Sidearms & Scatterguns Recommend a Knife Sharpening Kit

[goosed]

Diamond is mo’ better.

Yes, yes it is!

Plates being nice for a rough edge... Atoma being my preference, DMT second. Didn't really care for nano plates

Diamond Pastes/sprays are expensive, but if you're looking for ultra refined edges they are the way to go. They cut faster than stones and leave a more uniform scratch pattern as there aren't any non-uniform particles or binders. Also no diamonds falling out like you get with plates.

 

[Bigfatcock]

Not even close.

Close as can be.

 

[Bigfatcock]

Yes, yes it is!

Plates being nice for a rough edge... Atoma being my preference, DMT second. Didn't really care for nano plates

Diamond Pastes/sprays are expensive, but if you're looking for ultra refined edges they are the way to go. They cut faster than stones and leave a more uniform scratch pattern as there aren't any non-uniform particles or binders. Also no diamonds falling out like you get with plates.

I always use DMT, mainly because I’ve never had to replace them, lol. I prefer the interrupted plates with the holes, but have both types.

Don’t have to flatten them, soak them, or oil them. They work extremely fast, especially on my harder plane and chisel blades. Plus they aren’t foreign.

 

[goosed]

I always use DMT, mainly because I’ve never had to replace them, lol. I prefer the interrupted plates with the holes, but have both types.

Don’t have to flatten them, soak them, or oil them. They work extremely fast, especially on my harder plane and chisel blades. Plus they aren’t foreign.

The interrupted are kind of nice since they don't load up nearly as quick during sharpening.

Atoma is definitely foriegn (japan) and I don't notice that they work any better than DMT. I just like the "feel" they produce better

 

[n2ishun]

Like I said earlier, you guys don't know what a sharp edge is.....and you keep proving that.

 

[Baron85]

There is a difference in a “sharp” edge and a useable practical edge. Most people could care less about the ultimate razor edge. It only last a couple cuts anyways. I had the Japanese water stones, and the glass stones and all that crap as well as a wicked edge and lansky. I now use atoma diamond plates and honestly much prefer them to all the others. They cut fast, put a nice aggressive edge that lasts longer and in my opinion cuts better than the ultra refined japanese and glass stones for daily knife duties.

Yes the will shave hair, the won’t pop hair with authority like the japanese/glass stones will but when does popping hair come into daily knife tasks? It’s a show off my knife and skills thing or for very specialized tasks.

Of course, this is just my opinion and my experience for my uses

 

[Bigfatcock]

Like I said earlier, you guys don't know what a sharp edge is.....and you keep proving that.

Thank you for letting us know that we don’t know what sharp is.

 

[earthtrekker1775]

I've owned about every knife sharpener there is. Lansky, Spyderco Sharpmaker, Ken Onion worksharp, Wicked Edge Pro, Edge Pro Apex, who knows how many generic horrible ones, etc.

For kitchen knives I use the Ken Onion Worksharp and then maintain with the spyderco sharpmaker. For many years, decades.... I used a Lanksy with diamond coarse, x-tra course stones to make quick work and then the natural arkansas stones for finishing. You can buy the 3 stone standard Lansky kit and add the coarse and xtra-course diamond stones and still spend under $100 and the results are better than most people need. Lansky, unfortunately like most things has reduced quality over the years, the old clamp used to be much thicker and more solid than the new ones, you can flex the "ears" where the stones go easily now. This is still what I'll throw in the truck going hunting etc. It's not fancy but it works and there's really nothing to go wrong/break.

I can tell you while the Wicked Edge pro gets amazing results, better than any other sharpener I've used, it's also $1100 these days and it still has shortcomings in the clamp. I honestly rarely use it now that I'm not using a knife daily for work. In almost all these systems the clamp is the weak point. Some blade shapes/grinds they work great, other blades they don't work well at all. If you have to have the best, and love the idea of being able to easily spend another $1000+ on accessories to use with and $1100 knife sharpener, Wicked Edge is your jam. The Wicked Edge is probably the easiest for someone with no skills to get amazing results fast. It's a 25lb 6mm with a 6oz trigger, basically no technique/form required.

