What do you sharpen for?

[mtangent]

I see a lot of people post pictures of their knives sharpened to perfect mirror edges with their edge pro apex. I always wonder, do my knives need to have perfectly flat bevels? Do I need to be able to hang my knife in the car as a rearview mirror just in case? Does attractiveness of the edge affect quality of the cut?

I like to sharpen freehand because it's a great stress reliever for me. Unfortunately, I can't get that perfect mirror edge freehand like people can with their angle guided systems. It's like going to workout at a gym full of bodybuilders. No matter how hard I work, it seems that everyone does substantially better with much less effort.

I love sharpening, but at my level of skill I can't produce the consistency to get that mirrored appearance. I have decided to focus on refining my skill at relatively lower grit stones. I take pride in every stroke on the stone, I carefully test the edge and I take the time to care for my stones. I am trying to work with just a 1k and a 3k stone, going for the best sharpness I can achieve with these two stones. I can push cut receipt paper with the 3k finish, but my bevels are ugly as sin, especially near the tip.

My goal now is to get a knife as sharp as possible, sharpening freehand, using only one stone, in under 15 minutes of actual sharpening. What do you sharpen for?

I think this is a good goal/skill to start with, & 1K & 3K stones are as fine as you need when learning. But only if you have already created an apexed edge on a coarser stone. New knives won't come with the angle you want, you will have to create it, & 1K isn't coarse enough for that. I like a 400 grit for the initial profiling. After that 1000 & 3000 are great.

 

[goodshepherdknives]

i didnt ready every other reply so if im repeating information i apologize. ive been freehand sharpening for almost ten years. ive always used dmt stones, and recently got into some shaptons. i used to go no finer than 1200 grit, and for edc use i still impressed a lot of people. having a perfect angle does allow coarser stones to cut much better, and increases effectiveness of your stropping and also increases re sharpening speed because you dont need to re profile it every time. i have a cold steel voyager in vg 1 hollow ground i can shave with when finished with a 220 grit stone. as for polishing, it is the consistency that produces the mirror finish. around 600 grit, especially 1200 start to show a good mirror if the edge bevel is consistent. but when you use an 8000 grit and strop with for example my 1 micron dmt 15000 grit or 1/8th micron cbn suspension especially after finishing with a 16000 grit shapton stone , really really shines and really really cuts and shaves well.
dmt two sided stones cost under 30 bucks, and you can make a strop or buy one very easy. hope this helps