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Posted: 11/10/2012 11:57:18 AM EDT
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Hey all!
I am looking at starting to sharpen my own knives. What do I need to get started? I know there are many different price ranges for this, but where do I start? Thanks! |
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Some people thing it takes fancy doodads or long winded books.
It requires 3 simple things. 1) Patience. It can take time to get a proper edge. 2) Common sense. Different types of knives or tools require different levels of sharpness (ie: different angles at the cutting edge). 3) A dual-grit sharpening stone. http://www.amazon.com/Winco-Combination-Sharpening-Stone/dp/B0016J5OFU/ref=sr_1_13?ie=UTF8&qid=1352592368&sr=8-13&keywords=sharpening+stone Feel free to check Youtube for some ides on technique, but you'll develop your own style as you begin to understand what you need done. This is where you start. Only AFTER you're competent with a stone should you move on to fancy, expensive equipment. I liken the basic stone to a bicycle. Sure, a motorcycle will get you there faster, but you won't learn how to properly ride it just from jumping on one and expecting it to cruise into the sunset with ease. Gotta get the basics down first. And even when that expensive motorcycle breaks down, you can still pull your old bicycle out of the shed and dust it off. Got me? |
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Quoted:
Spyderco Sharpmaker. I must really suck at sharpening knives. It's embarrassing, really. I have one of these and I've tried it on the corners and the flats of the stone; I've watched videos on youtube of how to sharpen. I just cannot, for the life of me, get my knives to that "razor sharp" edge that I read/hear about. Here is a great video by a guy using one who gets his edge pretty sharp. I don't know how much time you are supposed to spend sharpening your blades. I've spent as long as maybe ten minutes working on a blade. They get kind of sharp but not like what you see in this video. 
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I bought the spyderco recently. Just can't get it to work properly. I'm back to my basic stones.
I think simple stones are better anyway! I learned by reading and watching videos. Then didn't really get it until I used a sharpy on the edge of the blade and sat down with a handful of cheap knives. So it really is just patientce and practice. Nofancy gadgets just a 2-3 dif grit stones. |
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Quoted:
I bought the spyderco recently. Just can't get it to work properly. I'm back to my basic stones. I think simple stones are better anyway! I learned by reading and watching videos. Then didn't really get it until I used a sharpy on the edge of the blade and sat down with a handful of cheap knives. So it really is just patientce and practice. Nofancy gadgets just a 2-3 dif grit stones. Care to elaborate about "using a sharpy?" |
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Sure. Google for better answer but what I did while learning and still do sometimes is take an ordinary black sharpie marker and simply color in the edge of the blade. That way u know exactly what angle u are sharpening. 2-3 passes and the marker is gone. Re apply if needed. Usually after some practice it won't be long before u either don't need it or only need to apply once to get a feel for the angle of the particular knife. That is if u want to continue to use the factory set angle. It works really well and I wish I would have learned it along time ago.
Should still read as much as u can about angles and what not. But that trick will def help! |
| I'm not at home to look. But I have a smooth and a medium grit. The diamond stones are nice. The ruff grit ones are probably too ruff if that makes sense. They don't have to be expensive either. However I have bought a cheap 3 stone deal once and the roughest stone wore out fast. |
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Quoted:
I must really suck at sharpening knives. It's embarrassing, really. I have one of these and I've tried it on the corners and the flats of the stone; I've watched videos on youtube of how to sharpen. I just cannot, for the life of me, get my knives to that "razor sharp" edge that I read/hear about. If you're starting with an extremely dull knife, like butter knife dull, that could be your problem. How sharp was your edge when you started with the sharpmaker? |
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Quoted: For those with no patience a belt sander with leather strop works great. It takes less than a minute for a nice convex edge. I still have the spyderco triangle but rarely use it. This is me. I'm not a knife connoisseur, and I don't wish to spend an exorbinant amount of time sharpening a blade. I just want something that's sharp and cuts well. I'm all about the end result, and want to invest as little time / effort as possible in acheiving it. |
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Quoted:
Quoted:
For those with no patience a belt sander with leather strop works great. It takes less than a minute for a nice convex edge. I still have the spyderco triangle but rarely use it. This is me. I'm not a knife connoisseur, and I don't wish to spend an exorbinant amount of time sharpening a blade. I just want something that's sharp and cuts well. I'm all about the end result, and want to invest as little time / effort as possible in acheiving it. Study the subject a little bit; you can soften the edge if you get it too hot. |
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Quoted:
Quoted:
Spyderco Sharpmaker. I must really suck at sharpening knives. It's embarrassing, really. I have one of these and I've tried it on the corners and the flats of the stone; I've watched videos on youtube of how to sharpen. I just cannot, for the life of me, get my knives to that "razor sharp" edge that I read/hear about. Here is a great video by a guy using one who gets his edge pretty sharp. I don't know how much time you are supposed to spend sharpening your blades. I've spent as long as maybe ten minutes working on a blade. They get kind of sharp but not like what you see in this video.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MHe_8wTHmgYou're probably not doing it long enough. I've spent as much as 30 or 40 minutes for some. After that first time though, they're usually easy to maintain. |
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Get the lansky system... I have a kukri I can shave with using this system.
Link to example of what I have |
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To put the first edge on the knives I make I use 1x30 belt sander with a 220 grit belt, then move to a paper wheel with white polishing compound, takes about 3 minutes to go from no edge to scary sharp.
For maintaining a blade I usually strop after use with a leather strop and polishing compound. Anything more than that I use a tri-hone sharpener from Jantz supply. Its what I learned on and I still use it today. Its only around $20! http://www.knifemaking.com/SearchResults.asp?Search=tri+hone |
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Sharpening 101:
Too often, when we try to sharpen a blade, we "fake it" by raising the heel (trailing edge) of the blade in order to get the dull edge sharp. Here's the result: 
As Abnk, said, you must spend some quality time with your blade in order to get a good edge. If there's a lot of metal to be removed, use a coarse stone; as you get a sharper edge going, you can graduate to a finer stone. 
The benefit of the sharpening kits is that they allow you to maintain a very precise angle while you are sharpening your knife. You spend less time this way. Make sense? |
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