The first sharpening
- Thread starter Jason B.
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Wow, I was physically giddy seeing how flat your freehand edge was.
Something that I don't understand, is how you sharpen the curve or belly of the knife. You say you move the handle vertically, but do you also swivel the blade so the edge is always perpendicular to the direction of sharpening? And how do you keep a steady angle when you change direction form forwards to backwards? I always do a little wobble that throws my flat bevel right off
Slightly off topic, but what is your opinion on convex knives
Thanks.
Something that I don't understand, is how you sharpen the curve or belly of the knife. You say you move the handle vertically, but do you also swivel the blade so the edge is always perpendicular to the direction of sharpening? And how do you keep a steady angle when you change direction form forwards to backwards? I always do a little wobble that throws my flat bevel right off
Slightly off topic, but what is your opinion on convex knives
Thanks.
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Wow, I was physically giddy seeing how flat your freehand edge was.
Something that I don't understand, is how you sharpen the curve or belly of the knife. You say you move the handle vertically, but do you also swivel the blade so the edge is always perpendicular to the direction of sharpening? And how do you keep a steady angle when you change direction form forwards to backwards? I always do a little wobble that throws my flat bevel right off
Slightly off topic, but what is your opinion on convex knives
Thanks.
The pressure points that I spoke of are my angle control, once you feel the bevel lock on to the stone the pressure points guide it.
No turning of the knife just a lift of the handle. You don't want to force a angle you want to follow the curve of the blade letting the stone cut the steel not the steel cut the stone.
The reverse stroke is a little tougher and take some practice.
I love convex but it has to be the right blade.
Knifenut, I'm a new member entering into a new and amazing world. The technical terms lose me at times but the process is absolutely fascinatng. Have really learned some valuable technique reading this thread so can improve the edges that I already have. You have a gift and kudos to people like you who are willing to share with others (and convince people like me to leave a virgin blade to the professionals so I can at least try and follow in your 'tracks'). Looking at buying a quality knife once I can settle on one and would like you to put that first edge on it. Can you ship to Canada? This thread should be a sticky!
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Thank you, a little bit of functional art as I like to call it. You get to create something to your liking and then use it
And Welcome to BF
Great, great, instruction, and many thanks Knifenut. I'm a newby, read the entire post, and understood, could feel, all but one thing. I wasn't really clear on if the dragging motion, if I may call it that, is from spine to cutting edge, or from cutting edge to spine. Pardon if my terms are incorrect.
thanks!
thanks!
Thanks Knifenut. I ordered the stones, figuring the only handicap should be my skill and not the tools. One last question, I saw the DMT diamond sharpning video. The man in the video used water on the stones and realized you didn't mention the use of water. Although he sharpened a chisel and not a knife. What's the difference and what do you do?
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Water helps when using the finer stones from F-EEF, it keeps the stone cleaner and cutting at a consistent rate. Does it "need" to be used? no, but it does help if your working on a larger bevel (chisel) or want to get a better "feel" of the edge. Water alone really doesn't do much, you need to add a small drop of dish soap to break the surface tension so the water will not pool up in the center. It also smooths out the feel and seems to create a brighter finish and cleaner edge (less burr's). But again it's not always needed, if your just doing a touch-up or some quick work on a small bevel its not worth the time to make a mess.
Above all though remember to always use very light pressure and follow the directions.
Above all though remember to always use very light pressure and follow the directions.
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It will treetop, whittle, and draw blood at the slightest touch
Like my dad always tells me when he sees me constantly trying to improve something that was good to begin with... The enemy of good, is better.
I'm impressed at your freehand sharpening skills. I can put a decent edge on a knife freehand, but I'm nowhere close to your level. I hope my Wicked Edge system allows me to get my knives close to it.
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Very true. The problem is, when I've spent a few hours working on an edge, trying to perfect it to the best of my ability from stones to multiple strops, I find myself not wanting to use the knife for anything more than opening envelopes, for fear of dulling it, and having to do it over again. Yeah, I know most edge wear can be taken care of with a few swipes on a strop or finest stone if caught early enough, but still, I find myself babying my knives rather than using them. I feel that the Wicked Edge will give me results on par or better than I was getting after 3 hours of work, in only a few minutes time. With that being said, I think I'll be more inclined to actually use my knives without fear of dulling the hard earned edge when I know just a few minutes on the WE will restore my edge to perfection. Sure, I won't get the pride of knowing I did it myself, but I'd rather actually use my knives rather than just admire them. I still have my stones and strops, and actually have some new DMT diafolds and bench stones on order as well, so I can continue practicing my technique. I just like the idea of knowing I will be able to turn a dull edge into a polished razor in just a few minutes work with the WE rather than 3 hours or more of labor doing it freehand.
