Occasional sharpener

I started sharpening freehand, and while I could get a knife fairly sharp it was nothing to brag about. I then went to a guided system (a DMT Aligner deluxe) and was finally able to appreciate how important holding the same angle was. The diamond hones also work on the hardest stainless steels.
I still use the Aligner to get a good first edge and then finish that off with a paper wheel or a powered strop.
I made the strop myself by gluing a 1 inch round strip of leather (an annulus) to the disk of a disk sander. I mount the disk on a reversible electric drill and the drill in a bench vise. Put some polishing compound on the leather, turn on the drill, and polish the edge bevel with only light pressure. Reverse the drill, do the other edge. If I'm being really fussy I'll do this last step a couple of times, until I run the edge on the strop for only a couple of seconds a side.
Edges done this way will cut an 1/4 inch upturned edge of a phone book.
Greg
 
Thanks for the tip. I'm going to practice without stropping until I feel I've got that down. Then I'll add that as gravy on the biscuits.
 
Now this is a decent bump.



A few years back when I bought a Lansky, the stone version had five stones and the diamond version only had three. I had to upgrade as the stone version was just far too much work with my ats-34 blade. I upgraded to a DMT Aligner. Excellent upgrade, however if you are using the sharpmaker, it is best to stick with it and not vascillate. Each system has their own learning curve and quirks, and you won't get the best results out of either if they are used in conjunction with each other. One particular reason is that a guided system has a varying bevel angle along the length of the edge. You could use the guided system effectively to set a lower back bevel abgle and then put a primary micro bevel at a higher angle with the sharpmaker, but that means you will still be sharpening with the sharpmaker. I'm not discouraging this as a dmt aligner would probably be more effective at removing stock than the Sharpmaker, I just saying that you shouldn't try to do the actually sharpening with both systems.

On that note, if you aren't having luck getting an edge with the sharpmaker, the DMT Aligner or diamond lansky might be the ticket. Those kits have three or four small stones that are mounted in some fashion to a holder that has a metal protruding from it, and a knife clamp that has guide holes to guide the stones. Just a heads up, there is somewhat of a learning curve with a guided sharpener. Or more like there are a lot of things that you have to learn not to do with one. After that, you will get perfectly flat bevels.

The system you saw at Gander mountain is probably the one he was talking about, but I included this description as I believe Lansky also makes a v sharpener that is the same style as the sharpmaker.
 
Sharpening your knife is no harder than tying your shoes. Both are best learned early and they just take some practice. The problem, as I see it, is that mostly nobody teaches kids things any more except how to punch a keyboard and the buttons on these blinking-beeping electronic games they buy them. One of my grandfathers taught me how to use a hammer, a square, a saw, a plane, and other tools. My other grandfather taught me how to shoot a rifle. My father took me out in the yard where he taught me to rake leaves, hunt fossils, play mumblypeg, and whittle. What has happened to us?
 
My Evil-Bay purchase arrived yesterday... a Spyderco #204 SM - with the DVD. I have already returned several long-term butter knives back to their original arm hair razor status. These include my 30+ yr old SAK, a victim of many hideous - and, until yesterday, futile attempts to re-sharpen it. My Kershaw Blur is nearly as scarey-sharp now as my Spydie C41PBK S30V Native. As stated, a damaged edge on a hi-tech blade that must be reprofiled would be a career on this thing... but, most of my hi-tech blades are just a bit dull, so I should have them good to go shortly. I've tried everything - I just had a problem with two-sided bevels - wood chisels were never a problem... but a pocket knife was destined for butter spreading duties... okay, soft margarine, maybe! Sadly, I can't sharpen all I have for now... my left forearm is looking bare!

Stainz
 
Dr. Mudd said:
Sharpening your knife is no harder than tying your shoes. Both are best learned early and they just take some practice. The problem, as I see it, is that mostly nobody teaches kids things any more except how to punch a keyboard and the buttons on these blinking-beeping electronic games they buy them. One of my grandfathers taught me how to use a hammer, a square, a saw, a plane, and other tools. My other grandfather taught me how to shoot a rifle. My father took me out in the yard where he taught me to rake leaves, hunt fossils, play mumblypeg, and whittle. What has happened to us?
Click to expand...

I think it's the same as your grandfather probably didn't have the skills of his grandfather, and he didn't have the same as his. Generations have certain skills they HAVE to have to survive. For instance can you go out and get some crops going or raise a variety of animals to feed your family? Maybe you can right off the top of your head, and maybe you can't. I'm sure that are some of the skills your bloodline had at some point in time and they used to be needed knowledge where today it isn't.

I played sports growing up more then my grandfather did. I'm sure he (or HIS dad) worked more with their hands because they had to. My son spends even more time then I did in activities such as baseball, football, hanging out with friends, etc. then I did. So some of the things I used to know he hasn't been exposed to.

And so on.
 
Stainz said:
My Evil-Bay purchase arrived yesterday... a Spyderco #204 SM - with the DVD. I have already returned several long-term butter knives back to their original arm hair razor status. These include my 30+ yr old SAK, a victim of many hideous - and, until yesterday, futile attempts to re-sharpen it. My Kershaw Blur is nearly as scarey-sharp now as my Spydie C41PBK S30V Native. As stated, a damaged edge on a hi-tech blade that must be reprofiled would be a career on this thing... but, most of my hi-tech blades are just a bit dull, so I should have them good to go shortly. I've tried everything - I just had a problem with two-sided bevels - wood chisels were never a problem... but a pocket knife was destined for butter spreading duties... okay, soft margarine, maybe! Sadly, I can't sharpen all I have for now... my left forearm is looking bare!

Stainz
Click to expand...

Mine is on it's way. Hopefully I purchased the right model.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top