Sharpening tips?

[Penetration]

Recently I've been practicing sharpening my knives but I have some questions. What's the best way or best thing to use to sharpen serations. Also I've tried to sharpen this old smith and Wesson knife but no matter how many times I try to sharpen it there isn't any difference on how sharp it is. I use a medium and ceramic stone as well as a sharpening rod and an old leather belt for stropping. So I was wondering if maybe I need a more stronger stone or anything else I'm missing?

 

[BetrayalSpree]

It may be a poor heat treat in the steel that would cause it to lose its edge wen you try to test it.

Another possibility is that you are not sharpening to the apex of the edge. Take a sharpie and "color" the bevel, take a few strokes on your sharpener, then check that all the sharpie is being removed. This helped me immensely when I first started sharpening.

Good luck!

 

[Penetration]

Ill definitely try it! It's weird because I've sharpened some of my other knives on the same stone and they sharpen up really nicely so I was kinda stuck on why it wouldn't sharpen but ill try to see if that sharpie trick helps

 

[aquaman67]

For serrations, a Spyderco SharpMaker is good. There are videos on YouTube to show you how.

 

[RevDevil]

General Knife Discussion is for discussing knives themselves
Maintenance, Tinkering, and Embellishment is for discussing sharpening (aka maintenance).

 

[Cereal_killer]

Read from here (post #11 by knifenut) on down, this is the method I use on my two SE hawkbills and my one SE blade and my buddies CE's and it works great.

After I sharpen the unground side on a stone I hit the beveled edge on my cotton polishing wheel to remove the burr, it's easily as sharp as my PE's.

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...-Sharpening-SE-blades?p=12562660#post12562660

 

[bgentry]

That thread about serrated (SE) blades has proven very valuable for me and I have now sharpened several serrated blades to VERY sharp using that technique.

As for the S&W blade you're having trouble with, I'd bet that you've got one that has a VERY thick blade. The last one or two I worked on had such incredibly thick blades that the edge was ground at a very steep angle. I'd guess something like 30 degrees per side, or maybe a little more in the belly and tip. I had to do major grinding on the one I remember in the belly to get even close to sharp. I wasn't satisfied with my results on that particular blade and never got to finish; but the owner of the blade was happy with how "sharp" it was. You too may have a LOT of metal to grind to get a decent edge on your blade.

Brian.