New sharpening strategy

[awestib]

Hy everybody
This is in relation to previous posts about doing only edge trailing strokes.

I thought I would share some new sharpening strategies with you. Not that anything is new to you here and who am I to actually post something about sharpening - but I found a "new" way that works for me very well. First I think it's important to understand that I don't care about the preexisting angle on my knife much. Reason is that I need to put " my" angle on it that I feel is the right one and that I can more or less maintain no matter what. Sure, if I sharpen my very thin kitchen slicer, I try to maintain a lower angle than for my outdoor knife but that almost is natural now and I don't think I use the same angle exactly the next time I sharpen the same knife again. in other words I always establish a new edge, for the most part, and not just touch up a preexisting edge. That's because I don't think that I can take one of my let's say 10 knives that I last sharpened 2 weeks ago and would be able to set the same angle today?!?! No, I can't, I approximate the anle and grind in a new edge, period. Does that make sense?

Anyway, what I do now is I start with the stone in a 90 deg angle towards me, so I look at the shorter side of the stone. I start at the far end of the stone the spine facing me. that way I can set the angle better (take a mental note as Mr Fletcher would say). Now, no matter whether I need to do forth and back strokes (if I feel I have to grind away a lot of material) or just single strokes (which I now only do edge trailing !!!) I do the same motion, it's a towards me and sideways plus lifting up the handle a bit motion. This way the contact to the edge on the stone is very similiar every single stroke that I do, no matter whether it is grinding, stropping on the stone or stropping on the leather strop. That's also the reason why I only strop on the stone and not do edge leading strokes because the movement, no matter how hard I try, would be different. Other than that, the principle of establishing an apex (a burr on both sides) is the same. Only disadvantage so far that I have noticed is a bit more of a burr every single time, particularly on the diamond stones, even when I use the fine one. that's it.

And of course, this needs to be done with both hands, so left edge with right hand and right edge with left hand!

Any suggestions or questions or critic?
Thanks, Andy

 

[Skimo]

Use a sharpie to get closer to your existing angle, less steel ground away.

Other than that, how you sharpen, if it works and you're happy, you're doing fine.

 

[HeavyHanded]

Agreed, whatever works. For myself I've found I have to do it based on feel - every visual based method I've tried has had problems. Now I work on technique that improves my feedback. I also find using my dominant hand for angle control and the fingers of my support hand for pressure and direction, both sides of the blade, works best for me. I keep my stone at about a 45 degree angle in front of me.

 

[Obsessed with Edges]

Echoing the other comments, I'll also add another 'if it works for you, it's all good.' Sharpening is very much about finding a method that's comfortable and repeatable for the individual. Whatever it takes. :thumbup:

I like to keep my edge oriented towards me, so I can see flush contact on the hone. And I use edge-leading strokes in sort of a draw/slicing motion, with the blade angled diagonally, about 30-45 degrees to the long axis of the hone. I feel the diagonal draw stroke to be much steadier for maintaining the edge angle, as the blade tends to pitch forward (spine raising), if using a perpendicular orientation to the hone. Most of the 'control' of blade orientation and angle comes from the middle, ring and pinky fingers of my right hand on the handle (very similar to gripping a golf club, in fact), with my index finger usually laying atop the blade, over the area of contact on the hone. That's how I sense feedback from the hone, and regulate pressure, based on feel via the pad of my index finger.

 

[awestib]

Thanks guys, we should all post more sharpening videos here on the forum!!