How To What is a great way to sharpen knives

What is the Best Knife Kind of way to Sharpen a Knife

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AMForge

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Oct 11, 2017
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I have a normal Lansky knife sharpener and after I make a new blade it takes me about 2 hours to get from flat to kinda sharp, then for it to be hair shaving sharp i have to work again for 1 hour. Is their any other way that is under 100 bucks that gets knives hair shaving sharp? I have looked at some electric knife sharpeners but i don't know if that will be good or just a waste of money for a hardened knife. I have already looked at Viper sharp and the Profile Tech-studio Sharpening kit.me
 
I recommend a Spyderco Sharpmaker. It will cost you around 75 dollars and includes two medium and fine stones. Plus you can order a diamond rod to go with it for around 30 dollars. If you want a nice polished edge you can order an ultra fine rod as well. I use mine a lot and get outstanding results.
 
take couple 2x4s. bolt together. cut angles in them at 30 and 40 or whateber ya want. buy some dmt diamond benchstones. coarse up to whatever grit ya want. lay them in the angled slots. homemade large size sharpmaker for not a lot of money and ability to reprofile due to more grit choices much faster.
 
Am I reading this right? These are on knives you’re making? From kits or stock removal or forging?
 
jbmonkey said:
take couple 2x4s. bolt together. cut angles in them at 30 and 40 or whateber ya want. buy some dmt diamond benchstones. coarse up to whatever grit ya want. lay them in the angled slots. homemade large size sharpmaker for not a lot of money and ability to reprofile due to more grit choices much faster.
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Hell. That's a great idea!!!
 
jbmonkey said:
not my idea. read it somewhere.....on here, i think. maybe cliff stamp, cant remember or id give credit to them.
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I've done that myself and posted photos here in the past. I made mine as a companion to a Sharpmaker. I set the angle to about 17-18 degrees for initial profiling, then I can use the Sharpmaker for final sharpening.
But more recently I use a DMT Aligner guided system with diamond stones. The diamond stones will sharpen normal blades fairly quickly. Even reprofiling a hard steel doesn't take 2 hours. To get really sharp with the Aligner system requires a little bit of stropping at the end.
 
If you have the ability, I woud use a sharpmaker for ease of use, versatility, and reliability.

I voted for electric though (Ken Onion Worksharp in particular) for efficiency and ease of use if you are intuitive with belt sanders. That convex mirror edge is also a plus.
 
+1 for what jb posted ... if you're a beginning sharpener it gives you accurate angles easy to repeat each pass ... and allows for many more options then a sharpmaker.
 
Cutlover said:
If you have the ability, I woud use a sharpmaker for ease of use, versatility, and reliability.

I voted for electric though (Ken Onion Worksharp in particular) for efficiency and ease of use if you are intuitive with belt sanders. That convex mirror edge is also a plus.
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I'm with you on the WorkSharp (New sharpening system).

An extremely compact belt grinder/sharpener that quickly/easily sets up and gives hair an even/hair popping edge in minutes...
 
I like sharpening freehand. It's a skill that you can carry with you everywhere, unlike sharpening systems. I travel and hike a lot, carrying something as bulky and heavy as a Lansky system is out of the question. Instead, a simple strop (just a piece of leather with some buffing compound) and a piece of sandpaper or a little stone are all I need to keep my tools sharp.
 
A Worksharp might be a good way to get a sharp edge, and fast, but with caution. A powered system like that will do things faster than you might realize, like rounding tips, or taking off more material than you wanted. There is another subtle issue that might be important or not depending on your preferences.

When using the angle guide, you get angles relative to the primary grind of the knife, not the center line. This means you do not get 25 degrees for example, but rather 25 plus whatever the angle of the primary grind is. So if the primary grind is 5 degrees per side, you are actually sharpening to 30 degrees. Just something to keep in mind.
 
Use what other knife makers use... belt grinder. You'll spend more than $100, though. You won't believe how much faster... and better it is. Once you get the right belts and technique. The technique is not that hard to acquire.
 
This is what i use for exactly the type of work you describe, which is taking a newly made blade from a flat edge to a sharp apex (post #1643):

https://www.bladeforums.com/threads...-your-time-is-important-to-you.578787/page-83

When i take my time and do quite a few visual inspections in between passes, a knife like that takes me about 30 minutes at the most, also depending on how thick or wide the flat edge is.

With a good set of Paper Wheels and some practice you can do the same & keep the cost under 100 dollars (provided you already own a benchgrinder)
Big advantage is that although the process is motorized, it will also prevent the steel from overheating due to the use of wax on the grinding Wheel and forced air on the deburring/polishing Wheel.
 
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