Question about how long to wait before sharpening?

[gajinoz]

I think I should have a pretty good setup, but I figured I would have a problem sharpening at first. I hope watching the video will help.

The written instruction are slightly vague until you see the video and then they become perfectly clear. Once you see it you will be sharpening like a pro in no time.

 

[Nick24]

I hope so...I think I may be able to watch it tonight...I'll find out in a few minutes. Also, chances are none of you are from around here, but would any of you know of any good knife shops in California around the Sacramento area? I live in Stockton about 40 minutes south from Sac and I have no place to go. Maybe someone knows somewhere either north or south from where I am.

 

[gajinoz]

I hope so...I think I may be able to watch it tonight...I'll find out in a few minutes. Also, chances are none of you are from around here, but would any of you know of any good knife shops in California around the Sacramento area? I live in Stockton about 40 minutes south from Sac and I have no place to go. Maybe someone knows somewhere either north or south from where I am.

Hah, you think you've got it bad. The closest thing resembling a knife shop is at least 300 kilometres from where I live!

 

[Beelzebubba]

Hi all.
Edge geometry, type of steel, tempering, seem to determine appropriate 'application'.
Generally speaking, though, if I give a blade a regular touch up on a butcher's steel, it means ten times, at least, more using than sharpening. Just enough pressure on the steel to keep contact between steel and steel.
Oh, running a mediocre blade edge over a ceramic hone is appropriate and easy.. but, why buy one when the best I've found is is already in everyone's bathroom! Remove the lid from the toilet water tank, and use the unglazed rim (on the tank). Its large enough for huge blades, too.
You can even polish the edge on your car window's upper 'frosty' edge. Its like a hard Arkansas stone. Of course, these are just expedients, but with a bit of practice.. *__-

Hah, you think you've got it bad. The closest thing resembling a knife shop is at least 300 kilometres from where I live!

Not if you take the neighborhood chronosynclastic infundibulum!
See you in Montana! *__-

 

[Johnny_Z]

Do you have a Spyderco Sharpmaker 204? If not this definitely must be your next purchase. Get down to your local knife shop and grab one. Sharpening will become easy and fun.

Not necessarily. I have an SM 204 and still can't get my Vapor sharp. I'm not sure if I am not holding it correctly against the sticks or what, but it just won't sharpen. I'm probably doing more harm than good, but I really can't tell what I'm doing and not doing.

 

[Stockman]

Johny Z, use a black marker on the edges - where the marker rubs off when you are sharpening is where you are removing metal. I would guess that you are not reaching the edge. If this is the case, use the brown course rods, sharpen 1 side only until you remove the marker from the edge tip and produce a bur on the opposite side, then woirk the other edge until you do the same. Then use the 204 as instructed and you will get that baby sharp.

 

[gajinoz]

Not necessarily. I have an SM 204 and still can't get my Vapor sharp. I'm not sure if I am not holding it correctly against the sticks or what, but it just won't sharpen. I'm probably doing more harm than good, but I really can't tell what I'm doing and not doing.

There could be a couple of reasons here. A couple that come immediately to mind:

If it is VERY blunt, with maybe a damaged edge, you may need to sharpen it on a stone with a coarse grit. The SM rods are relatively fine and will not remove much metal. Alternatively you will need to work at it longer especially if the knife has particularly hard steel.

The SM works at 30 or 40 degrees. If your edge is profiled at a different angle it is going to take a LONG time to reprofile it on the standard rods, you may need to get the diamond rods or use a stone or other sharpening system.

 

[outofgum]

Or you could get some fine grit sand paper, wrap it around the rods, and reprofile like that. Its kind of crude, but a lot quicker and cheaper than buying new rods.

 

[senoBDEC]

I hope so...I think I may be able to watch it tonight...I'll find out in a few minutes. Also, chances are none of you are from around here, but would any of you know of any good knife shops in California around the Sacramento area? I live in Stockton about 40 minutes south from Sac and I have no place to go. Maybe someone knows somewhere either north or south from where I am.

Hey hey, I live near Sac too (Davis to be precise). Sadly I am a newb to knives (been more interested in swords). I use an old thick leather belt as a strop... not sure if that's right, but basically I clamped it to an old plastic picnic table and run the edge along it at a slight angle.

I should get some diamond hones soon - but I mainly wanted stones so I could do swords too .

Johny Z, use a black marker on the edges - where the marker rubs off when you are sharpening is where you are removing metal. I would guess that you are not reaching the edge.

This actually works pretty well for wood working too (use pencil instead). I'll have to try that on the blades I have.

 

[KeithAM]

Stockman, thanks for mentioning the marker trick -- it's a great way to see what's going on while sharpening.

I remember when I got my Sharpmaker a little over a year ago. I took about every knife in the house and went through the 20 strokes with the brown rod corners, 20 with the brown flats etc. routine suggested in the manual. Some of the knives became very sharp, some were still quite dull. The reason? The knives that remained dull needed reprofiling -- the rods were not making it to the very edge. The marker trick solves that.

Also, pretty soon you'll figure out that the 20 stroke formula is arbitrary. A lot of the time it's either removing more metal than necessary or not enough. As I mentioned before, if you're maintaining your edge, most of the time all you need to give it is 3-5 light passes on the white flats.

An approach suggested by numerous others on the forum has worked very well for me. It involves reprofiling (if necessary) with the 30 degree setting, then finishing with a few light strokes with the white flats on the 40 degree setting. It makes it very easy to maitain shaving sharpness. Reprofiling with the Sharpmaker can take quite a bit of time (I'm still waiting for my local store to get the Edge Pro I ordered) but it's worth it, and often necessary, for good performance.

Good luck.

 

[Nick24]

Well I finally got to watch the SM video last night and it clicked for me. I was able to sharpen my knives into a better place, but I was not able to get it to go through paper like Sal was doing. It cut the paper only when I put the edge right up to it.
I tried to reprofile the back bevel to 30 degrees because the knife seemed a little thick...I'm not sure if it worked. I also tried the marker trick when using the 40 degree angle and all the marker came off and the edge looked really nice. I'm going to try my diamond stone with the back bevel and see what that does.

 

[gajinoz]

Well I finally got to watch the SM video last night and it clicked for me. I was able to sharpen my knives into a better place, but I was not able to get it to go through paper like Sal was doing. It cut the paper only when I put the edge right up to it.
I tried to reprofile the back bevel to 30 degrees because the knife seemed a little thick...I'm not sure if it worked. I also tried the marker trick when using the 40 degree angle and all the marker came off and the edge looked really nice. I'm going to try my diamond stone with the back bevel and see what that does.

The best plan is to go out and buy yourself a few really cheap knives and practice on them, that way it doesn't matter what happens and you can grind away, trying different things until you get the hang of it and figure out what suits you best.