Sharpening Newbie, need some advice

I

Iliketantos

Joined
May 16, 2009
Messages
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Hey guys, I'm looking for some advice on how to get a scary sharp edge on my knives. First off I'm pretty new to the whole knife seen, I'm 22 and I've only been buying for the past four years. Anyway, most times when I carry, I either carry a benchmade rift or a small CRKT fulcrum lock. Thing is, I'm obsessed with having a sharper than sharp edge on my blades. The serrations on my rift are sharp enough to shave the hair right off my arm with almost no pressure. I'm wondering how I can get my non-serrated edges that sharp on my knives. I do have a Lanksy hand held sharpener with tungsten carbide abrasives, and that maintains a sharpe edge, but I'm wondering what you guys would suggest for putting on the absolute sharpest edge possible with a good amount of strength behind it.

What I generally use my knives for are just basic utility cutting, ropes, belts, things of that sort. I don't plan on chopping down any trees with a folder, haha. I also don't like to think of my knife as a self defense option, because I live in Connecticut and anything over 3.5 inches generally gets you hassled pretty badly around here, even though the limit is 4 inches. So what would you guys suggest? The crazy lansky sharpeners with the built in guide angles and the rods and all that? Learning how to sharpen freehand with a stone or diamond abrasive? Lining Billy Mays's pockets by getting a Samurai Sharp? (kidding) I'd appreciate the advice guys.
 
I gather form your post that you are not sharpening at all right now and have no equipment.

One of the cheapest, and best, ways to sharpen the serrations on knife is free hand with wooden dowels using fine wet or dry sandpaper wrapped around the dowel. The Lansky or Gatco would work but sometimes the angles don't match and you have to use the stone freehand. I use an EdgePro with the scissors attachment to hold the angle and a dowel with sandpaper as I mentioned above. I also have a Lansky stone custom mounted on the EP system of some serration work. When you go with one of the gadgets you are usually limited in grit selection and sharpening angles. You want something to match the existing angle of the serrations or stay off them and sharpen the flat part of the balde. \

Then there is stropping to finish the edge or maintain it when it isn't too dull or badly damaged. That brings up a whole other discussion.

I don't know the grind of the serrations on your particular knife, but you can also sharpen the flat side of the blade at the serrations as they are usually chisel ground (single bevel) (cut out from one side of the blade only). This can be done using a stone free hand and is very easy as the angle is basically flat with the edge of the blade or only very slightly raised.


Other then sharpening the flat side of the blade over the serrations, I would suggest practicing on a straight blade (or blade section) before trying sharpening serrations.

After you pick a method or system then there are things like grit, finish, angles, etc to consider. For some super background and self training on sharpening in general as well as serrations and most all the sharpening systems read this .
 
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