Sharpening

[AVENGED]

When It Comes To Sharpening Knives, I'm Kinda A Hack At It, Hence I Buy Benchmade Folding Knives And Just Send Them In. But I Saw This And Was Wondering If Anyone Has Used It? I Was Planning On Getting One And Seeing If It Made Me A Pro...

http://www.worksharptools.com/index.php?option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=90&redirected=1&Itemid=90

[Rick]

I don't claim to be the be all end all of knife sharpeners but I can put a cutting edge on one. What it really takes it understanding how to sharpen one on a good stone and practice. You don't have to put $100 dollars into a sharpening system when a $20 or less stone will do the same thing. Google how to sharpen a knife and pick out one you understand. There are hundreds of tutorials out there. Pick up a decent stone, an inexpensive knife and start practicing. You'll be surprised how easy it is.

[crashdive123]

For that price there are more versatile belt sanders available that could be used for more jobs than just sharpening knives. A little 1X30 belt sander from Harbor Freight goes for about $40. It doesn't have the guides like this one, but holding a steady angle isn't tough.

[wtrfwlr]

Please don't put your blades on that thing. You already admit that you have yet to learn how to sharpen properly so putting yur knife against a belt sander(which is what that is)will on make a mess of the edge but it will do it even faster!! I agree that you would be much better off learning on a stone, have a buddy help or like Rick said try a video. But no not a belt sander!

[Rick]

Unless, of course, your knuckles are between the blade and the sandpaper.

[Pal334]

I have always used the Lansky sharpener system. It packs (for portability) away nicely and does a good job. Is cheap and very efficient. The guides hold the stones and blade atwhatever angle you chose, kind of eliminating a messed up edge. But of course it is now wheres near as quick as Crashes method.

http://www.sharpeningsupplies.com/Universal-Lansky-Sharpening-System-P135C57.aspx?UserID=20370014&SessionID=kzIkxdrk49vwdFSAh9lN

[Winter]

I don't claim to be the be all end all of knife sharpeners but I can put a cutting edge on one. What it really takes it understanding how to sharpen one on a good stone and practice. You don't have to put $100 dollars into a sharpening system when a $20 or less stone will do the same thing. Google how to sharpen a knife and pick out one you understand. There are hundreds of tutorials out there. Pick up a decent stone, an inexpensive knife and start practicing. You'll be surprised how easy it is.

To add to Rick's quote.

It's an imperative survival skill to be able to sharpen a knife. These days MOST people do not know how to do it the old way with only an abrasive surface.

If we are lucky, we will find ourselves having a knife when the poop hits the fan, but to retain possession of a large knife sharpening gadget is far less likely.

The best way to learn is to do it. Sacrifice a knife to learning how.

[AVENGED]

A Friend Had A Method I Thought About Trying, He Glued A Piece Of Super Fine Sandpaper To A Plate Of Glass Then Had A Piece Of Wood He Made A Jig Out Of. I Can Sharpen An Ax Fine, Just The Smaller The Edge The More Pain. What Degree Would You Suggest? And Why?

[Phaedrus]

Adam from EquippedToEndure has spoken very highly of the Work Sharp sharpener. Just watching the videos I can't see why it wouldn't work. But I'd still avoid it. It has a few problems as I see it. First off is the belts- they're a non-standard, very small belt. It looks like there are only a few different belts available for it, and I wouldn't be surprised if they're the only source for purchasing them. I see that the replacement package contains 6 belts- (2) P80 Coarse Grit Belts (2) P220 Medium Grit Belts (2) 6000 Fine Grit Belts - for $10. Not terrible, I guess, depending on how long they last. Yet if you bought the 30" x 1" HF grinder you can get 30" belts starting for around $1 each. And they'll last thru quiet a few sharpening jobs. Also, when you get into larger grinders with standard belts you can find a lot more types of belts of many different grits. I have 2 of the Harbor Freight grinders and a 1" x 42" Kalamazoo. The latter is what I use when I sharpen on a grinder. I can get belts for it in Aluminum Oxide, Cubic Zirconia, Ceramic, etc as well as Trizac structured abrasives. There are also belts of cork, linen, leather and some surface conditioning belts, too.

