So, how do you folksy types sharpen your knives?

GasMan1 said:
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Talk about folksy. And I still havent mastered something so simple. (The stone, I mean).
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With a phone like that you're definitely in the "folksy" category! :D

I remember we had one of those in the kitchen when I was young. The days before answering machines, VHS, Cell phones, cordless phones, computers, etc
 
On carborundum and soft green stone, while singing "Oh Stewball was a racehorse. And I wish he were mine. He never drank water. He always drank wine."
 
Spyderco sharpmaker, lansky diamond turnbox, crystolon for repairs, and an alum oxide economy tool double sided stone. The latter is really useful for doing passes that remove burrs and wire beads off an edge. Oh and I keep an old leather belt no paste and a case kitchen honing rod that came from my dad's restaurant in the 80s.


 
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Wow, about as many methods and tools as there are knives. My father was a watch maker before WW2 turned him into an aircraft engine specialist. He fixed fishing reels as a hobby so at a young age I was taught to use stones and compound on leather. I am lazy so I now use sticks (Lansky) , compound on leather, wet sandpaper on plate glass and have even gone the newspaper stropping way a short while.
I have always been going to get me a sharpmaker but never have. I tell newbie's to use sticks from someone, then learn how to use stones. Sharp is as sharp is. If it shaves hair that's good enough. I think the angle is more important than if your edge is mirror polished.....just an opinion. 300Bucks
 
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It sort of depends on the knife, and who/what it is for. I've got a medium Norton stone and a couple of steels in my butchering kit, and a couple of 12" synthetic stones I use for re-profiling (probably Norton but I've forgotten). In the shop there are a couple of boxes of slip-stones for tools (never got the hang of sharpening knives on tiny stones), a couple of Arkansas stones I use for chisels and planes, and a 1" and 2" belt grinders. Various strops are scattered around: abrasive on wood for tools and knives, razor strops with different grits of polishing compound, etc. Files for the chainsaws, machetes, and axes, with a round "hockey puck" stone for touch-ups.

Then there are the jigs for sharpening for some ongoing experiments. I built them for fixed angles, so I can consistently hone at included angles of 20, 25, 30, and 35 degrees; with a little fudging on set-up I can vary those angles a couple of degrees. The stones for these range from coarse synthetics through natural stones and diamonds-on-a-plate to some super-fine ceramics, with some loose abrasives thrown in for variety.

But my EDC gets sharpened on a Lily White Washita, and stropped on the palm of my hand. . . .
 
Usually waterstones (Naniwa Chosera), always with water of course and a pinch of baking soda or dishsoap to avoid rust as i go and to improve wetting.
Then there are the diamond plates...great invention! I use them when reprofiling with soapy water or windex to preserve the edge from overheating and to avoid cluttering them with swarf by suspending it.
My progression require little if none stropping, but sometimes i use an oiled barber strop without compound, wet newsprint or my jeans! (my shop jeans suit is so dirty i could grind stropping on it LOL)

A side note: if you use a stone with oil it is forever, it won't work well with water anymore. I prefer using water except on a hyper hard super fine arkansas hone with very low feedback.
 
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I learned to sharpen knives from my dad, so am Arkansas/Oklahoma oriented. So with my pocket knives I use whatever sharpener is handy. Usually that's a 600-grit diamond-file. But other times it an Arkansas stone and mineral oil. Then strop on side of leather boot, pants leg or palm of my hand.
 
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As a boy I learned how to sharpen from my dad on an old Carborundum stone. I picked up some Arkansas stones along the way. That worked for me for many years.

Somewhere along the line I bought a Lansky kit and liked the way it worked. Now I have a Lansky diamond kit and A KME diamond kit that I use to establish an edge. I use a leather hone charged with Chromium Oxide to maintain the edge. I really don't have to go back to the stones very often, unless I've really given a knife a workout.

I still hand sharpen now and then on my Arkansas stones if the blade is a softer steel. I don't want to lose the skill.
 
I have a belt sander and a work sharp, DMT diamond bench stones and diafolds, an Arkansas stone, different crock sticks, different leather strops, and sand paper. I have used all in the past but usually use what I feel like using at the time. That usually depends on the knife, steel, and how much sharpening I think is necessary. Usually though its one or more of the diafold (f/ef), Arkansas stone, a fine crock stick and a strop. Other stuff usually isn't necessary unless re-profiling.
 
I have a couple of guided systems that are ok. I also have a bench set up with course and fine Arkansas Stones with a leather stroop I use with Green Compound on that works really well But here lately I have been using this set up that I love because it just seems to settle my nerves. I use the piece of an old leather belt for a stroop with no compound and the second picture is proof it works well.

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I always stand when I sharpen, at a tall table or porch rail,a ceramic stone or hard Arkansas, depends on the steel. A few drops of Xerox traction oil and swipe the blade a few licks on the bullhide to pull all the carbons back to the surface and straighten the dendrites, preventing "damascusization" of the blade.
 
I have used sandpaper for years, followed by a loaded leather strop I made with 4 sides.

In the last few years I have started using stones. I have a crappy smiths diamond stone with ceramic sticks that will get a nice hair jumping edge. Some times I strop.


I just got a double sided stone coarse and "fine" (which is actually a medium). It is a crysalon stone. It has worked great for setting the bevel and then I switch to a few more strokes on the finer diamond stone. Then a few passes on a strop.


I also have a Lansky which I don't use much at all (after years and years of use before I switched to convexing my edges on sandpaper).

I also have a 1x30 belt sander for when things need a bit more work.
 
I need my dendrites straightened.

I have always used sandpaper but have recently lost access to free used emery cloth.

I have kept my edges up with ceramic sticks for years and have "roughed" edges with stones for as long. Now I need to figure a great way to do the finishing.

The great thing about sandpaper/emery is that your pressure remains constant, you just use finer grits.
 
davek14 said:
I need my dendrites straightened.

I have always used sandpaper but have recently lost access to free used emery cloth.

I have kept my edges up with ceramic sticks for years and have "roughed" edges with stones for as long. Now I need to figure a great way to do the finishing.

The great thing about sandpaper/emery is that your pressure remains constant, you just use finer grits.
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I'm actually finding that to be true with all of my hones and other means, such as sandpaper. It first 'clicked' for me when using diamond hones, as I finally figured out the touch for them and discovered the exact same touch works equally well from XC through EEF. The lesson taught to me by the diamond hones has transferred with equal success to my use of SiC, AlOx, ceramics and Arkansas stones as well. All of this came about when I found a consistent and repeatable way to hold my knife for edge-leading sharpening, which has also been self-regulating for holding a consistent angle, using pressure and 'feeling' feedback. My 'hold' on a blade for sandpaper sharpening (edge-trailing) is necessarily different because the technique is different, but I do use consistent pressure and motion throughout the grit range, as you've found.

I sometimes use different means for initially grinding new bevels, utilizing a back & forth scrubbing motion (or circular/elliptical). That necessitates a different hold in my hand sometimes, mostly depending on the size of the knife and/or it's handle. I also allow myself to use heavier pressure for the sake of removing metal quickly. Once the new bevels are set though, I immediately fall back on the means as mentioned above for refining and maintaining edges.


David
 
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