Sharp as

Lots of ways.

One of the cheapest and most effective is wet/dry emery paper on glass or on a mousepad. Another way is to use stones which can range from the inexpensive nortons to high end japanese water stones. Crock stick systems like the sharpmaker and the lansky are also very popular. Clamp and guided systems ranging from Lansky, Gatco, DMT Aligner to more expensive systems like Edge Pro, Wicked Edge, etc. Powered systems like paper wheels, belt sanders, Tormek, Work Sharp, etc. Last and least desirable are the carbide pull through sharpeners which work somewhat but can trash your edge.
 
todo 41 said:
hey everyone
what do u use to sharpen ur knives ??:confused:
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I keep it simple and just free hand with a course to medium stone. Usually an Eze-Lap diamond model L in 600 grit. ( Medium) I cut off most of the red plastic handle to fit in the zipper part of my wallet.

Sometimes just for yuks, I use the old Boy Scout pocket carborunum stone, the old gray thing. Any decent stone or diamond hone will do, no need to spend a lot of money on them. It's really easy to free hand, contrary to what the makers of all the gizmo's would have you believe. Not rocket science. After a few times practice, you'll be able to sharpen anywhere, any time in just a few minutes.

I don't like really fine edges as I find the toothyness of a medium grit to bite better in a wider range of material, to include manila rope, plastic packaging, and fish bellies for getting the catch ready for the frying pan. The toothy edge also holds up better breaking down cardboard boxes after a shopping trip to Sam's club.

Carl.
 
As you can see here you don't really need anything fancy, if you've got the skill.... :)

[youtube]CXLaE1JvQ94[/youtube]

In all seriousness, I personally found guided systems like the Lansky to be a good intro to sharpening. It helped me to learn all the basic principals and technique. I then applied what I learned to freehand sharpening, which is what I preffer now.

Any decent stones will work, I preffer DMT diamond stones myself. (for V edge blades)
And sandpaper on leather for convex edges.

You should also look into getting/making some form of strop for finishing your edges.
 
For the relatively inexpensive and inexperienced - Spyderco SharpMaker IMO is hard to beat.
 
BryFry said:
As you can see here you don't really need anything fancy, if you've got the skill.... :)
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I'm no Murray Carter, but at work recently I sharpened a completely dull large utility knife on some 30 micron lapping film that was lying around, stropped on cardboard and it shaved arm hair pretty good. For the extra 1.50 I'd say go for it and buy the patio block!

My vote goes to the wet/dry sandpaper - cheap, effective, and very versatile.

HH
 
i have repaired badly chipped edges and sharpened knives on smooth cobble stones in the past. for the other 99.999% of my sharpening i have water stones, ceramic and diamond. over the years, as i sharpen and buy more stones, my collection grows. a great starter is a 250/1000 combination stone, which will take care of just about anything you throw at it.

here is a pic showing most of my equipment:

sharpstones.jpg
 
I've got a 1x30 belt sander, a Work Sharp, a couple of homemade strops, a Smiths 3 in 1 (ceramic sticks, carbide, and diamond stone), a Smiths 4 in 1 pull though (carbide v, ceramice v, steel v, scissors) and a Chef's Choice Pronto. I also used to have a Lansky and some diamond bench stones but sold them.

All I really use now is the Work Sharp and the strops. They do 95% of my work.

The 1x30 only gets used on rough work where I really have damage or I have to thin a thick blade bevel.

I use the Smith's 4 in 1 pull through sharpener on my kitchen knives, as they're all cheap and get tossed around in the knife drawer and dishwasher. The edges get dinged/bent and I'm not worried about getting a spectacular edge on them. All I want is for them to be sharp enough to cut easily and the pull throughs get it done quickly.

The Chef's Choice Pronto is actually a pretty good sharpener for a pull through. It used diamond coated wheels with a 20 degree angle and will produce a shaving sharp edge relatively quickly. It won't handle anything thicker than about .80" but I altered mine a bit to take up to .100" blades. I used to use it a lot on some of my Mora knives because I put a micro-bevel on them. Once you've got the blade bevel set for this sharpener, a couple of light strokes will make it shave again.

The Smith's 3 in 1 has a carbide pull through, 750 grit diamond pad and 800 grit ceramic triangular sticks. I don't use the pull through on it, but I use the pad and the sticks on my Scandi grind blades that I sharpen on the factory bevel.

I used a Lansky for 15 years. It did everything I needed it to do and didn't break the bank. I started with the regular 3 stone set and after I wore those out, I bought a couple of diamond stones and couple of regular stones. The only reason I sold it is because I got a Work Sharp.

The Spyderco Sharpmaker doesn't do anything for me. It is easy to use, but all crock stick systems are. If you really have to remove some steel, it takes FOREVER with one of these.

The biggest advantage of something like the Lansky or the Gatco (over the Sharpmaker), IMO, is the different angles you can use and that you have a wider variety of stones to choose from. The coarse grit stones from Lansky, regular or diamond, WILL remove a lot of metal quickly for establishing bevels. These systems are probably the easiest (and cheapest) way to get really good, hair popping edges on a knife.

If you can learn to sharpen freehand on a stone and get good edges, it is a skill that will help you out considerably. I can get a working sharp edge on a stone, but I was never able to hold the angle consistently enough to get a good shaving sharp edge on anything other than a Scandi grind type blade like a Mora.
 
paper wheel system will get yoru knifes sharper faster then most other systems for a fraction of the price, 25-35 bucks for 2 paperwheels when even a crappy lanskey system will run you over 60 bucks!

I challenge anyyone to put a mirror hair wittling edge on a 22 inch machette which was previously grinded with a rough grinding stone previously faster then with a paper wheel! do you need to do this to make a machette work? no:jerkit:. does it make it work more effeciently and easier? Hell fken yes:thumbup:! Does it take more then 5-7 mins? NO!!!!!!! enuf said :p:p:p
 
Carbide paper wheel for v edges, 1 x 42 belt sander for convex edges, paper wheel with compound to polish and finish. Average time to go from dull to hair popping polished edge per knife, less than 5 mins. Saves sooo much time, it's crazy, and results are simply fantastic!
 
I use DMT diamond hones 90% of the time. They aren't cheap but I have yet to wear one out after thousands of sharpenings. Two are 8" bench stones (red/green); and I have a couple of diafolds in coarse/red and red/green. I also use an ancient Black Arkansas bench stone, about 12" long, for my high carbon steel blades. Once in a while I use a Buckmaster angle guide (around 25 years old) to re-set the angle.
 
eccvets said:
paper wheel system will get yoru knifes sharper faster then most other systems for a fraction of the price, 25-35 bucks for 2 paperwheels when even a crappy lanskey system will run you over 60 bucks!
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Where are you shopping at? Knifecenter has the basic Lansky 3 stone kit for $25. The 5 stone kit is $36. The diamond kits are more, $58 and $68 each.

You also have to have a grinder for the paper wheels. So the wheels only cost $35, but even a cheap grinder from Harbor Freight is $40. That's $75.
 
A belt sander, water stones, and Sharpmaker. The belt sander gets used to set the initial bevel when I regrind it from the factory edge. After that, I use the coarse/medium water stone to sharpen, followed by a final honing/microbevel with the Sharpmaker. I don't normally go back to the sander unless there is some damage or it's a very large blade, like a machete or something.
 
At home i use a Norton IB8 course/fine stone.

At work or in the field i use either a Buck Washita Arkansas or a Fallkniven DC4 for touch ups.

Like Jacknife i prefer a good working edge, i don't really care for a high maintenance refined edge.
 
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