Starting to think about sharpening.

sonar87 said:
Also, haven't come across this in what I've gotten to watching/reading yet, so while I'm posting... How hard do you even press the knife to the stone while sharpening? I guess this isn't exactly an easy thing to describe, and likely depends on the stone type, but important to know so...
Click to expand...

Keep it very light, in the range of ounces - the weight of the tool give or take, and a bit less when doing final finishing. Some stones will allow for a bit more pressure when doing rough work till the edge gets set, but generally you want to use very light pressure and let the abrasive do the work.
 
I have had or still have:
DMT Tri Hone
Smith's Arkansas Tri Stone (cheapest)
Lansky DMT Crockbox
Spyderco Sharpmaker
Lansky Kit
Silica Corabundum (spelling?) two sided

BY and large the Sharpmarker is the most complete set for getting an edge polished up and sharp.
The Lansky DMT Crockbox is by and large the easiest to get a nice medium grit edge onto a knife.
Nothing is as fun or quick and convenient as the Smith's Tri hone once you get the hang of not using the supplied angle guide.

For major reprofiling you really do need the Silica stone or a DMT set to quickly reprofile some of the harder steels. But if you are mostly using Aus6 or 8cr13Mov the Smith's works great and are the best bang for the buck.

One of those hard reprofiling stones from the hardware store for reprofiling is a must at some point though but for the steels you are using, I would personally go for the Smith's Trihone as it is very versatile in getting an edge polished up and sharp. The Lansky turnboxes have will only get you to about 600 grit which is more than enough though. I find myself using everything that I have for fun though.
 
cchu518 said:
Silica Corabundum (spelling?) two sided
Click to expand...

If I am not mistaken that is silicon carbide, or what norton refers to as their Crystolon. I've only ever heard of it referred to that one other time by my dad which threw me off on what he was talking about for a little while.
 
Bob6794 said:
If I am not mistaken that is silicon carbide, or what norton refers to as their Crystolon. I've only ever heard of it referred to that one other time by my dad which threw me off on what he was talking about for a little while.
Click to expand...

Yes! Aka a Norton stone! Reprofiling even VG10 or 154cm is much quicker with a little work on the Norton stone before going back to the Arkansas. If I had to do it all over again I would be very happy with the smiths diamond trihone and a lansky diamond crockstix or Spyderco sharpmaker. The diamond trihone is one fun sharpening device that I don't have yet.
 
If I could do it all over again I probably pick up the Norton Crystolon and India combo stones, 8x2. Or try to track down the Norton IC11 which is an 11x2.5in medium crystolon and fine india combo stone. Though all I bought so far is a DMT Aligner Deluxe and 2 norton economy stones an india and crystolon so I don't have too much invested yet. I guess I got lucky in realizing how much skill played a role in things early on before investing too much.

And yes reprofiling with a Crystolon is a lot quicker than with an India (or Arkansas), in fact I generally try to use the economy crystolon to reprofile blades when I have to remove a lot of metal over anything else including the coarse DMT as it's no contest in how much faster the Crystolon is. Though the size difference between the two probably plays the biggest role as I have more stone to work with over the smaller diamond stone. But even between the Crystolon and India it's a big difference. I have used the coarse side of the India a few times but now I pretend it doesn't exist. Usually my grit progression goes coarse/fine Crystolon than fine India.
 
Bob6794 said:
...

I would also suggest picking up the DMT Aligner clamp (clamp alone) to use with the benchstone as it set you back another $10-15 but allow you to set the bevels on your knives easier and forces you to mimic the proper motion for sharpening. Even if you want to go 100% freehand I would still recommend this as you are going to screw up and mess up your bevel while learning and practicing and having something to help you put a good bevel back on the knife would be extremely helpful.

...
Click to expand...

Tons of great info Bob - but I can't quite understand how to use the DMT Aligner clamp alone with the benchstone? Don't you need the aliging rod?

(And thanks for everyone here! I too am new to knives and now sharpening. And yes, my head is spinning!)

-Eric-
 
snippy said:
Tons of great info Bob - but I can't quite understand how to use the DMT Aligner clamp alone with the benchstone? Don't you need the aliging rod?

(And thanks for everyone here! I too am new to knives and now sharpening. And yes, my head is spinning!)

-Eric-
Click to expand...

About 1/2 way thru...

[video=youtube_share;iZOM_3Xi8O0]http://youtu.be/iZOM_3Xi8O0[/video]
 
mtangent said:
If you get the Fallkniven, you could do without the 1000grit.
Click to expand...

Yea, I know. I had been thinking either the 400 or 600, more likely the 400, whatever would have been better, and if needed one even lower so I'd end up covering the lower mid and high range.

But yea, keep it simple seems nice right now. Think I will just grab the norton india and start off with that.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top