The Edge Pro can also give amazing results but it's much closer to free-hand than most like and unless you use it all the time the results aren't great because it's hard to keep a consistent angle with no clamp. You not only have to worry about the blade staying flat on the sharpener table but you have to worry about it rotating. Guys have gone crazy installing magnets to hold the knife down, grinding custom "spacers" to keep the blade from rotating etc. These are the opposite of the Wicked Edge, the only thing that requires more technique/form is sharpening freehand. The only real benefit I see to the Edge pro is if you use it enough to get good technique, it will work with about any blade, and it's fast to use because you're not messing with a clamp. It's not bad for larger kitchen knives where most put the same edge on all their knives and the spines are usually flat, but the smaller the knife, the harder it is to use.

The Ken Onion is nice but I only use mine for kitchen knives or badly abused blades to set the edge back, I don't feel it's angle is very repeatable, too much slop/flex in the system and it can get thin blades really hot really fast. Like any powered tool if you are not careful it can round a sharp tip off in a single pass. I love having one though, it makes sharpening a ton of kitchen knives super fast and painless that would take literally days to do by hand. You also have to be okay with the fact that the only edge you can put on a knife with the Worksharp is a convex edge because of the flex in the belt.

Spyderco Sharpmaker it's great for maintaining an edge, but if you have really dull/damaged blades it takes too long to remove enough metal. You can get diamond stones for it, and some places will sell very coarse ceramic stones that fit it as well. If I was buying one of these today I think I'd get try the worksharp ken onion angle set. You get more angle options (15, 17.5, 20, 22.5, 25), diamond plates and ceramic for $60 and replacement plates are $8. The Spyderco you only get 2 angles (15, 20 deg), 2 ceramic stones, and it's $75, if you want diamond you'll drop another $60.

The only one I've seen recently I'd like to try is the new worksharp precision adjust model that has diamond stones. $120 is pretty cheap and it seems like a significant improvement on the lansky budget option, and spare stones are only $8 which is nice because if you do a lot of dulled blades, you end up replacing the diamond stones fairly often, and for example Lansky is $25 a pop.

The edge pro now comes standard with very strong, removable magnets in the blade shelf. I haven't had any issues with blades shifting. I also use a set of dmt diamond double-sided steels. Sharp blades every time.

 

[earthtrekker1775]

I always use DMT, mainly because I’ve never had to replace them, lol. I prefer the interrupted plates with the holes, but have both types.

Don’t have to flatten them, soak them, or oil them. They work extremely fast, especially on my harder plane and chisel blades. Plus they aren’t foreign.

I got my ass chewed once in the Corps because I had the little field sized interrupted diamond plate on deployment and one night on watch I spent 4 hours working on my issued bayonet. Supposedly, an armorer cut himself on it after I turned it in "hair popping sharp." Lol. What the hell good is a dull bayonet?

 

[redneckbmxer24]

Welp.
I just went thru this thread and will have to say that not one mofo here knows what a sharp knife is.
To whit.
You're using things created by other people that didn't know what a sharp knife is.

Oh, you can get a knife sharp with a Lansky, but only if you spend about 5 times the amount of time you have spent on it so far.
With the coarsest stone, when you are actually ready to step to the next finer stone, your knife should be AT LEAST as sharp as a razor blade.
Yes it is like that....you rushed and it didn't work out for you.
You take the knife and drag it from elbow to wrist and the hairs should not be merely shaved off, they should POP, as in they fling outwards and not just lay on the knife blade and none are on the blade at travel end but your arm is as smooth as a freshly shaven face.

Grow up and get some Japanese water stones.
4000 grit to start (not a typo, 4 thousand grit to start).
Then 6000 grit.
Then 8000 grit.
Then 10,000.
Then 12,000.

