Time For A Japanese Waterstone?

somber said:
Do you put water on the belt sander so that you don't ruin your blades' temper? Regardless, I'm glad that you have what works for you, I don't think I'll try and convince you otherwise.

I have what works best for me.
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No. I use the Work Sharp Knife & Tool Sharpener, which I don't believe the motor is isolated enough to use water as lubrication. But it's fine. Even using the P220 belt it's hard to make the blade hot to the point where you can't touch it(which I've heard is the first warning sign of damaging the temper). So unless you're using the P60 belt(and there's no reason why you should) or you keep the belt in one spot for over 10 seconds, there's really no danger of that.

I think everybody has their own personal preference for a sharpening system. I like mine since it makes sharpening S90V a breeze, it's small and portable, and I can sharpen a knife in 5-10 minutes from too dull to cut paper to splitting hairs with a mirror polished edge.

valentin_84 said:
I just don't know what it is with the Benchmades. Just hit and miss I guess, I've had razor sharp and dull as crap out of the box like others that have stated the same thing...

So, where do my ceramic rod's come into play in all this? Where they a waist of money???
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With Benchmades and sharpness, it's been miss and miss some more. I've more or less resigned myself to having to reprofile every knife I buy from them, though I don't mind too much since I do that with every knife I buy anyways. I somehow can't tolerate an edge that doesn't have a mirror polish. I guess I'm just psychotic that way o.O

Ceramic rods are good for touching an edge up, but they're too fine for raising a burr on a dulled edge or putting a new edge angle on the blade.

Again, I like diamonds more because I don't have to bother with soaking or flattening them. Just dap some water on and go(be sure to wipe it dry afterwards).
 
I'd use an ultra fine ceramic stone such as the ones made by Spyderco.
 
If you have the crock sticks that are set in a V holder, the easiest way to fix your 940 is to get a cheap, coarse/medium combo stone from Lowes or Home Depot. Then, get an old, worn out kitchen knife to practice on. Next, use it to rebevel the old knife to an angle lower than the crock sticks in the V. If the sticks are say 25 degrees per side, aim for 20. You don't have to be very fussy here, unless you want to be. All you need is to cut the new bevel at a lower angle than the sticks. Go slowly, and keep going until you get a burr to form after sharpening both sides of the edge. I sharpen 20 to 50 strokes on one side, and check for a burr. Then switch sides and repeat. Check for a burr on the opposite side of the edge that you just sharpened. (Some people get this confused). Do this on the coarse side. You can repeat on the medium side, but it's not required. You will get a slightly better edge, but let's just stick with 2 steps for now. When you can form a burr on each side (not at the same time), then go to the crock sticks to remove it. Use them normally, alternating sides. If the burr is very stubborn, make one or two LIGHT 90 degree cuts into the edge with the medium side of the stone to remove it. This should be so light that you're just about to lift the edge of the stone. After this, move back to the crock sticks. If you have your heart set on a water stone, go ahead, but it's not necessary, and you can still use your crock sticks.
 
me2 said:
If you have the crock sticks that are set in a V holder, the easiest way to fix your 940 is to get a cheap, coarse/medium combo stone from Lowes or Home Depot. Then, get an old, worn out kitchen knife to practice on. Next, use it to rebevel the old knife to an angle lower than the crock sticks in the V. If the sticks are say 25 degrees per side, aim for 20. You don't have to be very fussy here, unless you want to be. All you need is to cut the new bevel at a lower angle than the sticks. Go slowly, and keep going until you get a burr to form after sharpening both sides of the edge. I sharpen 20 to 50 strokes on one side, and check for a burr. Then switch sides and repeat. Check for a burr on the opposite side of the edge that you just sharpened. (Some people get this confused). Do this on the coarse side. You can repeat on the medium side, but it's not required. You will get a slightly better edge, but let's just stick with 2 steps for now. When you can form a burr on each side (not at the same time), then go to the crock sticks to remove it. Use them normally, alternating sides. If the burr is very stubborn, make one or two LIGHT 90 degree cuts into the edge with the medium side of the stone to remove it. This should be so light that you're just about to lift the edge of the stone. After this, move back to the crock sticks. If you have your heart set on a water stone, go ahead, but it's not necessary, and you can still use your crock sticks.
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I like this suggestion except for the burr removal tip. I've found that if you raise the edge to double the angle you were sharpening at, you can still use very light pressure to remove the burr. Not knocking what you're doing, just saying it would probably be harder to screw the edge up using too much pressure at double the sharpening angle than at a straight 90 degrees.
 
That's true, but cheap knives often have very troublesome burr's, and this is the only way I've found to remove them every time.
 
i remove burr's by one of two methods:
1. running the edge a few times into a tightly rolled up newspaper.
2. running the edge a few times into a piece of wood.
 
I've never tried the newspaper method, and have been wholly unsuccessful in burr removal using a piece of wood. When using the stone at an elevated angle, the burr will still sometimes flop about, only to be cut off when using the above method of LIGHTLY cutting directly into a medium stone.
 
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