Newbie to knife sharpening - help please

Ogri

Ogri

Joined
Feb 19, 2016
Messages
716
Hi, I have not yet had to sharpen anything more than an old Swiss Army knife. However at some stage soon I am going to have to try and sharpen my GEC. I currently have two options open to me, an oil stone that that I have in the garage ( not sure what grade it is) or a Lansys knife sharpening kit ( wooden block with ceramic rods at 20 or 25 degrees inclination). Are either of these any good or is ther a better method for a relatively unskilled newbie ?
 
Definitely good to learn to sharpen freehand. It's not that hard, really. Check out jackknife's video on sharpening posted here.

-- Mark
 
I was in the same boat a couple of months ago. The Lanksy works fine for wider blades on folders, but for narrow ones (like the pen and coping blades on a Case Seahorse Whittler) you can't sharpen at a low enough angle for my taste. So, I switched to freehanding. I'm still perfecting my technique, but I'm already a lot happier with the results.

Greg
 
I would recommend you pick up a more course benchstone (I love the Norton combination Crystolon/India stone for a traditional approach. Diamonds are always a great modern approach. I always finish on a white ceramic stone (Spyderco is my favorite). You can finish just fine on a synthetic Arkansas fine stone.

Whichever stone you choose, I agree with other's have said: learn to sharpen freehand. You'll scratch a few blades in the process but end up with a very satisfying skill.

Two bits of advice:
1. Use the marker trick: color the edge with marker to know if you're sharpening the top of the bevel or the extreme edge (where you want to be).
2. NEVER move to a finer grit without complete cleanup of the edge (no marker left on the edge). Nothing is more frustrating than a nicely finished edge with that one spot that didn't cleanup...
 
Ogri said:
Hi, I have not yet had to sharpen anything more than an old Swiss Army knife. However at some stage soon I am going to have to try and sharpen my GEC. I currently have two options open to me, an oil stone that that I have in the garage ( not sure what grade it is) or a Lansys knife sharpening kit ( wooden block with ceramic rods at 20 or 25 degrees inclination). Are either of these any good or is ther a better method for a relatively unskilled newbie ?
Click to expand...

If the factory edge grind on the GEC is decent, i.e. not too thick or wide-angled at the edge, and the edge hasn't been dulled too much yet, the Lansky ceramic rod set should be able to keep it tuned up. On the other hand, if the factory's grind IS rather thick (and I've read here that GEC can be prone to this), thinning of the grind would make a big improvement, AND it'd also make touch-up sharpening easier down the road. Depending on what your oil stone is, you might be able to utilize it to do that job. If it's a SiC (silicon carbide) stone like a Norton Crystolon, or a decent AlOx (aluminum oxide) coarse/medium stone like Norton's India stone, it could work for that. If it's a finer-grit stone, like a polishing-grade Arkansas stone (black hard or translucent hard), it won't be aggressive enough to thin the blade. And a coarser Arkansas stone may still not be aggressive enough on GEC's stainless (440C) blades, if that's what you've got. A SiC stone, like Norton's Crystolon or their so-called 'Economy Stone', would handle the 440C easily.

In the short term, you might experiment on another expendable blade in a steel similar to your GEC's blade (their non-stainless is 1095, and 440C if you have a stainless blade), to see what the oil stone is capable of doing. If it removes steel fairly aggressively, you might give it a go on your GEC, if you think thinning it's edge grind would improve cutting.

EDIT:
I'd suggest posting a pic of your oil stone here; you could get some good feedback as to it's type and possible effectiveness for the job. Might also post a pic of your GEC's edge as well, if you want to. Might reveal if the edge could benefit by a little thinning. :)


David
 
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Ogri said:
Hi, I have not yet had to sharpen anything more than an old Swiss Army knife. However at some stage soon I am going to have to try and sharpen my GEC. I currently have two options open to me, an oil stone that that I have in the garage ( not sure what grade it is) or a Lansys knife sharpening kit ( wooden block with ceramic rods at 20 or 25 degrees inclination). Are either of these any good or is ther a better method for a relatively unskilled newbie ?
Click to expand...

Hey Ogri, first off, could you post a pic of the oil stone in the garage? It just may be all you need. GEC's are great knives and usually have a nice thin edge, so sharpening it should be no problem. What model is it?

With freehand sharpening you can learn to keep your knife sharp on a variety of things with very little effort. Stomes, coffee mugs, top of car windows, piece of a brick, whatever. Knife sharpening is not rocket science, and is very easy once you learn to stop over thinking it. All manner of folks have been sharpening edged weapons and tools on rocks since ancient times. Some Roman legionnaire sitting by a fire the night before a battle honed his gladius on whatever stone was at hand. The old free trappers of the fur trade era had mountain men keeping their Green River knives sharp on some smooth rock from a stream.

Don't get obsessed with angles. A little bit on either side of it will do. Take that old oil stone out in the garage, clean it off with some kerosene or WD-40, and try it out. Put some nice bright red marker on the blade edges, and set the knife on the stone like you're gonna cut it in half. Like you're going to saw right down through it. Thats 90 degrees.

