Want to learn to free hand

M

Mattlundervold

Joined
Aug 12, 2011
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17
I really would like to learn to free hand but I don't know what I should start on and I don't have a high budget, but I want to get a really sharp edge on my knives and have never done it before. What are some good products to look at? Wet? Oil? Bench? Stone

Thanks,

-Matt
 
Go online and buy a king stone 1000 grit, then buy cheap knives and practice.

You can sharpy (pen marker) the edge so you can see your progression and learn to keep consistent angles and pressure.

King stone ($20-30)
Cheap knife (swap meets etc)

When you get better (depends on individual) you can upgrade stones.
Eventually you get coarse to very fine for that mirror polish,but you have to learn on the forgiving 1000.
 
I get how to sharpen a knife but need to know some good stones that are $50 or under. I'm a poor college kid

-Matt
 
They run approx 120-150 for the coarse side, 280-340 for the fine. They make a finer edge than those numbers might indicate. Both have very good feedback, can handle a lot of different steels, great stones to learn on - many experienced sharpeners use them. To keep it simple, you can wrap a sheet of copy paper around the stone after you've ground an edge and use that for a strop, with or without polishing compound.

HH

I could also shamelessly plug the sharpening block I made for freehand sharpening - :)
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/1094680-Washboard-Sharpening-System-for-sale!
 
Matt-

If you have a ceramic mug or pot or bowl around flip it over and start working on kitchen knives. What college kid doesn't have a dozen coffee cups lying around, not to mention dull kitchen knives. These are the best knives to practice on as they take the most beating of probably any cutting tool in your house.

Try to keep about a 20 degree angle on each side, 40 degree total. This is about the perfect angle for a working knife.

The ceramic ring on the bottom of the pot or bowls is hundreds of times harder than any steel and with a little work you can get a realy nice working edge.

You should not be trying to get a razor edge, that is a completely different cutting tool than a kitchen knife and an edge that fine will guickly wear down on working knife.

Hopefully the cooks in the house will appreciate you good work and bake you a nice pie or cake. Have fun, don't take it to seriously, you will do just fine.

Here are a couple videos I found about this practice. Best part is it won't cost you a dime. For serious sharpening of fine knives i recommend the Spyderco Sharpmaker knife sharpner. It is small and portable, safe, well made, and allows you to get good angles with the minimum of effort. And it doesn't cost much either.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQAiyanQf8c

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQGFD31prV4
 
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A Norton India combination stone will last you for years. Mine is still in great shape after many years of use. I just use WD40 as a honing oil. Having the coarse side is great for resetting bevels of taking our small nicks.

Get some cheap knives at a garage sale or thrift store to practice on. If you live in the dorms and have a communal kitchen, practice on some of those knives.

Be patient and practice, practice and practice.

Ric

Ric
 
Practice and practice some more. After lots of practice and frustration a light finally came on for me. It is well worth the time spent to learn this skill.

My primary stones that I use for 90% of my sharpening are a fine DMT diamond stone and a 6000 grit waterstone. I also us the 6000 grit waterstone to strop and maintain my edges.
 
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I've found that I like waterstones the best for free handing. I have 220, 1000 and 5000 grit stones that produce an edge after a little stropping that will push cut phone book paper with almost zero effort. About $100 including shipping will get you going assuming you already have a nice leather strop and some compound.


Phydeaux said:
Be patient and practice, practice and practice.
Click to expand...

I find this somewhat ironic in my case as I produced the above edge on my second ever time sharpening a knife free hand. Since then, I have duplicated the results on 5 - 6 other knives straight. Natural talent?
 
Get a fast cutting DMT XF diamond stone and bunch of flea market knives. The DMT cuts fast, but smooth, so you don't get discouraged in the beginning. And if you make a mistake, the DMT works fast enough to fix it quickly.

The two sided India is also a good starter.
 
JSMcustoms,

You are fortunate to have the natural skill to free hand. Most of us have to practice.

Ric
 
My best advice is to go to the local flea market, buy some stones, which usually cost less than a combo meal, and you can get old natural stones sometimes. While you're there, buy a SAK or two, unless you have one that you don't care if the edge is mangled and shrunk. SAKs are very easy to sharpen, respond quickly to stones, and are cheap so you can sacrifice a few. Also, plate glass and wet or dry sandpaper works great as a system, and for filling in gaps between grits on your stones. I don't know what the grit of any of my stones are, I just know how they cut.

If you REALLY want to get into it, get some river rocks next time you're out camping or fishing or whatever. Make sure they are pretty flat and rub the flats together until they are a uniform surface. I have three sharpening stones that I found and flattened.

Good Luck,
Connor

PS I have found that the best stone for sharpening SAKs is one of the old "Carborundum" stones. They are usually pocket sized stone, but they don't wear quickly, can be used with water, and cut quickly and leave a hair popping but still strong edge.
 
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