Share Your Sharpening Advice - The Catch-All Thread!

[ncrockclimb]

Over the last few months I have scoured this forum’s archives in an effort to learn how to improve my sharpening technique. There is a TON of great information, but it is spread out over a large number of threads. I thought that it might be cool if everyone posted their sharpening advice in one thread. To be clear, my motivation is not totally altruistic; as the new guy here I have a lot more to learn than I have to offer!

Here is my advice (learned from another thread on this site).
- Use a Sharpie to color your blade while you are sharpening. By seeing where the ink is being removed, you can evaluate what parts of the blade you are missing. This helped me a TON when learning to use my Sharpmaker.
- Sharpening is a craft. It requires both knowledge about what works and practice to get it right. Keep studying and working on your technique, and be patient.

That’s all I’ve got. What do you have to share?

[Jazz]

I freehand, and the key is turn your body into a jig so you can hold the angle steady (easier to show you than explain). If you don't keep the angle the same you're just wasting time and rounding off the edge. Lots will disagree, but I use a steel to align my edges periodically. Works on all but the hardest steels. Practice practice practice.

[bearfacedkiller]

I will start by saying that in order to master sharpening you must understand the concepts and what the end goals are before you can sharpen. People often want to know what number of strokes or passes it will take and there truly is no step by step in that way. You need to be able to test sharpness and know where you are at as you progress through the process.

Sharp by my definition is nothing more than a cleanly apexed edge that is composed of fresh new undamaged steel. This can be achieved at a very course grit or a very fine grit but both are sharp. Sharp is a cleanly apexed edge and the degree of finish is defined as the level of refinement. You must sharpen your knife first and then refine it after. A cleanly apexed edge at 400 grit, 1000 grit and 5000 grit are all sharp by my definition but they are all at different levels of refinement. They all excel at different applications and they are all sharp.

Now on to sharpening advise. Here are three key points. I will add more later if and when I think of them but I am don't have much time right now.

Whatever stone you start with in order to re apex the edge, do not move on to the next stone until you have completely apexed the edge. You need to be able to test sharpness in order to know when to move on but many people fail by progressing to the next stone before the edge is fully apexed. The sharpie and loupe are helpful here.

Make sure you either do not form a bur or you have a technique that fully removes the bur.

Run a bevel/micro-bevel setup and fully understand what that means and the entire process will be so much easier.

[Gerard Breuker]

Get to know the system(s) you are using. Strong points and limitations.
Keep a few knives around to practice on before trying to sharpen your holy grail.

[ncrockclimb]

Here is link to a very informative thread on stropping. As I said before, I am NOT a sharpening expert. However, I found the thread to be very informative.

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showt ... s-pressure" target="_blank

[Ankerson]

The best advice that I can offer is to keep it simple.

Sharpening can be as simple or as complicated as one wants to make it.

I recommend getting a Sharpmaker for anyone 1st starting out sharpening, then they can move to other tools as their skills progress, at least they will have sharp knives while they learn.

[tvenuto]

Whatever stone you start with in order to re apex the edge, do not move on to the next stone until you have completely apexed the edge. You need to be able to test sharpness in order to know when to move on but many people fail by progressing to the next stone before the edge is fully apexed. The sharpie and loupe are helpful here.

This. I think that early on people mistake increased sharpness with an increase in grit. As you said, sharpness is a function of a clean apex, and as Cliff showed that can be done on a brick with enough care.

[ncrockclimb]

This. I think that early on people mistake increased sharpness with an increase in grit. As you said, sharpness is a function of a clean apex, and as Cliff showed that can be done on a brick with enough care.

Seriously? I would enjoy reading about that. Can you provide a link?

[Ankerson]

Whatever stone you start with in order to re apex the edge, do not move on to the next stone until you have completely apexed the edge. You need to be able to test sharpness in order to know when to move on but many people fail by progressing to the next stone before the edge is fully apexed. The sharpie and loupe are helpful here.

This. I think that early on people mistake increased sharpness with an increase in grit. As you said, sharpness is a function of a clean apex, and as Cliff showed that can be done on a brick with enough care.

Actually it was Murray Carter as he does sharpening demonstrations both in person and on video, he has used various things like bricks, cinder blocks and assorted other things to show how simple it can be.

Cliff as usual just tried to take credit it as with most other things like it was his idea etc. :rolleyes:

Now Mr. Carter is a real pleasure to watch and is the real source of the information, NOT Cliff, have to give credit to the people as deserved out of respect to them.

Link to Murray Carter's shaving videos: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=P ... E8627060B6" target="_blank



He is a good knife maker who forges his blades and is a Master Smith with a very interesting history starting in Japan. :)

[JD Spydo]

There are a lot of good books out there on sharpening>> Two of them I can immediately recommend>> the first one being "The Razor Edge Book Of Sharpening" by John Juranitch>> you might want to also check out John's great website http://www.razoredgesystems.com" target="_blank. The second one "The Complete Book Of Sharpening" by Leonard Lee.

There is also a great website where they talk at lot. Just Google "Steve Botorff">> he also has a book as well as his website>> I didn't like his book as good as I did the first two I recommended but he does know his stuff.

