Sharpening knives...

[Kato]

So I'm browsing through YouTube vids and I come across one showing one of Wicked Edge's sharpening systems. I'm a guy, I love mechanical-looking, metallic, shiny, clicky, sticky, gears, bells and buzzers. However, upon hearing what the price was I could instantly feel one testicle raise up into my stomach, and the other one jumped out of my pants and rolled along the floor. $699 to do something that $5 worth of sandpaper and an old belt can do?? I'm in the wrong effen business for sure if people are spending that kind of money to sharpen a knife. But, I'm a smart fella, so I had to think that maybe I was just full of shit, and that sandpaper and an old belt wouldn't do what the Wicked Edge, or a Lansky or any other sharpening system, would do.

 

So, I go out into the garage and pick one of the shitiest knives I have out there, and go to work. First, me being me, I profile it on the bench grinder. Give it a nice hand-beveled edge. Then I get out my sharpening kit, which is a few sheets of 800, a few of 1500, a telephone book, and an old leather belt. I do my typical stuff, rub it on the 800, rub it on the 1500, then the belt. I run it up my arm to see if it's as "hair-popping" sharp as what the video showed. A few hairs came off, so I ran it through my process again. Tore off a page from the phone book and sliced through it a bunch of times, then stroked it to see how thin my cuts could be. Ran it on the belt one more time then proceeded to make a spot on my left arm as bald as my head.

 

 

Anyhoo, long story short...this makes me wonder. Do you guys dress your own knives, and if so how do you do it? I'm a minimalist, sandpaper and leather belt, that's all I need. Shit, to be honest, I can get my knives razor sharp just with the course and fine stones on my bench grinder. I don't do it though because the more you heat a blade the worst it gets, but still...

[Andrull]

I use the tormek system. Swedish design, but probably not unfamiliar. Iy's a whole system, where you can sharpen a bunch of things, including knifes, and more importantly to a set angle and therefore the same quality each time. 

 

You don't need to have a tormek watercooled grinder, since they also sell the SS metall bar and attachment (for knives for example) to use with any grinder (preferable watercooled). Since heat would destroy the edge. 

 

It is not magic and not automated, but an easy system which helps a lot making good edges. 

 

I though a lot more people use it, but not sure how known they are in the sharpening industry in US. In europe at least, tormek are fairly known to make high quality sharpening stuff. 

 

Me myself use it to sharpen drill bits far sharper than original (4 faucets), small and large knives, scissors, axes, and even carbide things. 

 

If you want the whole thing with all the attachement, it will cost you a bit, but for your needs, it might not be much at all.

 :-)

 

And to be fair, it is very fun. And still got the potensial to make anything from bad to excellent. Given how previse you do it. So, it is not an automated system to give you OK result.

[Kato]

I'm familiar with Tormek. I always thought it was kinda silly to use one when I had a bench grinder that did the same thing. If I wanted to be a stickler I could either buy finer stones for my grinder, or buy fine-grit papers for my belt sander. I guess I had the benefit of learning the proper way to deal with knives at a young age. Being able to hold the knife steady while profiling the angle is a hard thing for some people I guess. Drill bits I do on the bench grinder too, there's no need for a razor edge. As long as the angle is profiled right and it's "sharp" it'll do its job. Of course it depends on what type of bit, but so far I haven't had any issues.

[JimboS1ice]

Get yourself a good oil/whet stone, maintaining your blades edge with w nice honing steel is clutch.

Jimbo

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[Kato]

I have plenty of stones, but it's easier and quicker to do it with the bench grinder, sandpaper, and leather. I can reprofile an edge and sharpen it in less than 5 minutes. Steels aren't good for blades, even though most great chefs will say otherwise. Steels take material off the blade, more material than you normally want, and they can cause nicks and burs even in talented hands. The greatest "sharp" is polished, a polished edge will stay sharper longer, it'll glide through material, and it'll give a cleaner cut. Steels won't do that.

[JimboS1ice]

I have plenty of stones, but it's easier and quicker to do it with the bench grinder, sandpaper, and leather. I can reprofile an edge and sharpen it in less than 5 minutes. Steels aren't good for blades, even though most great chefs will say otherwise. Steels take material off the blade, more material than you normally want, and they can cause nicks and burs even in talented hands. The greatest "sharp" is polished, a polished edge will stay sharper longer, it'll glide through material, and it'll give a cleaner cut. Steels won't do that.

