Sharpening stones recommendations

jharpphoto

jharpphoto

Joined
Jan 22, 2011
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290
I suck at free hand sharpening, in fact I also suck with my KME sharpening system. I have a duo stone diamond sharpener as well that I have had mixed results with. I’m hopeful that some fine whet stones will help my free hand sharpening turn a corner. What grit and brand do you master sharpeners suggest?
 
jharpphoto said:
I suck at free hand sharpening, in fact I also suck with my KME sharpening system. I have a duo stone diamond sharpener as well that I have had mixed results with. I’m hopeful that some fine whet stones will help my free hand sharpening turn a corner. What grit and brand do you master sharpeners suggest?
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Nah, more practice. Use a sharpie to see what your hitting. Make a burr, remove the burr.
There are some finer details to that but nothing beats T.O.S

Time on stone.

It's easy to pile up sharpening gear and be in the same exact place.
 
DeadboxHero said:
Nah, more practice. Use a sharpie to see what your hitting. Make a burr, remove the burr.
There are some finer details to that but nothing beats T.O.S

Time on stone.

It's easy to pile up sharpening gear and be in the same exact place.
Click to expand...
I agree. Pay attention to your sharpening angles. Consistency is very important. But if you're looking for a stone that is inexpensive, the Norton India Stone (fine and coarse) works well. I would practice on a cheap carbon steel knife and not one with super steels. I have had some frustrating experiences sharpening knives, but in general it was my fault. The video on Bob Dozier's web site is a good one to watch how to do it. They are using a duosharp DMT diamond stone on their D-2. Pay attention to the burr that develops and knocking if off....
 
Check out the stickies in the maintenance section. A lot of good information there. What really helped me was the sharpie and taking my time
 
If your stones aren't garbage, improving the quality doesn't help you learn much better.
One of the hardest things to master about free hand sharpening is keeping the same angle throughout the process. Be mindful of that. The longer you are sharpening (in one session) the more error tends to occur.
When you use a marker to see where you are removing the material - try and correlate that to what the knife felt like on the stone. You might not get it right away, but it does help you in the long run.
Watching YT videos doesn't hurt.
 
DeadboxHero said:
Nah, more practice. Use a sharpie to see what your hitting. Make a burr, remove the burr.
There are some finer details to that but nothing beats T.O.S

Time on stone.

It's easy to pile up sharpening gear and be in the same exact place.
Click to expand...
" " " " " " " " " I know i am guilty of this. There is no gear, gadget or implement that is the holy grail. Practice, practice, practice, with patience, patience patience thrown in. The sharpie can be your best friend, along with taking your time, and having breaks. Spending too much time in one session, can lead to fatigue and wrong angles. Once you start to get good results it is a buzz, and then you will only improve. When you start to get it, you will feel and hear the stone working for you. One bit of advice though, do not over think or over complicate it, you will do your head in and give up. But you will get it trust me, just takes a bit of time but is worth it. No one starts as a genius at sharpening. Good luck, and just ask if you need any help. everyone on the forum is only too willing.:thumbsup:
 
If you suck with your KME I can almost guarantee that it’s because your not fully apexing the edge and moving along in your stone progression before the knife is sharp. Read bgentry’s sticky the secrets of sharpening at the top of this forum and you will dramatically improve your technique.

Angle control is obviously important; but you can get a knife sharp even with dodgy angle control if you apex and deburr correctly
 
jharpphoto said:
I suck at free hand sharpening, in fact I also suck with my KME sharpening system. I have a duo stone diamond sharpener as well that I have had mixed results with. I’m hopeful that some fine whet stones will help my free hand sharpening turn a corner. What grit and brand do you master sharpeners suggest?
Click to expand...

I think you'd be better off learning how to freehand sharpen rather than buying more stones.

I highly recommend The Razor Edge Book of Sharpening, by John Juranitch. It helped me immensely. There is great info and advice online and in this forum but I was getting it in bits and pieces. It wasn't until I read the book that I started to put it all together. Once I understood the principles of sharpening, what I needed to accomplish, and how I needed to accomplish it, the actual sharpening process just kind of fell into place naturally. I was actually surprised how simple it really is.
 
Craig James said:
If you suck with your KME I can almost guarantee that it’s because your not fully apexing the edge and moving along in your stone progression before the knife is sharp. Read bgentry’s sticky the secrets of sharpening at the top of this forum and you will dramatically improve your technique.

Angle control is obviously important; but you can get a knife sharp even with dodgy angle control if you apex and deburr correctly
Click to expand...

Can you direct me to bgentry’s thread?

Edit: no worries, I found it :)
 
jharpphoto jharpphoto if you haven't already, look up Dean O on YouTube. He has some outstanding KME videos. He has free hand videos as well but it's the KME stuff that is really excellent.
 
With freehand sharpening, people sometimes are working the wrong area, hence using marking up the edge and remembering feel.
It's possible you're abrading the primary bevel or even the transition line between the primary and secondary bevel. Riding that line will feel different than the secondary bevel. The wider primary bevel is a larger area than the secondary bevel and will have more resistance.
 
The thing that most impressed me with my Kme system is that it came with a sharpie. It doesn't seem like a big deal but a marker is one of the most useful items you can have. I would have preferred a strop, but the marker is a sign that they put thought into the package.

USE THE MARKER. The other advice is applicable, but getting the angle right is much easier with the edge blacked out. Buying extra stones is clearly not the answer if you have trouble with the basic kit. Plus, the KME "compatible" stones may not be the same thickness as the diamond stones that come with the kit. IF the stone is thicker or thinner than the KME spec, the angle of contact with be off slightly.

Another reason for the marker is that the factory edge on a knife may be listed as X degrees but that is not always the case. I keep a notepad in my kit that lists my knives and the angles I've used on them (as well as knicks between the angle markers). Don't assume because a website or person says the grind angle is X degrees that yours is. You may also be dealing with a knife that isn't symmetrical grinds. If thats the case grinding the apex properly is going to be a pain in a clamped sharpening system, but it can be fixed with the 140x

CLAMPING. The KME clamp is very close to idiot proof, but it's easy to have the knife off by a degree or two. When you use the sharpie, do a few strokes on each side to make sure you are contacting evenly. Then you can grind in earnest. This applies as well to the above regarding bad factory grinds.

Sometimes it's the knife itself. One of my knives is a ZT 452 that has a swedge that runs from tip to the gimping, leaving next to no flat edge for the clamp. I can do it but I have to be super diligent that the pressure is light and the knife stays centered. My more conventional knives are much less of a headache.
 
Sharpie is a great visual tool, stone maintenance is a priority for me, I also use a cheap magnifying headset with wet stones. I lay the blade on the stone and lift up towards my sharpening angle.. as I do this I watch the blade edge, when water squishes out from under the blade edge I have found my angle and begin the stroke. Rinse and repeat as required. and as stated previously.. practice, practice, practice.
 
Ote said:
Sharpie is a great visual tool, stone maintenance is a priority for me, I also use a cheap magnifying headset with wet stones. I lay the blade on the stone and lift up towards my sharpening angle.. as I do this I watch the blade edge, when water squishes out from under the blade edge I have found my angle and begin the stroke. Rinse and repeat as required. and as stated previously.. practice, practice, practice.
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You never stop learning and getting good tips. Like the advise with the angle and water trick. Another bit of advise i can use.:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:
 
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An angle guide helps a lot. A real cheap way is to tape a nickel or dime (whichever angle you want) to each side of the blade. There are a number of guides available. I use an ancient BuckMaster (no longer made,alas) but sometimes you can find one on-line.
 
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