I said hone , not just sharpen . I like my knives to be able to shave the hair off my arm . I have a Smith's kit which does the trick , and I have my dads Buck kit . It has the two Arkansas stones , but I am not very good with it . Just looking for some input on how other people do it .

Been through it all, spyderco, arkansas stones, water stones etc etc .... then i found paper wheels. Saves me soooo much time. 1 minute or less per knife and when I am doing all of my wife's kitchen knives, the stones took toooooo long. Now I can do ten knives in five to ten minutes. Razor sharp.

Work Sharp. I've got several types of sharpeners and stones but none are as efficient as my Work Sharp. Razor edge in about a minute on a dull blade. Touch ups take seconds.

__________________
God spelled backwards is dog.

I use at couple of stones,crock sticks and a leather strop with some metal polish.I was so rusty that I made a little wood wedge of 20° so I could set the knife consistently on the stones-worked great

Lots of folks strop. If you are looking for a system look at KME, folks I respect swear by it. I use a Work Sharp Ken Onion, it's good and fast but you want to practice on junk blades first, until you get the technique down.

Check out some of the videos posted by Knives Ship Free on sharpening. They are my go to knife shop.

__________________
Even older, even crankier....

I still use my Loray system I bought back in 81'.........pre-Lansky days! Works like a champ still.

Three key factors in sharpening/honing a cutting edge:
1. insure that you use the same angle on every stroke on both sides
2. use the same number of strokes on both sides
Finish off each side with a light stroke with a fine stone to remove the burr.

...and THINK LANSKY.

I could never sharpen a knife worth a flip...Until I got my Lansky system. I've worn out three of them.

__________________
Real men love cats!

My dad could put a razor edge on a railroad spike....never inherited that skill. Lansky does it for me as well. Think Dad would approve.....
Randy
PS. Am on my second set and they are getting tired...on to the third set.

Used to be a barber. Sharpen a straight razor?? Oh yeah...sharpen a knife? Not on a bet. I do use a Lansky and a Loray and they are ok. Bought one of those Work Sharps and while they look good on the video I haven't used it yet. Looks like it can grind a lot of metal off real quick like. Course me and sharp metal don't get along so well anyway

my dreamshot honing rig would be an Arkansas stone 4 inches wide and 10 feet in length.
You'd then establish the angle of the bevel and maintain that as you walk along.
thats is most often the first source of frustration is in maintaining that angle. its exceedingly difficult to do on a small stone.

next secret is pressure. You should always be progressing to a lighter touch as you hone.

if you can find a way to satisfy both pressure and angle , you can achieve surgical edges

__________________
it just needs more voltage

I have struggled with sharpening for years - went through stones, diamond plates, sandpaper etc etc. Got fed up about 6 months ago and took the deep dive into this & built a cart for it:



Then I added this 4000 grit stone which makes the system really shine:



Lou

__________________
Lou

I hand sharpen with a set of Arkansas stones, only I use mineral oil instead of water.

__________________
James L. "Jim" Rhiner

I have and sharpen straight razors, so I sharpen my knives the same way. I have a slab of marble and have strips of sand paper from 120 grit to 50K microns. A flat grind is all I do. Your edge should be a mirror edge. I also use a microscope that's attached to my computer For hollow grind knives, i use a brace, from Japan. This is the easiest, most sure I've ever used and I've tried stones and machines and Lansky, etc.

__________________
USMC Life-GOA IDPA A10051

I use a belt grinder with a strop belt and a hard buffing wheel for a mirror polished edges on my tools.

__________________
Regards,
Guy-Harold Smith II

I've got a top of the line Lansky diamond and it's better and faster than stones or sticks to me but the design could really be improved. It will make a knife plenty sharp in 8 - 12 minutes so I guess I shouldn't complain, but it seems like a first year engineering student could come up with a better design.

I have a Spyderco Sharpmaker with the optional diamond and ultra fine ceramic rods. The ultra fine ceramic will put a polished edge on any steel I've tried. Usually I'm satisfied with the edge the standard fine ceramic rods give me. The Sharpmaker overcomes my lack of skill.

