Who sharpens by hand??

steve-in-kville

steve-in-kville

Joined
Dec 25, 2001
Messages
1,139
By hand I mean you don't use a kit like the Sharpmaker or Lansky. Just a stone and pure skill.

Thanks - steve
 
I use a DMT folding double sided diamond sharpener, wich is free hand. its great!;)
 
have a 204 for when my serrations need work...

95% of the time it's freehand with my stones[200/300, 500/800, spyderco 303MF(Medium/Fine)] and a strop. Can get a shave off a 500grit stone, still working on the 300.

learned how to sharpen freehand shortly after I got my first knife(age 5)... still getting better, always room to improve, new lessons to learn.
 
Originally posted by VampyreWolf
learned how to sharpen freehand shortly after I got my first knife(age 5)... still getting better, always room to improve, new lessons to learn.
Click to expand...

That's amazing. I'm trying to teach myself to do it free hand... not that theres anything wrong with my Sharpmaker.... I feel I could do a better job free-hand. Just gotta practice.

steve
 
I just use a stone for the most part, been using one for 40 years or so and my knifes are the sharpest around my parts. Hard Arkansas for the most part, i have a medium diamond stone for knifes that are in need of a new edge. I do use a ceramic rods now and that to keep my knifes sharp, the trick is not to let them get dull in the first place.

James
 
steve> my grandfather gave me minimal instruction, and let me go loose. Pretty much what I do to teach ppl now.

*show them the correct angle(magic marker trick)
*get a cheap stone thats the right size(about 1.5x the length of the knife and about .75x the width(ie 4" knife, 6" stone, 2.5" wide)
*watch carefully and take your time.

he figured I'd a) wear the knife out learning how... b) spend my life with a dull knife b/c I never figured out how to sharpen... c) cut myself and give up(which we know never happens :D... d) learn how, and enjoy knives.

14yrs later, I shave with them, and I'm still learning. I started with a relativly fine stone(1200 grit) so I wouldn't remove the whole knife learning, and after I figured it out he gave me a kitchen knife to work on(with a heavier grit stone). I still have the first knife he gave me, locked away. it's down quite a bit from the origional belly, and it was produced about the same time my father was born(early 1950s).
 
Originally posted by VampyreWolf

he figured I'd a) wear the knife out learning how... b) spend my life with a dull knife b/c I never figured out how to sharpen... c) cut myself and give up(which we know never happens :D... d) learn how, and enjoy knives.
Click to expand...

VampyreWolf.... Thats basically the mind-frame I have. I learn somehow. Sometime back I read the book from Razor Edge Systems. I even tried their kit. I was not happy with it and sent it back. The stone was wearing the guides down pretty bad, Maybe it was bad techique on my part.

Do you use water or oil to lube your stones?

steve
 
absolutly nothing on my stones. I use them dry, but I oil my knives. It's a lot easier to pack a dry stone and put it in your bag.
 
I use the biggest aluminum Oxide stone I can get. The big Norton red "Indian" stones are excellent. Sharpen evenly untill you are raising a uniform burr the full length of the blade. Strop burr off on a leather strop loaded with bobbing compound, and then test on some cardboard. ;) For subsequent touch ups use a leather strop loaded with red rouge. When required touch up on a grey Arkansas stone.
 
So what grits are you "pros" using? I'm quite ignorant when it comes to stones (types, brands, etc)

Thanks.


steve
 
I just go down to the local hardware store and buy cheap stones. At $5-8(canadian) it'a good. I only pay attention as to the grit and size. if it doesn't hold up too long, I'll buy a new one at that price.

I have a 200/300 combo 2"x5"x1", 500/800 combo 2.5"x7"x1", and my spydie grit medium/fine stone (303MF). my strop(14-16"x3") is loaded with Veritas Green.

soon picking up a medium and fine DMT, and an ultrafine spydie. the DMT will set me back 40 each though(at my local store), so I have to find about 150 for all 3 stones.

thinking about a japanese waterstone too, but can't find cheap ones.
 
I can sharpen freehand, but prefer to jig an inclined plane to lay the stone on and keep the knife horizontal, not exactly freehand, not a sharpmaker but easy to keep the angle with a regular stone.

I like to do a first bevel with medium grit (Washita stone) at about 15 degrees and a second bevel with fine grit (Hard Arkansas) at about 20 degrees, sometimes I use a coarser stone to reprofile and sometimes an extra fine ceramic hone and strop if I want a polished edge.
 
I just use a Smith's Arkansas stone. If the knife is really dull I'll use an old 4" DMT diamond hone or a piece of sandpaper just to start off, then finish on the Arkansas stone. I'm far from an expert, I just kept working at it (ruining a cheap Case blade in the process). One day it just clicked and I got the "feel" of it.
 
I usually use a guide to rebevel a knife when I first sharpen it, but after that its either a DMT dua-fold (x-coarse/coarse or a EZ-lap rod (medium to fine), and my knives stay pretty sharp. Once in a while I go back to the guide on my smaller knives. My favorite is the DMT aligner product, but it won't handle anything thicker than 1/8". I like to use a large DMT diamond stone for my machetes though, and I haven't found a guide that will handle them the way I'd like... At least not short of something like a Burr-King which I can't afford...

For me, a knife in the field has to be sharp enough to do the work it must do (split wood, cut rope, skin/clean animals [mostly cleaning fish], prepare other food). It doesn't have to do surgery. For that I keep a razor blade in my first-aid kit.
 
I use a Spyderco Profile ceramic "stone" for my sharpening now. I started out using a Sharpmaker, but got convinced to try the Profile by a very knowledgeable knife-seller at a local gun show. I was impressed with the results he got, and bought one. I find that since the angle of the Sharpmaker is not going to be exactly right for all my knives, I might as well not have to fight it. If I'm gonna have to establish my own freehand angle to hold the blade, I might as well not have to set up the stand, the stones, the brass guards... The Profile stones are the same material as the Sharpmaker's, making it an easy switch.
 
I use a Norton fine India followed up with a ceramic rod, and finally a chrome butchers steel, all freehand.
 
I also use a stone almost exclusively. I used to use a ceramic sharpener with a fixed angle, both rod style and "wheel" style, also a variable angle Arkansas stone and clamp system. Eventually I taught myself freehand sharpening - although I too have lots of room to improve - still I can get a sharper and more durable edge by hand than I could any other way.

The main reason I switched to learning the stone was that I put my knives through their heaviest use during backpacking and float trips. A stone is a lot easier to carry around!

I just use a Smith's diamond stone mostly - I've found that the back of the stone can be used to "steel" the blade and I usually finish-up stropping on my belt, pants, whatever.
 
I use Norton Indian fine/coarse combination stone... freehand...

The only way to sharpen a knife (for me)

Don't I just love sharpening knife
 
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