Then lay the blade over one half of that angle. This will bring you to about 45 degrees. Now, cut that angle in half again and you're in the neighborhood where you should be. Then without taking the blade off the stone, start honing in a small over lapping circular motion starting at the kick, the base of the blade and slowly work your way toward the tip. Take about a minute to get there. Then do the other side the same way. This is the start of honing a blade in a consistent steady angle that will be close enough. Some folks like a scrubbing motion, it's all good, and will get you to the someplace. The object is speed and not taking the blade off the stone will keep a constant steady angle. It won't matter if it's 22 degrees, 25 degrees, or 27 degrees. As long as you keep it at a steady angle and keep at it, you will end up with a sharp knife. Remark the edges with the red marker to keep track of how you're doing. MOst people make the mistake starting out of keeping to steep and angle. Just do the thing with starting at 90 degrees and cutting the amount of angle in half twice and you'll be close enough.

I was taught the small circle method by our scout master, and it was fast and easy to get a good using edge in a few minutes with the pocket stone we all carried. It became such a habit, I just stuck with it.
 
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When new to knives people get new knives, one of their first thoughts is going to be - How do I keep my knife sharp. For what it's worth here's my .02¢.

There are a lot of threads and posts in this sub-forum about angles - 20º, 30º, etc.. Too many people worry about getting that exact angle when all they need is to be close to that angle and most importantly be consistent in the angle they hold their blades at from sharpening to sharpening.

Their next worry is what to use to sharpen their knives. I have been hand sharpening for years and have settled on stones mostly like the ones show in the picture below. Norton India coarse/fine, aluminum oxide stones and Arkansas stones. One other stone that I also use is a Norton Crystolon stone shown in the second picture.

wmwsv0V.jpg




Perhaps one of the easiest ways to get into sharpening is to use a simple rod system. Most of these systems have predrilled holes or slots to hold various rods and sharpeners at a consistent angle. Here are two systems that I have. The Lansky system holds rods at 20º and 25º while the slots of the Case system hold a sharpener at 20º. Both systems are very easy to use. Just follow the directions that come with the systems. A plus for the Case system is that you can use diamond stones from various manufactures. A heads up - you may need to lightly and carefully sand the holes or slots to fit the rods or sharpeners to their holders.

4DOi4yx.jpg


EDIT: Adding this picture of a Spyderco Sharpmake to say it would be a great addition as a "rod system" but it is perhaps a bit expensive for just starting out. As stated below, the Lansky rod system next to the Sharpmaker will do just fine to get a beginner started.

ZJN0Yar.jpg


OK!! This has been kinda clumsily written but I hope this helps some of you guys. I think the easiest way for a new sharpener to get some sort of satisfaction when they first start sharpening is to use a round-rod system such as the Lansky system shown above.

Of course everyone can start out using diamond sharpeners but those are a bit expensive for someone just starting out sharpening knives. Here are a few of the simpler diamond sharpeners to use.

CkyNGjo.jpg


Whatever you new sharpeners decide to use keep it simple and be patient.
 
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@ Modoc ED - nice pics of the gear.

I myself would like to get ahold of the DMT 6 inch bench stones like you have pictured. I would want the coarse and fine at a minimum but also thinking about the X-fine one as there grip rating isn't too high. I am not after polished edges at all, I mainly use up to 600 grit now but would like to compare to say a 1000 grit edge someday!
 
Knowing what I know now, and if all I needed to sharpen was Victorinox stainless and 1095, and if I already had the Lansky turnbox - all I would add would be a Norton India combo stone, and a leather strop (old belt with some green compound).

The Norton stone for any chip repair or resetting bevels to the same angle as used by the Lansky. I'd use the Lansky from there on to smooth out the coarser edge from the Norton stone, or to maintain an existing edge. Strop for deburring, polishing, and light maintenance between sharpenings.

I'd only use the 20 degree slots on the Lansky, unless you just want a broader bevel.

As others have said, depending on your existing oil stone you may already be set. Simple steels don't need fancy set ups.
 
jc57 said:
Knowing what I know now, and if all I needed to sharpen was Victorinox stainless and 1095, and if I already had the Lansky turnbox - all I would add would be a Norton India combo stone, and a leather strop (old belt with some green compound).

The Norton stone for any chip repair or resetting bevels to the same angle as used by the Lansky. I'd use the Lansky from there on to smooth out the coarser edge from the Norton stone, or to maintain an existing edge. Strop for deburring, polishing, and light maintenance between sharpenings.

I'd only use the 20 degree slots on the Lansky, unless you just want a broader bevel.

As others have said, depending on your existing oil stone you may already be set. Simple steels don't need fancy set ups.
Click to expand...

I usually only carry a sak and I have a similar setup. I have the Norton economy stone from Home Depot, Lansky turn box and a leather strop which I was using plain but recently added green compound on to. I only use the medium rods as it gives me a very good edge and I haven't damaged any saks yet so haven't needed the Norton stone yet.

I did recently pick up a Lansky guided system cause I got it cheap but haven't used it yet either as my blades don't see alot of use! :)
 
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