Newbie Knife sharpening?

[Danny1911]

Okay so i see all these threads on here about advanced knife sharpening, getting the knife scary sharp.

Im just starting out and will probably just be using a sharpening stone, or pick up an reasonably inexpensive product sooner or later (probably whatever you guys recommend lol).

I just want to ask some basic tips from you guys. For a sharpening stone i remember hearing to try to slice a thin layer off the top of the stone. (i've heard using oil is optional?).

also what would you guys recommend for stroping? i might try to find an old leather belt but for now i might use carboard. just kinda do sharpening in reverse? with the blades spine towards you?

thank you guys and all tips are appreciated.

 

[bgentry]

I'm no expert, but here's a little info. First, you want to decide if you are going to freehand sharpen or use a sharpening jig/system like a Lansky or a Spyderco Sharpmaker. I know people who like both and people here seem to like both also, in varying degrees.

If you want to freehand sharpen, then you need a few stones. Following John Juranitch's advice, you want one quite coarse stone and one quite fine stone. Something like a medium silicon carbide stone and a fine ceramic. I like my Sic stone for metal removal and the Spyderco Profile medium stone seems quite fine to me, leaving a nice sharp edge. It's product code is 701M if you want to look it up.

From what I've read and experienced, you don't need oil on any stone *except* a natural Arkansas stone that has already had oil put on it. Otherwise, just use your stones dry and clean them off from time to time.

The whole "shave a slice off the stone" thing is over simplified information that I've been reading for more than 20 years. The three fundamentals of sharpening are Angle, Abrasive, and Bur. You need to hold a constant (or nearly so) Angle, use the right Abrasive for the step you are on, and keep going until you get a Bur. That's rather oversimplified in itself, so read through one or both of these references below.

I think Chad Ward's "Knife Maintenance and Sharpening" article is great. It's really long, but I think it covers everything pretty well:

Knife Maintenance and Sharpening

This web version of "Sharpening Made Easy" is good too. Steve Bottorff sells a complete book by this title and I guess the web version is maybe part of it? Either way it's pretty good and shorter than Chad Ward's article.

Sharpening Made Easy

Stropping is covered in both of those articles. I'm OK at it, but I can't say much about it except, yes you pull away from the edge when stropping.

I hope this helps some.

Brian.

 

[Chiller2]

The guides posted are a good way to start but like most things to get good it is going to take time practice and probably a few nicks and cuts along the way.