Sharpening questions

C

culter

Joined
Apr 22, 2001
Messages
121
I use a Gatco set to sharpen my knives. It's fairly easy to use but I've come across some questions that are not answered by the faq or other posts I've read on this.

1. The manual says that I should move the stones only in one direction (upwards). What harm does it do if I move them up and down? That seems easier and the more natural movement.

2. When sharpening serrated blades how can I remove the burr on the flat side without scratching the blade?

3. How can I clean the stones? Gatco says I should put oil on them and tap them on a paper towel which doesn't work very well. Actually I read somewhere that using the stones without oil works better and keeps them cleaner (which contradicts the manual). Is that true?

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Seek simplicity, and distrust it.
Whitehead, Alfred North (1861 - 1947)
 
I can shed some light on #3.

If you have ALL READY used oil on your stones, then clean them by putting a bunch of oil on the stone and wiping it with a rag. Do this a few times. Don't use paper towel, as all you'll do is shred the paper.

If you HAVE NOT YET used oil on your stones, to clean them use water and a brush. Something with stiff plastic bristles works great.

I have the Razor's Edge stones and I never use oil, but I get fantastic edges. And my stones aren't clogged up. If you have already used oil on your stones, you have to keep using oil on them.

As far as #2, to fix this with the Gatco you could flip the rig over and lightly stroke the back side of the serrations with the stone until the burr goes away.

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"Come What May..."
 
1. causes a rougher and more uneaven edge. It works for rapid stock removal, but for a fine edge you want to use an even, light pressure in one direction. Up works best.

I started out with the Gatco system a number of years ago, but found five things wrong with it.

1. If you don't pad the clamp, it marks the knife it holds.
2. If you don't move the clamp very often on a large knife, then the angle changes as you get further away from the middle of the clamp.
3. The whole sharpening proccess got quite messy using the oil.
4. The stones wore down quite quickly when used on tool steels, the middle of the stone 'dished out'
5. The whole thing took a lot longer to do than using my Sharpmaker, and I have to say the sharpmaker does the job a lot better and puts a finer edge on a knife.

The clamp rig appealed at first, but after a couple of years I gave up with it!



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Wayne.
"To strive to seek to find and not to yield"
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Well, my problem with number 2 is: If I use the clamp I have to use a 11 degree angle at least. But what if I want the other side to stay flat?

I have already ordered a sharpmaker but I'm still waiting for it.

Is there a way to clean the stones so that I can use them without oil afterwards?
 
culter, I wouldn't worry about those serrations until your sharpmaker gets there. I know it's hard to go around with a dull knife but you'll think what you've already done on that edge is dull when the sharpmaker gets a hold of it.

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Mykl
Once you start down the path of the sharp side forever will it dominate your destiny
 
<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Crayola:
If you have already used oil on your stones, you have to keep using oil on them.</font>
Click to expand...

Why do you think so? I ask because I use a Lansky (similar to Gatco) and I've used the stones with and without oil. I usually don't use it because it takes longer, or seems to at least, but sometimes I do use the oil and don't have any problems using it sometimes. I clean the stones with dish soap and the same kind of scrubby pad I use for dishes - works great.
 
When you work a hone in a back-and-forth (or in this case, up-and-down) motion you have two side effects. One is that your blade bevel angle tends to shift a little on the foreward stroke verses the back stroke. This may give you a bit of convex curvature to your bevel that you didn't intend (but many people want to achieve). The second effect is increased edge burr creation (which you definitely need to go back and remove).

The normally recommended honing stroke is edge-forwards. This minimises (but does not eliminate) edge burr creation. One reason that the v-style rod sharpeners are easy to use is that they push you towards edge-forwards honing of alternate sides which tends to reduce edge burr creation. Even with the v-style sharpeners it can help to do most of your work with the low angle rod position and finish with a few light strokes at a higher angle to eliminate any small residual burr.

I often rough sharpen a blade to reduce the bevel angle by using back-and-forth strokes. I do this until I get the bevel down to the edge. I really hold my knife hard and lock my wrist to keep my bevel pretty flat. After working both sides with a coarse stone I switch to medium and also switch to using edge-forwards strokes only. I super-elevate the blade angle for a few strokes to remove the burr. Then I start doing it edge-forward just like the instructions in the manual.


[This message has been edited by Jeff Clark (edited 05-07-2001).]
 
Medusaoblongata:

I guess I was just parroting back what I have read from the FAQ. I have never tested out whether you can use an already oiled stone dry. I guess what I should say is that unless you want to experiment with your gear, better safe than sorry.

Having said that, you yourself have found no problems using your oiled lansky dry, so maybe there isn't any problem!

Here's a few other things I should have said:

If you use water stones, USE WATER!!! You shouldn't use these dry.

If youa re getting a sharpmaker, your serration problems are over

The sharpmaker is not for heavy reprofiling. If you have thick edges, get a cheap rough stone (Wall-Mart sells Norton combo stones for something like $7 Canadian) and use the rough stone for grinding in relief. Use the sharpmaker for forming and touching up edges.

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"Come What May..."
 
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