OT - Anyone sharpen their own knives? Looking for advice.

oneheadlite

oneheadlite

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Hey Gang

Was curious if anyone on here does their own knife sharpening?

We've got a set of pretty decent knives that are definitely due for some attention. I was originally planning on just bringing them in to get professionally sharpened; but having long been thinking about learning how to do my own sharpening it feels like now would be a good time to learn.

I'm drawn to learning how to do whetstone sharpening. Seems like it would be a very zen process, and also feels like it would be less likely to go drastically awry.

The belt style sharpeners are interesting, but I worry that there's more of a learning curve to get that right.

I've also seen the style with ceramic rods with angle guides where you pull the blade through to sharpen (one side at a time) - given the edge on some of our knives I'm wondering if it would be a challenge to get a uniform edge back that way.

We've got one of the V shaped "scraper" sharpeners that the previous owner left, definitely looking for something better for the knife than that. My wife has used it on one of our knives, and it's clear that's not the way to go...


Looking for any good resources to learn more about the process and what equipment to look at. Don't want to spend a fortune, but also wanna make sure to get good stuff to work with.
 
I used to wet stone and got to a point that I was pretty good I thought, definitely improved the edges. I cook a lot, hunt,fish and always carry a knife and my best advice if you have quality knives a good pro will do a much better job that’ll last and preserve the edge angles a lot better. Now the trick is finding someone who does it, I live in a area of more than 9 million people and can count on 1 hand on pros in the business.

No matter what method you try I’d suggest a cut resistant glove until you figure out the motions, I definitely think it is a worthwhile skill to learn. It’s also difficult in the sense your first instinct is to try on a cheap knife but the cheap steel acts differently than quality steel
 
I use whetstones to sharpen knives and razors. My favorite stones are expensive but last a long time. I have Japanese, Arkansas, and jasper stones. My latest stone purchase is from Natural Whetstones | Sharpening Stone | Knife & Razor Sharpening | Axe Sharpener. Check out the website, Gabe's videos on sharpening and you can join some sharpening groups on Facebook. I like Jasper and Japanese stones for the hardness and cutting ability. All the best!
 
Personally, I've used the Lansky sharpener and the Spyderco Sharpmaker. I also have an electric sharpener for kitchen knives.

The Lansky system became a pain trying to keep clamped onto the knives. It's otherwise ok but it drove me to try the Sharpmaker.

The Spyderco Sharpmaker is pretty easy to use and has been my go-to. It has fixed 30 and 40 degree angles. What I did find is that following the guidance on use resulted in a burr that wasn't removed so I ended up flipping it over and using like a whetstone to remove that.

The electric sharpener (Chef's Choice 15 Trizor XV) is pretty easy but can scratch the sides of the knives a little so if you're particular about their looks, it may not be the best option.
 
I have been sharpening all of my own knives on a whetstone for 30+ years.

I have used all kinds of stones, but I have had the Buck "Tri-stone" system for about 10 or more years now. It has three different stones set into a triangle that you can flip on the base.

Stone one is a coarse diamond stone meant to quickly remove material for severely neglected edges. (Like a heavy compound for us 'Geeks)

Stone two is a fine diamond stone meant to refine the edge. (Like a polish.)

Stone three is an Arkansas soap stone meant to really get your blades to that "razors edge". (Like a jeweling polish.). Lol.


The key to using the stones is not so much getting the angle exactly perfect, but rather the consistency of your angle with each pass. This is what takes practice/muscle memory.

Chilly had some great advice above on one method of learning this.
 
BMD2021 said:
I use whetstones to sharpen knives and razors. My favorite stones are expensive but last a long time. I have Japanese, Arkansas, and jasper stones. My latest stone purchase is from Natural Whetstones | Sharpening Stone | Knife & Razor Sharpening | Axe Sharpener. Check out the website, Gabe's videos on sharpening and you can join some sharpening groups on Facebook. I like Jasper and Japanese stones for the hardness and cutting ability. All the best!
Click to expand...

Peddle your crap elsewhere, SPAM boy!!

:spam4:
 
Thanks all for the advice so far! I've got reading to do...

PaulMys said:
I have been sharpening all of my own knives on a whetstone for 30+ years.

I have used all kinds of stones, but I have had the Buck "Tri-stone" system for about 10 or more years now. It has three different stones set into a triangle that you can flip on the base.

Stone one is a coarse diamond stone meant to quickly remove material for severely neglected edges. (Like a heavy compound for us 'Geeks)

Stone two is a fine diamond stone meant to refine the edge. (Like a polish.)

Stone three is an Arkansas soap stone meant to really get your blades to that "razors edge". (Like a jeweling polish.). Lol.


The key to using the stones is not so much getting the angle exactly perfect, but rather the consistency of your angle with each pass. This is what takes practice/muscle memory.

Chilly had some great advice above on one method of learning this.
Click to expand...

To put it into 'Geek terms, my wife's Daily Driver rates about the same as a black lease return that lived a life of tunnel washes... :doh:

(I know, I should be ashamed...)
 
I use the Gatco sharpening system much like the
Lansky however the stones are wider.
There are others similar to the two above for
more $$.
With the Gatco system, I can sharpen my kitchen knives
and pocket knife to shave the hair off my arm.
 
Jim w said:
With the Gatco system, I can sharpen my kitchen knives
and pocket knife to shave the hair off my arm.
Click to expand...

