New to knife sharpening !!

Sharpmaker is what I wound up with, after trying many rigs. If you just want a nice sharp edge without a lot of work*, this is the way to go.

If you want to make an art form out of it, polish it to a mirror finish, strop and all that jazz, you'll have to look elsewhere.

* It's not great for re-grinding bad factory edges, (takes forever) but excels at good basic sharpening. It'll slice paper and shave.

I have a Worksharp Ken Onion that just sits, even though it's faster. I hate how fast it goes through belts.

I tried Lansky, but it doesn't work well on full flat grinds, and I have a lot of Swiss army knives.

I tried traditional stones, but maintaining the angle is hard, they're expensive, and basically just a primitive version of a Sharpmaker. Crock Sticks were the original, but Sharpmaker improved upon that design.

I invested in the diamond rods, which should be included in some package, I think, as there are no coarse stones provided: only medium and fine. I do wish they made longer rods, as the included ones are a bit short for the longer kitchen knives.
 
I have the.original worksharp and a strop! Unless I hit a rock or some other item that will really ding a blade, my strop is my main blade maintainer! I find stropping my knives therapeutic and relaxing!IMG_20200306_071732_kindlephoto-480197622.jpg
 
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I use DMT diamond bench hones for 99% of my sharpening: extra coarse (220 grit), fine (600 grit) and ultra fine (1200 grit). Occasionally I use an ancient Buck Honemaster angle guide. The other 1% is done on a Black Arkansas I inherited from a great uncle who was a carpenter. That Black Arkansas leaves an incredible finishing edge on high carbon steel, but you need diamond hones to sharpen "super steels" with high volumes of very hard carbides. I've never worn out a DMT even after more than two decades of regular use.
 
I use a $30 sharpal coarse/extra fine diamond stone, and my spyderco medium and fine stones. Simple and effective. I can use just the coarse diamond and get useful edges, you don't need anything fancy.
I used to use a Lansky, and they work well, but the setup is annoying and it doesn't work well for all blades. The sharpmaker is a great system but reprofiling is a pain. I decided to get good at freehanding and I have accomplished that, but I'm also still learning!
 
Smaug said:
Sharpmaker is what I wound up with, after trying many rigs. If you just want a nice sharp edge without a lot of work*, this is the way to go.

If you want to make an art form out of it, polish it to a mirror finish, strop and all that jazz, you'll have to look elsewhere.

* It's not great for re-grinding bad factory edges, (takes forever) but excels at good basic sharpening. It'll slice paper and shave.

I have a Worksharp Ken Onion that just sits, even though it's faster. I hate how fast it goes through belts.

I tried Lansky, but it doesn't work well on full flat grinds, and I have a lot of Swiss army knives.

I tried traditional stones, but maintaining the angle is hard, they're expensive, and basically just a primitive version of a Sharpmaker. Crock Sticks were the original, but Sharpmaker improved upon that design.

I invested in the diamond rods, which should be included in some package, I think, as there are no coarse stones provided: only medium and fine. I do wish they made longer rods, as the included ones are a bit short for the longer kitchen knives.
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I have a half dozen sharpening systems. I also have an assortment of bench stones and nice strops.

Currently I'm doing 99% of my sharpening on the bottom of coffee mugs and stropping on cardboard boxes, though. Works just fine. The Arno Bernard Meerkat in my pocket today needed touching up and after giving a few passes on the mug it casually shaves arm hair.
 
What are your thoughts on the Worksharp Ken Onion with grinder attachment apart from belt usage?for say kitchen knives. my folders are 20cv I don't think the Worksharp is suitable for really hard steels like m390 or 20cv,Worksharp say to use 120 grit for hard steels,not sure myself.I have a sharpmaker and strop for keeping my folders sharp and nothing else .
 
Donpie said:
What are your thoughts on the Worksharp Ken Onion with grinder attachment apart from belt usage?for say kitchen knives. my folders are 20cv I don't think the Worksharp is suitable for really hard steels like m390 or 20cv,Worksharp say to use 120 grit for hard steels,not sure myself.I have a sharpmaker and strop for keeping my folders sharp and nothing else .
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It depends. If you think you might really get into knives/sharpening, then I’d actually suggest AVOIDING a motorized system and suggest learning to freehand sharpen instead.

Once you’ve mastered the skill, you can sharpen practically anything with practically any gritty media wherever you happen to be.

If you go the “sharpening system” route, you’re learning how to operate machinery. You will produce sharp knives, but it will take much longer/more space to just keep your users sharp and there frankly won’t be as much pleasure in the process.
 
Donpie said:
What are your thoughts on the Worksharp Ken Onion with grinder attachment apart from belt usage?for say kitchen knives. my folders are 20cv I don't think the Worksharp is suitable for really hard steels like m390 or 20cv,Worksharp say to use 120 grit for hard steels,not sure myself.I have a sharpmaker and strop for keeping my folders sharp and nothing else .
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If you value the longevity of your knives useful lifespan, I’d avoid any motorized sharpening devises.
 
I have 8€ Fallkniven DC4 and few Chinese whetstones that are 2€ each, plus Chinese diamond polishing paste that cost me 4€ per a 50g jar.
I spent 24€ total on all this...

Does it work?
My knives can whittle hair so I'd say it does...

Why people spend fortunes on sharpening systems is beyond me
 
I got and Edge Pro Apex. Then I got the diamond stones for it.

I got it because I simply wasn't getting good enough results sharpening freehand and I wasn't practicing enough to make any progress. It produces a very nice, consistent and polished edge, but...

It takes forever and it's very expensive. Also, I don't think it does convex edges.
 
My $.02 A coarse and fine diamond stone is all I need. A bench stone is a luxury, but a $15 smiths portable is all I need.

I used to have convexed edges, then I learned how to maintain an angle. The fact that some people like convexed edges and do them on purpose is mind blowing to me.

I need knives to cut flesh, ropes, cardboard, and veggies. I’ve never ever even tried to shave my arms, or whittle a hair.

Just my opinions,
 
I started out with a guide rod system, I noticed a few quirks when it came to the edge bevel and I got tired of all the setup. I took some time and learned how to sharpen with hand held sharpeners and benchstones and I think I'm better off for learning how. All of my stones are cheaper stones ranging from about 200 grit to around 1000 grit. It works well enough for me, I can make them shave and the edges look fine. The biggest advantage of learning how to freehand sharpen is that you are independent of any bulky or expensive system and can sharpen on any decent rough surface should the need arise.

It's not necessary to buy expensive, but don't buy bottom dollar cheap, either. I found a dollar store $1 stone that I bought just to try out for kicks. It's terrible, it wears inconsistently and it leaves grit sticking up from the top of the stone. It produces a crappy edge and sometimes dulls it more than it sharpens. It ended up thrown away.
 
A very little known fact is that - the edge of a car/truck/SUV window can be used just exactly like a Spyderco Sharpmaker......
I'm not kidding or joking around.
If you want to touch up the edge & restore it to scary sharp - give it a few swipes on a rolled down vehicle window.
 
jfk1110 said:
I have the.original worksharp and a strop! Unless I hit a rock or some other item that will really ding a blade, my strop is my main blade maintainer! I find stropping my knives therapeutic and relaxing!View attachment 1439834
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I have a strop bat, it works well. But a question, after awhile, do you have to apply rouge to the surfaces to help? The Strop has different grit surfaces, but I noticed the rouge that you have with your strop, do they help? My learning curve is trying to keep the same angle.
 
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