There is an additional benefit to fine Arkansas stones, like in the Buck kits. Use the edge of one to smooth out the finish on the middle of the front of a magazine for a Browning High Power pistol and it improves the trigger pull. The magazine disconnector pushes against the magazine and smoothing out the area with the Arkansas stone where the disconnector presses is a cheap and easy fix for the trigger pull.

I have no doubt the Work Safe & other wheels & belts get the job done lickety split. But I like to use my stones spend the time. It's just relaxing to sit & work on the blades.

I don't put as much of an edge on my wife's kitchen knives as I do my carry knives. She likes the way the cut tomatoes, but hates having band aids on her fingers.

Smith kits are the best thing for sharpening knives I've ever seen. I have the job of sharpening knives for everyone in our hunt club.

__________________
I'm 67. I don't do timeouts.

Thanks for the input guys . CCHGN , where did you get that brace ? I would be willing to try my Arkansas stones if I had something to keep the right angle . MSTEM , I have a Smith kit also , it does put an edge on a knife , just looking for some other possibilities out there .

I like Arkansas stones and ceramic rods. Then I finish off with a leather strop. The problem with wheel grinders and Work Sharp's are that they will take away a lot of metal each time you sharpen, and your blades won't last as long.

Stones may take longer but it's much easier to get a feel for and maintain an angle. Keep your hand steady at 18-20 degrees and use lots of honing oil.

__________________
Ephesians 6 (Armor of God)

The size of the blade influences which tools are appropriate. Using power gets large knives sharpened fast without wearing them down too much. However, sharpening an average size old fashioned pocket knife with power once kicks its condition down out of collectible status. The blades on well made ones are just too thin for hogging off metal with electricity. Most never need more than touching up with a hard Arkansas sharpening stone followed by finer stones or a leather strop for a true shaving edge.

A zillion years ago I tried one of the wedge shaped guides that clamp on the back of the blade. IIRC the brand of mine was Buck. Using one you still have to raise the handle to sharpen the forward cured portion of the bade. That's the harder part to hold a consistent angle on stroke after stroke so I did not bother with mine for long.

The original question was how do we get a very sharp edge. I use progressively finer rectangular flat stones ending with a translucent natural Arkansas stone. For large knives that need their bevel reworked I start with gray hardware store stones. It is not hard to get a shaving edge.

My sharpener-fu is weak. I have a Smith kit, but have never really bonded with it. I have a variety of stones, but for a long time got my best edges with an Eze-Lap diamond hone.

My best results so far come from a Worksharp Guided Field sharpener. It is fairly compact, not quite pocketable. It has coarse and fine diamond surfaces, a ceramic rod and a patch of leather for stropping. On most knives, I can get a shaving edge pretty reliably. I have also found that a shaving edge does not necessarily mean a knife will cut other materials well.

There are a lot of things I still have not tried, and I still have a lot to learn.

__________________
Not in jail.

I use a stone I bought at the commercial butcher supply house, then I use a hone the old barber in Lead SD used to sharpen His straight razors. He gave it to Me when I was 14 or 15 and told Him I would like to really sharpen My solingen steel knife. This hone says Franz Swaty Vormals, Marburg Austria. It gets the edge ready for the ceramic sharpening rod that looks like a steel, only ceramic. I sharpen knives for a lot of Gun Club Members and Neighbors. Some of them get nasty cuts being stupid with a razor edge. I clean the ceramic and the hone with Barkeeps friend liquid I get at wally world.

After sharpening I fine tune(hone) it on a leather whetter that I made from
a leather belt.

__________________
S&W Accumulator

I need to learn how to do a better job sharpening my knives. This is a product that was recommended to me:

Knife Sharpening Kit | Aligner Guided Sharpeners | DMT Diamond Sharpening

__________________
Miss My Buddy crsides!!

PM incoming... I have a couple of the braces your welcome to one of them.. And it appears we live down the road from each other.

