sharpening

[siguy]

i like to sharpen with stones. i used to be really bad with them, but i have spent lots of time grinding down old cheap knives, and putting cutting edges onto old steak knives that i ground down to a rough edge...good practice by the way.

i now go nowhere wihtout my little 3 by 1 inch stone...one side i clogged so that it is about half way between a ceramic and a fine hardware store stone...is this a bad thing? i use this for touching up my edges on all of my knives...even my sickle once...it does leave a bit of a toothy edge on my knives i suppose, but for general camp type chores, i find that i don't need a really highly polished edge. also, it has been discussed that a toothy edge is better for whittling, and i have found nothing to dispute this fact.

i like to be able to change the angle for each knife depending on the grind or anything...which is difficult to do if you are using a set angle system.

 

[me2]

I've used nearly anything that will abrade the steel. I used to use Arkansas stones free hand. Then I tried the hardware store $5 double sided combination grit stones and a strop on wood backing. That worked for a long time. Then I got a DMT course diamong hone, and a Sharpmaker. I used the diamond hone for reprofiling, and the sharpmaker for the final edge. Next came the Norton Course/Fine India combination stone. For a while I used sandpaper clamped to the edge of the table, then a strip of leather clamped the same way as a strop. I also tried hooking a 1x30 sanding belt on something solid and using that. That works well for hand powered reprofiling, but taked some practice. Finally, I got a 1x30 sander to go with the belts, then a leather belt and some honing compound for the sander. The last new thing I tried was the Silicon Carbide stones used to rub concrete, followed by a ceramic ferrule used to weld shear studs to composite floor deck. Those 2 actually gave a reasonable edge, though ugly enough to run lightening up a rubber tree. Of all those, a 320 grit belt on the sander followed by the leather is my current favorite. Touchups between sandings/sharpenings are done freehand with the sharpmaker stones, or with the fine side of the Norton bench hone. Oh yea, I forgot, my 800 grit water stone. I still use it on occasion, but the sander is so much faster.

Technique wise, when using hand stones, I normally use blocks to hold the stones at an angle, similar to the Sharpmaker. If I ever get around to lapping the coarse side of the Norton stone, I'll use that, just because its less messy than my waterstone, even though, in my experiments, the waterstone cuts faster. I sharpen until I raise a burr, at 12-17 degrees. Then, if I want a fairly coarse edge, I remove the burr free hand using the Fine India, at an angle of somewhere between 20 and 30 degrees. If I want a polished edge, I use the Sharpmaker at 15 or 20 degrees, depending on which angle was used to form the burr. Note these angles are for one side, not the total of the sharpening angle on both sides. I'm working on some 10 degree per side angles, but dont use if for anthing other than kitchen knives. I typically dont use the corners of the Sharpmaker stones; it just makes it easier to get rid of the burr for me. For field sharpening, the Norton combo is my preference, even though the coarse side needs lapping. Some good research was done by Professor Verhoeven on sharpening. He shows that edge trailing strokes on a stone form bigger burrs. When I form a burr, I actually press the knife against the stone going in both directions. I mean, I'm trying to form a burr anyway, so why worry. I rarely use unpowered sandpaper anymore. On the sander, I use an unsupported belt at 320 grit to raise a burr, then run the leather belt supported by the platen to remove the burr and put a very polished edge on. These are typically 15 degrees, and I use a freehand sharpmaker stone to touch them up at between 20 and 30 degrees. You can get a shaving edge off the $5 hardware combination stones, but it takes longer and more practice, as the stones dont cut as fast as the good ones.

 

[stang0084]

i was searching for a good deal for a lansky, and i ran across a system that looks identical from frost cutlery. i can get the frost cutlery deluxe for the same price as the lansky standard... are they the same deal?

 

[Allan Molstad]

Hi,
So what I'm asking is, what works for you (or what have you heard that works best?)

My advice:
Once you learn how to sharpen a knife free hand, then all the many different systems will work better for you.

There are a lot of very good ways to sharpen a knife.
All of them work, more-or-less.
But when a guy understands how to sharpen free hand then using jigs and power sharpeners and all the other things just seems to go better.

As far as what is really the best?
I have been reading tonight about this very question, and what seems to be the best way to get a good fast sharp edge is to use some of them Japanese water stones , going up to about 8000 grit, then a leather strop with green crome.

 

[neitron]

I do all my regular touch up work by hand. Got to use a guided system 1 time and it was excellent. Usually I just find it faster to throw the stone on the counter, splash some water, zip-zip-zip and all done.

I think basic maintenance is a skill any knife-user, or cutting-trade person should know. No harm in getting it sorted out if its really damaged, but regular honing is easy enough to do.