I'm a butcher so I use steel all day long, no it doesn't sharpen your knife which most people think it does, all it does it help hold your edge, once you lose your edge steel is no good. Also if you hold your angle wrong all you do is flatten your edge so unless your used to working with it, it can work against you. Our knives at work get rotated every two weeks to get sent out to be sharpened, personally I don't like what they use and I sharpen my own knives with an oil stone. It's all preference really and what your used to, I could take a grinder or sand paper but personally I prefer doing it by hand. But like anything else more than one way to skin a cat. As for the steel I prefer the round steel that is less abrasive than a lot of steels out there. We have some flat steels that like you said they take too much material off and round your edge. Also with the flat steels those can knock your blades and cause bad burs as well where the round is a less aggressive steel.

Jimbo

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[Kato]

Yup, precisely. I prefer to do it by hand because I find it quicker, and I can control my angles. I also prefer a polished edge for EDC and around home because it makes a cleaner cut. Our kitchen knives get the same sandpaper and leather treatment, and they are honestly too sharp sometimes. My wife went into her finger pretty good once, and I kept thinking if the knife wasn't insanely sharp she might not have bitten in as deep. I hate trying to cut meats with a dull knife, I might as well use a rusty spoon.

 

 

I never liked steels, never liked the motion and the banging, and never cared for the abuse they put knives through. If I was going to go through that type of work I'd use a strop, at least then I'd know that a lot of material wasn't coming off and I'd have a smoother edge

[JimboS1ice]

Yup, precisely. I prefer to do it by hand because I find it quicker, and I can control my angles. I also prefer a polished edge for EDC and around home because it makes a cleaner cut. Our kitchen knives get the same sandpaper and leather treatment, and they are honestly too sharp sometimes. My wife went into her finger pretty good once, and I kept thinking if the knife wasn't insanely sharp she might not have bitten in as deep. I hate trying to cut meats with a dull knife, I might as well use a rusty spoon.

 

 

I never liked steels, never liked the motion and the banging, and never cared for the abuse they put knives through. If I was going to go through that type of work I'd use a strop, at least then I'd know that a lot of material wasn't coming off and I'd have a smoother edge

Steel use is really an art, I cringe when our apprentices try to learn using the steel, my boss asks them if they are trying to start a fire lol.

Jimbo

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[comp56]

SSC is best

[Kato]

Sorry, I must be either getting old or I just plain don't know...what is SSC?

[BMack37]

I'm one of those guys that doesn't abuse my knives, I use a honing stone to keep them sharp. I've only really used files or sandpaper on cutting pliers.

[Stercorarius]

Hmmmmm.... I need to spend more time sharpening my knives. My problem is that mine are constantly running through wet twine and straw, which takes the edge right off of them. I actually need to send in one of my Bucks to get repaired as I have worn the pins on the latch out already. I only use fixed blade knifes for work now.

[redmed]

If it's real bad I use a wet grinder then oil & stones.  To keep a edge I hit the blade with a steel. 

[Logan]

I use oil and a stone 

[Kato]

Those of you who prefer to do it by hand, how do you maintain proper edge angle while sharpening? And, do you sharpen, do you hone, do you polish, etc?

[comp56]

12 hours ago, Kato said:

Sorry, I must be either getting old or I just plain don't know...what is SSC?

spit ...stone..... control....

[Kato]

Ah, kinda like what I do during sex... 

[Fazzman]

I use the Spyderco system,been using it for ages.  http://www.amazon.com/Spyderco-Tri-Angle-Sharpmaker-Sharpener-204MF/dp/B000Q9C4AE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1457283450&sr=8-1&keywords=spyderco+sharpmaker

 

I have tons of whetstones of all different types and grades too.

 

 

[JimboS1ice]

I just do it by feel, do it enough and you get pretty good on the proper angle

Jimbo

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[Kato]

Quick vid showing my technique. The knife was sharp before I started, but not a clean edge. It's a garage knife so it cuts a lot of random stuff, and it hadn't been sharpened for probably a couple of months before the vid happened. Anyhoo, trust me when I say this works, and it works well.

 

 

 

[comp56]

nice vid good info, I use a stone in kinda the same way........I have one of those barber belts they used to clean their blades years ago somewhere around here too....

[Kato]

Strop. That's better to use than a lot of the sharpening systems out there. As long as your edge is profiled correctly it'll get sharp with minimal effort and minimal tools. I could never understand spending 20 minutes with a system when doing it by hand properly for less than 5 minutes accomplished a better edge. This whole thread kicked off because I saw a vid for the Wicked Edge, and almost shit myself when I saw the price. If you know how to strop properly but don't have a strop, you can clinch a leather belt in the vise and get the same action.

 

Must be nice to have money to burn on shit like that...

[Poisonfangs85]

I just sharpen mine whenever I go to Cabelas. They always have all of he sharpeners on display for you to demo. If your lucky enough you can have the salesman do it, then just tell him your not into spending that much on a sharpener....I'm cheap!