__________________
SWCA #2306
DAV in honor of POP

Those of you that have a problem using stones and holding the proper angle, didn't you ever whittle? Make a feather stick? Shave some tinder for a fire?

All great practice for drawing a knife across a stone at the proper angle.

__________________
James L. "Jim" Rhiner

Depending on the knife / steel, I'll use anything from a Norton Crystolon followed by India, Shapton Glass water stones, DMT diamond plates, or Spyderco ceramic bench stones...all freehand...or if seeking to go beyond freehand I have an Edge Pro Apex.

Controlling the angle and being able to replicate it from stroke to stroke, working until you create a (full length) burr first on one side and then the other, and then properly removing the burr is the secret of creating a lasting sharp edge.

__________________
642-1, M&P15 TS

when doing the kitchen knives use a sharpener w/ carbide and then turn the dial, hone the knife agin. the knives i carry, lansky, or by hand. or a stone, on a different grade grit, denpending on edge. then finish w/ emery paper. took out my old K BAR that i sharpened years ago, just keep it lubed good. thought i'd check if the top 2" blade edge, of course i bled for a while. suggestion, use a marker on the cutting edge, it shows your progress/ sharping, just use the marker when you want to check the edge and when doing the finish sharpening procedure. sometimes i also lap it on a leather belt.

First off , wanted to thank ditrina for giving me a brace . He saw this , pmed me , and we met up . Where else can you get a response like you can here ? I have bought more than a few Smiths here , I have emailed some of you , and I have talked to some of you , and it makes me feel good to know there's a place like this you can go to and feel like part of a family . Thanks to all of you

There was a guy on the now defunct Ann Coulter site who was a "polisher". Some of his pics were amazing. He was a Kimber carry guy so he's on that site now.

I use 2x72 belts on a mounted belt grinder and a slack wheel set up. 2 2" wheels with no platen in between. I work up through the grits going as high as 1200 grit, Then I go to a 2x72 leather belt that has pink rouge worked into it. My grinders have VFD so I can set the belt speed to a crawl if I want. Angle is all about practice. I like to keep my knives razor sharp, when I travel to a job, I take a 2x6 double diamond lap that has a holder. One side is medium the other fine, I also have a piece of oak that has a piece of think leather on it and rouge for the final polish. All goes in a small bag. Most jobs I spend time sharping other peoples knives, good will and some good presents.

There are several ways to create a razor edge on a knife. It I start with a bad blade, I use the Lansky sharpener to create the same angle on both aides of the blade. I have diamond hones for my Lansky. The secret is to get to a point where is a burr the length of the blade on one side then get a burr on the other side. I then run the edge at the same angle on a black Arkansas stone to take the burrs off. I made a strop by gluing an old belt with the rough side up to a piece of wood. A paint stirrer works. I rub some polishing compound on the leather then draw the blade over the strop away from the edge. This will polish the edge and it will shave.


I have made knives for years and this is how I finish the edge.


look at the edge on this. Notice the the angle of the edge is the same.

__________________
Corripe Cervisiam

RAZOR SHARP EDGEMAKING SYSTEM is how I do it and have for the past 7-8 years. I used stones and leather stropping which has a pretty good learning curve. Now the paper wheels and the learning curve was short and simple. There are many videos on "the TUBE" on using them but a couple are very useful for the newbie for setting angles, pressure etc. I lost my bag of grit for renew the cutting wheel and found the same grit at a hobby store that is used for polishing rocks etc. A small box was cheap and would far out last the life of the wheel. The honing wheel should last almost forever.

I will also recommend the paper wheel system. I had one and used it for a while. But, there are a couple things you need to be careful doing with it. The angle. Learning to keep the proper constant angle on a round wheel takes practice, especially as you draw a curved edge over it. Height is important, be able to look directly down on the contact point. Cool the blade in water after every pass, the wheel speed is high and will quickly head a thin edge, if that thin edge goes over about 425-450 it will lose some of its hardness. If it turns blue you wrecked it, unless you take a bunch of edge off and start over! Only apply slight even pressure. I always lift the tip of when sharping before hitting the edge, on stones, belts or wheels, But on powered stuff it is more important if you want a good tip.

