what sharpener do you guys prefer/have?

T

tylert7

Joined
Jan 4, 2014
Messages
4
I use smiths diamond sharpener it has a fine and course
On the side creating razor sharp edge on my blade.
Happy customer :)
 
I use a ( very old ) round "axe" stone , a slate hone , and an Arkansas stone .
The Arkansas stone is kinda fine , its comparable to stropping on glossy photo paper , the slate hone is slightly coarser .
I get a shaving sharp edge off the axe stone , the hones just polish it up some , to ridiculous if Im stressed , or bored enough

I lashed out and got a cheap USB magnifier camera to see just what I was doing to the edges with each stone and strop , after checking it out a bit , I skip a few steps I used to do , and go from fine side of axe stone , to slate hone to Arkansas stone ( both different grades of straight razor hone originally ) . Leaves a nice sharp , smooth edge under magnification , and a shiny polished one to the naked eye .
 
Cheaper knives: Plain old cheap aluminium oxide oil stone with a coarse and fine side, and then a different finer stone, and then final stage is a leather belt stropping. It's freehand sharpening, but I've been doing it for years so I'm accurate enough and can get my knives hair popping sharp

More expensive knives: Lansky precision sharpening kit with 5 stones. It takes longer than the oil stones, but the edge is more accurate. I can get knives just as sharp with either the lansky or oil stones, but no point wearing my lansky kit out on cheaper knives, and I like the precise edge my lansky gives my expensive knives

I tend to use my cheaper knives more though so I use my oil stones and leather belt more and prefer it. Its quicker and less hassle once you know how to do it right
 
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I have two that I am a huge fan of:
Wicked Edge Pro Pack 1...I like it over everything else I've tried
Work Sharp guided field sharpener...I take this one everywhere; field training exercises, fishing, camping, etc. Coarse / fine diamond, ceramic xtra fine, and a strop all in one tiny package. Can't beat it for the money and portability.
 
I'm a big fan of recycling various materials for knife sharpening duties...denim, red bricks, cinder blocks, the soles of discarded leather shoes....

[video=youtube;wSzq45W0LTk]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSzq45W0LTk[/video]

:D
 
Arkansas coarse, medium and fine stone set for larger knives, axe and hatchet.
Lansky system with Arkansas, diamond and ceramic hones and their leather strop for the fun of it.
I use different systems and methods depending on the tool and its' use.
 
Sharpening is my getaway from life's problems.
DMT stones, Spyderco ceramics, white translucent Arkie, and strops.
The translucent Arkansas stone (novoculite) is my new favorite.
I just can't warm up to my Norton 1000/4000 whet stone though.
Shapton 2000 or 4000 glass stones are next on my list.
 
I mostly use bench stones DMT Diasharp coarse/fine, Spyderco UF bench stone and duoblestuff, leather strops with black and green BRK compounds. I have a WE PP1 but use it sparingly .

I enjoy freehand much much more :)
 
I use a Wicked Edge Pro Pack I and recently got the 1200/1600 grit ceramic stones for it. I just bought a Stropman HD Compact strop yesterday with the white and green compound. I can't wait until that gets here.
 
My all time favorite is a combination silicon carbide stone (prefer Norton Crystalon, but the ACE ones are a great value too) and my Washboard. For most cutlery I use the Washboard with sandpaper and finish with my AlumOx or SiC compound. On items like chisels or plane blades I prefer a hard stone, though will finish strop on the WB anyway. Recently had to fit some doors that had swelled after being painted, sharpened up my jack plane on the combination stone and used the mud from the fine side on a sheet of paper wrapped around my Washboard - cleanly shaving armhair and was able to cleanly shave endgrain off the top of the door. Fast, effective, freehand, and cheap. Have had good luck using that method simply wrapping the paper around the same stone, but off the WB it jumps up quite a bit.
 
Been using an eze-lap 600grip diamond sharpener and 1-2 large ceramic rods in the kitchen that the family uses, and cardboard as a strop.

But I have an DMT Aligner on the way and should be here mon/tue with the course, fine, extra fine stones which I plan to free hand with once I use the aligner to reprofile the blades and I found some old leather belts I may repurpose into a leather strop.
 
I used to use a lansky system but the wife bought me my edge pro apex for Christmas so I use that now. Not a dull knife in the house now.
 
I use a spyderco sharpmaker and I used to use a lansky but I dont anymore unless I really need to reprofile an edge. I hope to get an EPA for use on all my folders and a worksharp so I can convex all my fixed blades.
 
I love my wicked edge propack2 system, but also love sharpening freehand on Japanese whetstones :)
 
I try to keep my blades sharp by just using the power of my mind. If that doesn't work, I use the Sharpmaker.
 
I have three 6" DMT stones in blue,red, and green. I also will use a balsa strop or a leather strop depending on which one happens to be closer to me at the time.
 
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