It's an art, not science. My dad taught me, and I still don't do a great job. My good fortune is that I have about 3 generations of stones that dad left behind, and I eventually get it right.

 

Lansky. The key is keeping the angle of the blade against the stone consistent.

 

I'll be happy to sharpen it for you for free, if you want to mail it to me. If not, buy yourself a Lansky or Smith's sharpening set, they work great. Personally, I think sharpening by hand is a natural talent, some of us just cannot maintain a consistent angle by eye.

 

Are you guys suggesting stones or the pull style? There is many options on the market even systems.... Someday I will be able to put a nice edge on a blade. But is it harder to start learning with something with too much abuse? Yes I'm hard on a knife, that is what they are made for.

Randy

 

http://www.amazon.com/Lansky-Deluxe.../B000B8IEA4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1387251081&sr=8-1&keywords=lansky+sharpeners

I agree it's the most cost effective system that works. It's stones with a jig to keep the angles.

 

I used to get my chisels perfect with a whetstone grinder. truly could shave the hairs off my arm with them.. but I must admit I am not so good with any of my other sharpening stones.....

 

PM rantingredneck. Y'all are close and I'm sure he'd show you if he has a spare few minutes.

 

The Lanskys work well. Put tape on the blade to stop accidental scratches if that matters to you. If they have a diamond version I would buy that over the stone version. They will stay flat forever. If you make it to winston-Salem, bring your blades and you can work with my Diamond stones while you get a lesson. My best advise is go to Goodwill or somplace where you can buy some cheap Chef Knives and practice with them till you get comfotable. One thing that will put the final edge on your blade is to polish/hone/strop it with a piece of leather glued to a board and charged with Green Chrome.

 

try this out:
http://www.carolinashootersclub.com/threads/153778-Build-your-own-strops!

 

If you can't get it right I guess the lansky method is fine. Try your old Boy Scout Manual. Just don't rush it and keep the blade cool. Oh and stay away from the bench grinder!!!http://www.carolinashootersclub.com/images/smilies/th_gun.gif

 

I know it may be sacrilege to some of you knife guys, but as third-generation woodworker (I'm just a hobbyist, but my Dad has been doing it professionally for 40 years), my favorite way to sharpen chisels and knives is with a stationary belt sander with a worn-down 220 grit belt. You can hold the blade at the perfect angle every time and let the belt do the work. While stones get the job done eventually, it takes too long if you've got stuff to do.

I second the comment to stay away from the bench grinder, unless you have some nicks you need to get out.

 

On the quick, get a sharpening system like the Lansky.

Or put in a lot of time on a stone. I prefer stones. But by this point, I can tell if it's right by listening to the blade. Fieldgrade is right, it's an art freehand.

 

Two suggestions. 1-Get a Spyderco Sharpmaker. I love mine and have used it to put an edge on all of my knives (The diamond stones are a good investment for repairning damaged edges and starting edges on extremely hard steels). 2- When using a flat stone, you can highlight the edge of your knife with a sharpie or some other marker and make a pass on the stone. The sharpie will wear away in the areas abraded by the stone and tell you if your angle is correct or not (highlight the edges as many times as necessary to find the angle). Practice and you will eventaully be able to reproduce that edge in the field with the minimum of gadgetry.

 

i just send mine back to spyderco or gerber or kershaw etc......5.00 ....dont get anymore professional

 

I'll be happy to sharpen it for you for free, if you want to mail it to me. If not, buy yourself a Lansky or Smith's sharpening set, they work great. Personally, I think sharpening by hand is a natural talent, some of us just cannot maintain a consistent angle by eye.

Fuelpiper...does that mean I too can pack up all my knives and sent them to you???..LOL

 

Get yourself a set of oil stones. They do take a bit longer, but the polished edge you get (especially if you strop the blade afterwards) is well worth it.

 

Get yourself a set of oil stones. They do take a bit longer, but the polished edge you get (especially if you strop the blade afterwards) is well worth it.

All my life my dad kept a sheath knife in his dresser drawer sharpened this way. It was so sharp I was afraid to pick it up.

