I suck at sharpening knives!!

[Butcher]

Wicked edge here. No problems. Dummy proof

 

[cantstop]

Then I picked up a Work Sharp Ken Onion Edition and never looked back. Worth its weight in gold. Can make a razor blade out of a crowbar...

I picked up a Work Sharp Knife and Tool Sharpener yesterday at the Howard county gun show. Scott at FBKnife was using one to sharpen knives and he showed me how to use it. I'm going to watch the DVD before I try it out on some old Swiss army knives, then I'll sharpen up the J A Henckels in the kitchen.

 

[MattTheGunslinger]

Wow. Thanks for all the responses. I can't believe how many knowledgable knife enthusiasts are on this forum.

I don't think I will be getting into the superfine honing. Stropping is about as far as I'll probably go for a finished edge. I just need a good factory edge back on my knives and the ability to easily and quickly maintain it. I think the first one I'll try is a lansky diamond set. The reviews I've heard on this forum and various other reviews I've read on the internet seem to be excellent and on par with my skill level. I might ask for a work sharp for Christmas though. Those seem pretty cool.

 

[kstone803]

If you end up with a Work Sharp I recommend buying micro mesh belts for it. I bought a bunch of belts from them for my Work Sharp and it makes it even better.

http://micro-surface.com/

 

[Rich1911]

I just got the Work Sharp sharpener and it works great with the kitchen guide but when using the outdoor guide it doesn't support the blade all the way through and falls off at the end. Someone recommended pulling through from the other side (which I had already tried) but then the belt will never touch the first inch or so of the knife. Plus it is awkward if you are right handed. Anyone else notice this?

 

[outrider58]

I just got the Work Sharp sharpener and it works great with the kitchen guide but when using the outdoor guide it doesn't support the blade all the way through and falls off at the end. Someone recommended pulling through from the other side (which I had already tried) but then the belt will never touch the first inch or so of the knife. Plus it is awkward if you are right handed. Anyone else notice this?

I've had similar experiences with it. It works great on my Wustof knives but, hunting type knives, I prefer my lanski and crock sticks.

 

[pleasant1911]

Get a sharpening stone from ebay, its red on top and white on bottom, search sharpening stone, it's like 6bdollars. Wet the stone with water, using the red side, angle the blade, like 30 degrees or 40 degrees, 2 match books; thin side, and put the blade in the middle of stone and pull towards the edge. Got to pull the blade and not push. Works for my kershaw onion. It cuts sheet of paper, which is good enough for me.

 

[johnnyb2]

This has been a good read. For years I attempted to use a stone and just could not get it. Then I use to use a friends crock sticks with good success, the Spyderco is what I think he had ( he has since died :-( hahaha, but when I went to buy one, I forgot about it and bought the Lansky system. It worked great on my first few knives, but if the edge is curved, well, forget it for me. I could NOT get it to work on curved blades. Then the plastic holder where the long metal rod fits into, well, most cracked on me. I know, I should have just glued them, but, I was afraid to use that on my good Henkel kitchen knives. So, this time, I bought a Japanese wet stone so, a dual edge 200/1000 I think, and it worked for the Henkel, but man, that damn German steel took hours and hours to get it razor sharp..whew....had to start and stop a few times. Now, the damn stone needs to be flattened, and don't feel or have, the $25 at the moment, to buy a flattener!! And the reviews I read on the cheaper, $20-25 flatteners isn't very good. So, when I get the funds, I am going to get the Ken Onion Edition sharpener and just be done with it, Maybe later, a higher quality Japanese water stone. But the K.O should take care of everything. Working with a stone can be fun, but you have to hold that edge perfectly at a certain angle, and be CONSISTANT throughout...otherwise, just a effort in futility,.......for me!! :-)

 

[ponypeddler87]

Thinking of sharpening a knife for a karma, you mail it to me (your dime) and I will sharpen it and mail it back to you (my dime). Not able to do serrated or anything over 1/4" thick. Just wondering if this would be something any one would be interested in?

 

[Ericw]

Has anyone used one of the stone kits from sharpeningsupplies.com?

I was thinking of getting this one for my foray into hand sharpening: http://www.sharpeningsupplies.com/Oil-Stone-and-SoftHard-Arkansas-Kit-P321.aspx

 

[arskrg]

I was once awful at sharpening knives, too; tried Lansky kits, etc... Then I picked up a Work Sharp Ken Onion Edition and never looked back. Worth its weight in gold. Can make a razor blade out of a crowbar.

http://www.northerntool.com/shop/to...ci_sku=41587&gclid=CPS9vNC83cYCFc4WHwodvV0Akg


It comes will all of the belts and a DVD, too.

I bought the original Work Sharp off a forum used, and liked it so much I bought the Ken Onion version also.

Believe it or not, I much prefer the original.

I have trouble with the right hand side of the sharpener, the side where the belt wants to pull the blade down.
The guide seems to be at a weird angle that doesn't actually guide the knife when I get toward the tip. It really frustrates me.

