reccomendations please?

H

hessian101

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Nov 10, 2007
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hello bladeforums- (this is my first post so please help me here)

I am going to rural upstate new york to do some outdoor jobs, and I would like to be able to keep a really sharp knife with me. For a sharpening setup, I have-

1 500 grit 5" bench stone

1 smiths '3 in 1' system (basically a smaller spyderco sharpmaker) that has a carbide pull through setup, a 5 inch 800 grit diamond stone, and 2 ceramic 1500 grit rods.

1 really cruddy 8 inch leather strop loaded with aluminum oxide powder (the surface feels incredibly bumpy, is this how its supposed to be?)

i know that this is plenty enough for most applications, but I want to get my knives even sharper. I have not even been able to shave with it. I have been looking at arkansas stones, norton water stones, diamond stones, etc.
from what I have looked at, a black hard arkansas stone looks the best. i will be using it on everything from stainless folders to large high carbon combat knives, so versatility is a must.

What would you reccomend for my needs? i dont want to spend more then 50 dollars, so I want the greatest ratio of cost to performance in that price range (or less).

Also, What blade profile would be best suited to everyday use?

thanks,
Luke
 
Get a Spyderco Sharpmaker. The 500# benchstone you can use for reprofiling by leaning against the rods. I don't know what grit your AlO powder for the strop is, but quality of the strop is not overly important. You can even strop on a piece of cardboard or a piece of softwood. I don't know about the Smith trihone, but I do not trust anything with a carbide pullthrough sharpener.

Ideally, you have a 6" DMT x-coarse benchstone for reprofiling, the Sharpmaker, and a strop made from a homemade wood paddle with some leather scraps glued on and some stropping compound. It will cost you about $70 rather than $50 but you don't need to buy all at once. Start with the Sharpmaker, add the DMT when you feel like it and grab up the strop when you find an opportunity (I don't know in which condition your strop is, it might be just fine). If this setup is not giving you really good results, the problem is with your technique and not with your equipment.

I would recommend against the Arkansas stone. The abrasive in an Arkansas stone is essentially SiO - Glass which is only marginally harder than highly hardened steel, and significantly softer than than a lot of carbides in the steel. You might experience difficulties sharpening steels with a large carbide fraction.
 
I second HoB's suggestion. Keep the benchstone and get a Sharpmaker for $45-$50 dollars street price. Use the stone if you need to rebevel your knife. Otherwise, just use the Sharpmaker rods.

Check your bevels first with a Sharpie and make sure that the Sharpmaker will actually sharpen the edge. If not, you can rebevel with the stone. The Shaprmaker packs up in a small plastic box that's easily portable, so it won't take up much room.
 
Do you think that there is any solution that would not involve using the sharpmaker? I prefer a large flat benchstone, but If that is really the best solution, I would use that. What do you think of diamond stones?
 
They remove a lot of steel fast! And don't put a lot of pressure on the blade...depending upon the grit, you'll either end up removing way too much steel, or stripping the diamond stone. Light strokes seem to work best when using diamond stones.

As said, as long as you're not looking to reprofile, and just want to keep a sharp edge, the Sharpmaker is an excellent system.
 
I really have a hard time not screwing up the edge with stick type sharpeners... I guess I'll just have to learn. What is the finest grit the sharpmaker comes with? If I wanted to go beyond that, what would you reccomend?( I saw they make bench stones out of the ceramic... would that work?)

Also, Is there a certain type of leather to use if i wanted to make a strop? do I use the smooth side, or the rough side?
 
you have a 3 in 1, not the tri-hone, to avoid confusion

S-CCD4.jpg


don't ever use the carbide V on a good knife

practice until you can get a shaving edge on the 500 grit stone, that's actually very easily obtainable if you work at developing your technique.

I would get an economy Norton crystolon stone at a home improvement/hardware store for ~$6 for heavy stock removal, you can flatten it on concrete when it dishes. Get a green crayon of chromium oxide at the same place for use on your strop. You can use an old belt, scrap leather, cardboard, newsprint, anything that you can get flat and will hold the compound. The 500, 800, and 1500 are fine, imo. I would check www.japanwoodworker.com or www.woodcraft.com for a waterstone if you want to go finer. For diamond, DMT makes double sided diasharps, http://www.knivesplus.com/DMT-Knife-Sharpener-Dia-Sharp.HTML

Spyderco makes an ultrafine ceramic, which is close to 4000 grit waterstone. I personally prefer smooth over rough for a leather strop.
 
Hardheart- thanks for pointing out my mistake. I have edited it in the first post.

come to think of it, I do have an old belt laying around... what would you do to prepare it for use as a strop? Should I sand it to remove the finish? Do you think the home depot would have that green compound?

also, how do you test the edge angle?
 
if they do have it, it should be with the buffing accessories, maybe in a three pack with white and red (you could use all three, but green is most popular)

you just need to attach the buckle to something so you can pull it tight, or you can glue the leather down to a block

for edge angle, this is pretty simple http://knives.mylamb.com/calc.htm
 
by shaving sharp, do you mean that you could cleanly shave a patch of skin in 1 stroke, or just cut maybe 3-5 hairs per stroke?

so- I should just leave the black finish on the belt?
 
hessian101 said:
by shaving sharp, do you mean that you could cleanly shave a patch of sking in 1 stroke
Click to expand...
Yes.

hessian101 said:
or just cut maybe 3-5 hairs per stroke?
Click to expand...
That would be considered barely scraping sharp

Yes, you can use benchstones of course, but from you post I would assume that you haven't had much success with what you have, so a little bit of assistance is probably not a bad idea. The most important concept that the Sharpmaker can teach you, is that it doesn't take all that many strokes to get an excellent edge if you do it right.

Of course, with the right technique, all you need for a shaving edge is in principle the 500# stone that you have already and your strop and nothing else.

I agree with hardheart that you should practice to get the best possible edge with the 500# stone. I disagree with him that it is quite easy to learn. It is not so difficult once you got the knack, but it will be a while to develop the experience.
 
Maybe I just screwed up the edge with that carbide pull through... Wont be using that again. Thanks for all the help guys.
 
no disagreement really, HoB. I meant easy more in the fact that 500 grit is plenty fine enough to refine an edge to shaving sharpness. While it isn't complex, holding the right angle throughout the stroke with proper pressure, it does take time and some diligence to develop. I know I'm still working on it :)
 
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