Sorry if this question is a repeat

jimh0220

jimh0220

Joined
Apr 15, 2008
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Simple question. I normally use the pre angled, swipe the blade through a few times, and kinfe is good to go. I haver tried more than a few, and the results seem very good. If these work for me, what am I missing with using the systems used by so many on BF?

Jim
 
A lot

Are they carbide or ceramic?

Either way they are no good for your edge, the main problem is they will always leave a burr to the last side contacted and you only have one angle to work with. They also cause more damage than good and can shorten the life of your blade. What you have now compared to a properly sharpened edge would be night and day.
 
I will second knifenut1013's assessment. Sure, you can get a working edge from those things, and you might even think it is a very good edge, but plain and simple, it is not a very good edge. My uncle has been using those pull-through devices for as long as I can remember, and he can get a knife sharp with them, but it is ragged sharp to my feel and I'm assuming it wouldn't last too long due to what kn1013 proposes -- a big ol' honkin' burr. My uncle tells me that they work better on thin blades, like fillet knives, and I wonder if that's because the V-sharpeners can more easily 'tear' steel from their softer, thinner blade edges.

Think of it this way... to someone who has never driven a car before, even a Lada would seem fast and get them from A to B.
 
jimh0220 said:
Simple question. I normally use the pre angled, swipe the blade through a few times, and kinfe is good to go.
Click to expand...

I have seen 2 different types:

Carbide blades that are very rough on the blade like these ones
I wouldn't want to use these types on any blade that I liked. They are junk - don't use them!

Then there are the ceramic rod sharpeners like these:
http://www.knifecenter.com/kc_new/store_detail.html?s=LSLCKEY
I have one of these and it works OK - not really much different in the way it works to the often recommended Spyderco Sharp Maker.
BUT:
There isn't much flexibility on the angle used - you have the choice of 1 angle. The angle of the bevel makes a very significant difference to how easily a blade can slice.
There isn't much flexibility on the courseness of the sharpening rods - you have the choice of 1 courseness. This really isn't going to work when you need to fix big damage or when you need to alter the angle of the bevel to match what the sharpener is set for.


If you contrast those sharpeners with something like the DMT aligner that I also have then you have a huge difference in what you can do. I have bought extra stones for my aligner to give my the full 6 different grades from XX Course to EE Fine and then after using that I also have a strop to polish up the edge. I can set an angle that I like and then grind the bevel to that angle with the XX course or X course stone, after that I can work through the Course, Fine, E Fine & EE Fine stones until I have a smooth & sharp edge.

Before I got my aligner I thought that I could get most blades sharp on the Lansky crock stick sharpener - but now I know that I really didn't know what sharp was. My sharpest knife is the one that I play with on the strop the most - but I needed to set the edge to the angle I wanted with my DMT diamond hones first.

Also before getting the DMT Aligner I had some knives that I just couldn't get acceptably sharp on my little crock stick sharpener - probably not hitting the edge at the right angle. The DMT let me take a knife that annoyed me (because it wasn't sharp and I couldn't get it sharp) and turn it into a 'shaving sharp' knife that I actually like.

Getting good sharpening equipment and learning to do a proper job of getting your knives really sharp - it just isn't something you would ever regret!
 
I use the ones similar to the 2nd one shown in the last post.

I have been going back to using a fine Arkansas stone as of the last week by hand (I remember how to do an average to slightly from Boy Scouts 12 million years ago).
How are the Lansky system style sharpeners, and what are glass sharpening wheels. ( I read a post about the latter the other day with no idea what they're talking about)?
 
jimh0220 said:
I use the ones similar to the 2nd one shown in the last post.

I have been going back to using a fine Arkansas stone as of the last week by hand (I remember how to do an average to slightly from Boy Scouts 12 million years ago).
How are the Lansky system style sharpeners, and what are glass sharpening wheels. ( I read a post about the latter the other day with no idea what they're talking about)?
Click to expand...

I'm not sure what glass sharpening wheels are, but what I use is a set of paper wheels. The first wheel is covered with grit powder that act like fine sand paper. The second wheel is plain paper that can be loaded with a polishing compound that will act like a strop. Combined with a slow bench grinder (around 2000 RPM or slower) you can do everything you need except for convex and scandi edges. I can establish new edge bevels quickly and hone it for a hair popping edge. I've done everything from a small folding knife to 10 inch kitchen knives to axeheads and gardening tools.


There are a number of clamp type angle assist systems like Lansky or DMT Aligner, up to the Apex systems that will in one way or another fix your knife blade and allow you to apply a consistent angle to both sides of the edge. The knife is held firmly while you glide the grinding stone up and down the edge at a fixed angle in multiple grit steps.


Then you have a crock stick system where two rods are held at a fixed angle and you swipe your knife up and down while holding the blade as close to 90 degrees vertical as possible. The angle of the rods gives you a consistent angle. The Sharpmaker is the most versatile with 4 types of rods and multiple angles.


If you're going to freehand sharpen, you have 4 types of benchstones. There are oil stones, water stones, ceramic stones and diamond stones. They come in various grits and in many formats. They will all do similar jobs, just in different media.


All these methods will further benefit from stropping. That's whole another can of worms. You can use different types of strops in combination with multiple grits of polishing compounds to achieve truly scary results. Edges so fine, it will whittle hair.


Good luck. :p It's like a buffet table, each choice with their advantages and disadvantages and no absolute correct way of doing things.
 
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