Sharpening.....Carbon vs. Stainless

KBR

KBR

Joined
Feb 12, 2002
Messages
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After sharpening up my Buck 110 today at work, a friend of mine asked to borrow my DMT Diafold to give his blade a quick touchup. Well, I noticed that he sharpened his knife in the opposite direction as I do, and asked him why he sharpened his knife that way. His response to me was that his knife has a carbon steel blade and that is the proper way of sharpening that steel type.

Now I'm no expert in sharpening by any means(can put a hair popping edge on my blades, though), but this was a first for me.

Can anyone give me some advice on the difference in sharpening carbon steel as compared to stainless, if any? :confused:

Thanks, :D
 
on the exact same knife, with two identical blades of different steel, im pretty sure its the same...which way are you sharpening and which way was he sharpening?
 
I've never heard that before. I sharpen all my knives, stainless or carbon the same way. The only real difference is that I usually don't have to go to as fine a stone to get the same results on a carbon steel blade. At least with my 01 blades, they lose all thier bite if I go beyond a soft arkansas and a half dozen passes on a strop.Shave really well, but slide off of tougher stuff.
 
I run my knives edge first(as in the pic) on my DMTs, whereas he was sharpening "backwards" with the back of the blade first and the edge trailing behind.

Knife.jpg


I suppose that I should also mention that this guy had a completely rust covered blade :barf: and after I informed him that he was sharpening incorrectly, he sarcastically told me that I didn't know what I was talking about....:rolleyes: :eek: :rolleyes: Telling me that HIS method is the proper way of sharpening carbon blades. :yawn:
 
..that system works for me. As far as I know, that is the proper way of sharpening. ;)
 
For an acute beveled edge, I sharpen edge forward, as if cutting a shallow slice off the stone. In this instance an edge guide is helpful in maintaining a precise angle. For a convex edge, I do the opposite, stroking backwards as you would with a strop. Doesn't seem to make much difference what the steel is.
 
My first "real knife" was a kabar with a carbon blade and I sharpened away from the edge and always had a razor sharp blade. I think it might depend more on the grind. I sharpen my swamprats with sandpaper away from the edge and it works good. I sharpen the others with the edge and it works good too. Sometimes I just get crazy and do a few swipes in the opposite direction of whatever I just did. I think there is a great variation in quality of stainless steels, lower grade steels won't get a good edge no matter what you do and good ones get a nice edge no matter what you do.
 
I am with Steven Roos no matter what kind of steel it is.
Kyle Fuglesten
 
As Kenster noted, edge trailing is prone to burr formation, this is more of a problem with stainless knives, so you can get away with it on Carbon knives. It isn't the optimal method for carbon steel blades, it just isn't as problematic as it can be with stainless ones. If you are sharpening edge trailing, unless the steel is very crisp, leading edge strokes will always be necessary to prevent any burr buildup. Of course if you always hone leading edge this isn't a concern as burr formation is minimized.

-Cliff
 
Cliff sums up the situation pretty well. When I was a kid and stainless was uncommon (yep, I'm old as dirt) the technique in my Cub Scout handbook was circular strokes mostly working one side at a time (of course using oil on the hone). On my old carbon steel scout knife this worked pretty well and I could always get a shaving edge. Looking for a better edge I found that finishing with edge-trailing strokes and then stropping on a belt treated with jewelers rouge gave me a straight razor. About the time I got my first stainless hunting knife I discovered that I had a whole new level of problem. Reading and experimenting lead me to running some edge forwards strokes at the end of my sharpening. This got me a better edge on stainless and a more durable edge on simple carbon steels. I was never real happy with that stainless blade. When I got it razor sharp it had not tooth left and did not slice well.
 
Thank you all for the great replies, they have been very helpful. :D
 
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