Wear good magnification glasses under strong light. Look for that feather on the edge, get it down the entire length and going from one side to the other as you switch sides. Then go to your honing system and polish away the feather alternating sides. Keep the same angle honing, If you don't you will hone off a little bit of the fine edge and lose some sharpness.

Angle depends on blade and use. Fine slicer to chopper. I don't care what your steel is if you have a real acute angle and wack it into something fairly hard your either going to get a bit of edge roll or chipping. An edge I am going to shave with or slice tomatoes isn't going to hold up chopping down brush or to baton wood. An ax may be sharp enough to shave some hair, but it better have some meat right behind that edge.

Menard's has $10 off worksharp this week for fathers day.

https://www.menards.com/main/p-14957...m=flyer_hosted

__________________
God spelled backwards is dog.

I have tried to read this thread carefully but I have a question.

At my age and in the condition of my health, I am not gonna invest in a bunch of sharpening things.

But I have a Sharpmaker and it gets my knives really sharp.

With one exception-my vintage Chicago Cutlery kitchen and paring knives. Sharp, but not very.

I am thinking of buying a set of the Ultra-Fine Stones for the Sharpmaker-about $35 delivered.

Does that make sense to those of you with lots more experience than me?

Bob

I've never used a Sharpmaker but are you using the same angle on the kitchen knives? From my experience pocket knives should be held usually somewhere between 15-20 degrees. Kitchen/paring knives are about 10 degrees for sharpening.

__________________
Ephesians 6 (Armor of God)

Do not do that!

I have a Sharpmaker with both optional diamond and ultra fine ceramic rods. I also have a couple of dozen Chicago Cutlery kitchen knives dating to the late 1980s early 1990s.

Most likely what has happened to your knives over the years is you have worn off the primary cutting edge to the point that you are cutting with a thicker portion of the blade.

What you need to do is re-profile your blade using the 30 degree Sharpmaker slots. The brown standard stones can do this, but the optional CBN or diamond rods will make the job easier. Use a black Sharpie to mark your edge and make sure you are getting a clean apex. Once you have a 15 degree per side apex you can move on the finer rods. After you are happy with your 30 degree edge set your fine rods to the 40 degree slots and give it a few strokes on each side; this will make your edge last a bit longer.

Sal Glesser's Sharpmaker video is on You Tube if you do not have one. He touches on reprofiling in it. You Tube has a wealth of knife sharpening videos. That is where I found out about the Sharpie technique.

You will be better off investing in diamond or CBN rods than the ultra fine rods. The ultra fine rods are more for putting a highly polished edge on knives.

Use a light touch and let the rods do the work.

I've never had anything fancy to sharpen a knife , no power grinders , wheels etc . I always have and always will use my arkansas stone and a bit of honing oil . When branding time came around , a good sharp knife served well for ear marking and cutting the bull calves . Hair is hard on the edge , My old case knife , back when they were made in the USA held an edge the best . But I still would stop for a minute to bring the edge back . I find that stropping on my levi's works as good as a piece of leather . Guess there was some fine dust (Az or NM dust )imbedded in the fabric .
Regards, Paul

kwelske: I am sure you are right. So sure that I went right back to the Sharpmaker to try the 30 angle but ran into a little problem.

I ain't got no angle like that. Just two holes for the stones in my Sharpmaker, plus the one on the front and the one in the back. I bought this relatively soon after they came out, early to mid-90s and never gave a thought to it being out of date.

Imagine my surprise when I went to YouTube and saw four, rather than two, slot in the top of the Sharpmaker.

Gotta get a new plan.

Bob

If you hand sharpen and can't get your head around 20 degrees try folding a piece of paper in half. Now fold one 90 degree corner back on itself and get 45 degrees. Fold back again and get a 22 1/2 degree wedge. Close enough for me.

