What knife would you pick to teach a beginner to strop and sharpen on?

[Hashishiin]

(Feel free to make a recommendation that is not one of the listed knives if you have one)
I have recently purchased a strop on a block with green compound to start maintaining my knives on. I intend to get some white compound, a Sharpmaker, and a stone, either 1000g or diamond, probably both, in that order, once I have shown I can use the regular stone. I also have a small diamond pocket hone, but I am unsure of its best use and will leave it for when I am more well versed in what I am doing. I intend to maintain various steels, I own 1075 and other soft carbons (what's on a Mercator? How about a Douk-Douk?), Sandvik 12c, AUS8/10a, D2, VG-10, S30V/S35/S45, Cruwear, ZDP-189, REX45, M4... and I am aware some of this stuff is going to be harder than others.

So, which one is BEST? Most of those nice steels are on nice knives that I do not want to mess up, so I had the idea of buying some "cheap knives" specifically to learn on a while ago - a BudK dagger and a Schrade dagger, my fatal flaw was not knowing that it can be hard to get lower-end MoV steels to take an edge properly, as I would find out. I do not know how Schrade heat treats nowadays, especially that. Bought for under 10 bucks new.

I have two small Higonokami(s?), one in the base SK steel, one is Blue Paper steel, that I do not mind learning on. But perhaps an Opinel might be the more sensible choice? I am leaning towards this most heavily. The ones I have are sentimental, but I could order up a 6, 7 or 8 easily to sacrifice to the cause of learning. I am guessing that a carbon steel Opi would be best due to its relative softness? The only thing is, I know Opinels are slightly convex ground, so I hope that isn't an issue.

Lastly, there is Mora. I have both stainless and carbon, my stainless Mora is a whittling knife and it needs sharpening but I do not mind using a 511 to learn. Have heard good things about sharpening Scandi ground knives, but I do not understand why this is the case. I have a big Ontario SP-1 with a saber-grind and I think that'll be a good one, too, just a lil later down the line, just because I can see that edge so well. Anyways, I'll stop speculating because I am not very educated in this area. What do you guys think?
Thanks to all responders!

 

[UncleBoots]

For hard steels, I would skip the green and white compounds for strops, and go straight to diamond paste or spray.

BEST covers a lot of ground. I'm kind of a sharpening stone geek, so I just finished a sharpening sequence I was very pleased with, a Chris Reeve large Sebenza in S35VN, on Triple B 400 super-vitrified diamond, then JKI 800 vitrified diamond, then Nanonone's strange 10 micron diamond. No stropping needed.

Crazy stuff, I know, but you did mention BEST.

Generally, skip the non-diamond compounds, and stick to diamond or CBN for the rest. You could do really nice things with the Spyderco two-sided CBN plate, which is really reasonably priced for what it is.

 

[UncleBoots]

I picked the Opinel carbon from your poll. It's super-easy to sharpen. I would not recommend that a beginning sharpener start with stainless, or a super-steel.

 

[Ourorboros]

If I were you I'd get the Sharpmaker or a whetstone before more stropping compound.
And as said, ditch the crayons for diamond.

 

[3D Anvil]

I picked the Opinel carbon from your poll. It's super-easy to sharpen. I would not recommend that a beginning sharpener start with stainless, or a super-steel.

I'd disagree with that. The Opinel has a super thin blade made of crappy steel. A beginner can easily wind up with a wire edge, or just go nuts pushing the burr from one side to the other. I picked the RAT-2, but I'd replace it with a cheap knife using 14c28n, which is relatively soft and really easy to sharpen.

 

[Gilbert G]

How about like an under $50 Kershaw or under $50 Spyderco?

 

[catspa]

I’d suggest you find a few thrift store or yard sale paring knives for $1 apiece. Or perhaps your kitchen drawer has a few already. A used (grungy) double sided aluminum oxide stone will cost you another buck. Boil the grunge out of it and clean it with Comet or Barkeepers Friend, then re-oil it. Store it in a Ziplock bag between sessions.

