Who still sharpens freehand with oil stone?

G

guitar1580

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Nov 5, 2012
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My Dad was always good at sharpening knives freehand, and that is how he taught me to do it years ago. I now have a Lansky, but even though I replaced the thumbscrews with flat heads, the stones still hit the clamp when doing smaller knives, especially my Bucks which have a fairly steep angle. Not only that, it just seems that the stones load up quickly, and the smaller blades slip easly in the clamp, which changes the whole angle. Overall, I don't like it for smaller knives, and have gone back to using my coarse / fine 2" x 8" oil stone, freehand with no guides.

So I was wondering who all sharpens this way, and if you can get the knife just as sharp ... and if you have any suggestions

I seem to do better since I started using a 10x loupe to watch what's happening with the edge, but I still doubt I'm getting it as sharp as a system that fixes the angle. My tip: try using Marvel's Mystery Oil for honing ... seems to work well. Any other suggestions would be appreciated.

JT
 
I use Norton Silicone Carbide stones, Med and fine, but I use Windex instead of oil.
 
I use a generic coarse/medium two-side stone, with some dish detergent-laced water, then on to the Norton Arkansas stone, then I strop it on a piece of corrugated cardboard if it's available.

Yeah, it's not fancy, but it gets my knives to the point where they will nearly shave hair, and that's good enough.
 
Sounds good to me. You have to keep your Hard Arkansas stone flat, however. Use a honing oil with it, not water.
 
I use them, and alway have. I also keep a Spyderco Sharpmaker, and a loaded leather strop on the kitchen counter for touch up.
 
I'm upgrading to diamonds, either on 12/25 or a few days after. The stones go into a box, after that.

The water stays: cheap, easy to find (I'm not going to throw a bottle of honing oil in my pack for work when I can use the water cooler), and, like I say, almost shaving sharp is good enough for me.
 
Also, I forgot to ask in the orig. post. When the stone starts to dish a little in the center, how big of a deal is it to get it dressed / flattened? Or is it time for a new stone?

JT
 
I do. I am a woodworker and have to sharpen my stuff on job sites. I just use a 1200 grit diamond for damaged edges and a hard Arkansas slip stone for refinement. I'm so used to it that I get better results this way than with any angle guide system, even with knives.
We can't use oil on the job (oil contaminates wood or stains things that you don't want stained) so I mostly (GASP) spit on my slipstone before sharpening. Same slipstone for almost 20 years... thousands of sharpenings... perhaps it's gummed up, but it still produces a screaming sharp and polished edge. My old boss has broken his slip stone a couple of times, but he just super glued it back together and he produces mirrored edges every time and in short time.
I'm sure some will cringe at my statement. It's okay, it works beautifully for me and the edge fanatics always get creeped out by my results.
 
Don't worry about it too much. Ever see the stones used by a lot of professional Japanese sharpeners? Dished as hell. You can flatten your stones if they get more hollow than you're comfortable with, but don't obsess over it too hard or you'll artificially shorten the life of the stone.
 
JT - Although I wrote this in another thread back in 2009, I continue to get the best results free-handing on stones any blade that doesn't require advanced cutting surfaces like diamond etc.

I had long used various techniques and gizmos but didn't have the understanding of how to get beyond all of that and simply take control of the steel, keeping in mind the blade's intended use. I've never been forced to fully re-profile an edge - but I have done it a number of times with blades of no consequence that I practice on. Same concept applies.

To be clear, I'm approaching this subject from the collector/hobbyist side. If I were a maker or had experience with and access to the usual knife-making belts and grinders and such it would be different. However, from where I sit, sharpening stones provide a better result, incomparable access and ease of use, as well as a certain intangible satisfaction which, I think, comes from primitive parts of our brains that are profoundly tied to the survival mission. :confused:

Credit and respect to professor Tai Goo who reduced it all to one key concept which I've high-lighted in the quote below with blue. Thank you for raising this topic and I hope I've added something that will turn the light on for a few others, just lkie Tai did for me. Pass it on. :D

I tried just about every tool and method. In the end, after Tai Goo taught me hands on how to do it right, I found that I like the sort of old school approach. Here's what I use:

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I use either honing oil or WD40 equivalent on the stones. I mainly use Arkansas soft and hard. I've got an Arkansas black stone for a super fine edge but rarely need it.

That little strip of plywood has a layer of cork under a piece of slightly thick and textured watercolor paper upon which I apply stropping paste or powder of a couple of different grades in different places. It's a great DIY honing device.

I have no problem controlling the angles free hand, but it takes patience to gently and slowly raise the burr on one side all the way from tip to guard, then again on the other side etc. There are no short cuts with this method.

Tai takes it a step further with his assortment of special stones from which he chooses depending on the type of edge needed:

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Here's Tai's honing stick in action:

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Tai was demonstrating with a small kitchen slicer and tested the edge against a hair by applying slight pressure only - no 'sawing' or drawing the edge across the hair as that would be cheating.

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Yessssss!

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Naturally I have some diamond sharpeners for harder steels and heavier work.

And I use a sharpening steel occasionally, though they cut aggressively and require care in use. The sharpening steel works quickly in the kitchen to touch up an edge that is otherwise in good shape.
 
I started with the lansky as well, but soon ditched everything but the stones, even popped them off the plastic handle bits for better stability. Learned how to freehand with those and you won't need a separate system for backpacking. The only thing I'd change would be getting a nice full sized DMT extra course for reprofiling and such.
 
I use diamond hones 99% of the time, but I have an ancient Hard Arkansas bench stone from a great-uncle that I use for finishing high carbon steel blades. It seems to impart a microscopically toothy edge. I don't use oil when honing, but I wipe it down with BreakFree after.
 
Freehand, unless I need super precise initial bevels, or recurves(although stone sideways does the trick too), in which case I use edge pro. Otherwise stones + water. Much faster, more versatile than any system. Never got the point of using oil though, particles float, things get real messy and slippery...
 
My work knives are done freehand on ceramic water stones (kitchen knives). I still am not super great with small folders keeping the bevels perfectly uniform but not bad. I still end up with a highly polished near razor sharp edge just not quite as pretty as a guide system.

My ceramics are soakers; I just leave them in a tub of water all the time. Super fast and easy to just grab a stone and touch up an edge when needed.

I find freehand way more rewarding. It is nice to know that in a pinch I can use whatever is handy and be able to get a decent edge. I think the guided systems are neat but can't justify dropping that much money on one.
 
Still free hand after all these years. I tried some of the sharpening systems but none of the ones I tried did as good as the standard type bench stones. Norton combo with India grit and DMT coarse through extra fine.
 
i freehand, and have a leather strop, but I do not have any compound. Is there anything else around the house that i could us as compound? or do i just need to buy some?
 
stickymeat said:
i freehand, and have a leather strop, but I do not have any compound. Is there anything else around the house that i could us as compound? or do i just need to buy some?
Click to expand...

Flitz metal polish works. You can spread a little on some cardboard. If you use your leather strop you might consider just loading the back side and leave to smooth front unloaded (unloaded is nice too). Personally, I like chromium oxide a lot. You can find it at a wood craft shop. Craft stores sell planks of balsa which makes a great substrate. The abrasive sticks in the soft wood really well.

Strops are really nice for just a quick touch up and prolong time between honing sessions.
 
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