Sharpening, if you combined all you now know, what would you tell yourself if...

[UncleBoots]

What I'd tell myself: "The work that you do on that first, coarsest, stone is everything. The rest is just refinement."

 

[Kels73]

- Keep the grit selection simple. Get a coarse stone for grinding, a medium for sharpening, a fine for honing, and a strop.
- Study the edge, know what you want to achieve, and develop a plan.
- Color the edge with a sharpie marker, and examine your progress regularly.
- Preserve steel by removing the least amount of material possible.
- Raise a burr along the entire length of the edge, and remove it when you are finished.
- Know when to take a break. Fatigue and frustration usually result in mistakes.
- Continue sharpening freehand. (I learned freehand sharpening when I was a teenager, and I love it!)

 

[Sonnydaze]

The biggest improvements to my sharpening were getting an EP Apex and a good microscope.

I finally got the Edge Pro Apex with a strong central magnet (that I installed a few yrs ago) in order to hold the blade steady. I have written threads on this process with specifics, which you can find here Search function.
The "newer" thing that I did was to purchase the ken onion edition knife & tool sharpener for high output sharpening of my wife's kitchen knives and my knives also... It works VERY well, and you can quickly achieve nice, sharp edges. You can pick a wide choice of edge angles...suitable for thin kitchen blades as well as heavier duty fixed blades for taking to the woods.
The Edge Pro is fun and teaches you what's happening.
The Ken Onion is VERY quick, but gives you a nearly-equal sharpness.
Your choice. Pricing is about the same...

 

[Hurrul]

Coarse stones are not to be feared, and are quite helpful.

A progression of different amounts of pressure (to raise the burr, remove the burr, and continuing on with edge refinement all on a single stone) or a progression of heavy to light pressures, greatly improved my free hand game.

Practice and keeping a journal of observations from practice.

Thinner stock knives (paring knives, many kitchen knives, Opinels) make great practice pieces as they respond to sharpening well and get quite sharp, due to their thinness. Great confidence builders.

 

[lonestar1979]

Thin knives work better for cutting,period,practice on them,produce burr and take it off.Silicon carbide or diamond stones both work well.Get belt sander for regrinding thick knives.Practice!!!!!

 

[not2sharp]

Sharpening damages and will ultimately wear away your knife. Don’t worry about it. Only use knives that you can afford to sharpen and you will be much happier.

n2s

 

[jose65]

belt sander diamont Stone