Ready to try sharpening, need help with options

V

vaaccess

Joined
Dec 7, 2015
Messages
28
Hey everyone. Just starting to get my feet wet and consume all the goodness on this forum!

I was originally going to just buy a new kitchen knife, but was wisely convinced to undertake sharpening first, on my current knives, then get a new knife.

I have a 7-piece Henckel Cuisine set and had been using the cheap yellow wedge sharpener with poor results. My goal is to learn to sharpen these and then start adding other knives...a 10" Japanese knife for instance.

I was hoping to spend around $100 on a sharpening solution, though less is always good. I found this: http://lansky.com/index.php/products/4-stone-deluxe-diamond-system/

With work and family and other hobbies, I don't really have hours and hours to spend on sharpening, something relatively easy to learn is preferred, but at the same time I want good results.

I did read the sticky post for the forum so have some basic ideas on how this works, but looking forward to getting hands-on...

Thanks!
 
That lansky deluxe diamond system can be had for about $60.

Throw in another $20 for a Norton jb8 combo and a few sheets of 400 grit silicon carbide (not aluminum oxide) sand paper for freehand practice. This is what I use for 90% of my sharpening.
 
Norton coarse/fine India Combo stone and some practice. I currently sharpen all my knives with a Norton Economy combo stone, except the one Japanese kitchen knife I have. It gets sharpened on my few water stones, Norton 220, King 1000, and King 4000 grit.
 
Check the Blade Forums for sale listings. I have seen several Lansky and Blade Master and other good sharpeners for sale listed. These were in the Gadgets & Gear section being sold by individuals. These two are very easy to use and give you exact edges, something that takes lots of practice to do when you freehand sharpen which is good if you have the time to master the technique. I can do it, but never get the angles and edges I can get with my better sharpeners.

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/forumdisplay.php/764-For-Sale-Gadgets-amp-Gear-(Individual)

Here are a couple of good sharpening videos that may be of interest. They show various sharpeners in action. For me, a pictures is worth a thousand words.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-xrP9NTTMI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRm6ZrVaFp0
 
For the kitchen, the Spyderco Sharpmaker is excellent for quick and easy sharpening and touch-ups, especially for the novice.
http://www.knifeworks.com/spydercotri-anglesharpmakermodel204mf.aspx#.VmsAB-hOm2c

But, for really dull edges, you'll need to add the CBN rods ...
http://www.knifeworks.com/spydercotrianglesharpmakercbnrods.aspx#.Vmr_ouhOm2c


The DMT Deluxe Aligner is a better system and costs a lot less than the Lansky and less than the combined cost of the Sharpmaker.
http://www.knifeworks.com/dmtdeluxealignerkit3diamondwhetstone1serratedsharpener.aspx#.Vmr7N-hOm2c

But ... any 'clamp' system like the DMT or Lansky is more involved in setup and slower than a 'stick' system like the Sharpmaker. This is why I keep a SM in a kitchen drawer for daily use and only use a DMT Deluxe Aligner for the most serious tasks.
 
Fast, Easy, Good or Cheap. Pick one (ok, maybe two). ;)

Enjoy the quest. Sharpening can become an addictive hobby all on it's own.
 
Is ~$100 cheap? (I hope not.)

If that doesn't count as an option, my choice would be Good. :)

bflying said:
Fast, Easy, Good or Cheap. Pick one (ok, maybe two). ;)

Enjoy the quest. Sharpening can become an addictive hobby all on it's own.
Click to expand...
 
jpm2 said:
That lansky deluxe diamond system can be had for about $60.

Throw in another $20 for a Norton jb8 combo and a few sheets of 400 grit silicon carbide (not aluminum oxide) sand paper for freehand practice. This is what I use for 90% of my sharpening.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the Norton jb8 reference. When you say you use it for 90% of your needs...Are you saying you use the Lansky or just the Norton + paper?
 
Do you really use the SM daily? I was sort of thinking that I'd sharpen the knives maybe once a month at most...???...???

