What's the best way for a novice to sharpen a knife?

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geothorn

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Hi there --

I'm not a total novice knife sharpener, but I haven't done too much sharpening since I got my Boy Scout Knife and Ax merit badge *waaaay* back in 1972. I'm just wondering what's the best way that a nearly novice can sharpen a knife, short of a grinder, which would void my warranty, and has the least chance of my screwing up, scratching/ruining the blade, etc. Or, of course, if someone has a book/video that they'd recommend, or would have a suggestion of where to take knife sharpening class...?

Thanks in advance,
GeoThorn

I have mostly 420HC stainless steel blades, but one is supposedly 440HC, and I'm not sure what kind of steel Buck used in their 1986 model 639 Fieldmate, nor what steel is in my KA-BAR. I guess that knowing the steels would help as far as what kind of sharpening method is required.

Thanks again!
 
geothorn, if you haven't seen this on a past thread, i would suggest you check out www.edcknives.com ,*author Joe Talmadge.(Joe i hope i'm not leaving anyone out on this) Mr. Talmadge goes into great detail all aspects of knives and knife related aspects in his FAQ section. i still go there and am amazed at what i can learn.

*edit: second "aspects" should read "subjects"
 
Thanks, wwells20!

Welcome to Blade Forums, yourself!

I don't want to screw up any of my knives just doing the routine duty of sharpening them, so anything that I can read or learn from will come in handy. EDC Knives is a terrific link!

Thanks alot!

GeoThorn
 
thanks, i check it out often. i've learned alot.
see you in the threads!
walter

*also, check out thier products. have some cool stuff in there!
 
howdy again geo,
i have had many of the guys come to me with a knife and ask me to sharpen it for them as i was good at one time.
the most important thing is keeping an consistant angle on/at the edge! any veration of the angle will wobble the edge and round it slighty and be hard to touch up later... NEVER USE A GRINDER OR SANDER unless you have learned and now know what you are doing!!!

By far the easy'est good way is a lansky type sharpenner set with diamond stones but the cheaper stones for cheep scates like me are great also! follow the instructions and you will soon be able to get to 'sceary sharp' with a nice even line on the edge yourself !
later dave
 
I'll second the Lansky, you can't go wrong with it. I actually like the standard ceramic stones better than diamond even though they don't cut as fast they produce a more mirror edge. The only drawback to a Lansky is that you have to reposition the clamp for knives over 4in and some smaller ones don't fit in the clamp at all. So I'd get BOTH a Lansky DELUX (I think it's called, got every stone from extra coarse to ultrafine) AND a Spyderco 204 Tri-Angle sharpmaker (for the knives that don't fit in Lansky or that you'd have to move the clamp for, also The Spyderco is the best thing going for serrated edges, you should be able to buy both for around or less than 100 dollars total and they're all the sharpener you'll ever need:)
 
Thanks for everyone's replies!

I'm now on a search of my local stores for the above recommended sharpeners. All that I have now for sharpening is my now-antique "Official Sharpening Stone/Boy Scouts of America/BSA No. 1314/MADE IN U.S.A." Anything *has* to be better...and probably will be far easier to use, as well.

Thanks again!
GeoThorn
 
yes saw it at a virginia knife show and i tryed it with my 110. it works well and is esay easy to use tho it is odd formed and again, it does work! it is one of thoes thngs i would have set up were i was useing knives and had to sharpened or fresson an edge up a lot like at a restrant or kitchen, to break it out to do one knife seemed a lot of work to me... if i were butchering several or a large deer or beef i would like to have it set up!!! to get it out to touch a work knife - i dont know... it is a rubegoldburd kind of thing to watch! has a lot of real Neet factor... not chep tho. i dont know how it would work or how long it would take on a badly duled edge tho.
 
Hi Guys, I just ran across this thread on sharpening and am wondering what your methods are using the lansky for a 110.

Do you reclamp the blade or sharpen it with one clamping?

What angle on the Lansky?

Thanks
larry
 
Hi Larry --

First off, welcome to BladeForums!

Since this thread is getting close to a month old, it might be better to start a new thread, something like, "How to sharpen a 110 with a Lansky?" I'll be happy to hear the answer you get, as well. Someone might reply to your question here, but, if there's no reply in several days, I'd start it as a new thread, so that it doesn't look like it's a question that's already been answered.

GeoThorn
 
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