What sharpening system do you use?

N

nigol

Joined
Nov 25, 2022
Messages
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I have finally given up on freehand sharpening. I do ok but never seem to achieve symmetry. I am leaning toward sharpmaker or precision adjust. Thoughts please?
 
I have the good old Arkansas bench stones, several diamond bench stones, a Wicked Edge Pro, Sharpmaker, and DMT Aligner

Depending on the knife, the type of steel, and the number of knives I need to sharpen at that time, that determines what I use.

The Sharpmaker gets used more than anything else.

I use the wicked edge when I have a bunch of stuff that needs sharpening at once, or for the really hard steels, or if I want the bevels to be exactly perfect.

I use the DMT stones when I’m away from home and need to touch up a blade.

The traditional stones rarely get used.

I typically sharpen most things to 30 degrees and micro bevel at 40 degrees. Those angles are easy to touch up on the Sharpmaker and when it comes time to reprofile the wicked edge is perfect.

Don’t give up on freehand. Using guided systems helped me understand freehand sharpening much better and allowed me to become proficient enough without much practice.
 
I use a Sharpmaker and would suggest either getting the Boron Nitride or Diamond rods if you go that route, that and a strop works well for me.
 
I have a bunch of systems, Lansky, Spyderco, etc. I sometimes use whetstone freehand, but rarely. Usually just a DMT I bought on Amazon.
 
I use a Wicked Edge. It's excellent but the cheif limitation is that you're working with a single clamp, as opposed to two like on a Hapstone or similar. This is not an issue until you sharpen full length japanese style kitchen knives with thin blade stock. You'll be doing clamp gymnastics. If you're just doing pocket knives or other fixed blades, the WE is a gem.
 
Don't give up of free hand yet. I use DMT stones and wet dry sandpaper. I like to convex all my knives. Works out really well,
 
My most used system is a KME which is great for the price.

But I did pick up a TSPROF K03 a little while ago, which I do prefer to the KME. Larger stones so slightly faster to sharpen, and much more stable doing longer blades..
 
Wicked Edge for re-profiling.
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And a Work Sharp Guided sharpener for touch ups. I've found that a lot of people that have trouble with freehand sharpening, myself included, have most of their trouble with curved tips like on a drop point blade. This little bench sharpener has what they call a "Pivot Response System" and it's not just a gimmick. It actually works and works well.

You keep the knife at the same angle through the whole process instead of lifting the knife as you get near the tip. The stone pivots and does the work for you. If you are one of those people that has trouble with curved tips, I highly recommend this product.

It comes with removable guides to get you started. I used the guides maybe 3 times and after that my muscle memory was good enough that I removed the guides and I don't need them anymore.
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If and when you no longer need the guides, it becomes a freehand sharpener that takes care of your curved tip problem for you. You can also lock the pivot for straight edge blades.
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I prefer to sharpen freehand on Japanese water stones.
I also have a KME that I use occasionally, and I'm plenty happy with it's performance.
For what it's worth the majority of my sharpening is kitchen/chef knives.
 
Corton93 said:
My most used system is a KME which is great for the price.

But I did pick up a TSPROF K03 a little while ago, which I do prefer to the KME. Larger stones so slightly faster to sharpen, and much more stable doing longer blades..
Click to expand...
I very recently switched from the KME to a K03, too. Yeah, guided sharpeners and stones are a whole other rabbit hole.
 
I have several, worksharp, Arkansas stones, Sharpmaker, etc. But recently purchased a set of three Spyderco ceramic bench stones, medium, fine and ultra fine. I am starting to like them a lot. I don't let my knives get very dull, usually, and a few strokes on the fine or ultra fine and a couple strops on a strop with some Mother's Billet polish I have hoarded, (They discontinued it) and knives are back to "hedge trimming" and hair whittling.
 
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