Sharpening newbie

L

liffy99

Joined
Nov 5, 2016
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Well, my wife bought me a set of very nice Japanese kitchen knifes a few months ago and time has come to resharpen. Having tried with some ordinary wet stones (2000 and 5000) I soon realised I was rubbish at this sharpening lark, so I bought one of those cheap Ruixin edge pro clones to try.
I can't comment on the quality of the stones yet (other than 2 of the 4 were cracked on delivery) but thought I had better start with some cheaper knives to practice.
Trouble is I am not getting very far. Just can't seem to get them very sharp at all. I have tried starting with a 120 stone, then 320, then 600 but the edge just does not seem to improve.
Now, I don't know the bevel angle the knives have so have assumed about 18-20 degrees.
I know I can get better stones but feel I should be able to deliver half decent edges as a beginner.

Where am I going wrong ?
I am not sure if I get a 'burr' at all - what is it supposed to feel like, gritty or just like a tiny lip you can feel with your fingernail ?
It is a problem keeping the knife blades dead flat on the 'table', especially the narrow ones. I am sure a clamp system would be better in this respect.
I keep the stones moist, I don't go too fast, but unsure of pressure to use.

I have ordered some Ruixin diamond stones to try just in case.

How have others fared to start with ? Are there any top tips ?
 
No idea about using a guided system like that. I will tell you that what helped me the most was careful observation of what I was doing and then modifying my actions based on what I observed.

The three tools I found the most valuable were a permanent marker (Sharpie), a magnifier (I bought a cheap document-inspection loupe at an office supply store) and a very bright light. Using those, you can examine the edge of the knife, and see what you are doing. Mark the bevel with the sharpie, make a few sharpening passes, and inspect with the loupe and bright light to see where you were hitting the edge.

I prefer to freehand sharpen but I do have a fixed-angle rod sharpener (Spyderco Sharpmaker) that I started with and still use.

One of the main things that took me a while to learn was to use a coarse stone and not too much pressure when getting that initial bevel set. I started out trying to use medium or fine stones so that I wouldn't "mess up the edge." So I ended up pending an inordinate amount of time and using too much pressure, when what I really needed to do was get that bevel set on a coarse stone in a small number of passes, and THEN work on refining it.
 
learn to freehand, get a good 600, and a 1k to go with the two stones you have. listen closely to this find the bevel if ou place your index finger on the bevel learn to "feel" when it lays onto the stone, yes you can feel the bevel set flat on the stone if you pay attention to it follow this and you will have the secret to freehanding. no guided system in the world is as quick or easy. in less time than you can set up I can have an edge on the knife freehanding. practice on elcheapos till you get the feel of finding the bevel.









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practice!no amount of talk on the internet will take the place of hours of practice,but there are nice people hear that will help you find the right system,i leaned freehand but i also use a guided system to,will not heart to learn both ways!and you will never again own dull knifes,i wish you the best of luck.
 
Hi,
liffy99 said:
Well, my wife bought me a set of very nice Japanese kitchen knifes a few months ago and time has come to resharpen. Having tried with some ordinary wet stones (2000 and 5000) I soon realised I was rubbish at this sharpening lark, so I bought one of those cheap Ruixin edge pro clones to try.
I can't comment on the quality of the stones yet (other than 2 of the 4 were cracked on delivery) but thought I had better start with some cheaper knives to practice.
Trouble is I am not getting very far. Just can't seem to get them very sharp at all. I have tried starting with a 120 stone, then 320, then 600 but the edge just does not seem to improve.
Now, I don't know the bevel angle the knives have so have assumed about 18-20 degrees.
I know I can get better stones but feel I should be able to deliver half decent edges as a beginner.

Where am I going wrong ?
I am not sure if I get a 'burr' at all - what is it supposed to feel like, gritty or just like a tiny lip you can feel with your fingernail ?
It is a problem keeping the knife blades dead flat on the 'table', especially the narrow ones. I am sure a clamp system would be better in this respect.
I keep the stones moist, I don't go too fast, but unsure of pressure to use.

I have ordered some Ruixin diamond stones to try just in case.

How have others fared to start with ? Are there any top tips ?
Click to expand...

Hi,
Yes, a burr is like a tiny lip, that is the most reliable indicator of a burr :)

Also the metal thing with the knob also works as a clamp


I'm not sure what you're doing,
it would help if you describe what you do
but if you do,
say 30 strokes on one side with the coarse stone,
check for burr on opposite site of blade,
if no burr, do another 30 strokes on same side of blade and check,
you should eventually (under 2 minutes) feel a burr
if its taking more than about 300 strokes,
then whatever the actual angle is is too low,
so increase the angle a bit, and give it another 2 minutes

using permanent marker can help you see if you're close to the angle in under 5 strokes


when you do, flip the blade, and do about the same amount of strokes,
until the burr flips to the other side

after you've flipped the burr once,
flip blade, do one stroke, flip blade, do one stroke, flip blade, do one stroke,
using lighter and ligher and ligher force
do maybe 5 per side
what you're doing is standing the burr up so it is not curled over

then increase the angle by 5-10 degrees,
and do 1 stroke per side real light (under 100 grams or 4oz)
and check for burr again,
and repeat once more if burr
and check burr again
and you're done, it should be sharp now

if you want more push cutting ability (more polished edge),
use next grit stone and repeat and repeat

after your final stone, after deburring at increase angle,
you can do a 1 alternating stroke per side at original angle
once or twice (to match number of deburring strokes)


force on the diamond ... think like brushing your teeth ... under 1lb or 1/2lb if you were to measure on a scale
to raise a burr
to remove burr use even less 1/16 lb (1oz) ...

going light (~1oz) gets easier with practice,
loosening your grip/hand muscles doesn't help you go lighter,
you have to use the arm muscles

similar amount of force should work with the aluminum oxide stones as well

to measure, put contraption on a scale, look at the scale as you work the handle,
that should give you idea of 1lb versus 1oz

Cheers
 
No amount of buying more stuff will help much without a good grasp of the basics. The chinese edge pro you have is good enough to get started on. You may want to move on to a different system when you get more experience.

Always learn on cheap crappy knives!!!
Practice untill you get results you are happier with and then work on tour good knives.

If you want to get a grasp of what a burr is.. get a 4 dollar pocket knife and grab the coarses atone you have and just go to town on it for a while. Sooner or later you will feel a very large burr on the opposite side you are working on.

Sent from my SM-N910H using Tapatalk
 
Hello fellow newbie!

The advice on the forum is good and precious , so I'll just mention the one big thing that I was missing. That is making a good apex with a coarse stone first. That means that the blade can shave hair off once I remove the burr.

. If I don't get that right, the rest I do with finer stones is not helping much.
 
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