Help me sharpen my knives!!

[bonecarver_OG]

you can use almost any hard porcelain to give finishing touch to a blade, but for the best finish i allways polish my edges with flexcut polishing compound + an old leather belt.. makes the blades way past razor sharp.

 

[Prairie Boy]

you can use almost any hard porcelain to give finishing touch to a blade, but for the best finish i allways polish my edges with flexcut polishing compound + an old leather belt.. makes the blades way past razor sharp.

This is similar method I use,rarely use stones unless edge is damaged.I use a maple wheel attached to elec.motor dressed with jewlers rouge.I start with green move to red and finnish with the flexicut gold on all my knives and gouges for an edge second to none.

As bonecarver mentioned a piece of leather laminated to a piece of wood will work excellent.

Cheers PB.

 

[Kcar]

These things work great on the fly

And they're only $10
http://www.amazon.com/AccuSharp-1-0...id=1352511228&sr=8-2&keywords=knife+sharpener

Use a steel after.

 

[dragongrower]

just wanted to make a quick update..
Got myself a Lansky 5 stone sharpener. this works quite well, i think. The only problem I have is when i start to sharpen something, I find it difficult to know what angle the blade is sharpened with.. Maybe I will learn in time..

peace and thanks for all the input

 

[MaynardG_Krebs]

just wanted to make a quick update..
Got myself a Lansky 5 stone sharpener. this works quite well, i think. The only problem I have is when i start to sharpen something, I find it difficult to know what angle the blade is sharpened with.. Maybe I will learn in time..

View Image

peace and thanks for all the input

With my lansky, I start with the coarse stones at a shallower angle (using the lower holes) and as I go to the finer stones, I go to higher holes. You'll get the hang of it.

mgk

 

[wantaknow]

fhe outdoor knife and tool sharpener ,the green one from cabellas is bad to the bone ,just got one of these unbelivable ,and fast too ,1 min or less and your done,mutlipul grit belts are very eaasy and fast to change

 

[Littleleaf]

lay a nickle on your stone,set the knifes back edge on the nickle. that angle is the best I have found.

 

[MoeBudz^420]

I use a 1x30 belt sander and belts from Lee Valley Tools. Belts used go from 120 grit workbelt for starters on very dull knives to 15 micron to 9 micron, then a Surgi-Sharp leather belt loaded with green compound. it is also fast, 5-10 mins for the dullest of knives.

edit: this does take practice, if first starting w/ a sander, use junk knives until you learn the technique - proper angles and not to overheat the blade - which is very easy to do if inexperienced. Use light passes, and touch to a damp cloth if it's getting warm enuff to feel it on the skin. If the steel glows, it is ruined (annealed) and this can easilt be seen by a bluish tint. this is all too easy to do on thin pointed blades, be careful!


Steel does not get any sharper than this. I can also regrind broken points on the belt sander. I do my own knives, and anyone else's for a fiver/knife, or a tenner for point regrind + sharpen if you broke your point off.


Keep Em Sharp!


Peace

 

[DIDM]

learn from a master

this is what his hand made knives look like

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFhMGJYhYpU


his knives sell for $1000 an inch, he makes samurai sword like chef knives

 

[guerilllataktic]

i am a knife maker by trade and getting a sharp knife is all about the quallity of steel good steel is easy to sharpen, i use a belt grinder and a paper strop wheel on a bench grinder to get the bevel set right, the strop to de- burr it then ceramic rods to maintan the edge from there, best advice is dont ever let them get dull in the first place check out the videos below

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04W2V5VjBlk&list=PL210BFC07C0F67910

 

[RobertPaulson]

The easiest way is to use a tri-stone grinder. A tri-stone grinder is a sharpening stone that has your three grains needed to grind a new edge: coarse, medium, fine. It takes a few times to get the hang of but when you sharpen a knife youll want to hold it at a 10-15 degree angle on the stone. You start at the base of your knife and you move in a smooth motion corner to cross corner. For instance, if you start with the base of your knife at the bottom right corner, the tip of your knife should run to the top left corner. Alternate faces of the knife on each pass. I generally do about a dozen passes on each side and then move to the next stone. After youve used the tri-stone grinder youll want to hone your edge using a diamond steel. When you pass your knife down the diamond steel you hold it at roughly the same 10-15deg angle. Run each side of the knife down the diamond steel about 10+/- times. I ruined my first chef knife learning how to sharpen it but once you get it down, its an irreplaceable skill.