The only thing I prefer about the Ken Onion version is the variable speed. If the original had this feature I'd sell the Ken Onion in a heartbeat.

 

[DanGuy48]

Just a tip, maybe obvious to many of you but if your knife is in decent condition, you don't need a lot of pressure. In fact, if you think how fine a really sharp edge is, and you're pushing it hard against a surface, even at the proper angle, I doubt it's doing much good. If I have a really dull knife (a couple of my friends bring theirs over now and then to refresh) I will use moderate pressure on a coarse rod to get an initial edge. Once it starts feeling sharp, I switch to the fine rods with the last strokes being very light. This is with the Spyderco SharpMaker. I think maybe some people use a heavy hand throughout to try to achieve a fine edge.

 

[W2D]

Lansky and "Scary Sharp"

I like the Lansky for knives. You don't have to go all the way to the finest grit, but it doesn't take much more time. I like to do a microbevel with just a couple of passes of the fine stone to get the edge back. A strop does wonders also. I used to have a small square of leather with my 'whittling' knife.
I tried using flat stones for plane blades and knives. You have to have a feel for when you have the bevel of the blade flat to the stone, which only comes with a lot of practice. When sharpening plane blades, you spend just as much time getting the stone flat as you do sharpening. You either put the stone to a diamond truing stone, which seemed to me a redundant waste of time, or using sand paper on glass to true the stone. The stones are usually too small to use a guide. I'd rather use the 'Scary Sharp' method of sandpaper stuck to a piece of plate glass, with a several different grits in 3"x8" sheets stuck to a 12"x24" piece of plate glass scrap I got from a glass store. (This for plane blades)

For knives, a few strokes with a micro bevel is really the only way I can get good and sharp freehand. Eventually you have to use some method to restore the edge when the micro bevel gets too thick.

 

[THier]

I was once awful at sharpening knives, too; tried Lansky kits, etc... Then I picked up a Work Sharp Ken Onion Edition and never looked back. Worth its weight in gold. Can make a razor blade out of a crowbar.

http://www.northerntool.com/shop/to...ci_sku=41587&gclid=CPS9vNC83cYCFc4WHwodvV0Akg


It comes will all of the belts and a DVD, too.

THIS!!!! I picked one up at the HoCo gun show, AMAZING TOOL!

 

[ponypeddler87]

I finish my finest display/show-off polished edges after working up to 3K stones/tape with green chrome oxide paste(around .5micron) on balsa then paste leaded leather, and buffed/cleaned with clean leather, insanely sharp, the fine polish glides through material, but it just skates over hard material like zip-ties without "biting in". I get better performance and longer life with a ton less work only going up to 400-600(depending on steel), producing a micro-bevel with only a couple strokes on the final stone a couple degrees steeper. To finish I form and thin the edge burr with compound loaded leather on a belt grinder. It leaves a satin finish and slightly brighter micro-edge that bites into material well, slips through easy, and comes back several times by re-stropping only.

View attachment 154723

View attachment 154724

Thats a big jump going from 3k to 50-60k (.5 micron = 50-60k). Does it take a long time to strop it?

 

[winch]

I believe that stropping is the key.

 

[steveh326]

I was once awful at sharpening knives, too; tried Lansky kits, etc... Then I picked up a Work Sharp Ken Onion Edition and never looked back. Worth its weight in gold. Can make a razor blade out of a crowbar.

http://www.northerntool.com/shop/to...ci_sku=41587&gclid=CPS9vNC83cYCFc4WHwodvV0Akg


It comes will all of the belts and a DVD, too.

I need to add my praise for the KO Worksharp also. Previously my go-to sharpener was Lansky... based on info in this thread I sprung for the KO Worksharp... so far it seems to be amazing and is great at putting edges on anything I have tried, even knives that I had issues getting a good edge on with the Lansky. so far, I am really impressed and a very happy customer.

 

[campns]

I need to add my praise for the KO Worksharp also. Previously my go-to sharpener was Lansky... based on info in this thread I sprung for the KO Worksharp... so far it seems to be amazing and is great at putting edges on anything I have tried, even knives that I had issues getting a good edge on with the Lansky. so far, I am really impressed and a very happy customer.

+1 I have updated my Lansky to this system, it's so easy to use and I'm close to justifying the leather strop/polishing compound just because I can.

it's an awesome system.

 

[molonlabe]

Lansky here, but there are some exceptions. I have a Buck Hunter and a Cold steel Tanto. They are just too hard to sharpen but after 10 to 15 years they are still sharp. These are best sharpened by a belt. I have no idea where you would find that. When I was growing up a man came around in a truck to sharpen people's knives.

 

[Norton]

I just use Burrbenders. He has a trailer and sets up at various places like Homestead Gardens.

Theres also a guy that sets up at the Baltimore Farmers market on Sunday.