__________________
On the whistle draw and fire 6

sharpening a knife to shave the hair on your face or arm depends on the angle the blade is honed to .. strapping the blade when done will remove the jagged edge if still attached .. My Dad could do a blade in just a matter of minutes while it takes me much longer .. It's kind of like having a knack to do it ..

I know guys who have never been able to sharpen a knife .. for them buy a good electric knife sharpener with honing blades as a last step ..
the better ones do a good to excellent job ..

Wickededge for me.

__________________
Rush

It amazes me that no one has mentioned using a steel to maintain a sharp edge. That's all we used in slaughter houses years ago.

__________________
Keeping America Moving

I re-profiled my two 10" Walnut Traditions Chef's knives using a large fine diamond DMT bench-stone. After that I invested in diamond rods for the Sharpmaker. A new Sharpmaker and diamond rods will set you back about $100. A DMT bench-stone like mine is probably $65 to $85. I have a tremor and the Sharpmaker is far easier for me to use than freehand stones. I also maintain about 80 knives. If you only have a couple of knives to re-profile you might find a service to do it, if you do not want to invest in additional gear.

Attached Images

SM-DMT-Chi-Cut rs.jpg (223.6 KB, 23 views)

Once understood you will be able to "eyeball" the angle & use just about anything: shoes, belts, ceramic coffee mugs, a piece of floor tile, diamond impregnated doo dads, steels, rods, smooth rocks, to the most expensive high tech kits. I've got a drawer full. My favorite are probly the set of Japanese water stones from an add in the back of wood worker magazine. What I use most OFTEN is a 1 1/2" corner of floor tile. IMO Manscaping is not required to tell if a knife is sharp. If the edge is "sticky" sharp & catches when drug across a finger nail, you are there. Probly a jillion you-tube videos on how to do it "right". The key to KEEPING a good edge sharp is by NOT putzing around with your knife shaving arm hair and such. Use it when needed & how it should be, IT AINT a hammer or pry bar. The Marines did not teach you how to sharpen a knife??? Good luck.

A Lansky steel and a ceramic rod from a streetlight bulb serve my house and work knife needs.
My challenge is getting the finished edge on my mower blades, axes and machetes.

After many years of poor sharpening skills and lots of money spent on pricy "systems and contraptions" (some work on some knives but I've never really found a system that works excellent on all sizes and shapes) I was hell bent on teaching myself the proper way to sharpen and hone a knife on a series of 3 Arkansas Stones by hand.

I purchased a medium, hard and extra hard set of stones from Dan's Whetsone's along with honing oil suitable for kitchen knives (non toxic). They are 2" x 10" and come in wooden boxes. Had I known then what I know now I'd have bought the 3" width - but so be it.

It took me a few days of trial and error methods but I finally got it down pat! Now I can take just about any old knife and have it shaving the hair off my arm within 20 minutes or so. With my 23 pc. set of Wusthof kitchen knives, I only go up to the hard stone and forgo the extra hard as it is not necessary at all for general kitchen usage. I leave the super duper shaving edges for hunting knives and my EDC pocket knife. I can also resharpen scalpels and tools I use around my workshop pretty fast as well. I have become the unofficial neighborhood knife sharpener but enjoy doing it for friends and neighbors and it keeps my skill level up.

This does take practice and there is definitely a learning curve - however it is WELL WORTH the minor ordeal! Not only will you never again have to spend money on "systems and gadgets" again but you will truly understand the dynamics of blade sharpening and honing! Once you understand exactly what you are setting out to do - it makes it much easier.

In an emergency situation I've even been able to sharpen a knife using a cement block and a brick. Obviously not shaving sharp but sharp enough to use outdoors for general purposes.

THE HONING PART:

For the actual honing after the final sharpening on the extra hard Arkansas stone, I use a canvas and a leather strop. I apply a little rouge to the leather for a final honing and then the blade is as sharp as it will ever get.

NOTE: When away from your workshop or where ever you sharpen your knives, a quick "honing" can be effectively accomplished stropping the knife
on your jeans 25 times for each side, alternating the knife side each time. It works very well however it needs to be done with caution obviously.