- Joined
- Jun 4, 2010
- Messages
- 6,642
Hello,
Let me start by saying I have searched thru all the threads I can find on here about getting started into sharpening. I also have never sharpened a knife successfully. So that being said I decided to buy some better quality knives, I started with a Junglas "I wanted something to chop with". Now I have bought a used Busse pork shank hoping it will serve me well as a hunting knife.
Now I need to be able to sharpen my blades, so my question? Is there a system I can get started with that will eliminate or minimize rookie mistakes. Is there a preferred method when your getting started?
Help! I have not been this intimidated since I first started looking into optics and glass
Any recommendations would be very much appreciated.
I highly recommend doing some freehand. If you start out on the coarse stones, you'll figure it out with reasonable speed. I believe ultimately you'll want to go this route, as so many other folks that start out with guided systems find themselves working toward it eventually. Might as well just start out with it. The means to manufacture guided systems have been available for many decades if not centuries, yet until recently there have been very few examples - it isn't that difficult to learn once you get started.
An initial setup can be as simple as a Norton India stone or Crystalon stone, and a block of honing compound, a bottle of mineral oil and few sheets of paper. There are a million videos and many books and tutorials to lean on once you get your feet wet.
I sell a simple and effective sharpening block (the Washboard) through the link in my signature - comes with a good manual and the sale thread is loaded with short videos. It doesn't do it for you, but is a real help learning freehand and maintaining edges. Versatile and inexpensive to boot, is worth taking a look and the videos cover a lot of basics common to all forms of manual sharpening, not just my Washboard.
Good Luck,
Martin