video/audio conference and get on track, then you can move forward with knowledge.

Just my $.02.

Good luck,

Doug
 
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