 

[RobertPaulson]

Sorry. This is the easiest way how to sharpen your kitchen knives (chef knives, slicers, paring knives, etc). Im a chef by trade and when I see knife I automatically assume "chef knife". Didnt realize this was about non-kitchen knives.

 

[MJBadger]

A blade is a blade , they all need a good sharp edge no matter what the use . I always remember my grandfather telling me a blunt blade is a dangerous blade (I was very young) , took me a few yrs then I realised he was right . He was a master butcher by trade .

 

[bonecarver_OG]

beeing a profesional wood worker and knife maker, i can safelly say there is as many types of sharp edges as there is cultures that produce cutting tools, normally adjusted to the use of the tools and to the properties of the steel.

this means the edge of a tool should be modified to fit the material it will be used to work with.

for example regions like scandinavia tend to have one single bevel, while more temperate areas (that normally use softer steel) use 2 bevel edges.
also, knifes used for cutting meat in pieces normally have 2 bevels, to asure the bones and joints will not dent the blade. 2 bevels means the edge is thicker all the way almost to the edge, where the last definitive bevel is actually quite dull, but maintains its integrity.

ambient temperatures greatlly affect steel brittleness when below zero conditions.

for example scandiavian traditional kifes have one bevel, BUT the steel used is often of 2 different properties (flexible vs hardness) to asure a blade that can handle a single bevel with intergrity, even when chopping down frozen trees, or frozen meat in winter. same method is used in japan. the finish method and the japanese method are very similar.

also should mention when working with wood, its the density and hardness of the wood that determines cutting angle of the bevel. but in these case, all tools should have one single bevel for best performance. the bevel angle in relation to wood density, is like follows; harder woods need greater cutting angle, and softer woods need a finer angle for best performance.

there is some controversial wood workers preaching the benefit of "micro-bevels" i e meaning 2 bevels on carving and cutting tools but this far i have not been able to see any benefit in woodwork from this method. its far superior to have separate tools for hardwood and softwood, since the honed single bevel is what gives the finished work the best looks and properties. instead of breaking the fiber and leaving a dull surface, a perfectly honed edge will leave the fibers cut and gives a shiny surface, that does not need further polishing.

i own the best knife sharpening machine on the market, the swedish made Tormek wetstone sharpener with 1 sharpening stone and a honing wheel covered in leather. but in adition to this i use diamond covered steel, japanese wet-stones and even specialized ceramic compound honing stones...., and a LOT of polishing compounds for hard metals to get a mirror polished cutting surface.

the reason is in fine woodwork, a carved surface should preferably not need sanding or any posterior work, since this greatly affects the shine/look of the wood. to have your tools perfectly honed is necesary to maintain superior quality.

 

[supermanlives]

I used to have foley belsaw equipment for sharpening .now I use a few stones and something like the accusharp. also got a diamond coated thingy. works for me

 

[Crusader Rabbit]

In manual operations like planing the edge of a board, flat filing, and sharpening an edge on a stone by hand, you are making repeated single direction cutting motions which must be consistently within a single flat plane. You're pushing forward to make the cutting motion then returning the tool back to starting position and then repeating the planar cutting motion. This repeating motion within one plane requires concentration. There is an innate tendency for people to to take this somewhat awkward repeating linear motion and turn it into a circle which feels much more comfortable ... like the circular motions of Tai Chi. But the end result of this is a board with a convex shaped edge, a filed metal surface with a convex surface, and a rounded cutting edge on a tool. When using that wetstone really focus on not slipping into a rocking motion during the back and forth. You must maintain the same angle though out the cutting stroke.

Also make an effort to use the entire surface of the wetstone. People tend to repeat their motions in exactly the same way on the same portions of the stone. This will hasten the process of wearing the stone surface into a cupped shape. It's hard to create a flat surface using a worn cupped stone. You can reshape your stone to be flat by gluing emory cloth onto a flat plywood surface and working the stone across this abrasive material until it is flat. An old carpenter told me that this is a waste of emory cloth, and it's better to use a nice flat surface of a concrete slab with a water slurry. Beware that the cheap aluminum oxide stones you'll find at Ace Hardware and such don't always have a flat surface. Check a stone carefully before you buy it.