Sharpening Angles

[narruc1]

This subject confuses me, and maybe some of you older, and wiser knife nuts out there can help clear it up for me. Here is my question... would you sharpen, lets say a knife that you use to cut meat at a different angle, than you would a utility type knife, or should you just stick by the rule of thumb, and sharpen at 22deg?

Thank all of you that responded to this post, it is very much appreciated.

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BC...Semper Fi

[This message has been edited by narruc1 (edited 04-04-2000).]

 

[e_utopia]

If you want to cut very easy, sharpen at a thinner angle. If you want the edge to resist damage, sharpen at a thicker angle. Obviously, you must examine your uses of each knife and adjust accordingly.

--JB

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e_utopia@hotmail.com

 

[Griffon]

Originally posted by e_utopia:
Obviously, you must examine your uses of each knife and adjust accordingly.

Or use different angles on the same knife at different parts of the edge. I do, sometimes.

 

[Johan]

When I'm sharpening I have a set of angles I work with:

24-this is for thick hunting knives (my Busse)
21-most of my pocket knives
18-select pocket knives that don't see a lot of hard use or are of a steel that can hold the edge, but mostly thin kitchen knives
15-the screaming limit on most knives, roast beef slicer is about all I'd use this for

That being said, you have to play around a bit. Those angles are guide lines, but only trial and experience will tell what works best. Hope this helps

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"Better to reign in Hell, than serve in Heav'n"
John Milton
There are only two types of people; those who understand this, and those who think they do.

 

[Joe Talmadge]

narruc1:

Well, it all depends on how much you want to drag that last bit of performance out of your knives. For most general-use knives, I could put a 20 degree angle on them, and be relatively happy. But, if I'm going for performance, which I usually am, I do sharpen according to what the knife will be doing, and how tough the steel is. If you want to get to the bleeding edge, the rule is: keep lowering the angle until your toughest job chips the blade -- then, raise the angle another degree or two. What you want is the lowest angle possible, where even your toughest job doesn't chip the blade.

Although I don't do that full exercise on every knife, I do try to pay attention to the angles, occasionally lowering or raising according to performance or edge damage. I put a dual angle on most of my knives. Something like my Calypso Jr, which is my gentleman's scalpel, will like be 15 degrees per side all the way down, then 1-2 strokes on a 20-degree stone. My Benchmade Axis is 15-degrees to within 1/32-1/64" of the edge, then 20-degrees to create the burr and finish. If I didn't do the dual-edge thing, on the Axis I would sharpen to around 18 degrees -- if it chipped, I'd pop up to 20.

Joe

 

I always sharpen to a double angle, the backbevel beeing about 5° less than the edge.

Using 30° on the edge for meat knives (thats the lower angle of the sharpmaker, incidentally...)
Using 40° on the edge for utility knives (that happens to be the upper angle of the sharpmaker...)
Using 50° for "outdoor"/heavy duty knives. These dont need much upkeep, so I (re)sharpen them when needed.

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D.T. UTZINGER

 

[narruc1]

I would like to thank each one of you very much for responded to this post. I have got a lot of info to absorb... Thanks again all!

Not so confused anymore!

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BC...Semper Fi