I bought a new Gerber folder, simply because it was on sale. You know how that goes. Being that it's new, it's quite stiff. It's been a while since I broke in my larger Gerber, so I don't remember what kind of lubricant I used. Any suggestions? I have WD-40, PB Blaster, RemOil, 3-n-1 oil, motor oil in various weights, etc. What would be best to use, that hopefully won't attract too much pocket lint and dirt?

Also, I've seen the guys at gun shows sharpening knives on what looks like a buffing wheel. What is it, exactly, and can it be used by an amateur without screwing up a knife? I looked around the hardware store for a wheel that said it was for sharpening knives, but they all said they were for buffing. Any suggestions here?

Thanks!!

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3 in one oil is good, use sparingly.

for sharpening I use ceramic sticks.

jed

I use whatever oil I'm using on my guns, sparingly. I bought a gatco sharpening set that holds the blade at the correct angle. Gatco: Sharpeners

The buffing wheels are for polishing. The knifemakers I know use belt sanders, such as a Bader, with different grits for shaping and sharpening.

DO NOT sharpen on a wheel! You will probably ruin the blade's temper and mess up the edge bevels.

Use ceramic hones.

I don't know which model Gerber you have. I did have to have a professional cutler (custom maker) hone my Applegate-Fairbairns, as they weren't too sharp as sold.

Out of the box, Victorinox knives seem to consistently have the best edges. Fallkniven also sells very sharp -and good- knives. You pay for them, but they're good! My SOG SEAL 2000 is also good, as is a Muela copy of the SOG. The SEAL 2000 and some Fallkniven knives have also passed very severe US and Swedish government trials, which is a comforting thought.

Puma used to be excellent; may still be, although quality seems to have dropped in recent years.

T-Star

If you want to sharpen your own knives, get a Spyderco Sharpmaker. Very easy to use, gives a very nice edge, and will sharpen darn near everything.

If you order one, go ahead and get the diamond rods (for serious edge re-beveling) and the ultra fine rods (for when you want one of those scary sharp edges.)

I've never been able to do much good with any other system I've tried, especially free hand. With the Sharpmaker, one you get the hang of it making you knives shaving sharp isn't even a challenge.

Also try bladeforums.com in the maintenance section. Lots of good info on blade sharpening there. Probably more than you ever really wanted to know.

Sentry TUF is what I like. Little bottle lasts a long time. Might just be that your knife needs some use to loosen up a bit.

I like the simple pull through Lansky sharpener for maintaining a working edge. It doesn't really do shaving sharp well, but works fine for keeping an edge up for more mundane tasks. Pretty simply to use too.

Everything depends on the steel used. What works on carbon, fails on D2...so you almost have to learn differing techniques depending on the blade...

My 2 cents, ...

giz

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For oils I use 3-one oil for my knives

I use a series of Arkansas and Japanese whetstones to sharpen my blades and have a belt grinder for when I need to re-contour an edge. I just recently had to polish my 8" Deba knife to take a knick out of the blade and it took about 4 hours of working it with Japanese stones but it was well worth it as the edge has a fine polish. There is no modern sharpening system that can do that sort of work.

Edit-
The sharpening wheels you talk of are cardboard wheels used with a carbide powder and varying grades of rouge.
http://users.ameritech.net/knives/paper.htm

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Guy-Harold Smith II

Hard to beat the ol 3 n 1 oil. For sharpening I use my set of Arkansas stones.