Newb to sharpening? There is hope.

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fireincairo

Joined
Feb 21, 2011
Messages
212
I'm very new to knife sharpening (started researching on this a few months back). I've had sharpening stones, the lansky sharpening system, and attempted to do all the "do it yourself" strops. All methods were lacking for me, and the homemade strops were terrible.

I spent most of my time dulling blades worse than they were to begin with.

My suggestion for anyone looking to be able to create and maintain scary sharp knives is to learn how to change a blade to convex and maintain it convex. Take the time to learn how. This will be the longer path, but it will be easier in the long run and will give you better blades that are more consistent and easier to maintain.

The one caveat I will suggest is this: DON'T BOTHER MAKING YOUR OWN STROP!

Seriously... I made a number of ones on my own, used the mouse pad method (which is fine for beginning to convex a blade that needs to have a lot of metal to be removed), and it was all a bust.

Then I bought a professionally made strop bat from a reputable dealer online. All the problems I thought I had with my technique disappeared. It wasn't my technique, which isn't that difficult, it was the build quality of the strops I was making.

I would like to recommend a particular company's strop, but I don't know if that's ok to do.

But, if you wanna be able to give yourself scary sharp blades to your knives, go over the tutorials here and then go to buy a pro-made strop bat and jump right in:

http://www.barkriverknives.com/convex.htm

http://www.knivesshipfree.com/pages/Sharpening-Videos


This method will be much, much cheaper than these fancy sharpening systems.
 
No offence but freehand sharpening is almost all technique.

Convex though it seems easy is actually the more difficult and time consuming method, especially when the edge is damaged.

Strop making..... Well, may I ask how you made them and the leather you used? Making your own strops is easy, cheap, and usually of better quality than pre-made strops. The guide in my Sig will make two 12x3 strops for about $20.
 
My point was that technique won't make a difference of the strop isn't right. And the technique isn't that complicated, with some practice. People shouldn't be scared off from spending the time to learn, it's worth it.
 
fireincairo said:
My point was that technique won't make a difference of the strop isn't right.
Click to expand...

I beg to differ. I'd say just the opposite. "The STROP won't make a difference if the TECHNIQUE isn't right". A skilled sharpening expert can make effective use of a lot of different stropping materials, including simple newsprint. Strops don't have to be fancy, expensive or 'professionally' made to do a great job. Conversely, the best, most expensive, 'professionally-made' strop will NEVER overcome ignorant use or bad technique. It's inevitable, that bad technique with any strop will round/dull/blunt the edge.

I don't have any objection, if one finds it convenient to buy a ready-made strop, but it's not essential at all. I bought a very nice one myself, the first time around, but it didn't solve my issues at the time. Learning to do it properly did. I now rely soley on a couple of strops I made myself, with perhaps $2 worth of materials in each.

AND, I'm still finding ways to do it even more simply. Virtually all of that is due to learning, practicing and understanding why stropping works, why different stropping compounds perform differently, and also recognizing the circumstances under which it won't work (insufficient preparation of the edge prior to stropping, and poor control of angle and pressure). These are the things that make a difference.
 
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