Knives

I really enjoy the latest discussions on knives and it seems some us find this an interesting topic.

I have never been able to correctly sharpen a knife. I have a bunch of them, fishing, hunting, diving, and all-purpose knives. Just never could find the right thing to use and the correct technique, believe me I have practiced alot.

Could some of you share some tricks of the trade and suggestions?

And an observation on Stainless Steel blades. One knife that I have had some success in keeping a fairly good edge on is the Swiss Army knives. I don't really think it is me, I don't know what is different about them, maybe the quality of steel, but those are the sharpest knives out of the box I have ever seen.

Steve

 

I'm interested to see the responses as well.

In regards to sharpening, I don't trust myself.

A service Benchmade offers, is that for the life of the knife, they will sharpen it, for free.

You just have to insure your postage and send it to them.

 

Oh man, I'm so glad you brought this up...

I just learned to sharpen a knife, and I'm so happy! I tried on and off throughout the years, and finally got the hang of it when I got so ticked off a bunch of kitchen knives at my mom's house after they wouldn't chop through a bell pepper...

It's easiest when you have a good knife. My mom's were Chicago Cutlery and they were easy as anything... we have some CHEAP knives and they are hard to put an edge on, and it wears off in a month or so...

I suggest you start with a kitchen knife, such as a chef's knife, and a long knife sharpening tool thing... one of those round sword looking things. I have tried with stone, and still am not getting anywhere...

You just hold the knife in one hand, blade facing down, and kind of try and slice a sliver off the knife sharpener, going foward from the base to the tip. Hold it at like a 25? 30? degree angle, one that's not too shallow, and if you do it right, you'll feel it bite into the blade a little, because the knife sharpener has all these tiny ridges in it. Do that once or twice more once you have felt the blade bite, no use in wasting blade, and then switch hands for the other side. If the blade is a little dark colored, you will be able to see a tiny gleam of fresh metal where you have sharpened the blade. It might take a little while if the blade is real dull, or poor quality. You could even go to a Salvation Army or thrift store and find an old, discolored blade to practice on. When you are done, you can also run your thumb edgewise over the blade and feel it kind of catch your skin. Just like in the movies where some guy looks at a knife, peering down at it, and saying, "yep, it's sharp"... If the knife is good quality, you can shave hairs off your arm with it. And never have a dull knife again!

And if it doesn't work, I would say try a steeper angle... It seems a more natural mistake to err by having the blade too flat on the sharpener. Good luck!

 

I have never tried one of those. I have used the ceramic sticks, the kind where you have two mounted on a board. The angle has to be the key to it.

Your saying keep it at an angle almost like whittling, like you are just cutting shavings, your getting some resistance. I have always heard also, no matter what your using, do one swipe and then change sides. Does that make a big difference or is it just preference.

Thank's for the advice.

Steve

 

From my experience it is best to use a stone or a very fine file for sharpenning a knife, the ceramic or steel rods you speak of are to maintain a sharp edge, not to create one.most knives use a two angle edge and if you google knife sharpening you will find some good sites.

 

Quality of the blade makes a lot of difference too. That Chicago Cutlery is a good quality carbon steel, as is the small Buck that I carry daily. I can shave with the Buck after careful sharpening.

For real sharpening, stones are best, with a guide to keep the proper angle if you're not good at it freehand. And use a small amount of honing oil on the stone. A tempered (heat treated) blade doesn't like heat; it takes the temper out of the blade, and the friction on the stone heats up the very edge, softening the blade along the edge, which you do NOT want. The oil helps keep it cool.

 

There are kits you can buy that will keep the knife a the certain angle you desire. I have one and it comes with 5 different sharpening rods. I also have a steel to keep the edge on in between sharpenings. I have been a meatcutter for over 8 years and can contest to the angle being the key I usually keep about a 20 or 25 degree angle on all my knives. You can also buy what they call a diamond tip steel which is very good but you do not want to use it to much or you will run the blade down. I have found once you get it sharp use the steel to keep the edge on the blade. Stainless steel knives once the go dull take a while to get sharp again. I also like a ceramic steel to help keep the edge on. The key is not to over do it when you use the steel two or three licks on eack side of the blade is all I do.

 

I didn't know they made guides for that purpose. That would help me because I think the angle is alot of my problem.

But, I see now by the post they do. I've also seen people using a circular motion on a stone, is that just for the tip?

Very helpful info.

