What do you use to sharpen?

I've got this coarse or extra coarse EZE-LAP rod dealie I bought at wally world once upon a time. It gets used for reprofiling.

I just bought a Sharpmaker for touching up my edges (works great, btw).

I also like to use my Spyderco Doublestuff when I feel like doing an edge by hand. It's living in my tackle box at the moment. It's also quite fun to carry around in a pocket; if you every get bored, pull out your EDC and the Doublestuff and have a go at it!

By the way, does the picture look kind of "rough" to you? I'm wondering if the image is losing quality on the resize, or perhaps it's just my new computer makes it look bad?

sharpenersvk8.jpg
 
Full size Spyderco Medium and Fine stones
Pocket sized DMT coarse and fine for reprofiling

Then there's the slab or medium arkansas and norton fine I never use
 
Natural Arkansas stones of varying hardness.

I have Lansky system but I do not use it anymore. I carry two lansky hones with me for free hand sharpening in the field.
 
Well, since I sort of play with polishing steel and like to investigate the properties of stones, I have a lot of stuff.

For German kitchen knives and quick touch ups: Sharpmaker with M,F and UF rods.

Reprofiling: DMT 120 plate 320, 600 and 1200 10x4 plates

waterstones:
Naniwa: 80, 120 and 10,000
MinoSharp: 1k
Shapton: 1k,2k,5k,8k,15k
Suehiro" 6k,8k
natural: aoto blue stone and awase polishing stone
Bester: 700
Arato Kimi PA 220
 
Modified Smiths crock sticks to 16 degrees
EZE Lap super fine
EZE Lap fine
Butchers steel
Medium/course wetstone
 
So whats the deal with the arkansas stones? I read on the lansky site they polish and sharpen. How is that different from any other high grit stone?
 
LHD said:
So whats the deal with the arkansas stones? I read on the lansky site they polish and sharpen. How is that different from any other high grit stone?
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It sounds cooler to say polish, the act of polishing is abrasion.

Yuzuha, no 30k Shapton?

-Cliff
 
Cliff Stamp said:
It sounds cooler to say polish, the act of polishing is abrasion.

Yuzuha, no 30k Shapton?

-Cliff
Click to expand...

Ok as long as theres no secret arkansas stone powers that I'm missing out on. It was just odd the way it was written. It was different from any other description on the site.
 
Cliff Stamp said:
It sounds cooler to say polish, the act of polishing is abrasion.

Yuzuha, no 30k Shapton?

-Cliff
Click to expand...

I wish, but 3M 1/2 micron chrome oxide, 1/3 micron aluminum oxide papers and diamond paste are sooo much cheaper!
 
Wow… I did a Google search on the Shapton 30,000.
attachment.php
That sounds like a pretty amazing stone!

I just use a coarse Norton India stone on the primary edge bevel (around 8 degrees per side), then go down to a fine India stone at the same angle. To finish, I’ll do a few light strokes on the Sharpmaker. The Sharpmaker is great for touch-ups, too.

Sometimes, I’ll use a black Arkansas stone to help reshape the point. For some reason, it also seems to work well for removing burrs.
 
EdgePro Pro with all the goodies

Blue/green/red DMT fold-up hand hones. Use plain water or soapy water depending on the mat'l used, the amount of mat'l req'd to be removed, and edge finish req'd.

Worn out red DMT hand hone. Left in kitchen drawer - just for a few wet passes on my bearing-shell carbon steel kitchen knifes before use - and almost daily tuning up my wife's adored (?!?!) IKEA stamped stainless jap style veggie knife. Perfect example of thin soft stainless that will cut like mad (for a about an hour or 1 rip on a plate) with such a great shape and handle that her, my Mom, and her car pool buddy all bought them AND SPARES (<$10 CAN ea) for when they wear out.

Coarse/fine oil bench stone that I've lost somewhere.

This little norton promotional stone I keep in my toolbox.

Lee Valley Tools double sided wooden strop and green compound. Learned a few new skills with it, sits on a shelf now. I'm not a push-cut kind of user, and the slip / skid characteristics of a polished edge spooks me.

EdgePro ceramic steel - only used for final finish and tune-ups on my S30 mat'l - it's the only application I have that doesn't need a hone to leave the tooth I want for controlled slicing.

IMO - once you've put the years to master a hand hone - the difference between good steel and great steel becomes largely academic.

MAT
 
The HandAmerican Scary Sharp System has forced most of my stones into early retirement.

I still use a DMT Coarse diamond hone for profiling, simply because I prefer the control of a hand-held stone for setting and maintaining bevel angles.

For touch-up resharpening, the little hand-held Spyderco DoubleStuff is all I need for dressing or modifying edge micro-bevels. I still use a CrO-loaded leather strop occasionally, but the DoubleStuff hone has largely replaced the strop for final edge finishing.

The HA Scary Sharp System has replaced all other stones. The large 3" X 11" platen size and using SuperGrip adhesive for quick grit-change really speeds honing.
 
I've used a Lansky for years with very good results. If I'm looking for a higher polish than the fine grit stone, I have taped a strip of high grit sandpaper to the stone.

It's not so good with larger blades though.
 
Pictures and descriptions of 'Scary Sharp' components can be found here: http://www.handamerican.com/products.html#Scary Sharp Items

You can put together a pretty comprehensive system for around $40.

Components are based on an a generous 3" X 11" platen. Component-mounting is quick and convenient due to magnetic mounting surfaces, typically as follows:
- 3" X 11" platen, with magnetic mounting surface.
- 3" X 11" etched-glass honing surface, with magnetic mounting surface.
- 3" X 11" leather strop honing surface, with magnetic mounting surface.
- An assortment of abrasive papers with various grits.
- SuperGrip adhesive/wax for quickly changing abrasive grits.

Changing grits, using their SuperGrip adhesive/wax (eliminating adhesive film-backed papers), is as fast as reaching for another stone.

People have been using abrasive papers for honing for a long time, but Keith has really optimized the process for speed and convenience.
 
T. Erdelyi said:
Sorry to go off topic a little, but what Nealy knife did ya get?
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I got the Aikuchi model. There is just something about these tanto blades that fascinates me. The sheath is a bit different from what is displayed on the website. It sheath I got is more rounded on one side and narrower which is better when I want to carry it. Getting back on topic, the Edge Pro makes it easy to sharpen this blade even with the tanto tip because you don't have any clamps to deal with.
 
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