Please help me with sharpening hints

[Campbellclanman]

Hi guys, now as you know I am new to folders, and to be honest..I have always been the type of guy who gets one hell of a kick from collecting knives...looking at them..reading about them etc...
Now I am into folders I am carrying a knife daily, its hard here in New Zealand..if they saw me carrying one of my fixed blades...( unless you were in the bush )... well N.Z just doesnt go for that...
Anyway...I do carry a couple of Kershaws ( sorry ...not so traditional ) as in the mini mojo, and a speed-bump during the week, and in the weekend I rotate my Traditionals ...and I realy realy like that....BUT!..
I am a bit cautious to sharpen them, as I dont want to leave any marks, or do harm, I have the basic long stone with the coarse, and fine on each side, as well as an Arkansas stone-a very fine one...also a big range of wet and dry papers...
I know this may raise your eyebrows...as you guys who have used knives all your life probably wont believe this-but I havent, and I would love to be able to sharpen my own knives- nicely, I like to do things properly.
I have seen many links on vids etc, and they seem to differ.
Does the sharpening process change with the different metals..or is there ( hopefully ) a basic one for all?
I am of course not all that familiar with the different grinds of blade edges, but will understand if you quote them..
So there you go...more exposure on just how little I know
Who can help me here.
I apologise for sounding thick on it here, but I would rather be honest and ask-then learn-then carry on and maybe help someone else out.
Thanks very much for your time in helping me here.
Duncan

 

[Any Cal.]

There are a variety of ways to sharpen, like you mention, but they are all trying to do one thing-make the bevel on each side meet at the edge. The closer those bevels come to meeting perfectly, the sharper the knife will become.

The key in sharpening, then, regardless of the method you use, is to be as consistent as possible in order to make that happen.

If you work on one side, eventually you will sharpen all the way to the edge, and when you get REALLY close, the edge will get so thin that it will no keep itself together, and a burr will form, which is just that ultra thin piece of the edge. (In practice, you will want to work on both sides to keep the edge even, maybe 100 strokes per side, etc., but eventually you will end up forming a burr.)

Switching sides, and sharpening with a bit more angle, with little pressure, will let you cut that burr off, and you will end up with as fine an edge as you can get with the stone. (Sometimes I have to strop the edge to get rid of a burr, but that is another issue.) At that point, you can go to a finer stone/paper and repeat until you either a)get tired of it or b)run out of stones.

 

[dsmegst]

Greetings, Duncan. Welcome to the forum.

From the sounds of it, you seem to have some experience sharpening already. Assuming you have the technique down, it's really just refining what you already have. Coarse, fine, and extra-fine is great. To that I would add a strop and some sort of polishing compound to accelerate the stropping process.

An old leather belt or a scrap of leather glued to a piece of flat wooden base is a good alternative to expensive strops available at specialty stores. I've had good luck with polishing compound rubbed on some cardboard. I just took the backing from an old notepad and used it to strop.

If scratches are a worry, I would tape up the sides of the blades and the handle before sharpening. Some painter's tape would work fine. Before you start on your nice knives, how about picking up a cheap knife from the hardware store or discount store and practice?

The only difference I've noticed between carbon steel, stainless steels, and modern "super" steels are how long it takes to grind away at some of the newer stuff. There are some minor differences in what medium works better and what sort of edge is preferred.

With blade steels in the very hard category, you'll find that they respond well to the wet and dry sandpapers.

Now if your sharpening technique is a little shaky, I would practice and make myself an angle guide or two.

A square piece of paper folded across to make a trangle and repeated again twice will give you 22.5 degrees. When that wedge of paper is spread apart so that it sits on the surface like a stretched out 3 sided pyramid, the long edge will lower itself to pretty close to 20 degrees. 20 degrees per side is perfect for a pocket knife.

You can make one for 15 degrees per side for the better steels. This way, you can keep your angles consistent. 90 degrees triangle folded in 3 even sections gives you 30. Fold that in half and you have 15. You can't spread it out since it will be too low but you can rig up something.

Good luck!

 

[Phydeaux]

Dsmegst has some great advice... get some cheap knives at a thrift store, flea market, or garage sale. Practice on these to build up your confidence. If you mess them up, nothing lost.

I had one of my kids learning on some of my brother in law's cheap kitchen knives. They were so dull that anything would be an improvement.

Ric

 

[Campbellclanman]

Any cal. Dan and Rick...thank you...I do have some older knives that arent so "collectable"...and I have put these aside just for what you have suggested, this weekend I will have some time to put into pratice what you have suggested-Thank you very much for your help-I apprecite it greatly.