Knife sharpening

[JediJackBauer83]

Has anyone got any tips on sharpening knifes?

 

[oldsarge]

What type of blade do you have. If you don't have much experience with sharpening, I suggest you try picking up a Lansky or Gatco sharpening system. It will make things easier until you get squared away with a good sharpening technique. I do most of my sharpening by hand but use the Lansky system on certain knives. You should get some good replies here and go with what works for you. How long have you been working with knives?

 

[Michael]

The first thing to accept about learning to sharpen knives by hand is that you should know that you're going to mess up. You'll go through your process, come to the end... and have a dull knife. Don't let that frustrate you. Just try again.

When you're sharpening a knife, you're matching the angle of a bevel with your stone. You're trying to get that bevel to sit as flat as possible on the stone, and then you're wearing it away to leave a sharper edge. In that way, it's sort of like sharpening a pencil, although obviously with a much harder material.

You begin with a coarse stone and move toward fine. Spend some time with the coarse stone to really get the edge the way you want it. Then move finer from there. How many steps finer? It's up to you.

Myself, I have a coarse, fine, and extra fine stone. I dip the stones repeatedly in water to remove grit as I go.

Now, this is very vague. That's because there are tons of ways to sharpen. You can strop, do a sort of reverse strop. You can make little circles. You can go lengthwise on the blade. They all work if you practice at them. And that's the key: Find what works for you and practice it until you're good at it.

 

[Refrigerator]

BUCK

http://www.bestsharpeningstones.com/

 

[sticks]

Knife Sharpening by Steve Bottorff- Sharpening Made Easy

Scroll down about a third of the page and you will see chapter listings...I suggest you find a shop in town to true up your knives because as someone else said, you are going to screw them up. I know I did...
1. shop around for a good price 2. find a store that has been around for many years with a good reputation.

The best advice I found is to imagine you are trying to whittle a shaving off the stone as you sharpen. This gets you to the 22.5° you want. I use nothing but oil stones for my pocket knife, a steel for the kitchen knives with an occasional truing on the stones. I do use DMTs for a fast edge but it dulls quickly. IMO ceramic ruins a knife.

 

[oldsarge]

BUCK

Best Sharpening Stones

Just watched the video. What a great piece of equipment! A little too pricey for me but I'd definitely would like to own one some day. Same principle as the Gatco and Lansky systems but way more refined and accurate in holding that correct angle. Thanks for the video!

 

[oldsarge]

Knife Sharpening by Steve Bottorff- Sharpening Made Easy

Scroll down about a third of the page and you will see chapter listings...I suggest you find a shop in town to true up your knives because as someone else said, you are going to screw them up. I know I did...
1. shop around for a good price 2. find a store that has been around for many years with a good reputation.

The best advice I found is to imagine you are trying to whittle a shaving off the stone as you sharpen. This gets you to the 22.5° you want. I use nothing but oil stones for my pocket knife, a steel for the kitchen knives with an occasional truing on the stones. I do use DMTs for a fast edge but it dulls quickly. IMO ceramic ruins a knife.

Not a big fan of ceramics myself. I think the best way to go is to get a few cheap knives and learn that way. I don't like having others sharpen my knives. I feel you are much better off learning to maintain your own equipment.

 

[CozInCowtown]

A decent $10 medium Arkansas bench stone will do 90% of what you need.
YouTube has some good videos on sharpening basics.
***Great Link Refrigerator!!***
DC