Try out different angles and stroke patterns, test the edges by slicing paper. When you get an edge that cuts well, dull it on a bolt or big nail and try it again. Test the difference between stropping and burnishing with a steel (paring knives burnish well on even a short steel). Cut some tomatoes up.

For under 10 bucks, you can amuse yourself all weekend and boost your skills. Then when you go to work on your newer/better knives, you’ll know more what you’re doing.

I don’t think the steel type matters as much as climbing up the muscle memory learning curve quickly.

Parker

 

[gadgetgeek]

Mora. Here's why, even though you can keep them at a basically full scandi grind, that still takes hand control if using benchstones. You also get a feel for how the stones react, and the steel is of a quality that will give you a good edge if you put in the work. It can let you experiment with very tiny micro bevels, or you can find someone with a belt who can take it right back to "square one" if you decide to put a larger bevel on it.

Opinel are great if you want to try knife modding, or polishing methods because of the surface finish they ship with. I've done pretty high polish on one, forced patina's on others, it's a good learning environment for that sort of thing.

Cheap knives will teach you hand control, but don't go by the final cutting result. Go by the sharpie method, and see how flat of a final bevel you can get. If you are only ever removing a thin line, practice. If you can remove the three millimeters closest to the edge on a single pass, then damn son, you got something going. But the blade itself will probably never tell you that on a cut.
As you stated, soft does not always equal easy to sharpen, and it can lead to bad habits.

As for what you use, it's very much a horses for courses type thing. I have a few knives that really like green compound and a few that don't really seem to get far with it. I also have some knives where the final geometry is fine being a little convex, and some that I'd rather keep very flat. Get what you think fits with your life and your view of tools and the world, and go from there. No reason to chase superfine polished edges if it means you'll resist using those knives, or if you know it will put you in an obsessive state. And no reason to suffer along with things that "get by" when the method that fits your lifestyle and budget (time or money) is on the market.

 

[Obsessed with Edges]

Either or both of the Opinels would introduce you to steel characteristics common in the largest segment of mainstream cutlery.

The Opinel 'Carbone' is likely the simplest in terms of responding to a wide array of sharpening media, and can take a screaming sharp edge. Opinel's stainless (Sandvik 12C27Mod) is more wear-resistant than the 'Carbone' (XC90 steel), and likely heat-treated harder. It can also take a great edge. Both steels are very fine-grained, which is what makes them so responsive to sharpening with tools most commonly available. The 'carbone' can be sharpened nicely using natural stones ('Arkansas') or simple aluminum oxide stones (Norton 'India' and similar stones). It'll strop well using something like green compound (chromium oxide). The stainless Opinel will also respond nicely to simple aluminum oxide stones like the India, and strops beautifully using compounds like white rouge (aluminum oxide) or commonly available polishing pastes like Flitz or Simichrome, Mothers Mag polish, etc. These compounds work especially well on hard-backed denim or firm/hard wood as a strop. Either steel can also be touched up nicely on simple sharpening tools like the Sharpmaker with its ceramic rods. The slight convex grind of Opinel's blades also lends itself nicely to laying the blade angle LOW on a denim strop with white rouge, which makes for a highly polished, thinner, great slicing blade. Edge angles down to ~ 25° inclusive work very well on Opinels. With anything lower in angle, the softer nature of the 'Carbone' Opi will tend to leave the edge a little more vulnerable to dings, rolls, etc. So don't go too thin with that one.

 

[tinfoil hat timmy]

Mora's are inexpensive relatively and the finished product will last a long time

 

[Wild Willie]

In my experience victorinox steel is fairly easy for a beginner, even if you didn't want to spring for a folder one of their paring knives would be a super affordable option.

 

[gazz98]

I voted for Rat 2 in Aus 8 but any will do. The idea of going to a thrift store or even knives from the dollar store (now $1.25) to get some cheap knives to practice on isn't a bad idea either.

The key is for the beginner to learn about 1. handling a knife safely and 2. everything else (angles, getting into a rhythm, getting a burr, knocking off the burr, etc). Once you get the *basic* skills down, they apply to all knives really. The big difference is the super steels need diamond stones to sharpen.