Sidearms & Scatterguns Can you recommend a good knife sharpening tutorial?

[Inifinty]

Video, webpage, any write up you might be familiar with that has a good procedure for sharpening knives.

I could google and try what I find, but looking for something ya'll might recommend before I mess up the wives kitchen knives.

Thx!

 

[Pre-64]

Wicked edge knife sharpener I have one and it is by far the best out there, pricey but you won't be disappointed.

 

[Switchblade]

Use flat board and tack down the paper. 400 grit, 30 degree angle the edge, choil to tip as if you were slicing the thinnest layer. then run it reverse an equal amount of times. Now take a old pair of jeans that are still rough and cut a strip 2' long and 8" wide. Stretch it over a board and tack it down. Now strop the edge, 30* angle, tip to choil. It's really simple o put a nice edge with minimal expense. Grab one of the many black and white little ceramics to chase it with like the $7 red lansky. It works. My blades are sharpended this way, ecept my 400 grit is on a belt grinder upright

 

[ShtrRdy]

I have a difficult time holding the same angle when using a flat stone so I've been using one of the "V" style sharpeners. Here's a video of one:

 

[hermosabeach]

wow

Where to start

What angle do you want on the blades?
Do you ever cut on: tile, plates, floor, counter or do you cut 100% on a cutting board?

what edge is one the current knifes? is it flat or curved? do you want to keep that same profile shape?

Do you have equipment for sharpening?
If yes- what to you have?

tell us a bit more.... please

 

[pmclaine]

Lots of peeps complicating your question.....

This should bring you to a bunch of videos.

youtube how to sharpen a knife - Bing

Intelligent search from Bing makes it easier to quickly find what you’re looking for and rewards you.

www.bing.com

Lots of ways to skin a cat but easier to do with a sharp knife.

 

[hermosabeach]

sharpening can be as easy as placing wet dry sand paper onto a mouse pad..... add some water... slide the blade over the sand paper... keep
it the same angle you want... start with 220-grit and go up by 200 grit or so each step

stop at 600- 800

 

[Inifinty]

Lots of peeps complicating your question.....

This should bring you to a bunch of videos.

youtube how to sharpen a knife - Bing

Intelligent search from Bing makes it easier to quickly find what you’re looking for and rewards you.

www.bing.com

Lots of ways to skin a cat but easier to do with a sharp knife.

I guess I am not the sharpest knife in the block. Knowing there are some here that love knives I figured I get the real skinny pretty quick. Plus I was trying to avoid stupid youtube bad lessons that with no real experience I'd be hard pressed to discern.

Before starting this thread I had no idea there were fancy tools to help one maintain a consistent angle while sharpening. But with help of the post so far I am taking a stab at using a Lansky Professional System Precision Knife Sharpening Kit. A $50 dollar investment that may take more effort than the higher dollar wicked edge kit I'd love to own, but for the number of knives I have to keep sharp is probably sufficient.

 

[Inifinty]

wow

Where to start

What angle do you want on the blades?
Do you ever cut on: tile, plates, floor, counter or do you cut 100% on a cutting board?

what edge is one the current knifes? is it flat or curved? do you want to keep that same profile shape?

Do you have equipment for sharpening?
If yes- what to you have?

tell us a bit more.... please

I had nothing but bought a Lansky sharpening kit. I'll be sharpening a couple pocket knives, a k-bar or two, and some kitchen cutlery. The kit will maintain a 17, 20, 25, or 30 degree angle. I suspect I'll mostly sharpen at 20 or 25 degrees.

 

[pmclaine]

In high school I bought a Lansky - Some 30 odd years ago now.

Never did for me what I wanted it to.

Now I use a Smiths product I got from Benchmade....



I generally only need to use the fine stone and mostly I strop the blade on leather to maintain the edge. Rarely does it see a stone.

Im interested in getting some nice Japanese stones and trying to cut a polish using that slurry mix they create. Real fine grained Arkansas stones will do the same.

 

[Inifinty]

In high school I bought a Lansky - Some 30 odd years ago now.

Never did for me what I wanted it to.

Now I use a Smiths product I got from Benchmade....



I generally only need to use the fine stone and mostly I strop the blade on leather to maintain the edge. Rarely does it see a stone.

Im interested in getting some nice Japanese stones and trying to cut a polish using that slurry mix they create. Real fine grained Arkansas stones will do the same.

That is a pretty cool little kit.

