What sharpening tools?

[crktm1612m]

I am relatively new to quality knives and have only used a ceramic kitchen rod to sharpen my knives. I will have a new Busse skeleton key soon and will need to know how to properly sharpen it. Apperently I need to know what angle I am sharpening at, right? So I should probably get something that has varying angles. Is there some kind of kit that is the standard for good sharpening? If anyone has experience or tips in sharpening Busse knives, that would also be helpful.
Thanks

 

[kel_aa]

The standard "kit" would be the Spyderco Sharpmaker ($40-50 US?) that come with a pair of "medium" and a pair of "fine" triangular rods (in comparison to common hardware stones it is more like fine and ultrafine). The standard setups are 15 and 20 degrees per side, although you can play around and modify that. There are also clamped setups like the Lansky (lower price) and the EdgePro (higher price).

Speaking of the Sharpmaker, for sharpening a small bevel they are fine, although to sharpen a large bevel, to cut back the edge bevel or to repair major damage would be fairly demanding of it. You can buy diamond rods from Spyderco, but a faster/ more economical way would be to buy a separate coarse stone or diamond lap and either freehand it or if you insistant on accuracy/cosmetics lean it against the Sharpmaker rods or a similar support to maintain a consistant angle.

 

[ninjajoe]

I am pretty sure that most Busse's have asymmetrical sharpening bevels, being flat on one side and convex on the other. I'm not sure about this perticular model, and I'm sure somone on the Busse forum with more knoladge than me could tell you for sure, I also recall there is alot of info about sharpening them there.

as far as sharpening tools, there are as huge of a veriaty as there are opinions on wich is better. do some research, try out a couple of reputable types and see what you like would be my suggestion. we've been discussing Arkansas stones here (also has a picture of a convex edge): http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?p=4153908#post4153908

there is some info on convex sharpening here:

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?p=3770814#post3770814

FYI, if it is a busse asymmetrical edge, the convex side would be difficult or impossible to sharpen on a sharpmaker, and impossible for sure on the EdgePro and lansky (although I've heard great things about the edge pro and sharpmaker) unless you wanted to change it to a flat sharpening bevel on bolth sides, also you could sharpen the flat side of the bevel with these systems. convex sharpening, as far as I'm aware, is done freehand.

heres a few types of sharpeners you might want to look into: for freehand sharpening india and Arkansas (my favorite), waterstones, ceramic wheatstones (i think spyderco makes some of the better ones) diamond, Microfinishing film (PSA or non PSA, made by 3M and others, sonetimes called scary sharpening, basically sandpaper on a flat surface) and various kinds of stropping for final finish.

If you’re looking for a sysetem, the edge pro is highly recommended by a lot of people here, and the sharpmaker is good too (I wouldent really call it a “system” its a combination of freehand sharpening with rods at a fixed angle), I wouldent go for the lansky as it changes the sharpening angle as you progress twards the point, thuss thinning out the point (wich typically you don’t want for general use) and making the part of the blade closer to the handle a more obtuse bevel by comparason (also not ideal for general use) I had one a while back and hated it, I was unable to get a decent edge at all. there are hundreds of systems and opinions of course. Hope this was helpfull