Work Sharp Combo Knife Sharpener

Striper69 · Jan 3, 2019

I suck at sharpening knives and had a hell of a time taking the hides off deer this year and also quartering the meat. I used the Outdoor Edge combo skinning and gutting blade on 2 different knives. The gutting blade works great when it's sharp but now in it's 3rd year of use it's gotten quite dull. I could barely use it to skin the deer.

I tried cheap sharpeners but they didn't work. So I bought the Work Sharp Combo Sharpener today. It won't work on the Outdoor Edge Swing Blade gutting blade so now I'm back to the drawing board.

Anyone else use the Swingblade gutting knife and how do you sharpen it?

The Work Sharp Combo seemed to work on the regular skinning knife blades.

willtill · Jan 3, 2019

You probably need to use a set of ceramic sticks, such as the Spyderco sharpening system; for that concave gutting blade

https://www.spyderco.com/catalog/details.php?product=77

Archeryrob · Jan 3, 2019

You shouldn't have any trouble removing the front legs, even with a semi dull knife. My daughter and I use 3 1/4" skinner knives for everything. My is a angle grind and hers is a hollow grind and stays sharp even longer. I use an Arkansas stone to sharpen them back up after each butchering. I use only the hard stone. You have to get used to holding the angle and I run a trickle of water from the sink. I spin the knife in circles until fairly sharp and the curved pulls once each side until it's razor sharp. I can spend 2 -3 minutes and have it ready to go again.

What I can say if you are not used to having a knife sharp like this, get some cut resistant gloves! I use one on my left hand with a rubber glove over it and just a rubber glove on the right. Also help insulate your hand to the cold meat. I know these gloves have saved me once and my daughter multiple times. They don't cut on simple glances and $5 a glove is simple insurance.

Are you saying it will not work on the front drop point, or the gut hook? I can't imagine the gut hook getting dull as it doesn't come into contact with bone and such.

2nd=Good+Substantial · Jan 3, 2019

I don't have any gut hook knives but I think I recall my Work Sharp instructions addressing how to sharpen them.

gwchem · Jan 3, 2019

The thin (1/2 inch?) Work sharp belts should do a gut hook. You have to hold the knife freestyle, not using the guide. I think my booklet with instructions has a picture that I can upload tonight.

alucard0822 · Jan 3, 2019

Have to be careful, power sharpeners can ruin a blade in a couple seconds, and recurve/hawkbill edges are probably the toughest to sharpen. A Sharpmaker is probably the safest method for the least money, round or teardrop ceramic rods will work too, the narrow 1/2" wide stones on a Lansky or Edgepro probably are the easiest method. As gwchem said, you can do it on a worksharp or belt grinder freehand without the guard on an unsupported narrow belt. Using a finer grit than you normally would, work fast, and add a little more pressure to help the belt deform to the blade's shape. I use an edge pro with 1/2" stones to fix and sharpen, then a 1x30 belt to strop my Karambits with a similar edge shape, probably the toughest shape there is to sharpen.

onedash · Jan 3, 2019

I had an electric sharpener I used that seemed to work ok on my kitchen knives but the beginning of the blade wouldn't quite fit so they started to look like shit. I finally took some in to burr benders and he said whatever i am doing to stop. He made them all look like new. I used to take my deer knives in too as soon as they started to get a little dull. But now I have some S30V knives and I bought a leather strop and some black and green compound. Whenever they can't shave the hair on my arm i make a few passes on that and they are as good as new.
The kitchen knives I still take to burr benders. Guess I could try using the strop on them too. He only charges a few bucks each.

Striper69 · Jan 4, 2019

Archeryrob said:
You shouldn't have any trouble removing the front legs, even with a semi dull knife. My daughter and I use 3 1/4" skinner knives for everything. My is a angle grind and hers is a hollow grind and stays sharp even longer. I use an Arkansas stone to sharpen them back up after each butchering. I use only the hard stone. You have to get used to holding the angle and I run a trickle of water from the sink. I spin the knife in circles until fairly sharp and the curved pulls once each side until it's razor sharp. I can spend 2 -3 minutes and have it ready to go again.

What I can say if you are not used to having a knife sharp like this, get some cut resistant gloves! I use one on my left hand with a rubber glove over it and just a rubber glove on the right. Also help insulate your hand to the cold meat. I know these gloves have saved me once and my daughter multiple times. They don't cut on simple glances and $5 a glove is simple insurance.

Are you saying it will not work on the front drop point, or the gut hook? I can't imagine the gut hook getting dull as it doesn't come into contact with bone and such.

Yeah. I stabbed my fingers once or twice but not too deeply. I'll get some gloves next year.

The gut thing is not really a "hook". It's a round sort of ball that keeps the knife point from coming into contact with the belly membrane. Works pretty good too.

Work Sharp Combo Knife Sharpener

The #1 community for Gun Owners of the Northeast

Member Benefits:

Striper69

Ultimate Member

willtill

The Dude Abides

Archeryrob

Undecided on a great many things

2nd=Good+Substantial

Ultimate Member

gwchem

Ultimate Member

alucard0822

For great Justice

onedash

Ultimate Member

Striper69

Ultimate Member

Users who are viewing this thread

Latest posts

Forum statistics

Latest threads

Forum statistics

Share this page