Knife Sharpening Angle?

[FishDFly]

Could some one share some insight into knife sharpening angle, knife angle to stone?

What is considered the preferred stone of a new knife?

 

[LRB]

Common angle is around 20 to 22 degrees. To sharpen well and easily, more than one grit of stone is needed, used in progression, followed by stropping over a polishing compound on a leather strop, if you want to makes hairs pop. A good all around stone is a soft Arkansas, and it alone will do very well for most cutting chores.

 

[crockett]

I myself always have a little trouble getting a sharp knife. A lot of the store bought are around a 30 degree which- when done both sides gives a 60 degree edge. I literally re-grind some store bought edges by holding the blade much flatter- even beyond the 20 degrees or so that Wick mentions. The edge ends up being thin and probably not that strong but I do end up with an edge I can shave with and touch up in the field. I've tried some honing guides, etc. and just can't get a sharp edge when I try to raise the blade more. In any event, I thin mine down quite a bit. There used to be a knife shop near where I live, Knives-a lot, I think the guy's name was Steve. I'd see Wick's knives there quite a lot. Really nice. Well Steve could sharpen an edge at 30 degrees and get it nice and sharp so if you can do it- it makes a stronger blade.

 

[Ken Cormier]

I have used a craftsman stone for year's. It has a medium grit on one side and a fine on the other. Then top it off with antique razor strop. Could shave with it if I had too. As my grandpa always said dull knife cuts you quickest and worst than a sharp one.

 

[LRB]

Ahh, but a ragged wound heals faster.

 

[Rickey Brown]

for my knives that I use strictly for slicing I tend to go a little shallower than the 20 degree. I use 20 for my all purpose knives. I use a washita soft stone and a white Hard Arkansas and a very fine diamond hone. I finish stop with white rouge leather followed by pink rouge leather. For touch up I strop or steel

 

[Katahdin]

Depends on what you are cutting with it or how it is going to be used!!Rough camp work or slicing meat or bread or just whitling.I have a pocket knife with three blades, all sharpened different. Rough work 25 +-,finer carving 12-22,thin edges do not hold up to rough use.Don't know of that many who will all agree on the answer.
I sharpen mine on a pocket stone I've carried for years,never see the justification for stropping except on by carving tools on the bench,pocket knife is a workng tool and will be sharpened more than not...

 

[Artificer]

My Dad at 87 years old never learned to sharpen a knife, so I was never taught well how to do it. I learned the most from this book I read back in the 80's, though I have never tried to shave with a sharpened Axe blade as Jon does on the cover.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Razor-Edge-Book-Sharpening/dp/096660590X

What Jon recommends is sort of a combination edge on each side of the blade. First, you put an 11 degree "clearance" edge on each side of the blade and then the cutting edge of 22 to 25 degrees for a general cutting edge. Then polish and strop as Wick already mentioned.

I don't know if this is the best or not, but I do know that I skinned and butchered deer with this system of sharpening in our Hunt Club when we gathered to skin and rough butcher deer at the end of a day's hunt. I found I could almost get two deer skinned and rough butchered or maybe a little more, without having to touch up the edge on even a cheap knife I owned.

Gus

 

[M. De Land]

I never have been able to sharpen a knife to my satisfaction until I got the Lansky.
It works beautifully at maintaining the angle you choose from the jig windows on both sides and has progressively finer stones.
I did have a meat cutter friend that taught me that a steel was not for sharpening but to straighten an edge that has curled.

 

[Gary Whiteman]

I agree on The Razors Edge book. Well worth reading,I learned alot from it.

 

[FishDFly]

Thanks to all for your insight, it is appreciated.

 

[Snakebite]

I could look at a knife and it would go dull.

I got a SPYDERCO TRIANGLE SHARPMAKER (SET) and it'll put a razor edge really quick.
http://www.spyderco.com/catalog/details.php?product=77

You can find them for a lot cheaper that the MSRP

 

[Stophel]

I have no idea what angle my edges are. I've just learned over the years how to hold the knife and stone to get it the way I want it. I cannot sharpen with the stone setting on the bench. It must be held in my left hand. One stroke up, one stroke down. Rolling the tip of the blade forward to match the curve of the edge (if any).

