Sharpeners Opinions Wanted

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fadugleman

Joined
Dec 28, 2012
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So here goes it.... Im looking for a way to put an edge on my new handmade knives (usually fixed blades 4-5 inch length max 3/16 thickness, probably carbon or midgrade stainless ) I want your opinions on what get within a 100 dollar budget. I want something with decent results and not something that ill have to do a whole lot of maintenance on. Anything within these loose parameters go. thanks in advance, fadugle
 
fadugleman said:
So here goes it.... Im looking for a way to put an edge on my new handmade knives (usually fixed blades 4-5 inch length max 3/16 thickness, probably carbon or midgrade stainless ) I want your opinions on what get within a 100 dollar budget. I want something with decent results and not something that ill have to do a whole lot of maintenance on. Anything within these loose parameters go. thanks in advance, fadugle
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You don't mention if you want freehand stones or a guided system, there are a multitude of options.

I am severely biased, but I know of a handmade sharpening widget called "the Washboard" that can do quite a bit of work on a wide variety of blade profiles and steels. It is limited by the use of sandpaper at the grinding phase, so in terms of material maintenance, that has to be swapped out from time to time. Also uses plain copy or writing paper as a polishing surface, so that too needs to be swapped out from time to time. That said, it is very versatile and relatively inexpensive, well under your $100 target and will give you very strong results.

Disclaimer: I make and sell it through the link in my signature. :D
There's a series of videos and write-up on the sale thread that explain it in detail.

Aside from that I'd recommend a set of 220, 1000, and 6000 grit waterstones. For carbon and midrange stainless you could get away with King brand, but I'd probably spend a little more for a set that can handle tougher steels should you need to do so down the road. Arashiyama stones get recommended quite a bit. I'm pretty happy with my Nortons.

Martin
 
The washboard system looks very intriguing and not hard to upkeep. Ill keep it in consideration.


Also, Im looking at a 3 piece set of waterstones 120, 1000, 3000 complimented with a strop. How often do you have to lap waterstones? that was what I was scared about for waterstones
 
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fadugleman said:
The washboard system looks very intriguing and not hard to upkeep. Ill keep it in consideration.


Also, Im looking at a 3 piece set of waterstones 120, 1000, 3000 complimented with a strop. How often do you have to lap waterstones? that was what I was scared about for waterstones
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I hate to sound too vague, but it will depend on a couple of factors. Waterstones come with varying characteristics - some are "soft" and tend to dish out faster, some are harder and resist dishing better. Not that the harder ones are automatically better, the soft ones tend to grind very fast as they are releasing fresh abrasive at a faster rate. They are also less likely to make deeper individual grind scratches in the steel to be cleaned up later, because the grit will pull out rather than hang tough and dig into the steel.

Individual characteristics are something you might want to get opinions on regarding any specific brands you're interested in. Lots of knowledge on the forum in this regard, if you ask a specific question about a specific brand relative to what steels they are good with, how hard etc, you will probably get very good answers.


All that aside, if your sharpening style has you working the same area on the stone all the time, especially the belly of the blade, you could find yourself flattening it all the time. If you can learn to move around the stone and are not too fussy, you could go a loong time between lapping your stones. I used to flatten my Nortons nearly every time I finished using them, once I figured out how to work the entire stone I cannot remember the last time I lapped them. They're not perfectly flat, but I'm not doing straight razors on them or anything. For regular cutlery, they have no surface issues that pose a challenge in use and the way I use them, might never develop any.

Martin
 
For waterstones I would recommend the shapton Pro stones for easy maintenance. They are very hard stones that will not dish easily but will cut steels quickly. The 1k and 2k would make a good combo.

For newly made knives you would be starting the edge on a belt sanders so a very coarse stone would not be needed at first.
 
I hope your edge before sharpening is thin enough !?

Two suggestions:
1) Go with HeavyHanded's washboard if you like the idea of using sandpaper, paper etc. with a well thought out compound that comes with it. Light, very universal. I have used it quite a bit and I like it. I absolutely prefer it for Scandi and convex grinds, very good results on my axe as we'll if used in hand.

2) I really like diamond stone too, particularly for classic v-edges. You don't need water or oil (although you can use soapy water - keeps the stone clean, improves feedback IMHO and controls the metal dust going into air and lungs), you don't have to flatten them and they cut any steel out there. For about 90 bucks you get a two sided 8" stone with base. Make yourself a leather strop for a few bucks and use bulk compound that last forever.
 
Well for 100 we can probably get you into a 2 piece system.

Shapton pro- 320 , 1500
Shapton Glass- 500, 2000


If I were you I would splurge a little bit and get the 3 piece Nubatama set , comes with the 150 , 1k and 5k stones. Its a great set that you can add on to easily and still use your original 3 stones.
 
