Recommended sharpeners and strops?

R

rainydayarmadillo

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Jul 1, 2012
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So i am fairly new to the knife collecting\using and sharpening world. I have a few knives and most of them I really like. The only problem is I don't really know how or have the means of sharpening knives and I don't really want to risk messing the edges up because I don't know how to correct them if that occurred. what would you recommend that works well? i would like to get a strop and a sharpener and any advice would be very much appreciated! (The price range is less than 100$.)
 
Try the DMT Aligner and diamond stones. Just about foolproof, easy to use, and gives wonderful results. You can purchase the Aligner and basic stones for about $50. Add an extra fine and an extra coarse stone. For a strop, buy a 12"x12" square of vegetable tanned cowhide from any of the knifemaker supply sites. They'll be listed for making sheaths. Cut that into 3"x12" strops and glue to some scrap 1x3 lumber or MDF boards. Any glue, even Elmer's will work. That will give you four strops for about $12. Then you can start to play around with different compounds too, and still keep under your $100 budget.
This will give you a set-up that will produce perfect edges on just about any knife. It will take a bit of practice, but only a bit. In a day or two you will be turning out edges that will amaze you!


Stitchawl
 
The sharpmaker is an excellent sharpener. Very easy to use, with great results. The only problem I find is that it is not good for reprofiling, so if the knife is super dull it will take a long time on the sharpmaker.

As Stitch said, the DMT, Lansky, or Gatco are pretty cheap and are easy to use. I've been using a Gatco system with the super fine stone and get extremely sharp mirror edges.

The strop I use is the Stropman HD Compact. For $15 it is an excellent strop. I use the white and green compounds.
 
My favorite strop is Ken's kangaroo leather strop he makes for the edge pro. That coupled with .25 micron diamond spray.
 
rainydayarmadillo said:
what do you think of the spyderco sharpmaker?
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It's an excellent tool for maintaining a good edge, but ONLY if that edge matches the angle of the Sharpmaker. It's not versitile. You can't change the sharpening angle to match the job at hand. Everything has to match the Sharpmaker's angle. I use mine for weekly touch-ups for my kitchen knives. 30 seconds on the Sharpmaker and they are ready for the next week. But I don't do my basic sharpening on the Sharpmaker. I use something that gives me more control of the angles. The DMT Aligner does that cheaply and well, as would a GATCO or Lansky clamp at slightly higher prices. Obviously, the EdgePro or Wicked Edge do it even better, but at high price.

No, I wouldn't choose Sharpmaker as my primary sharpening device. It's a great 'addition' to the sharpening bench. It WILL put a razor edge on a knife, but only at a fixed angle.

rainydayarmadillo said:
also what is a good website to find the leather\strops you mentioned?
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You can find small squares of good leather at Jantz Knifemakers Supply or Texas Knifemakers Supply. Tandy Leather sells good stuff but they don't sell a 12"x12" piece as the two knifemakers sites do. Unless you want to get into leather crafting, perhaps making your own sheaths, you only need a small piece for a strop. The veg-tanned tooling leather that they sell is the cheapest way to get a strop (actually, a couple of strops) that are just as good as anything sold as a pre-made strop.


Stitchawl
 
rainydayarmadillo said:
what is the purpose of the sprays and the pastes that you use when you strop a knife?
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They are abrasives of a much finer (smaller) size than most stones. They are used after you have used your stones to take the blade to a more refined edge.

There are many different stropping pastes, sprays, powders, etc., all called by the general term, Compounds. Different compounds have different grit size and abrasive qualities, and would be used in descending order of grit size. It is NOT necessary to use all the different sizes. Most people use 1,2, or 3 at the most.
Some compounds work better than others on different steels, and when used on different substrates.

Stitchawl
 
I find that I'm using sandpaper more and more to sharpen an edge and finishing up with a leather strop. A cutting board with the groove around the cutting area can be used. You could use any piece of hardwood and route out the grooves yourself. You can then use a piece of rope that's the right diameter to fit inside the groove and keep the sandpaper in place. You don't want it rolling up into the blade. I'm not talking about placing a mouse pad underneath and stroking the opposite way like a convex edge, but using the sandpaper just like a bench stone.
 
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I started out with the basic Lansky, but had used it enough that the stones were wearing down. I gave that to a friend and bought the Lansky sharpening system with diamond stones. I have been using it for the last 4-5 years and it has worked well. It is not to hard at all to get a shaving sharp edge. I also added a 1000 grit polishing stone which did help. I have been thinking about getting the Gatco system, I like the idea of wider stones, and the jig has more options for the degree of angle you use to sharpen. My only real complaint about the Lansky is that one of my stones had the angle of the guide rod hole drilled pretty far off. It's not really a problem because you just have to bend the guide rod a little for it to be parallel with the stone. But it was clearly off compared to the rest. I really like the Edge Pro except for two things. The blade does not get fixed to the sharpener, and I really wish it had precision graduations for setting the angle for the stone. I want one, but can't spend the money when I know those thing will still bother me.
 
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