Knife sharpening

[coloradoclyde]

Are you in the "creek" again? :haha:

 

[Kansas Jake]

A number of decades ago when I was in college I worked part time in the meat lab at ag college. The old butcher there taught me to sharpen a knife. He was a pro. One thing no one mentioned was the use of a steel to keep that blade sharp as you use it. We always had a steel available to keep the edge keen as we skinned or cut meat. We didn't have any fancy gismo's either. Just stone and a steel to keep the knife sharp.

 

[garra]

Learning how to sharpen a knife really takes a long time. I remember trying to sharpen knives when I was a kid, made a lot of round edged. It is one of those skills that takes practice and paitence learning to feel the edge against the stone and maintaining your angle.

 

[Stumpkiller]

Oh, I know how. I have three large bench stones from a Norton India to Surgical Black Arkansas grits. I used to use them to sharpen chisels and plane blades pretty regularly. I just looked up the price of a 10"x2"x1" surgical Black Arkansas stone and I think I 'd better move that to a safe deposit box!

But when knife steels started to get above 62 Rockwell they stopped responding to stones.

My "rough" knives I use a fine chainsaw mill ******* file.

 

[Snakebite]

I'm actually surprised... :shocked2:
For a traditional forum.....I thought there would actually be a lot more people that knew how to sharpen their knives and didn't rely on sharpening gismos with preset angles... :idunno:

It's a skill worth learning..... :v

From a traditional point of view you certainly have a point. :hatsoff: I could never get the results I wanted with a stone, so in this case I'll sacrifice the traditional way for something simple, quick and gives me great results with a Sypderco.

 

[fleener]

I like the spyderco as well.

Fleener

 

[CrackStock]

I used a variety of methods over the years, but my Lansky was my most frequent method. I recently got a Smith system with diamond sharpeners and that is even better. Once I get one shrp, I like to keep it that way with a homemade strop. Just got a piece of wood; glued leather on it and applied valve polishing grit. Keeps a great edge. The leather sole bottom of the boots does work, but feels a bit awkward.

CS

 

[tom deinek]

My favorite law client was a butcher who only used the knives supplied to him by a sharpening service.

My boy said sharpening knives was a waste of time and that his employees sent too much time "playing" at it. He leased a dozen knives and got a fresh set of 12 weekly delivered to his door by the service.

BTW, the service only sharpened the knives 3 times and then would sell them. 10 years ago a 12" used butcher (rounded) cost about $6.

 

[M. De Land]

I've been working at knife sharpening all my life and still can't put as good and uniform of an edge by hand on a blade from hilt to point as I can with the Lanski.
I have tried all manor of mechanical sharpeners as well but nothing yet has come close to the Lanski for me.

 

[CrackStock]

I've been working at knife sharpening all my life and still can't put as good and uniform of an edge by hand on a blade from hilt to point as I can with the Lanski.
I have tried all manor of mechanical sharpeners as well but nothing yet has come close to the Lanski for me.

Have you tried the Smith's sharpeners? I got mine at Lowe's to replace a worn Lansky. These are similar in function, but have diamond plates in place of the stones and work even better. After I use these, I strop for an even better razor edge.

CS

 

[jamesthomas]

I have a 3 sided Arkansas stone that I use, I can get a knife sharp enough for most anything but "razor sharp" is beyond me so far.

 

[azmntman]

I usually use a archery type sharpener and get em as sharp as I need. Razor sharp? depends. I can "shave" arm hair but requires much more pressure than my dads ol safety razor with double sided blades? Have a lansky but the lil hand held works good nuff.

Killed my (first archery kill) elk this year and gutted her with small NRA pocket knife that I keep on a keychain, no sharpening needed. I use the lil archery style on it. Have skinned em with it too (needing to sharpen a few times). Now I have learned to "truck skin" em. Works great (little to no hair) if ya can get a truck to the elk (or deer) or get the whole gutted critter out to the truck. I make a point to gut and skin immediate after kill, tastes better IMO.

 

[Naphtali]

Those who suggest a manually operated fixture sharpening tool (Lansky, et al.) have the right idea because you can avoid metamorphosing (I love the word, so live with it.) small errors into monsters. The biggest issue you will almost certainly face is to create a satisfactory grind from what is presently on each knife.

"How can you write this?" you might reasonably ask. I just acquired a used very high quality knife. I assumed it was sharp. Well, it was slightly sharper than a butter knife. I have been using a Frost Cutlery diamond fixture system to create a 15-degree edge per side on a 4.75-inch blade. I just completed my fourth sharpening session. Under a magnifier it appears as though one more session and I can finish with ULTRA FINE diamond hone. When I finish, not only will the edge be egregiously sharp and useful, it will stay sharp for a very, very long time. And resharpening will be a 20-minute job because touching up a properly ground edge is a snap.

Creating the properly ground edge is not so easy.

Hope this helps.

 

[coloradoclyde]

How ever did man survive before lansky? :blah:

 

[Idaho Ron]

I have a Lansky Diamond set. I liked it well enough as long as you have good stones. As soon and the diamond grit wears off you got crap.
I am going to get rid if it to someone.

 

[Roguedog]

I think to sharpen well one needs to understand the concept of creating a burr and then removing it. In addition to being a traditional muzzleloader, I am also a traditional bowhunter who sharpens his own non-replaceable blade broadheads. I have learned through time and trial and error to use a basic medium and fine stone to keep both my broadheads and knives razor sharp. As others have mentioned, I never allow my cutting instruments to get so dull as to have to reset the edge. I simply touch them up as needed. It is a skill worth learning. I consider an edge usable when I can run the blade across my arm and easily shave all the hair along on my arm along that pass. However, if a blade is extremely dull, sometimes one must reset the edge and create a burr. Then simply remove the burr by applying pressure from the side opposite the burr. If I am starting from scratch, I have used fine grit sandpaper to establish the initial edge and create the initial burr. I hope I am explaining this properly. Anyway, the ability to sharpen a blade is a good skill to have.

Jeff

 

[Kansas Jake]

Years ago when I worked at the meat lab while in college the butcher checked his knives for sharpness by pulling it very lightly with no pressure across a finger nail. If it slid without any drag it was dull in his opinion. If it had a slight drag it was sharp.

Note to all, don't cut through the nail or cut a finger off.

 

[Grizzly Adams]

Similarly, you can lightly drop the knife's edge on your thumbnail at an angle, and if it skates off, it is dull, if it catches, it is sharp.

My take, It's not rocket surgery, establish a good edge, and touch it up with a strop frequently.

 

[Danny Ross]

For years I use to sharpen knives by hand and did a fairly decent job at it. I always had a problem with long flexible knives. I purchased a GATCO knife sharpener which I prefer over Lansky. The guide rods store inside of the plastic stone holder and the sharpening stones are wider than the Lansky ones. I have never had a issue sharpening the long flexible knives since using it. I sharpen my 2 blade fixed broadheads with it also. Test them on a slack rubber band holding the nock end of the arrow and sliding the edge across the rubber band with no downward pressure other than the weight of the arrow. Sharp is when they cut the rubber band through before I get to the end of the broadhead edge. Just to tell you how well it works. DANNY

 

[smoothshooter]

What do you mean when you say " kick up a burr "?

Have been sharpening knives for myself and friends for over 40 years and never heard that term.

I have been using DMT diamond hones almost exclusively for about 15 years with good results.

USEFUL TIDBIT : If you find that you need to touch up an edge on a knife, with no regular sharpening stones available, and the edge is not too far gone, and you have access to a car, roll a window down, and use the top edge of the window where it is slightly rough as a sharpener.
Will put a shaving edge back on in no time at all.