The best way to sharpen our knives?

Joined
Jan 15, 2007
Messages
27
I was thinking of buying a belt sander. Is this the best tool or even the right tool? I want to get all my knives shaving sharp.
 
Any method out there can get your knife shaving sharp, as long as you learn how to use it. I personally use sandpaper on a piece of glass, going from 600 grit to 2000 grit, then onto a strop loaded with green compound. This gets my knives hair whittling sharp.

On the other hand, the Spyderco Sharpmaker is supposed to be really user friendly and easy to use. I for the life of me could not get my knives sharp with it.

Some tools, such as paper wheels and belt sanders will get a knife sharp fast, but I like sharpening by hand as it is sort of therapeutic for me. YMMV.

Whatever you choose, learn how to use it and practice, or else your knives will never get sharp.
 
personally, i have a couple of double sided stones in different grades and a strop.

i have no trouble getting and keeping my knives sharp.
 
I had a problem for a while with stones and knives, but I could get my woodworking tools scary sharp.
I got a sharpmaster and that baby works pretty well, for sure.
Now I'm getting pretty good with knives and stones, about as good as the sharpmaster... pretty soon, probably better.
Hand skills are a good thing to have.
 
Any method out there can get your knife shaving sharp, as long as you learn how to use it. I personally use sandpaper on a piece of glass, going from 600 grit to 2000 grit, then onto a strop loaded with green compound. This gets my knives hair whittling sharp.

On the other hand, the Spyderco Sharpmaker is supposed to be really user friendly and easy to use. I for the life of me could not get my knives sharp with it.

Some tools, such as paper wheels and belt sanders will get a knife sharp fast, but I like sharpening by hand as it is sort of therapeutic for me. YMMV.

Whatever you choose, learn how to use it and practice, or else your knives will never get sharp.

Hard to improve on Alex's post. I will add one thing however, if you want an easy way to sharpen a re-curve blade, Lansky 'Crock Sticks' work famously. :thumbup:
 
Any method out there can get your knife shaving sharp, as long as you learn how to use it.

On the other hand, the Spyderco Sharpmaker is supposed to be really user friendly and easy to use. I for the life of me could not get my knives sharp with it.

Some tools, such as paper wheels and belt sanders will get a knife sharp fast, but I like sharpening by hand as it is sort of therapeutic for me. YMMV.

Whatever you choose, learn how to use it and practice, or else your knives will never get sharp.

+1 :thumbup:. You pretty much said it all, man.

I mostly use waterstones and a leather strop, but I've messed around with wet-or-dry sandpaper and diamond stones for a couple of different knives, too. Whatever removes material works, it's mostly a matter of preference after that.
 
Stick with one method and perfect it, using different stones, abrasives, and shapes of sharpening equipment only makes everything that much harder.

No matter what way you choose remember that the best system will always be you.
 
Hard to improve on Alex's post. I will add one thing however, if you want an easy way to sharpen a re-curve blade, Lansky 'Crock Sticks' work famously. :thumbup:

I got the crock sticks turn box set for $12.99 from Academy, and it has been the best money I have ever spent. I can get my knives to almost shave with a diamond stone, then get the edge the rest of the way there with the sticks. After that I just have to spend a couple minutes touching up the edge on the sticks about once a week to keep the knife shaving sharp.
 
We are makers so we happen to have all the right tools...You can buy a cheap 2x42 or a 1x42 belt sander($100 or less). Then jerk up a bur with a 800-1000 grit belt(couple bucks each). Then hone on a leather belt(you can also use a buffing wheel with compound but beware, all buffers are posssed by the devil and will hurt you)..In about two minutes they will be stupid sharp..Just practice on a few junk knives first..A leather honed edge is mirror polished too...
 
if you're going to go the power tool route, be VERY patient while learning. I could see you damaging your knife, or yourself, quite easily.

Personally, I'd recommend a good bench stone AND something like a Spyderco Sharpmaker.