It's actually pretty easy to sharpen on a grinder. It's not too difficult to hold the angle properly, and for the most part it's not necessary to be that accurate with the angle in the first place. And a grinder like the HF (among others, plenty of good machines out there) will do a lot more. They can fix really big chips and even broken off tips. I fix a lot of chef's knives where the owner dropped them and broke off the tip, and generally you can't even tell it was ever broke. I have done some really radical repairs on a grinder. For instance, a guy I work with had a Winchester hunting knife that was his favorite knife but he somehow took a 1/4" divot out of the edge about 1/3 the way down from the tip. Since it was essentially ruined he told me to just do whatever I could to it. I took a Sharpie marker and drew a new edge on it from the finger choil to the tip, then fired up a 36 grit Cubic Zirconia belt and ground off everything south of that line. Then I switched to a bit finer belt and created a nice convex edge on it. I progressed through a few belts and by the time I finished on a loaded leather belt it would cleanly shave hair. He was astounded! The "new" knife was about 1/3 of an inch shorter but beyond that you could hardly tell what I'd done.

So in summary, the Work Sharp would probably work okay. But for the money you've got some better options out there.

[Rick]

Unless you're building the knife or want to change the angle of one the angle will be dictated by the knife blade.

[kyratshooter]

Let me make sure I have this straight, you buy Bench Made knives and sent them back for sharpening?

I would go broke on postage!

Knife sharpening is an essential skill, not an optional magic trick. Not being able to put a working edge on a blade will get you killed. Not every emergency is going to happen right after you just got your knife back form the sharpening service.

The Lansky system works well.

[finallyME]

Ahhhh, it looks so cute.

[AVENGED]

My Benchmades Hold An Edge For A Long While, And If I'm Out I'm Primarily Using A Fixed Blade For Most Operations. I Have A Good Stone, I Just Get Frustrated From Time To Time Perfecting The Art. Wonder Why No One Has Ever Come Out With A Ceramic Hunting Knife?

[Winter]

They have. Boker makes ceramic hunting knives.

[DOGMAN]

Really being able to put a shaving edge on a knife isnt that tough. It just takes practice and patience. get yourself a cheap, good size belt (fixed-blade) knife (preferably non stainless steel) with a flat grind, a large bench stone (not one of those little handheld ones), a leather strop and some compound, and just start practicing.
Focus on the blade angle. do 100 steady swipes of the blade on the stone- alternating sides (50 on each side)...then do 200 swipes on the strop....then check the sharpness by cutting paper.
Repeat the process- then check to see if you can shave the hair off your arm- most likely you will be able to- its not rocket science.
The strop is really key- I never could get a shaving edge until I started using a strop. Also, a flat grind, non stainless steel blade seems to be the easiest (for me anyway) to really hone until you master the techniques

[Phaedrus]

While I'm pretty fanatical about sharpness, I often don't carry any sharpening stuff in the field. Modern steels and heat treats are adequate to insure a knife will hold a usable edge for a long enough time for me get through any outing I'm on. I work as a chef; I resharpen my kitchen knives once they won't shave arm hair. But realistically there's a lot ways between the point it won't shave and the point where it won't cut well enough to use. In the wild I use the same technique I do at work- more than one knive! In the kitchen I rotate through my collection, spreading out the wear and keeping sharp ones in reserve.

If I know I'm going to be out on a longer trip I might carry some sharpening stuff with me. There are also field expedient ways to sharpen a knife if you understand the basics of sharpening.

I agree with DOGMAN, stropping is often the key. This is especially true with belt sander sharpening. Carbon steel is easier to sharpen as a rule.

One thing you might try if you're "sharpening-challenged" is convexing with sandpaper over a mousepad. Several knife makers on the various forums have videos. Iz Turely has a good one, and maybe Crash does too? My dad always had a Sucrets or Altoids tin with a variety of sandpapers inside for sharpening.