First off I have a lansky deluxe diamond system and it sucks, but its what I've got so for now it will have to do. So any suggestions on new sharpening system?
Please don't see this post as a better than thou, what do you know post.
The Lansky system is a very capable system. Many other guided systems were born to improve on the Lansky design, but that doesn't detract from the quality or ability of the Lansky system.
With that said, lets just say that there are a lot of ways to make mistakes on this kind of system, and no matter which system you get, you are going to make the same mistakes. It's not the product it's the user. And again understand I'm only making this statement from experience.
I can tell you a few of the common errors.
First, your guide rod and stone should be either in a perfect plane with each other or perfect parallel planes.(Forgive the techno jargin). I'm saying that with your stone flat on a perfectly flat surface, the stone and rod should be contact the surface along it's entire length.
Second, you should be sure you clamp your knife in exactly the same spot each time and that you tighten the screw exactly same amount each time(easier said than done). The more you tighten the screw, the more you raise the angle on the guide holes.
Third, don't use too much pressure. This if for two reasons, one being you don't want to flex the guide rods which would change the angle, but the maind reason is that getting something sharp requires surprisingly light pressure.
Fourth, the rod bouncing around the guide hole will give you inconsistent results. Concentrate on making your strokes without allowing the rod to bounce up and down.
Lastly and most importantly, you may not be contacting the edge at all. This is probably the most common mistake with any system or freehand user.
Next I carry all Mission Titanium knives, and I am having a difficult time sharpening them. I can't seem to get them right. I had contacted Mission before John died and asked for the angle to sharpen and he said 15 degrees but that has to be wrong. On the one I sharpend at that angle it really came out messed up and there expensive knives to be messin up.
How many strokes on each side is typical for sharpening, how much pressure to I need to apply (light, moderate or heavy). Why can't I get them shaving sharp like they were when I got them from the factory?
I am going to get some el cheap china knives dull them and then try and teach myself, but I know steel is different then ti. Any help woudl be appreicated, I know sharpening should not be this hard. Also how long should it take to sharpen one knife, 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 20 minutes. Maybe I'm not being patient enough.
Thanks in advance for any help and suggestions
Again, don't read this as a condescending post.
Your questions show that you have a few misconceptions about sharpening. Sharpening angles depend highly on personal preference, but if your just looking to maintain the angle on the knife, you have to experiment on each knife to find the proper angle. Use the sharpy trick and start at lower angles and go higher until you find what angle is effectively working on the very edge. Most here prefer to work on a knife with the coarsest stone to lower the primary angle to something below what they want to sharpen at. This is commonly referred to as reprofilling although I think it is more properly called rebevelling. This makes reaching the edge with your stone much easier.
So to answer your question about how many strokes, well as many as is necessary. Sometimes I will grind away on a knife for an hour or even half a day to get the angle ground down. If I have a knife with a low enough angle, then four or five of the lightest strokes will bring the edge right back. Again, it's all about reaching the edge.
You should sharpen on one side until you raise a burr along the entire length of the other edge using your coarsest stone. Don't be afraid to show a little more attention to the portions of your edge that you havn't raised a burr on. Switch sides and repeat the process. Then use a countdown method, say 20, 10, 5, 2, and 1 strokes per side getting progressively lighter with each switch of sides. Repeat the 1 stoke a few times. If done properly, your knife will pull hair off of your arm even on your coarsest stone. Don't move on to the next stone until you have a rough nominally shaving edge with your coarsest stone. Repeat the countdown process with each of your finer stones. When you finish with your finest stone, raise your angle one setting and take four or five single alternating strokes with feather light pressure using your finest stone.
As to pressure, unless you have an unlimited source of sharpening stones, then never use heavy pressure. Heavy pressure will wear out your stones, and leave deep scratches that you will have to work to polish out. Use medium pressure for all of your grinding needs, and then progressively lighter pressure to polish out the grinding scratches. Then medium light to light pressure for the actual sharpening strokes. This should always be finished with the lightest pressure possible. You should understand that those little diamonds are grabby little creatures. They pull steel right off of the surface, even with the lightest strokes.
You need to also understand that the edge is a very delicate wonder of the world, and you should treat it as such, caressing it out of the blade.
I left more questions unanswered than answered, but I hope I help you out a little. Again, I'm speaking strictly from experience. I sucked with my Lansky for a couple of years, but I slowly learned that it wasn't the product, just the user.
