New sharpening setup

A

alexit

Joined
Jul 26, 2010
Messages
7
Looking for suggestions for first time sharpening set up, budget around 100. Knives include several global, mac, tojiro kitchen knives, all with regular use. Also started to acquire some middle of the road kershaw, sog, and benchmade edc and fixed knives, along with a machete and an axe or two. Lighter use on all of these.

Currently all i have is a smooth steel for honing Which tools do i need for proper sharpening at home and carry in the field given

-knives are rarely abused
-prefer an edge thatll last a few months of occaisional use to hair slicing sharp.
 
Sandpaper on glass, Norton Sic stone and a ceramic rod for microobevels, Norton waterstone 220/1000, DMT diafolds (great field sharpener), Coarse and fine DMT benchstones.

The options are endless and will all give you a sharp edge but you need to know how to use them.

Sharpening plays a part in edge longevity but the steel and your uses will be bigger factors.

What were you looking at? any stones that peak your interest?
 
Hi There,
Depending on how long you want to spend on sharpening these knives. If you want to learn to free hand that is Great. Sorry myself I've tryed several times and just not good enough for me.

I would recommend Paper wheels. You can't beat the edge, Cut you real fast and the entire system will only cost you about 100.00 bucks
Read some of Richards posts they work great !

The Best,
Electric
 
I've been looking around at different methods. I'm interested in doing some convex edges, due to the apparent low cost, simplicity, speed, and durability (some of my tools are already convex).

Couple of questions though:

How to best hone/touch up a convex edge in the field with (I'm thinking multi-day hiking excursions)? Small ceramic rod?

Best method for putting a lasting convex edge on. Don't strop too much? Micro bevel?
 
If you review the videos on knivesshipfree.com under their Sharpening Videos tab, you will see one about field sharpening. They glue a strip of leather to the front and back of a paint stick then charge the leather with black rouge on one side and green rouge on the other. A few grits of sandpaper accompany the strop stick and you just fold the sandpaper around the strop stick.
 
alexit, if you hate to hand strop, the paper wheel system is the way to go. i convex a lot of knives using a belt sander but you can use a piece of sandpaper on a soft pad or even a phone book to work up a burr. i use the slotted paper wheel to remove the burr worked up on the sandpaper and it will polish the edge. you can sharpen a v edge in just a couple of minutes to shaving sharp. the paper wheels electric is talking about is at this link http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=578787
 
alexit said:
I've been looking around at different methods. I'm interested in doing some convex edges, due to the apparent low cost, simplicity, speed, and durability (some of my tools are already convex).

Couple of questions though:

How to best hone/touch up a convex edge in the field with (I'm thinking multi-day hiking excursions)? Small ceramic rod?

Best method for putting a lasting convex edge on. Don't strop too much? Micro bevel?
Click to expand...

Almost forgot.... Welcome to BF :)

It sounds like you enjoy the outdoors?

If the convex blades you have now for your trips are anything like a BRKT or fallkniven a simple method would be to use sandpaper in the palm of your hand. Some 220 and 600 would be all that you need and would go unnoticed in your back pocket.

A great tool for convex sharpening is the JRE EMS sharpening block, it was designed for convex sharpening and does a excellent job. You can also do V edges with it by placing something firm under the sandpaper like a thin piece of balsa wood or metal. It would be a good start in your sharpening tools being a two in one, and give you time to think of what stones or systems you want for V edges.

Micro bevels can be used in field to touch-up a convex edge, adding a small ceramic rod to your kit of sandpaper would be easy and just give you another option for keeping your edge sharp. I wouldn't rely on just the rod though, you never know what's going to happen away from all your tools. Then again, if you carry a leatherman the diamonds file could replace the sandpaper and you could just carry the rod.

Options are endless ;)
 
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