Not a surgical Instrument

V

Vicks

Joined
Dec 28, 2001
Messages
103
I'm at the end of my rope. I'm not very good at knife sharpening.. I know the basics, and I'm getting better. But I just can't seem to get the hang of it. I seem to be especially bad at khuks.

I used stones to take a small indentation from a rock impact off the tip of my 15 inch AK. That part went quite well.. The mark is almost unnoticable. This is where things went bad. I thought I'd work the rest of the blade over with the stones so it would have a nice, uniform edge. I have a basic lansky sharpening set. Three stones coarse, medium, and fine (red, green, blue.) For finishing I have ceramic and steel. I didn't use the guide rods on the lansky set but instead used hand and eye to keep a good angle. The edge that resulted is a bit lopsided. I think I had better technique on one side than the other and this was the cause (because of being right handed.)

I've read some of the posts here on sharpening and the piece in the FAQ about it as well. I just can't seem to get it right. I need pictures to follow. Is there some forumite out there who knows how to use stones like mine effectively on a khuk? Is there another thread with how-to pictures?

I'll be grateful for any advice.
 
Your khukuri may have a convex edge. That kind of rounded edge may be hard to sharpen with a mechanical system. The rod simply may not be able to get down to the edge at the right angle. You would probably be better off going free hand.

n2s
 
Vicks--

Don't know about using your sharpening system, but here are a couple of things that help me:

blacken the edge with a marker pen so you can see where you are working.

the grind is convex, and I find various grades of wet/dry paper laid over an old mouse pad on the kitchen counter works well to follow the grind. Trail the edge (strop) so you don't cut the paper.
The rounded edge on my counter helps when I sharpen the recurve.

A pretty good final finish can be acheived by putting a little green Veritas honing compound on 600 or 1500 grit paper. Or even on the back of the paper if you want a very high polish.

sometimes I use flatstones to get a sharp edge, or thin a thick spot, then go back to the sandpaper to keep things convex.

the angle you hold the blade at depends on how hard you push due to the "give" of the mousepad which follows the convex grind. Use of the marker is important until you learn this relationship. If the abrasive wraps around the edge too much, you'll sand off the edge. You want the flattest angle that barely takes the marker off the edge--lighter pressure for final honing.

Sometimes it takes me a couple of iterations between the stones and the papers, but once you're there, it's pretty easy to maintain the with the mousepad/sandpaper, and I suspect your ceramic rod will work well for this. I can get a shaving, but not hair-popping edge on most of my few khuks this way.

Hope this helps--at least the "equipment" is cheap!
 
firkin-

Thats sounds pretty doable. What grits of sandpaper should I grades of sandpaper should I start out with and move to?

Untill reading the FAQ I didn't know you could use sandpaper for knife sharpening. It certainly solves the problem of a convex edge. I knew I was in trouble when I looked at the residue on my blade and saw that the knife was shaving the stone at the edges instead of the other way around.

Thanks a lot
 
Vicks

You need to use carborundum or silicon carbide paper. The black wet/dry kind. I generally use this range: 320, 400, 600, 1500. I use them dry. When the 600 and 1500 stop cutting I rub on some green Veritas chromium oxide honing compound and use them for final polish. Very heavy paper like watercolor paper or the back of the sandpaper can be used if you want to go all the way to pure honing compound. That gets the whole sharpened area very close to the original "mirror finish" if you spend a little time and step through the grits.

But you need to get the burr like in the FAQ. Sometimes the edge is so thick or blunt or uneven that I find that I need to do some stoning. Often the side of the stone is thin enough to work in the recurve.Mine are regular flatstones, about 8x2x1.
Sandpaper around a dowel or half-round file works in the recurve too.
Since it's not fully hardened there, it goes fairly fast. But you will probably give your stones a dish and round the edges if you need to do a lot of work on the stone. Mine are "Oregon" stone and Japanese waterstones. I can reflatten both by using wet-sanding with 180 or 220 wet/dry paper on a flat surface. I use a counter top, some use glass. Finish with a grit close to that of the stone. Some of the harder natural stones or ceramic stones may be too hard to lap this way, but they may not wear as much to start with.

It might be easier and faster to practice on the karda until you get the hang of things. Unless it's really dull as they sometimes are. Some of my kardas were pretty hard to sharpen until I worked a lot on the grind near the handle with jewlwer's files and maybe put in a small notch or choil where the edge ends near the handle.

This works for me, but there are many here who know a lot more than I.
 
Ever since the 'modern' steel arrived I haven't been able to sharpen knives. The more I try the worse it gets. One night before opening day I worked until midnight making certain every knife in the house was dull.

The Kukuris have started me on the road back. I use a stone and two steels.

My number one and only rule is: Stop when you are ahead.
Someday I will learn to get my blades even sharper, but right now, I recognize where my sharpening skills end and stop there. The knive's are sharp enough to cut paper and a few hairs, nothing fancy. If I keep going, all I do is remove metal from the knives.

