How To Sharpening blades

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rolandag2

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Aug 21, 2012
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i have different knives all of which I tried several different ways to sharpen to no avail. I don’t know what the hell im doing wrong. I have a course and medium stone, and some Arkansas stones and other diamond sharpeners and edge pro knock off(pos) and the one sharpener that I’ve had luck with is a Gatco diamond sharpener similar to a Lansky. I’m gonna research and make some notes on proper way to sharpen blades
 
rolandag2 said:
I don’t know what the hell im doing wrong.
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Some times it is the steel to. If it is cheep stainless it takes more skill than say a decent old knife that has a harder heat treat and rusts.
Most knives benefit from laying the angle back; called reprofiling.
Use a very coarse stone to start so you can actually apex the edge in a short amount of time which means abrading the two bevels until they come together to form an edge.

Very, very light downward force on the stones for the last strokes once you get that edge.
For shave sharp use only partial strokes (meaning not even the full length of the stone) one per side alternating back and forth. Less is more at the end of the sharpening. Some times much, much less than you realize.

Me . . .
I say give Ben the money and buy a real Edge Pro Apex, read the instructions . . . maybe more than once. Watch his videos.
Make edges that scare the pants off you.
Toss all those hand bench stones in the trash.
Don't look back.
 
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rolandag2 said:
i have different knives all of which I tried several different ways to sharpen to no avail. I don’t know what the hell im doing wrong. I have a course and medium stone, and some Arkansas stones and other diamond sharpeners and edge pro knock off(pos) and the one sharpener that I’ve had luck with is a Gatco diamond sharpener similar to a Lansky. I’m gonna research and make some notes on proper way to sharpen blades
Click to expand...

I suspect the answer lies within your post.

After choosing the right medium for the steel, angle is the most important aspect of sharpening. I'd say you're seeing more success with the Gatco because it is helping you maintain an angle which by extension would mean you're not getting or maintain the proper angle while free handing.

As said, use a marker to mark the edge bevel and adjust until you're removing the marker form bevel shoulder to edge. Re-mark as you adjust your angle to make sure it you're getting all of it and not a little here and there as you adjust. You may find spots where it doesn't all come off and that is usually inconsistent grinds that will need to be sorted out throguh re-profiling or over repeated sharpenings.

Go slow and don't concern yourself with pressure. Default to lighter is better, especially if using diamonds. Some stones like a little more pressure but that's nothing to concern yourself with now.

Get sharp on a lower grit.
 

Here's a vid with some tips for the gatco. Yt has alot of other vids that may be helpful too
 
Eli Chaps said:
I suspect the answer lies within your post.

After choosing the right medium for the steel, angle is the most important aspect of sharpening. I'd say you're seeing more success with the Gatco because it is helping you maintain an angle which by extension would mean you're not getting or maintain the proper angle while free handing.

As said, use a marker to mark the edge bevel and adjust until you're removing the marker form bevel shoulder to edge. Re-mark as you adjust your angle to make sure it you're getting all of it and not a little here and there as you adjust. You may find spots where it doesn't all come off and that is usually inconsistent grinds that will need to be sorted out throguh re-profiling or over repeated sharpenings.

Go slow and don't concern yourself with pressure. Default to lighter is better, especially if using diamonds. Some stones like a little more pressure but that's nothing to concern yourself with now.

Get sharp on a lower grit.
Click to expand...

Ok after some research and reading and understanding or trying to understand the science of edge technology and sharpening, I’ve started to have some success in the sharpening process. Ive tried the folding paper to help guide me in the angle finding part and the perm. marker trick to make sure i have the angle right its seem to help. I’ve read Sharpening Made Easy by John Juranitch and that offered a lot of insight. I've sharpened every single kitchen and pocket knife i have to some success as well as 2 beginner knives I’ve made from 5160 in my forge. Some are sharper than others and will cut paper and have been honed on a strop. Ive achieved mirror finishes and uniform angles and have created primary and secondary edges on my homemade knives which by far where far more difficult to achieve than my store bought knives.
 
"Sharpening Made Easy" is by Steve Bottorff. I think it's a nice introduction to sharpening. I'm only clarifying this because I think Steve deserves the credit for his work. I know it helped me. "The Razor Edge Book of Sharpening" is by Juranich. That book is a classic, but I didn't find it to be very useful. Other people like it so maybe it's just me. Chad Ward's egullet article on sharpening was very helpful to me early on as well.

I'm not trying to flood you with information sources. You mentioned a book so I thought I'd mention a few others too.

I'm very happy to hear that you have had some sharpening success! Keep at it. :)

Brian.
 
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