Also don't forget if you buy Spyderco's 204 Sharpmaker it comes with a really nice video and it used to come with a nice booklet as well. If they no longer do the booklet I'm sure you can get it on pdf file. Good Luck and keep us posted.

[Ankerson]

Some of us who have been around for awhile have been using the more simple sharpening tools like the basic old fashioned oil stones like Arkansas Stones in various grits along with Water Stones.

Back when I 1st started out the basics were Silicon Carbide, Arkansas Stones and India Stones (aluminum oxide) and for the most part we all finished using grit ranges from around 220 to 400 grit depending on the actual stone used, 320 to 400 grit was the standard for the most part.

I kept a Norton Tri-Hone in my locker back when I was in the Military in the 80's and sharpened and repaired hundreds of K-BARS and other assorted knives while I was in for extra cash.

Once the stainless steels like 440C and 154CM started to become more mainstream the Arkansas Stones people used started to become dated because they just wouldn't cut the carbides so it took forever to sharpen the knives. While they worked very well for the basic carbon steels like 1080, 1075, 1095 etc people started to find that more aggressive and harder sharpening media was needed to deal with the newer stainless steels.

So Diamonds started to become popular a long with ceramics to deal with the steels, silicon carbide was and still is popular it will deal with any steel available currently.

As technology continues to advance things like CBN will start to become more mainstream.

I bought a Lansky 8" Fine Diamond stone a few weeks ago and still in the breaking in process with that, breaking in the stone that is, supposed to be 600 grit, but it still cutting like a 320 still.

1st Diamond stone I bought in a very long time, think I will keep it in the kitchen. :)

[Evil D]

Sharpening is just like auto racing.....find the apex and hit it.

[Nate]

This is a good demonstration as well. I was stuck thinking that high grits were needed for high sharpness for a long time.

From the description:

"This video is not meant to argue that a clay brick is the ideal sharpening media, it is just an example of how a little knowledge can produce decent results with very basic materials. This brick was just soaked in water and then ground against another brick to round the edges and clean up one surface."

[Ankerson]

This is a good demonstration as well. I was stuck thinking that high grits were needed for high sharpness for a long time.

From the description:

"This video is not meant to argue that a clay brick is the ideal sharpening media, it is just an example of how a little knowledge can produce decent results with very basic materials. This brick was just soaked in water and then ground against another brick to round the edges and clean up one surface."

http://www.ehow.com/how_8314622_use-bri ... knife.html" target="_blank

By A.J. Hawkins, eHow Contributor


Instructions
1
Smooth one side of a brick by rubbing it on a concrete or cement walkway for 30 seconds to 1 minute. This will remove any rough spots on the brick and provide a smooth surface for which to sharpen your knife.

2
Hold the side of the knife blade parallel and flat on the smooth side of the brick, and adjust the angle depending on the amount of bevel you want on the blade.


3
Slowly push the blade across the smooth side of the brick away from yourself. Start with the base of the knife and repeat the process continually moving toward the tip.

4
Turn the knife over and repeat Step 3 on the other side.

5
Test the knife's sharpness when finished by slicing a piece of paper. If it cuts through smoothly, the knife is sufficiently sharpened.

[Knutty]

I had been using a Sharpmaker, and I really don't care for it. The stones wobble around way too much, and I hate how hard it is to avoid rounding off the tip. So, I'll soon be acquiring an Edge Pro (an Xmas gift I'm not supposed to know about). Oh, and the 3-finger sharpness test method is idiotic.

[dbcad]

All of the replies above make very good points :) :)

The big enlightenment in my sharpening journey came when I started looking at the edges with a 15x loupe. The magnification greatly increased my knowledge of what was going on at the edge and helped me get the edges sharper and sharper no matter what method I use :D :D

You want to bring the sides to an apex, magnification lets you see your progress in a lot more detail than the naked eye.

Know what is going on at the edge :D :D :eek:

[ncrockclimb]

I have a 10x loupe. My edges looks smooth and sharp to me. However, I am not 100% sure what I am looking for. Any advice on what one should be paying attention to when using a loupe?

[bearfacedkiller]

I love the sharpmaker. While is may not be the ideal tool for reprofiling I am able to do so. I am not sure if there is a better tool for maintaining your microbevel and doing quick touch ups than the sharpmaker. An edge pro for setting your primary bevel and a sharpmaker for maintaining your edge/micro bevel is near perfection.

[bearfacedkiller]

I got a 16x loupe and a sharpie when starting out and it was a game changer.

[bh49]

I had been using a Sharpmaker, and I really don't care for it. The stones wobble around way too much, and I hate how hard it is to avoid rounding off the tip. So, I'll soon be acquiring an Edge Pro.

I am using Sharpmaker since 2005 and still believe that it is one of the greatest tools I ever saw. I bought WE about two years ago and love to use it for reprofiling, but still use sharpmaker for maintaining the edge. No problem with rounding tips, just be careful and not rush. And even if you round it, there is no big deal to fix. Keep in the mind that if you will not be careful, you will do much more damage with EP that with sharpmaker.

Oh, and the 3-finger sharpness test method is idiotic.

The first time in my life I read about this test, it was coming from The MURRAY CARTER. I think that he knows thing or two about the subject.