TravisH said:
For the kitchen, the Spyderco Sharpmaker is excellent for quick and easy sharpening and touch-ups, especially for the novice.
http://www.knifeworks.com/spydercotri-anglesharpmakermodel204mf.aspx#.VmsAB-hOm2c

But, for really dull edges, you'll need to add the CBN rods ...
http://www.knifeworks.com/spydercotrianglesharpmakercbnrods.aspx#.Vmr_ouhOm2c


The DMT Deluxe Aligner is a better system and costs a lot less than the Lansky and less than the combined cost of the Sharpmaker.
http://www.knifeworks.com/dmtdeluxealignerkit3diamondwhetstone1serratedsharpener.aspx#.Vmr7N-hOm2c

But ... any 'clamp' system like the DMT or Lansky is more involved in setup and slower than a 'stick' system like the Sharpmaker. This is why I keep a SM in a kitchen drawer for daily use and only use a DMT Deluxe Aligner for the most serious tasks.
Click to expand...
 
vaaccess said:
Do you really use the SM daily? I was sort of thinking that I'd sharpen the knives maybe once a month at most...???...???
Click to expand...
Yeah, not 'daily', more like 'frequent'. How frequent depends on your level of usage. ;)

In the kitchen, for quick-n-easy, a stick system like the Sharpmaker or Lansky 4-rod is second only to a sharpening steel. Once sharp, it only takes a few passes to keep them that way.

My DMT Aligner only gets used when an edge is dull or damaged or needs to reprofiled.
 
The SM is really handy to have, and I use mine a lot. But I gave up trying to do full sharpening on it. I'm just too picky, with not refined enough coordination. Way too OCD about my edges. One thing I've found is that once you have really clean and even geometry, you can keep a knife sharp for a very long time with just the Sharpmaker and a strop.

I now use a KME for any full sharpening or profiling. Then with use, a little stropping, or if needed, SM then strop.
 
vaaccess said:
Thanks for the Norton jb8 reference. When you say you use it for 90% of your needs...Are you saying you use the Lansky or just the Norton + paper?
Click to expand...

Just the Norton + paper 90% of the time.
I cut the paper roughly the size of the jb8 (8x2) and lay it on top to finish. The more used the paper, the more it polishes. There's several stages of used paper depending on the finish I want.
The stone + paper works pretty good from repairing damaged edges, to touch ups.
If for some reason I want perfectly flat bevels, I'll break out the lansky, but find myself doing that less often.
 
me2 said:
Norton coarse/fine India Combo stone and some practice. I currently sharpen all my knives with a Norton Economy combo stone,
Click to expand...

Yep. Keep it simple and don't over think it. It's not that hard. I do the same as me2. Using a combination coarse/ fine India, USA made Norton stone. The IB8, with a slurry loaded strop. It can be of leather or a pine board. After you learn freehand sharpening, strop 10-20 passes on it and the edge should shave every hair it touches. Plus this setup offers great economy. It's only 20$--that you'll spend for the next 30 years. Our knives I sharpen around 6 each month and the same for others each month. This pattern I've been doing on the same (One) stone for the past 9 years. That's close to 1300 knives sharpened and the stone shows little wear. A very good value for a 20$ investment! DM
 
Do you happen to have a reference video that you could share that walks through the technique you use? I'll also just search for one, but would be curious to see exactly what has worked for you.

Thanks!

David Martin said:
Yep. Keep it simple and don't over think it. It's not that hard. I do the same as me2. Using a combination coarse/ fine India, USA made Norton stone. The IB8, with a slurry loaded strop. It can be of leather or a pine board. After you learn freehand sharpening, strop 10-20 passes on it and the edge should shave every hair it touches. Plus this setup offers great economy. It's only 20$--that you'll spend for the next 30 years. Our knives I sharpen around 6 each month and the same for others each month. This pattern I've been doing on the same (One) stone for the past 9 years. That's close to 1300 knives sharpened and the stone shows little wear. A very good value for a 20$ investment! DM
Click to expand...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top