Just your arm, Jim?

No "Manscaping"? :laughing::laughing:
 
chilly said:
…
One thing I would avoid is the drag through sharpeners that have carbide cutters and a pair of ceramic crossed sticks

They will work but the carbide can take off a lot of metal at a time and can also "chatter" and leave tiny ripples in an edge

The secret is never let your knives get so dull that you NEED the carbide cutters

Sorry, I tend to go off on this subject as I have been a knife nut for over 6 decades
Click to expand...

No need to apologize! I really appreciate all the input. It’s something I’ve been interested in but have never known where to start looking, and I value the forum peeps here as we tend to care about most things at a different level than most.

Unfortunately the drag through carbide cutter you describe is what has made a mess of one of our knives, and that’s exactly the condition I’ll be trying to work it back from.

I’ll just need to be careful and make sure I don’t end up going the route I go sometimes in regards to practicing detailing where I focus so much on perfecting my technique on anything but my car instead of actually working on getting my car how I want it!
(IE: Don’t go buy a knife to practice on, just take that knife that I don’t think can get much worse and work on turning it around!)

John
 
I bought a TSPROF K03.

It is the tier 1 guided sharpener system.
Better than Wicked Edge, Hapstone, Edge Pro, Lansky, Worksharp etc.

It uses a sort of universal stone size, so you can find almost any stone you can think of. Even Naniwa Chosera, Shapton Glass, and other of the best Japanese stones you'd want.

I'll try to come back and post pics of my setup, but after you figure out how the thing works, you can get wonderful results after about 15 minutes per knife.

Edit:
Here's the one I got:
TSProf K03 Standard Expert Knife Sharpener - Gritomatic

Started with just the basic boride stones, then caught the bug and assembled a kit of 9 fancy stones.

Knife sharpening is much like paint correction when you get down to it.
 
opie said:
Trim the hedges and the tree stands taller

Sent from my SM-G973U using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

When you have a redwood there’s no need to
trim the the hedges "and that’s all I have to say
about that."
 
Jim w said:
When you have a redwood there’s no need to
trim the the hedges "and that’s all I have to say
about that."
Click to expand...
Haha, i was using a sales pitch qoute from the creators of manscaped

Sent from my SM-G973U using Tapatalk
 
Here's a follow up to my above post.

I still use the sharpie method to dial in the angle and mounting.

Having a capable sharpening system has made me much more willing to use my nice knives to their potential.
Don't have to worry about keeping that factory edge, because the edge you can end up with is superior.

I know you can freehand, but I don't have the time, patience, or natural ability to learn the skill yet.
So, a small investment in a bullet-proof system has been well worth it.

The TSProf K03 is built like a tank. No plastic or fiddly parts.
Totally over engineered and over built. Idiot proof, thank goodness.
I've tried the Worksharp Ken Onion, Lansky, free-hand, pull through, etc and just never got good results until this machine.

The TSProf uses the "Edge-Pro" style stone. Its just a stone glued to an aluminum blank. The Edge Pro, Hapstone, TSProf and maybe other systems can use this stone, so its not proprietary like the Wicket Edge, and other systems. Its like the "Glock" or "ONR" of stones.
Lots of places cut down the good stones and mount them, so you can get just about any stone you want.
Get them these places:

All 6" Stones - Gritomatic
Shapton Stones For the Edge Pro
1x6 Hapstone


TSProf K03:
axuHZ5g.jpg


You can dial in the exact angle you want, then just go to town:
Qh0xgZ0.jpg


My favorite part: the Stones.
Its like buying a bunch of different polishes.
Shapton Glass 220
Shapton Glass 500
Shapton Glass 6,000
Suehiro Cerax 320
Edge Pro Diamond Matrix 650
Edge Pro Diamond Matrix 2,300
Naniwa Chosera 800
Naniwa Chosera 3000
Leather strop

My favorite combo for a every day carry pocket knife is
500 grit then 6,000 grit. Leaves a toothy edge, but polished for the best of both worlds
nstjnK3.jpg


Here's a "before" on one of my pocket knives. You can see the sort of unintentional microbevel from not getting dialed in and using an inferior system:
hOkPmrQ.jpg


And an "after". Think this was post 800-grit:
dp6iHMz.jpg
 
craigdt said:
Here's a "before" on one of my pocket knives. You can see the sort of unintentional microbevel from not getting dialed in and using an inferior system:
hOkPmrQ.jpg


And an "after". Think this was post 800-grit:
dp6iHMz.jpg
Click to expand...

What did you use to take these photos?
 
MisterSnoop said:
What did you use to take these photos?
Click to expand...


Just one of the generic ~$40 bluetooth magnifiers from Amazon.

It was actually very helpful, early on, to see what exactly is going on during the sharpening process.
In addition to the sharpie method, helps you dial in your angle, incase you are just grinding on the shoulder, and not actually sharpening the edge.
 
Craigdt - What a system! Hard not to be envious. :D

And boy, after seeing your close ups I'm having one of those "Well, If I had a Porsche, why would I not bring it to SizzleChest?" kinda moments - feeling like I just wanna box up my knife block and pay to have you do it! :wow:

Thanks for sharing. That's definitely more than I'm looking to invest at this time, but good to know about for sure.

That did also cover one of the things I was wondering - What the best way to inspect your edge is so you know what's going on. My eyesight's not terrible, but it's a pretty small scale you're working on...
 
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