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Good point and I fully understand, sometimes when you work so hard at something you don't want to destroy it. Sometimes its good to make that first sharpening one of perfection too, it corrects any flaws in the factory grind and paves the way for future sharpenings.
I keep a DMT aligner clamp handy for use with my bench stones, its not used often but is nice to have on my off days.
If you have diamond bench stones then you should really consider the aligner clamp. Its a lot cheaper and with the EEF stone it will produce edges more than sharp enough, if the appearance and appeal of the mirror finish is what you want though the EP or WE would be better choices.
I keep a DMT aligner clamp handy for use with my bench stones, its not used often but is nice to have on my off days.
If you have diamond bench stones then you should really consider the aligner clamp. Its a lot cheaper and with the EEF stone it will produce edges more than sharp enough, if the appearance and appeal of the mirror finish is what you want though the EP or WE would be better choices.
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I have come across that: I'll just use this knife for 2 seconds, oops that probably blunted my edge, I'll just give it a couple of minutes of stropping to make sure it is still 'crazy sharp'.
The bad way of looking at it is that after 2 seconds of use you have to spend 2 minutes getting it back to the way it was.
The good way of looking at it is that after 2 seconds of use you get to sharpen it again for 2 minutes - yay!
It probably doesn't even need 30 seconds on the strop after only 2 seconds of use, but the knife in question is one I like to spend time sharpening. I'm not going to invest a bunch of hours into sharpening on every one of my knives so I've just nominated one knife to take the brunt of my obsessive compulsive sharpening.
I had time to work on my new BM Torrent this weekend. I did spend a couple of focused patient hours on it with the Dia-sharp stones and magnifiying glass to look at the edge. I found that I could get the blade to just barely cut paper. And at times, if I continued to try to improve it, I actually ended up going backwards. I would make it "unsharp". I believe, from what I can tell looking through the mg, that it's probably because I am sharpening at a different angle. It's really, really hard to keep a 20* angle by free hand with out tons of practice. Still I dont want to really on something like an aligner yet. At the same time, I realize that I will never really spend the hundreds of hours programming my muscle memory at holding a 20* angle. Well...since I know I can't hold the angle to well on the stone lying flat, I'm sure I can probably hold a horizontal much better. So I'm gonna try to to prop up the stone at a 20* angle instead and go from there.
Any tips would be appreciated.- Thanks.
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You should really post a video of your sharpening technique!Yes, you can make a knife cut directionally by the way you sharpen it.
Diamonds are excellent for all around sharpening and if you sharpen a lot of very hard steels but don't give up on the water stones yet
There is a "flow" when sharpening and a mental state you must be in to "feel" the edge when you sharpen. The method of pressure points/angle control explained on page 3 is most important in the technique, beyond that my body movements are whatever feels right for the moment. One thing is to keep your wrist locked and move your shoulder and elbow joints. Or you can sway your body while having your arm joints locked.
I like to have the stone at a 45 degree angle in front of me as it feels best. I know this may sound odd but try sharpening with your eyes closed, shutting down one sense heightens the others
AW
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OUC, you are not alone! I have been trying to sharpen a knife freehand for the last few months, don't have much time on a daily basis, but try to practice here and there. I still don't feel whether I am on the edge or not, end up with multiple bevels, I grind and grind and the knife gets rather duller.
I am also still not sure which technique I prefer. I watched Murray Carter's DVD and it does make sense but lifting the edge up and putting it down after every 5 strokes or so is guaranty for inconsistency even more (as knifenut and Co. always say), at least in my case. I have been trying knifenut's grip and pressure points and I think I get the idea, found out though that the table height is crucial to be able to lift up the handle for the tip etc.
I think my main problem is that once I decided about an angle that I want on my knife, how do I grind this angle "enough" to be able to follow it through (don't know if that makes sense but I think you get what I mean). That's where the aligner clamp might come into play (which I ordered now too). Once this is established on the coarse stone, I hope I can practice feeling the edge along and cont. to sharpen the knife without the clamp.
Thanks!