I have two 30+ year old stones I use (they were my grandfathers!). One fairly hard gray coarse on one side, fine orange on the other side (a Norton, I believe). The other is a softer gray stone with coarse on one side, fine on the other. I have a couple of very fine hard stones that I rarely use. I use whatever oil is handy. I keep my knives and axes SHARP. I have found stones sufficient to achieve this, stropping or whatever has never been necessary.

 

[FishDFly]

"One fairly hard gray coarse on one side, fine orange on the other side (a Norton, I believe"


Sounds like what they call an India Stone. Guy I worked with said that the India stone is the best one to have. I have a small one from a friend, one day I can sharpen and one day I cannot.

Thanks.

 

[LRB]

Proper stropping produces a polished very fine edge that can pop hair with the slightest touch. However, these fine edges do not last as long as the sharp edge produced on most good sharpening stones, which produce a more pronounced micro serrated edge. Heat is the enemy with any cutting tool, especially when sharpening. It may be hard to imagine, or believe, but dry sharpening, even by hand, burns the edge on a microscopic level, making the steel soft at the microscopic cross junction of the bevels. Even wet sharpening does not entirely prevent this, but greatly lessens the effect. All cutting edges go dull from heat. Even files. Every stroke with a file, however slow, burns away the steel cutting teeth and eventually makes it useless. This may take years, but that is what actually dulls files and all other cutting edges. Not much we can do about heat produced in cutting, but wet sharpening will give an advantage as cutting begins. Slight maybe, but still an advantage.

 

[Rick Boylan]

I could look at a knife and it would go dull.

I got a SPYDERCO TRIANGLE SHARPMAKER (SET) and it'll put a razor edge really quick.
http://www.spyderco.com/catalog/details.php?product=77

You can find them for a lot cheaper that the MSRP

I bought one of these off of a guy on ebay for $53.00 after seeing your post. Once it arrives I'll give it a try and see how it does for me.

 

[crockett]

Wick- this is new information for me. I thought oil was used on a stone to flush away tiny metal particles so the stone didn't slick up. Mine slick up any way and I don't known how to clean them.
So oil actually produces a better edge? Also, do you know of any ways to re-freshen a Arkansas type stone that has become sort of slick? Boil in water? A thin alcohol scrub? Thanks for any help.
As I said, sharpening has always been a challenge for me. I can get a shaving edge by honing at a finer level and then stropping with leather but I always feel like I'm spending too much time in sharpening.

 

[glw]

Another good book on sharpening is "The Complete Book of Sharpening" by Leonard Lee. He covers just about everything including the optimal angles for things but you'll find that it doesn't matter as much as some folks want to think.

The one lesson I took away from it is that all sharpening stones work. Some may work faster than others but if you learn to use one type (oilstones, water stones, India stones, diamond plates, etc) then stick with it.

As to lubricants, I asked the guy at Dan's Whetstones near Hot Springs, Arkansas. I stopped by there once just to see their facility and asked the guy about lubes and he told me that it really doesn't matter which lube you use as long as you use one and once you pick one, stick with it. I've found that I can pick up some 'beauty oil' at the local CVS or Walgreen's that is mostly Jojoba oil and it works fine and is cheaper than the special purpose honing oils. I bought the stuff with no smell. I've also used olive oil but that seemed a bit thick to me. Also kinda hard to clean up.

As to the stone loading up with metal filings, he told me to scrub it hard with one of those metal-mesh type pot scrubbers. Scotch brite pads should work too but would be slower.

This may not sound right to some but it's what the professional told me. I've gotten some guff in the past on woodworking forums for making such claims.

 

[Billnpatti]

I have a Lansky Universal Sharpening System. http://lansky.com/index.php/products/universal-system/ It will set and hold your stone at the exact proper angle for whatever use you have for your knife. I have found nothing to equal it. :thumbsup:

 

[FishDFly]

I lost my little thingy that goes with it.

Or maybe my children did, bet that is what happened.