Went on a little spending spree. Need a sharpener!!!

F

Ffrh911

Joined
Sep 6, 2013
Messages
5
Hey guys n gals this is my first post on here. I recently realized after losing my snap on kershaw knife that i didnt have any others (just a few machetes). So..... I decided to buy three knives and an axe.
First two arent special but i purchased the schrade schf10 and the schrade axe2 from amazon. I wanted a little something else for survival use. I went on knife works and finally decided on a kershaw blur and a benchmade 915 tactical. I was thinking about picking up a benchmade HK or something else in tanto blade but still havent decided on it. Any help with that would be appreciated.

Anyways what im really looking for is the best knife sharpener for my three knives. Maybe not so much the schrade but the other two definitely. I know there is no best sharpener from what ive seen but what will do the right job? Im willing to spend over 50$.
Heres some pics of what i purchased and i will receive them tomorrow so feel free to ask any questions!

Thanks in advance for the help and sorry for the rant!


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Before you even get started, I feel that I must point out that the axe is not a knife, nor should you plan to sharpen it like one.
 
Ffrj911, welcome to the forums.

I would recommend checking out the Spyderco Sharpmaker. It's affordable, simple to use and very effective.

Enjoy your stay!
 
Yeah I like the sharpmaker too, quick and easy. Plus you can sharpen about everything else in your house while your at it lol scissors, potato peeler, nail clippers, awls, dull punches, fishing hooks (never done the fishing hooks but looked good on the dvd....)
 
Welcome! I would also recommend the sharpmaker, it is easy to use and reliable and repeatable. And don't worry, an axe is in the knife family:)
 
Just one person's experience here. You will find unlimited recommendations and they will vary tremendously with factors such as what steel you are sharpening, how long you are willing to spend, what you use your steel for, how into sharpening do you want to get?

If I were to recommend a system to someone and they only had $50 to spend and they were going to use it on new knives, I would hands down recommend the Spyderco Sharpmaker which really should be re-named the Sharpkeeper. It's a fantastic system if used to keep sharp knives, sharp. It has no shortage of fans and even those who don't prefer it, usually agree that it's a great system for what it is. It's not going to re-profile edges, let you set dialed in angles, fix chipped blades, or work on that axe either. Though with great difficulty it might pull off some of those items I listed.... That said, here's a little story from yesterday and what I used to achieve it:

In general I have a Gatco Edgemate Pro for around 15 years now that sells for around $45.00. After that I use the Spyderco Sharpmaker (around $50), after that the Spyderco 306 ultra fine bench stone (around $80 delivered), and then red and white rouge on 2 sides of a fine leather belt I can't fit into anymore. I bought the rouge at Sears but there are better sources and I think the green rouge is more universally used.

Now, given what I do above, I will tell you that yesterday I took apart a Stihl brand pruning shear I bought for around $20.00 at my local Stihl dealer. It had been used for a while and although it was still somewhat sharp, it was a lot sharper when I bought it. The side that I could remove to sharpen was a chisel grind, so angled on one side and flat on the other. Think of 1/2 of a scissors. That part simply meets up with a non-sharpened section on the other 1/2 of the shears. I sharpened it using only the course, medium and fine on the Gatco, then only the Spyderco bench stone. I totally skipped the Sharpmaker. Then I stropped it.

Here's the crazy part. I was whittling hair with it. That means I wasn't just shaving hair, I was whittling the hair just like on all these YouTube videos that make you wonder how the heck did they do that? I achieved it with 1/2 a pruning shear blade.

I'm just getting into freehand with that 306 Ultra Fine as my first stone.....it WORKED.

But the real lesson here is that you can buy something like that Gatco, an ultra fine stone in my case and some inexpensive polishing/stropping rouge and end up whittling hair with unlabeled steel. I have no idea what they used, probably some type of tool steel.

This thread will probably get moved to the maintenance section. That's where you learn about sharpening your new knives. Have fun! There are those who know FAR more about this than I do....I learn from them.
 
