Sharpening a necker

O

one stabb

Joined
May 3, 2008
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After much use and abuse i need to sharpen my necker. New to sharpening i have the Lansky Turnbox crock sticks will this be good enough?, or what other methods do you fine folk use to sharpen your necker.
 
In my experience, the Crock Sticks are more for touching up an already decent edge and bringing it back to a respectable level of sharpness. If your edge is "used and abused" as you put it, it may require a bit more effort.

My personal preference is the Lansky Guide Rod system. Cheap, effective and neigh on impossible to screw up. It will take more time than, say, sharpening on a benchstone; however, unlike the stones... anyone can use a Lansky.

I've seen the basic systems for as low as $20, deluxe for $30. The diamond systems run about double that and make quick work of sharpening, though there are a good number of people out there who cringe at the use of diamonds for sharpening. The reason being, they remove metal quickly and leave a very toothy edge. Me? I prefer to start with diamond and then work my way into stones on the Lansky.
 
Same way I sharpen all my other knives. Freehand with the only stone I own.A few passes and its newspaper slicing sharp.

I guess I am old fashioned but it works for me. It also might have to do with 98% of my knives being flat ground carbon, they just beg for freehand sharpening.:)

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one stabb said:
Thanks it looks like a good system. What would be the best angle of degrees to use?.
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As I also own a couple Crock Sticks, I try to stick to 40° and 50° inclusive. I know there are all sort of fancy tricks for changing the angles on the Crock Sticks, but I'd rather not have to wrestle with rubber bands and BIC pens every time I go to touch up an edge. Really, it just depends on what you want to do with the knife. The harder the work and the steeper the grind... the more often you will be back sharpening it again.


Also, do you know the sharpie trick? On knives you don't know the angle of, it makes finding out a snap and for knives that need a lot of work, it's a great indicator. For example, when I got my Necker, one side was ground more about a 20° angle, the other about 25°. I had to do a lot of work on the 25° side to bring it back over to match the other side. Anywho, trick is... run a Sharpie along the edge of the blade and sharpen away. If your angle is too steep, the marker will only get rubbed off on the very edge... too shallow and it will rub where the grind meets the edge. Ideally you would want to be removing all the marker from a single angle, assuming that is the angle you want your edge at. :thumbup:



One of these days I am going to break down and buy a DMT benchstone to practice freehand sharpening.
I've got a couple stones laying around the house, but none are all that flat, so practicing is futile.
I figure I'll learn on a diamond benchstone and see if it's worth investing in all of the necessary products to upgrade from the trusty ol' Lansky.

Oh, that reminds me, if you use the Lansky often and use stones instead of diamond, you may wish to invest in an "extra coarse" diamond hone as well. They are only $20 MSRP, so I'd bet you could find them for $12-15 if you look hard enough. I recently found my father's old Lansky set and it was just painful to look at the grooves he had worn into some of the stones over the years. Simply rub the diamond hone on the stone hones every once in a while to keep them nice and flat.
 
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OK, I got anal about it:

300 grit water stone thinned out edge
1000 or so water stone and polished it up
strop on leather with red compound

mirror edge that is the sharpest fixed blade I've ever done.
 
Fascion said:
In my experience, the Crock Sticks are more for touching up an already decent edge and bringing it back to a respectable level of sharpness. If your edge is "used and abused" as you put it, it may require a bit more effort.

My personal preference is the Lansky Guide Rod system. Cheap, effective and neigh on impossible to screw up. It will take more time than, say, sharpening on a benchstone; however, unlike the stones... anyone can use a Lansky.

I've seen the basic systems for as low as $20, deluxe for $30. The diamond systems run about double that and make quick work of sharpening, though there are a good number of people out there who cringe at the use of diamonds for sharpening. The reason being, they remove metal quickly and leave a very toothy edge. Me? I prefer to start with diamond and then work my way into stones on the Lansky.
Click to expand...

I agree with everything said here.

I use my croc-sticks only for touch ups. They dont work all that well for really dull blades. I start with 12 or more swipes on each side of the blade with the coarse sticks in the 20 degree slots. (I swipe it until it's just over decently sharp), then do the same with the fine sticks in the 25 degree slot till it's blistering sharp.

For re-profiling or a good sharpening, I sharpen with the lansky at 25 degrees. Depending on how much sharpening it needs, I start with extra coarse or coarse, go across the blade 12 or more times (back and forth moving up and down) on each side, then I move to medium and do the same, then fine do the same, and extra fine. (I have the deluxe kit. I recommend it).

I had to reprofile both my Beckers when I got them. Did 25 degrees on the lansky with both my necker, and campanion. Now they are niiice.
 
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