Stupid question.. What degree do you sharpen a knife?

It depends, most brands are between 30 and 40. I typically sharpen most knives at 40 and my Soyderco knives at 30 (Sal Glasser says in the Sharpmaker DVD that they are manufactured around 30).
 
OrdnanceBubbaUSMC said:
I do 30 degree bevel with a 40 degree micro-edge for most
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This is what I do as well.

Work knives, hunting/survival knives, hard use shop knives... 25 deg per side.
EDC folders, Utility, general purpose... 20 deg per side.
Cooking knives, light duty knives, fishing knives... 15 deg per side.

It depends on the blade steel too. Highly wear resistant steels can keep a thinner edge for longer. But, unless they have good toughness, they're prone to chipping and breaking. Trying to sharpen past a chipped blade with hard steel is very annoying. I prefer something thats easy to sharpen rather than the next gen super-steel.
 
Lowest angle I can get with my DMT Aligner, or using just the DMT Aligner clamp with a stone so lets just ballpark it at 15 per side give or take a few degrees depending on the knife.
 
As low as I can go without edge damage. I have dedicated cutting blades that go as low as 7 degrees per side. My Cold Steel Long Hunter (Carbon V version from the 90's) is set at 12 degrees per side and has seen some pretty hard use in the yard, including batoning and rock/paver impacts.
 
I prefer my knives to have a 10 degree per side bevel with a 12.5 - 15 degree per side microbevel. Typically, though, when sharpening I don't use a microbevel until I need to start touching the edge up between reprofiling the bevels.
 
me2 said:
As low as I can go without edge damage. I have dedicated cutting blades that go as low as 7 degrees per side. My Cold Steel Long Hunter (Carbon V version from the 90's) is set at 12 degrees per side and has seen some pretty hard use in the yard, including batoning and rock/paver impacts.
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2nd. As low as the steel/blade allows it - test out - go more obtuse if needed. It's also fun, makes the knife more yours IMO!
 
~20 dps on all knives, I don't bother putting different edges for different purposes and its plenty sharp for me.
I often sharpen freehand, so theres always some variation anyway.
 
I'm stickig with me2 and awestib on this one. you don't realize how thick 15dps is until you go thinner.
 
Depending on the knife, the intended use, and the steel, between 15 dps and 20 dps. On my Strider SMF and my Hinderer Spanto, I use 20 DPS. Those are harder use, thicker knives, so the edge angle reflects that. Most of my Spyderco Millies get a 17 dps. My Millies are medium use knives, and all are in "super steels". I have taken my new Manix2 in S110V down to 15 dps. This is more of a true slicer, not a "hard use" knife. The S110V will support 15 dps, so I set it there.

I find that it's enjoyable for me to experiment, and I do. I try to let the use dictate. Also, I have an Angle Cube and a Wicked Edge, so it's very easy to get repeatable results.
 
I've always went with my own angles.

All of my folders get 15 degrees with 20 microbevel (more like convex).

My kitchen knives are about 10 or 12 degrees with slight convex to 15 degrees.
 
It depends on geometry. How thick is the blade at the shoulders, above the apex. If its thick in this area, sharpening at an angle that is really acute, just removes steel from the blade that might be better left in place and instead change the angle a bit to produce a good usable edge. A blade that has been taken close to a zero bevel when made doesn't benefit from using acute angles to sharpen it produces a weak edge; whereas if a convex grind or a 24 with a 30 degree micro is used the blade will still be strong at the shoulders and the edge will be quite keen as well. I like a faceted edge or one with multiple angles used to produce the edge. This technique will get the most out of the geometry of the knife. My edc carries a 24/28/30 degree facetededge.
I use the same approach as Cynic when it comes to touching up the edge between reprofiling.
 
fervens said:
I'm stickig with me2 and awestib on this one. you don't realize how thick 15dps is until you go thinner.
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I'm with all three of ya on this. 30* inclusive is the max, most often I go to 24-26. Most of my usage won't tolerate well anything finer outside the kitchen.
 
Also what are you cutting?

I mostly cut boxes of frozen stuff for a restaurant and I like wide bevels.
 
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