New to sharpening, looking for tips and suggestions

J

JDX

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Mar 2, 2014
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I realize that I never truly put my blades through heavy use because I don't have any sharpening equipment other than a pull through sharpener which I know is awful. So my question is, what sharpening system is the easiest to start on? What's an inclusive angle? Is 20 degrees the general angle for edges? I'm dealing mainly with s30v (spyderco pm2, manix 2, kershaw blur) but I also have 14c28n, vg10 and Aus 8 on my Ontario rat 1


I know very little about sharpening, so id appreciate as much info as you can offer. Thank you
 
JDX said:
I realize that I never truly put my blades through heavy use because I don't have any sharpening equipment other than a pull through sharpener which I know is awful. So my question is, what sharpening system is the easiest to start on? What's an inclusive angle? Is 20 degrees the general angle for edges? I'm dealing mainly with s30v (spyderco pm2, manix 2, kershaw blur) but I also have 14c28n, vg10 and Aus 8 on my Ontario rat 1


I know very little about sharpening, so id appreciate as much info as you can offer. Thank you
Click to expand...

Everyone's needs (and opinions) are different... spend a couple of days reading thru this section, and you'll have a pretty good idea of what's out there to sharpen with.

To answer some of your questions...

Don't pick a sharpener based on how 'easy' it is... first decide on how you want to sharpen (guided or freehand, powered or manual), what your budget is, type of abrasive, what would you like to achieve (maintenance sharpening vs. reprofiling an edge or fixing chips, etc.), then narrow down what you think will work for you.

"Inclusive" is both angles of an edge added together, so, 20° per side would be 40° inclusive.

I don't think there's a "general angle for edges". Factory angles can be all over the map. I would say 20° is a good angle when you're learning... often better than factory. As your experience grows, you can decide based on how you use the knife and what you're cutting what angle(s) to use. You'll find most blades will perform better at lower angles.

Once you narrow it down a bit, you'll get better advice on what to get.
 
If all you need is touching up a spyderco sharp maker is great. A work sharp is also a great sharpening tool just be careful not to overheat the blade or sand off the tip
 
If your new to sharpening stay away from the work sharp . It's a good tool but you can really mess a blade up fast with it .

Sharp maker would probably get you where you want to be and keep you there ,if you wanted the diamond rods later that's an option.

If freehand is what you want you can get the Souder Co bench stones .
 
I have used the spyderco sharpener for years now, I swear by it. Now, If you have a really dull, has to be reprofiled knife, really really bad dull knife, I freehand on a diamond stone or use my Lansky system. I just got for my birthday, the other day, a Ken onion work sharp. I haven't played with it yet, so no reviews on it. I'm lining up some cheap knives to practice on.
OH, IMHO , good knife sharpening is a matter of practice. learning how to, keeping angles, etc. , its not so much the tool as it is the guy behind it.
 
I'm also new to sharpening. What's working for me is a Smith's 8" tri-hone and some cheap yard sale knives. Free hand sharpening takes a lot of practice but is worth the effort and fun too.
 
I aways like to recommend a good quality coarse stone (Norton Crystolon combo stone for instance) and the Spyderco Sharpmaker together. This way you can reprofile/practice free hand sharpening, practice getting a good edge off the stone and for further tuning and/or frustrating days use the Spyderco Sharpmaker for the final touch.

Alternatively you could use an angle wedge on the bench stone and practice. That is when a larger stone comes in handy. I recommend two pairs of each wedge (that way you can place one on each end of the stone for convenience). A 8 dps wedge will give you about a 10-12 dps effective bevel, another set of 15 dps wedges will make you a nice microbevel at which you can maintain you knife for a while with very easy touch up.

Or, go eyeballing, use the 90º/45º/22.5º/11.25º technique for a rough angle guide, grind away, try to keep the angle steady. Once a burr, cut off and apply a microbevel at a slightly higher angle. Always use very low pressure for the final touch. The only time I use quite a bit of pressure is when I grind a lot of metal on a coarse stone or when I use edge trailing strokes in preparation for steps to come.
 
The Spyderco Sharpmaker sounds perfect for you

It's a great system.


It's also a gateway to freehand
 
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