Sharpening your traditionals?

I just use the little Eze-Lap model L diamond pads. I carry a red medium one with most of the handle cut off, in my wallet. I don't make a fetish out of sharpening, just give it a touch up when needed. I hone in small circles, starting at the blade base, and going to the tip very slowly, and alternating sides of the blade. To finish, I just use the back of my Dickies work belt. It'll shave hair when I'm done.

I've also got a very old Boy scout pocket hone. This is the gray carborunum thing, about an inch wide and about 3 inches long, in a worn leather pocket sheath. It will put a corse but very good using edge on a knife in a few minutes. It goes in my daypack.

I like to keep it very simple and compact, so I can sharpen anywhere in just a few minutes. If I can't carry it with me very easily, I don't want it.

Carl.
 
Thread moved to proper forum for further discussion.
 
I use my traditional knives for whittling/carving. That is the ONLY thing I use them for, so I prepare them accordingly. Strop and sandpaper to convex them, and continue through the grit progression until I get a very fine (0.5 micron) polished full convex profile/edge.

I have no idea if they shave hair or whittle hair. I only whittle wood with them. I suspect that they would whittle hair though. I do this strictly for performance in wood carving. I have tried a LOT of different edges...this is a case where I will say *I* prefer polished edges, and every member of the carving club I occasionally meet with would share this preference (and did so long before I ever walked in).

Most of my co-workers that carry traditional knives sharpen them traditionally (that is to say, they use whatever they can find to sharpen them in much the same way my grandfather did). One guy uses a file, another uses a coffee cup, another uses a Lansky kit (and his edges are probably not as sharp as the guy who uses the cup LOL). My point is that there is not a "correct answer" here, there likely is a best answer for your needs/desires.

Have fun!
 
My preferences for sharpening are continuing to evolve, but here's how it's gone so far:

1. My first really good edges came from using a Lansky. Also tried out the Gatco, with similar results. The edges produced from either of these, once I became accustomed to using them, have consistently been excellent.

2. Stropping. After I started getting respectable edges from my Lansky/Gatco, I started to see the value of stropping to take 'em up another notch. I practiced at it for a good, long time, every chance I got.

3. While stropping one of my knives, it occurred to me to lay some wet/dry sandpaper on the strop, and try my hand at convexing. All of the time I spent previously, practicing good stropping technique, paid off in spades at this point. I'd already developed the muscle memory & feel for maintaining consistent angle and light pressure, so I found it almost automatic to convex this way, using wet/dry sandpaper in grits from 220 up to 2000. Produced some surprisingly good edges quickly.

4. Lately, I've been practicing free-hand sharpening on diamond hones. I've been trying out DMT 6x2 continuous hones, Dia-Folds, card sharpeners and other small, pocket-size hones, to get comfortable using something pocketable. I'm also liking the results I've seen here. Not quite as 'pretty' as edges produced on my guided sharpeners, but still very sharp.

A whole lot of the success I've had so far, goes back to learning how to keep pressure light (very light). I learned most of that while using the Lansky/Gatco. Learning how to maintain a consistent angle, for me, was mostly from developing the muscle memory & feel from all the stropping practice I did. That's paid off nicely, with the sandpaper on leather, and it's even been beneficial when I've been using edge-leading technique on the diamond hones.

And most of all, I've been paying a LOT more attention to closely inspecting my edges, using good magnification and bright lighting. Makes a huge difference in figuring out what I might be doing wrong, or what it takes to make it right. Wish I'd started doing that about 20 years ago.

In the last few days, I've been playing around with stropping again, this time trying out different compounds. I used some Simichrome polish on leather the other day, and I'm pretty impressed with what that simple 'polishing paste' can do. I've purchased some DMT Dia-Paste recently, but haven't gotten around to using it yet. I'll likely make 2 or 3 new strop blocks for that.
 
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Again, great answers here guys.

I've gotten some ideas and things that I would like to try.

I'll definitely have to look into the whole paper wheel thing, which still seems a little odd to me, but if I can get an inexpensive bench grinder from a place that I am not sure I can mention the name on a forum, then I might have to give it a go.


Good stuff here guys. Much more than I expected!
 
I have an old Buck lockback and an older Parker Cutlery trapper pattern. Both get the King 220/1000 waterstone treatment, followed by the Sharpmaker for microbeveling. I've had the Buck since I was 12 (23 years) and sharpened it on Arkansas stones for 13 years, until I bought the Sharpmaker. These 2 are probably the only knives I have that an Arkansas stone would work on.
 
Since finding this forum ,I can get knives sharp rather quickly. I have ceramic sticks and cheapo diamond stones. I put the diamond stones on blocks then rubberband them to the ceramic rods to ensure the same angle. Its fast. Then I have two sets of ceramic rods . To finish I use dowell rods loaded with chromium oxide that fit in the holes. Everything is done at the same angle. The loaded wooden dowell rods work real well. I use them all the time. When a knife gets a little dull , all it takes is about twenty backward swipes to bring them back.
 
I use a belt sander. With belt changes from 80 micron up to 5 micron and then a leather belt even D2 safety edges can be brought to hair splitting sharp in just a few minutes.
 
At home i use a Norton IB8 combination stone or a Buck Arkansas Washita. In the field i use a Fallkniven DC4. All 3 get my knives sharp enough for my needs.
 
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