Per Yvsa's excellent, excellent advise, I adhere to the curved edge this blade is supposed to have. Guess what? The human hand naturally makes this kind of edge because of our imperfections with holding an absolute repeatable angle.

Yvsa told me once don't give up. It is getting better.

munk
 
Just a suggestion, try 2500 grit paper youll be surprised :D Also on grits above 600 I find oil very useful, as dry they clog way too fast. Then again to be honest I dont sharpen my khuks too often. But I do sharpen alot of other wierdly curved cutlery :D
 
Originally posted by munk
The Kukuris have started me on the road back. I use a stone and two steels.

Per Yvsa's excellent, excellent advise, I adhere to the curved edge this blade is supposed to have. Guess what? The human hand naturally makes this kind of edge because of our imperfections with holding an absolute repeatable angle.

Yvsa told me once don't give up. It is getting better.

munk
Click to expand...

Thanks for the kind words Munk.:)

The main thing when sharpening anything edged is to get a burr all along one edge before changing sides.
Most people get into too big a hurry and change sides before a burr is achieved and consequently have no idea of where they're at in the sharpening process.
Munk has listened and now knows that what I told him was spot on about the average human getting a convex edge by not paying so much attention to trying to get a steady angle and paying more attention to getting the burr on the one side before starting on the other.
It's a good idea to use a magic marker to check where you're honing as has been mentioned.
The mouse pad is a great idea as well. Any pliable material with some give to it works well for maintaining a convex edge.
The big problem is that most everyone worries too damned much about getting a "proper" edge rather than just getting the tool sharp.
 
Good sharpening advice, all. Should we add this stuff into the sharpening FAQ? Can we append to the Sharpening FAQ?

Just wondering,

Keith
 
If I recall correctly-always in doubt- the sharpening section needs the adendum by Yvsa with his advice about making a burr on one side and to stop worrying about the 'perfect edge."

I actually think Yvsa has answered sharpening questions so long that he is an even clearer and better instructor now than was his knowledgable writing in that section.

I'm a dimwit, and still am blurry about the rouge and whatnot...I don't want to go that far yet.

munk
 
..I assume by 'rouge' you mean 'jeweller's rouge.'

...Or is there something we should know about you, munk?

><.<(hhehee, snicker><>

Keith,
 
vicks,
i just got my first khuks and went through a period of panic as i tried all my usual sharpening tricks and nothing seemed to work.

i finally settled on a diamond butchers steel i had laying around. it's not really a steel, more like a diamond stone shaped like a steel. it's surface is divided into three strips...one course, one medium, and one fine. the butcher's steel shape hugs the curves of the khukuri very well and keeps me from freaking out about maintaining a perfect angle on the bevel. i naturally produce a fairly convex edge just because of the angle variation from swipe to swipe (exactly like Yvsa and others have mentioned in this thread). so far i have been finishing off the edge (and touching it up) with a ceramic hone, but i hope to start practicing with both actual steeling and stroping. anyways...if you don't have any luck with the more traditional methods, maybe you could try one of the diamond steels (as i recall mine is made by Hewlette and i got it from www.knifecenter.com )...it worked for me.

good luck,
e.
 
The sharpmaker works well but it is a bit small for larger knives. Fortunately, there is no rush, so just play with it until you get the edge right.

n2s
 
My forearms are bald and it's all Yvsa's fault :D

I still have a lot to learn about sharpening though. Most of the time my skin goes red from abrasions before any hair comes off :p
 
I'm with you there bruise. You get most of the hair off along with the first couple layers of skin.
 
The big problem is that most everyone worries too damned much about getting a "proper"
edge rather than just getting the tool sharp.
Click to expand...

Amen!

Is it sharp, does it stay sharp and is it easy to maintain?

When I read about people using 30X loupes and all these mechanical gadgets I can't help but think that something is missing. My goal is to be able to get a knife sharp enough freehand to do the job with what's available. If you really need to, you can get a knife pretty durn sharp with the bottom of a plate. Spend as much time with that as some of these gadgets and that may be your favorite method!! I try steel, sandpaper, and my stones on different knives all the time. It's fun to see just how sharp you can get, but if it dulls in use from really, really sharp to sharp enough in the time it took you to sharpen, what's the point?? I like the sandpaper/mousepad because it's easy and the whole bevel looks polished like the rest of the knife. I've gotten just about as sharp with benchstones, but the attractive even polish isn't there.
 
I know this will get me some flak but I don't chop trees down with my razor and I don't shave with my khukuris.
 
i read a bit in the FAQ about an old laidy in Nepal nonchalantly using a big khuk to chop potatoes or something for cooking. Now i'd like my khuk to be that 'for all round use', but doing fine(ish)work like that is pretty dangerous with a blunt knife - how many times has an old kitchen knife slipped and nearly cut you because it wasn't sharp enough?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top