You have to soak these bitches in water for at least 20 minutes and then liberally wet them as you're using them.
Go learn some *real* traditional Japanese sharpening techniques....not that fake ass spewtube bullshit, the real way to do it.

Don't even think of saying your (X) whatever machine can get it just as sharp....it's BS, you know it, I know it.
NOTHING comes close to a real Japanese water stone.
That's why they have been in use for thousands of years and are still in use by anyone that knows what sharp is.

Japanese Water Stone - 8-1/8" L x 2-7/8" W x 7/8" T - 8000 Gr.

<h1>D1071 Japanese Water Stone</h1>To achieve a surgically sharp edge on your tools, nothing works faster or better than Japanese water stones. <p>The abrasive slurry produced on top of the stone cuts aggressively and polishes the blade as it sharpens. <p>If you've never tried sharpening with...

www.grizzly.com

You obviously don’t use a knife if you’re starting with a 4000 grit stone, that would take forever to restore an edge on a user. The rest are just dumb, there’s no reason to put that kind of edge on a knife. You can do scalpel sharp with ordinary sharpening tools and that’s as sharp as a knife needs to be. Nevermind the fact that your 12K grit edge would be long gone after cutting a single box.

This was the result of less than a minute playing around with the worksharp micro adjust. When you can shave and whittle paper in little slivers, that’s dumb sharp and as sharp as a knife needs to be.

 

[E. Bryant]

Like I said earlier, you guys don't know what a sharp edge is.....and you keep proving that.

And you keep proving that you don't know what is practically for field use or EDC. Maybe you're doing dumb YouTube shit like slicing tomatoes paper-thin; everyone else is opening boxes taped with that fiberglass stuff and prying stuck 22LR shells from dirty chambers.

 

[theLBC]

i guess we can argue about anything.
i am not a fancy knife guy, but my dad taught me how to maintain an edge on a knife with a basic stone (in this case on old oil stone).
these days i just use inexpensive water stones, typically only the 400/1000 and the 3k side of the 3000/8000.
i might have to get some diamond tools because of a newer knife with harder steel.
i think those angle keeper gadgets work fine if you aren't especially good at keeping a constant angle.

 

[hlee]

Get a water stone and learn how to use it.

 

[chevy_man]

Whatever the belt sanding sharpeners are. Takes my D2 steel knives from abused and dented back to razor in 5 minutes.



I do use a lansky for the ice auger blades. Super easy and quick to keep them razor sharp and at the proper angle.

 

[SnipeHunter]

I have the Hapstone M3 with a couple different stone sets. Shaptons are my best on the good steels. Excellent system and not expensive

 

[502Chevelle]

Really?? I have a KenOnion, tons of stones....but I did grab a Wasabi a fee months ago....super easy and fast to get to shaving sharp....I'm using their diamond stones you had to pay extra for....fuck soaking stones in water....then I strop it after

I have always been into sharp knives. Started with a Lansky 35 yes ago, then went to hand sharpening. Tried the Wasabi but wasn't really impressed with it right out of the box. Maybe I need to give it another try. Right now I'm loving my sticks from A.G. Russell. Diamond embedded for really dull, then go to ceramic for the final edge. It is so simple, my angles are easy to achieve and they are very sharp.

 

[spartan67]

Call me old school..

I was taught how to sharpen my pocket knife when I was 14 yeas old. All I ever used was, 3 Arkansas stones, aprox 2x5".

1 course stone for starting the edge.
1 Medium
1 Fine

You will fine that your quality of the steel , and ,proper technique is very important.
Same knife angle, same pressure on the stone, same amount of passes on each side.
You have to learn how to avoid a " wire edge". People often think its the real edge, but it is only a weak burr, that quickly falls off.

My Son got me a new " lansky?" sharpener a few years back. It was a nice thought, but just cant stop loving the feel, and smells of my stones!