I had read tons of material on sharpening free hand, but I never quite "got it". So I finally ordered the sharpmaker, and after able to get a few pocket knives shaving sharp with ease, I also determined how it should work by hand. Some of the pieces just sort of clicked in to place. I'm still not great, I've never whittled hair, and I seem to have "trouble spots" on a few of my knives that never get quite as sharp as the rest. But I can also sharpen by hand now, if I need too. It's just not as quick or neat as using the Sharpmaker.

also a diamond hone would be good if you have very neglected knives. The sharpmaker rods are pretty fine, if you need to do major edge work start out on the diamond, then finish up with the ceramic
 
Belt sander is fast, and I love convex edges too, so it works for me. I don't use it to maintain the edges unless I damage them, then I steel first, and move on to the sander to get out what does not steel out.

You have to use care, because you can burn out the temper super quick, especially near the tip. Just keep the knife cool, and take care not to round out the tip.

I did all of my nice knives convex edges by hand on sandpaper/mousepad, even the big hurkin ones, that took some real elbow grease!

I have other knives I convexed with the sander.

I have never tried paper wheels, but I don't have too many V edge knives left. I may have to get one and set it up to try out though. I do have lots of kitchen knives with v edges still.
 
I have tried a lot of sharpening systems, and honestly, keep going back to bench stones. As mentioned above, I as well could not really get knives as sharp as I wanted on the sharpmaker, well with the angled rods. If I put a rod on the back flat then I can get it stupid sharp.

I think it is just like knives, in that people develop preferences based on what they are good at. I like stones, and angle guided stone systems, such as the KME.

I dont like using oil or water believe it or not, I know that everyone will yell at me. But after much experimentation lately, I have discovered that for myself, my knives are much sharper when sharpened dry.

Belt sanders can be fast at sharpening, which of course is their main advantage. But if you are having to change belts through the different grits, I find in the long run it can take me longer than a nice bench stone system.

For me, I love the natural stones, and gotta go with Arkansas. When I take it up (sometimes all the way to clear) I get a mirror polished edge with no need to strop at all. No mess no fuss.
 
you can use the paper buffing wheel to finish off a convex edge rather than a strop since it is a strop also. when i convex any knife the last step is to run the blade over the paper wheel. for general sharpening the grit will last a long time on the gritted wheel and when it wears off you just apply more unlike a belt. when its wore out you throw it away and buy a new ones. you also have to buy several grits to accomplish what the wheels do. wheels are less than $50. but you do need a motor. when used properly the wheels are safer than any cloth wheel.
 
The Edge Pro is awesome, and can make a retarded monkey (me) sharpen like a knife genius. But it is spendy, at more than $200.
 
I use a cheap (Harbor Freight - $30 on sale) 1 x 30 inch belt sander and it does a wonderful job. Practice on cheap knives.

I'm glad to see the comments on the Spyderco Sharpmaker ---- mine is useless and I thought maybe I was at fault some way.
 
I use the sharpmaker and all my knives can shave hair from my arms (that is SHARP but not scary sharp) If I want sharper I must proberly learn how to sharpen on stones freehand.
By the way I think the KME sharpening system looks like an alternative to Lansky etc. (I hate my Landsky, it seldom centers the blade in that useless clamp IMO)
 
The Edge Pro is awesome, and can make a retarded monkey (me) sharpen like a knife genius. But it is spendy, at more than $200.

Agreed. Buying the EdgePro ended years of sharpening frustration for me. I sucked at holding the correct angles freehand.

Bill
 
hi gang,
everybody is differant and has their own method that works for them.
my main sharpener is the Spyderco sharpmaker. I use it for touch up and minor rebeveling. I find that I use the grey stones only for my kitchen knives. I think they give a little more bite when cutting food.
The white stones will get a knife hair cutting sharp.
I have the diamond stones but really dont like them.
For a really bad knife one that is duller than dull I use a lansky sharpening system, with guides.
I have made my own diamond stones for the lansky. I find that they take steel off the knife real fast. Then I work the blade with the "carborundom ?" stones till I get a good edge.
Then I go back to the sharpmaker and get a hair poping edge.
Every knife is differant. You have to think about edge geometry, edge thickness etc, some knives are best sharpened at a 25 degree angle some best at 17 degrees. I think most knives get sharpened at 20 to 22 degrees.
My opinion is that a 17 degree knife will make a good slicer but not a good everyday carry blade.
I dont like belt sanders because they can damage a knife so fast if you are not a expert at useing them. They also take a lot of steel of a blade edge that usually doesnt need to be taken off.
anyway I talked enough
good knife hunting
Jack
 
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