Steve

 

It's true that cheaper steels tend to wear out faster than the good quality knives but do you really want to pay a fortune for a knife? I find that the best way of making sure you always have a sharp knife at your disposal, weather it be in a tool box, fishing box or kitchen drawer, is to have a small hand sized sharpening stone (I use grinded down grinding stones) Just choose the grade of stone you prefer. In my many attempts to create the ¨perfect edge¨ I've realised that if you want to slice trough something, say tomatoes, you use a fine stone to sharpen your knife. On the other hand, if you want to cut trough something more challenging like thick rope or some type of strong fabric, you use a harsher stone on your blade, this seems to have an advantage over the finer sharpened blade because you can use the blade as a mini saw to cut trough pretty much anything you encounter. Everybody has there own fancy way of sharpening, but one thing pretty much everybody will agree on is that to keep your edge longer the best way is to use a sharpening steel rod.

This might be usefull for all.
sharpening steel rod

 

usually i just use one forward fluid motion on mine but i have seen other meatcutters use a circular mottion just for the tip. Yeah the guides are really helpful esp if i do not have the time to use a regular sharpening stone.

 

so true the steel is my best friend

 

Exactly like whittling and shavings... just start out with a 45 or so degree angle, and keep increasing the angle until you feel it catch... it can take a few times if the knife is dull. I have never heard of one swipe then changing, but it could be... I googled it, and different places say anywhere from 20 to 30 degree angle... don't worry about that, though... if it's not doing it, just steepen the angle... and just go to a thrift store or pawn shop or junk shop or wal-mart and get a sharpening steel, don't worry about diamond this or ceramic that... just old school metal is good enough...

 

and I'm not knocking anyone who suggested ceramic or diamond steels, just saying they're not a necessity for the job. Just go to your grandma's house and ask to borrow hers.

 

yes true not necessary but in my experince do a lot better job than just regular steel. For the regular person steel rod would be fine, ceramic and the diamond tip while more expensive are always an option just depends on how much you are into knives. One person who spends $ 250.00 on a High end processor could have Paid little under a $ 100.00 for a budget one both will run a computer its just one will do the better job.

 

I have a little dial thing for the kitchen knives and scissors. I picked it up for 60c in a thrift store about 15 years ago. You may have seen them. You just dial the correct sharpening groove for what type of blade you want sharpened (e.g. scissors, serrated edge, carving knife), and the angles and sides are already preset for the type of blade you want sharpened. Pretty handy. 'prolly the best 60c I ever spent, LoL!

These items aren't that common to but nowadays, as the "throw away mentality" is to just keep buying new stuff.

 

forget the 45 degree angle I mentioned... I wasn't thinking right.

 

I found a knive today, it's a winchester 2 5/8 inches long.......found it in the gutter next to the sidewalk......it fell out of somebody's car or truck.....has a few nicks and scrapes........and the blade has seen better days.......but, I have enough sharping stones to fix it.......wobbles

 

After looking at some other posts,…..one of my hobbies is wood carving, I have an assortment of carving tools, and some the use a mallet……..for sharpening I do have a few oil stones, but GT the oil is keep the bits of metal from filling the stone’s surface……I also have one of those diamond incrusted metal bars…..they work, but I don’t like them for my fine cutting tools…….and I have so ceramic leftovers, from my pottery, that work real nice to sharpen…….but, I like best are the Japanese water stones…….they use water instead of oil, which make clean up easier……if any of body remembers the cowboy movies, the barber use a leather strap, to strop the shaving tools of the day……I use a old belt, and I also have a strop made of glass. The glass is four 4 inch x seven inches, and glued together…….…wobbles

 

Thanks for the correction Wobbles. I'm probably confusing power grinding, which generates a lot more heat and uses liquids for cooling the work.

Leather belts, or "strops"... You don't have to go back to the cowboy era. I remember barbers using them to keep their straight razors sharp. With all the unisex hair cutting places today, it's hard to even find an old-fashioned barber.

 

Something that I remembered, about the temper…….had a buddy (not for long), that borrowed a knife that I had, and he broke it, throwing at a wood post, and missed and hit the concrete wall…….it was a folding knife, with a six and half inch blade, he broke about two inches off……..I started to reshape it with a coarse stone, and it was taking too long, so I heated the knife up, and took out the temper……..I let it cool down by itself, and reshaped the knife, and did a two sided edging, then redid the heat treatment, and quench into water………….I was living in England at the time, and needed a knife for use in the fire department…….but, I lived off base, in town you couldn’t have a knife over four inches, the handle of mine looked like, the blade should have been at least seven inches long…….my roommate and I got pull over by a bobby one morning after work, and they were going to arrest me for having a knife that was to long….but, he went by the handle’s length, I made him open the knife, and he found a blade of 3 and one half inches long…….bottom line, you can re-temper a knife……..wobbles

 

Still have a few here G.T., mediocre haircut and great shave. Makes you feel great!

Been doing some checking Wobbles, the Japanese water stones seem to be very popular and they have some great kits and info available. Going to check into those. Thank's

Steve