It’s old fashioned advice, but…learn to sharpen by hand. That’s the way knives have been sharpened since that newfangled Iron Age got started.

It’s a simple physical skill. Get someone who knows the trick to teach you. Or watch this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=SEMLu8e34ck And this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Twduvki8m90

When I was young and foolish I brought kitchen knives and a steel to a day-long cooking project. Dulled my big knife right off, cutting up chickens. Duller than a steel could fix. Hacked my way through the rest of the work.

Ever since then I have carried a diamond sharpener in my wallet. You can’t carry a Sharpmaker in your pocket.
 
I have a Spyderco Sharpmaker, but never went back to it since purchasing these two made by DMT:

For sharpening at home:

DMT WM8FC-WB 8" DuoSharp Plus Bench Stone with Base, Fine/Coarse

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In my pack in the field a DMT Double Sided Diafold Fine/Coarse:

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How easy is it to mess up the knife hand sharpening? Ive seem other good reviews om the DMT as well as the spyderco
 
Actually I'm about to purchase the DMT DiaSharp Bench Stones for the high vanadium carbide powder steels I own such as s30v, s35vn, s90v and s110v. They should make for faster work per combined wisdom here on BF.

You might have to stretch your $50 to take up some of this wisdom.

A Gatco or Lansky set or a Sharpmaker is in your $50 price range as per the original post. The double sided diafolds run around $30 each. The DMT WM8FC-WB 8-Inch DuoSharp Plus Bench Stone - Fine/Coarse with Base recommended above is $74.26 by itself at one online source....outside your stated price range in and of itself.

I think you're getting great advice here. The question is whether you want to up your budget.....The $50 sharpmaker will definitely KEEP those new blades really sharp. Then some finer stones such as the Spyderco Ultra Fine and a simple stropping setup could get you to that next level of crazy sharp.
 
Ffrh911 said:
Why fine/ coarse and not fine/ extra fine?
Click to expand...

I chose fine/ coarse so if an edge is or should need some real first aid, the coarse takes care of it.
I can also use it on my RMJ Jenny Wren Tomahawk.
But just 10-12 passes does the trick.
 
I like the sharpmaker, used it for many years. I highly recommend it for that budget. I finally decided to spend more money and get something else. But I will always have a sharpmaker in my tool kit
 
Just purchased the
DMT WM8FC-WB 8" DuoSharp Plus Bench Stone with Base, Fine/Coarse
And the
DMT Double Sided Diafold Fine/Coarse
Also with the
Magna guide accessory kit.

Hope its a good decision!!

Now for the next question,
What knife to buy next? I was looking at the kershaw zero tolerance 0200.
 
Ffrh911 said:
How easy is it to mess up the knife hand sharpening? Ive seem other good reviews om the DMT as well as the spyderco
Click to expand...

Define "mess up?" If you are freehand sharpening, you are never going to "mess up" the knife by over heating the blade, i.e. ruining the temper. You can only do that with powered systems like paper wheels or belts.

If you mean "cause cosmetic flaws," it is possible to "mess up" your knife by holding too low an angle and scratching up the side of the knife past the shoulder of the grinds, which is actually pretty common for new sharpeners. It is also possible to make your bevels so uneven that it will take a lot of work to get them back in line. However, both of these flaws don't permanently hurt the knife, and they can be corrected (although with great effort).

You have a lot of serrated knives. Another possible way to "mess up" a knife via sharpening is to unintentionally change the serration pattern (i.e. rounding off the serration teeth, widening the gaps, etc.).
 
I think it's time for an Axe sharpening video (HH, M, hint - hint ...)

Since you have chosen more complex knives (and a "regular" axe) with recurves and serrations, I would second the Spyderco Sharpmaker for you as well. Perfect solution, for the outdoors in a way too and - it will teach you about freehand sharpening too!
 
The Sharpmnaker is a good tool, but I much prefer the Lansky Crock Sticks. Same principle, better design. Get the 4 rod sticks.
 
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