He's been gone 18 years.

And I'm still scared to pick it up.

 

and strop it when your done to finish it off

 

PM rantingredneck. Y'all are close and I'm sure he'd show you if he has a spare few minutes.

This is what I was going to suggest, too. And check out the thread someone else posted of his re: strops.

 

and strop it when your done to finish it off

And or.... finish off with some fine polish (Flitz, SemiChrome, etc) with a soft cloth of some sort.

 

I prefer stones for several reasons. I have the DMT 6" Dia-Sharp Kit ( http://www.sharpeningsupplies.com/DMT-6-Dia-Sharp-Kit-P404C3.aspx ) and finish off with leather strops that I made, loaded with dia-paste compounds of progressively finer grits. The biggest thing is practice. You'll never get it right without a lot of practice, and you have to fight the frustration and urge to quit. The biggest problem that I had was not starting out on a coarse enough stone, for fear of ruining the blade. You just have to learn to get over it, especially with really dull blades, or when sharpening a knife that had a factory edge on it. Once you get consistent with sharpening this way, you can just touch up your blades as they get a bit dull. As with a lot of things, everyone does things differently. I couldn't take a knife that someone else has sharpened and just touch it up, because their technique will be different than mine and the angles will be different. That's why you need to start with a coarse stone, to set your particular angles accordingly.

Another trick I have found is to not count the strokes. Sharpen one side of the blade until it forms a burr on the other side of the blade (you can feel this by rubbing the other side of the blade backwards over your fingers). Then, sharpen the other side until you feel the burr. Keep doing this back and forth until the burr you feel is uniformly across the entire blade. Once this happens, you can move on to the next stone and repeat the process.

You can get quicker (not necessarily better) results from one of the kits mentioned above that set the angle for you. I feel like learning to do it on a stone is an invaluable skill that everyone should learn to do. Especially since stones can be kept more compactly and taken into the field for sharpening on the fly. Plus, that same technique can transfer over to using sandpaper and blocks of wood, leather strops, or even a flat river rock for when times get hard...

 

I'm soaking it all in right now. Maybe about 40 years left to learn this art. I'm leaning towards buy the system from Amazon, to get it back to spec. Then learning the stone method like a true craftsman. I don't mean to be like this but, I have a pretty good eye and pretty damn good at everything I do like this. Welding, machining, racing, engineering and etc. It's just one of those things that will take time to learn a age old art. If I can't make it happen a quick UPS box later and it will be done.

This Buck 110 have been a good knife but has no value to me other then what I paid for it. But will still practice on the drawer full of dull knifes. My cheap pull style sharpener does a ok job on crappy knifes, so they aren't bad but not great.

I will have to pick up some more band-aids!
Randy

 

I haven’t read all the post so it may have been mentioned. I too could not sharpen a knife. I bought a work sharp from Northern Tool and every knife I owned was scary sharp in minutes. Now the work sharp is not going to impress the knife sharpening purest that use spit and a rock to sharpen knifes, but damn if it doesn’t work.

 

I'm soaking it all in right now. Maybe about 40 years left to learn this art. I'm leaning towards buy the system from Amazon, to get it back to spec. Then learning the stone method like a true craftsman. I don't mean to be like this but, I have a pretty good eye and pretty damn good at everything I do like this. Welding, machining, racing, engineering and etc. It's just one of those things that will take time to learn a age old art. If I can't make it happen a quick UPS box later and it will be done.

This Buck 110 have been a good knife but has no value to me other then what I paid for it. But will still practice on the drawer full of dull knifes. My cheap pull style sharpener does a ok job on crappy knifes, so they aren't bad but not great.

I will have to pick up some more band-aids!
Randy

It's really not as hard as it seems. You'll pick it up faster than you think. I, for one, have never had any kind of success with the draw type sharpeners. So don't feel bad, it may just be that the equipment you are using is not right for you.

 

Gimme a holler and stop by. I'll sharpen and teach. It ain't as hard as it seems.

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