Power system for making the edge bevel, paper wheels or belt sander would be my recommendation.

I think these should also cover grits from coarse to polish relatively easily.

I'm sure heavyhandeds system is good, there is also the older Scary Sharp method of sharpening and will easily reach 2k grit.

There's of course the Edge Pro Apex knockoff floating around online and with stones from Edge Pro Inc. or chefknivestogo Atoma stones, shaptons etc. and up to 6k polishing tapes you could probably do quite well with that.

I personally think a powered setup followed by a couple cheap strops will be your best bet for ease of use.
 
Ok Im thinking this will be my system. Start the bevel on a 320 grit belt on my grinder. Next on a dmt duosharp coarse/fine stone and then finish on a strop. Sound Okay?

Also the dmt 6 inch diasharp kit intrigues me but will a 6 inch stone be to small?
 
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fadugleman said:
Ok Im thinking this will be my system. Start the bevel on a 320 grit belt on my grinder. Next on a dmt duosharp coarse/fine stone and then finish on a strop. Sound Okay?

Also the dmt 6 inch diasharp kit intrigues me but will a 6 inch stone be to small?
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The coarse/fine DMT fits your needs perfectly and I would stick with the 8in stones unless your only sharpening sub 4in blades. You can add a strop if you want but its not absolutely necessary, you can get a very nice toothy edge right off the fine DMT that will work very well for most edc tasks.
 
For the simple carbon and stainless you plan to sharpen the diamonds will work but IMO its using the wrong tool for the job. They do best on steels with high levels of wear resistance and tend to be a little rough on the more simple stuff. It's a useful tool though and with a strop will be easy to clean up the edge.

I would stick with waterstones personally.
 
I'd say go with DMT (no dishing) and Washboard. Reasoning: washboard can produce edge similar to waterstone and DMT will handle higher end steel (just in case).

The washboard also works as non rounding strop with the right compound.
 
fadugleman said:
So here goes it.... Im looking for a way to put an edge on my new handmade knives (usually fixed blades 4-5 inch length max 3/16 thickness, probably carbon or midgrade stainless ) I want your opinions on what get within a 100 dollar budget. I want something with decent results and not something that ill have to do a whole lot of maintenance on. Anything within these loose parameters go. thanks in advance, fadugle
Click to expand...

Sounds like you're the kind of person willing to make a significant monetary investment, both in terms of the knives and the sharpener.

My sense is that there are plenty of options out there that will eat up you budget fast.

I'm no expert. Just an average bloke trying to figure out this sharpening thing. Former bike mechanic. Decent enough with my hands with a basic understanding of working with metal bits...

Here's my sense of it. There appears to be several different styles of sharpening in terms of tools and techniques, each with their advocates. There appears to be very different edge refinement strategies in terms of angles, convex or not, toothiness, etc., again, each with their advocates. Add to this that some of the tools and techniques very definitely require a significant investment in time and practice to get good at.

I spent about $30 on the basic Lansky guided rod system and don't regret the purchase in any way. I know it's not sexy and expensive and I know nobody on the forum is going to say "oooh, that's awesome". But after years of futzing around and not getting good results, the Lansky gave me decent hair shaving, paper slicing sharpness repeatedly and with a minimum of chance for me and my lack of skill to screw it up.

The Lansky has given me the ability to reliably and consistently explore the pros and cons of different edge angles and different grits and with a cool mod (suggested by members here) even with convexed apexes.

I continue to practice and make improvements with freehand and stropping techniques with a lot of great help from the folks on this forum. But when I need to totally reprofile an edge or if I need to get the apex done better than I can do by hand, I still reach for the Lansky.

I wouldn't think of any of this as an either/or thing. More of a collection of tools in the sharpening arsenal.

For me and my still developing skills and (frankly) the limits on my time, the Lansky has been the best sharpening money I've spent.
 
fadugleman, i see you are from ohio also. if you want to learn how to sharpen on the system i use, you're more than welcome to come down and learn. i could have sharpened quite a few knives in the time it took you to make this post and had them all this sharp. https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B_Q47m-c082VcTIzOFdQWG9rTE0
https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B_Q47m-c082VNF9iWmExR2szSms cutting free hanging newspaper with k II. first time i did this the paper never messed up like it did in the vid.
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...amed-the-Pitbull!-Kinda-sharp-well-you-ll-see!!

send me an email before you buy anything. also check out my paper wheel thread. its a sticky here in mt&e :D

i also make knives so if you would learn how, i'll be glad to teach you. cncpro11 here on the forum lives in toledo and comes down my way whenever he gets time. if you look in the pitbull thread, he has a picture of his son gus grinding a neck knife.
 
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