I'm just looking to get back a factory edge or slightly better so I can cut a freaking tomato again. Hopefully this lansky kit does the trick. You can add leather stop and arkansas stones they offer if needed.

 

[pmclaine]

That is a pretty cool little kit.

I'm just looking to get back a factory edge or slightly better so I can cut a freaking tomato again. Hopefully this lansky kit does the trick. You can add leather stop and arkansas stones they offer if needed.

I asked my barber if he had any old unused leather from the straight edge days and he gave me a beautiful strap made in the USSR of all places.

Hangs from a wall in the basement and after cutting card board or a session of batoning kindling the knives get a quick ride on the leather......seems to bring em right back to sharp.

Watch a video or two of how a Japanese sword restorer sharpens their steel.

It was eye opening to me how "rough" they are with their work compared to me up until the point they are putting the final polish n the edge.

Watching the Japanese video was kind of an eye opener on what you are trying to accomplish by sharpening steel.

 

[Switchblade]

Them Japanese guys have many cuts on fingers from using minute pieces of stone, but damn they polish and sharpen good. Now remember, that is ALL that guy does. One man to make steel. One man to forge the blade. and heat treat it. One man to polish and sharpen. One man to make the habaki and tsuba, and one man to make the shirasaya or tsuka.

Strops: Use diamond spray on your strop. You'll love the results.
Blade Grinds vs Actual edge: The blade is ground hollow, V, fat, flat. The edge is always an angle, even the wee kiridashi who;s blade is flat on one side and a lower angle on the other, but still razor sharp.

I'm currently working on something like this. It;s all free forge so far, just need to planish the angle in. It's for a lady who wants to put it inside her thigh. I'm thinking of highly polished whatever on the scales about 5" long with a slight curve and maybe 3/8" in diameter...I'll just smile and let her figure out if it has multiple uses ???????

 

[DownhillFromHere]

I guess I am not the sharpest knife in the block. Knowing there are some here that love knives I figured I get the real skinny pretty quick. Plus I was trying to avoid stupid youtube bad lessons that with no real experience I'd be hard pressed to discern.

Before starting this thread I had no idea there were fancy tools to help one maintain a consistent angle while sharpening. But with help of the post so far I am taking a stab at using a Lansky Professional System Precision Knife Sharpening Kit. A $50 dollar investment that may take more effort than the higher dollar wicked edge kit I'd love to own, but for the number of knives I have to keep sharp is probably sufficient.

I think I can help. I recently acquired a couple of nice Spyderco and Benchmade knives and went about learning to keep them sharp.

It doesn't have to be complicated!!!! The critical factor is holding a consistent stone/blade angle. Also, heavy pressure on the blade is NOT necessary. If you aren't getting good results, you're almost certainly not holding a consistent/correct angle.

Here's what saved the day for me:

• Spyderco Tri-Angle Sharpmaker (2 sets of synthetic stone bars, base, guard bars, instructional video) - about $75, easy to find. I got mine on Amazon.
• Spyderco's instructional videos (link below) - I viewed them online and they prompted me to buy the Sharpmaker (which have seen compared to the Lansky kit, if you've already acquired one). The videos are useful for any V-sharpener.
• A leather strop. I use an old belt; so far I have not found it necessary to use stropping compound with it. This is necessary to get that razor edge.

The Spyderco web site was a series of videos here. Click "Load More" and look for the 4-part Sharpmaker videos (just hover over the thumbnails; it doesn't look like these will link directly).

The videos do not cover stropping, and I think it's necessary to get the shaving-sharp edge. All you need is a wide (an inch or more is fine), preferably unfinished leather belt. I step on the buckle end, pull it very tight, lay the blade flat on the leather and pull/push it spine-first for about 20 -30 strokes. Lots of Youtube videos about stropping - specify knife as opposed to straight razor, although there is a lot of overlap. As I said, with the Sharpmaker's fine-grit stones putting a near-final edge on my blades, I have found it unnecessary to use stropping compound.

I struggled all my life to get even a minimally decent edge on my knives; these videos and the Sharpmaker finally enabled me to get a shaving-sharp edge on all my knives.

NOTE: Truly dull knives are going to require either the Spyderco diamond blades (extra cost; I haven't tried these) or a 220-grit stone. Truly dull knives require so much metal to be removed that it would take a Very Long Time to get it done with the finer grit of the Sharpmaker stones.