Requesting help sharpening knives

[mtnwrunner]

Bruce, I feel your pain. Been through them all and this gem works great. I'm certainly no expert but I think the trick is to get the correct angle and then it's simple to sharpen. Brad from Argali turned me onto this and I'm telling ya.......just like everyone else has......it works great. Brad has a video on it, followed his advice and my knife was shaving sharp in about 20 strokes.

Randy

Amazon.com

 

[6mm Remington]

LANSKY knife sharpening kit with the guide rods. Purchase the standard stone 3-stone set with fine, medium, and coarse stones. Purchase seperately an ultra fine stone, and the leather strop that is attached just like the stones are on the device. Also must purchase the Lansky Super-C clamp that runs about $20.00 extra but is worth every single penny. It makes using the sharpening kit on your knives so much easier, less fatiguing, and safer. As you wear out a stone you can easily purchase replacements for not much $$.

I could dull a knife like nobodies business until I started using this set-up roughly 15 years ago. Wish I would have tried it sooner! My knives and folks I sharpen knives for all say that their knives have never been this sharp before, ever! Have a friend who has a Work Sharp system with the belt system. He says that the knives I do are far sharper than what he can get on the work sharp and the edge seems to last longer on the knives I sharpen in comparison to the Work Sharp. I had just sharpened my Benchmade mini-Barrage a couple of years ago and I had to send it in form some minor repair. They have a life-time sharpening service for their knives. Ship it to them and they will sharpen it and ship it back to you. Minor repairs like I had done also cost nothing. Their edges are among the sharpest of any factory edge typically that I have found and side to side on the blade the edges match very well. They sent me a message asking if I wanted them to sharpen the blade. I politely declined the offer. Although their edges are very good, they aren't as sharp as the ones I can get on a knife.

If anyone would like to know how I do it, yes it's different from the instructions they have and the YouTube video's they make, send me a PM and maybe we cold talk on the phone or I could send a message back with how I do it. I know the way I do it also saves time too.

David

 

[5MilesBack]

Are you sharpening the replaceable blades after they dull or out of the package? Also, they’re so thin, how do you get them clamped in?

After they dull. I've done a ton of the Wac'em and G5 Striker blades. Sometimes those tiny blades are difficult to get far enough out without honing the clamp itself. But I've always been able to get them done. And something like the German Kinetics are even easier.

 

[jjohnsonElknewbie]

I have had the same issues/frustrations. Wound up buying one of the worksharp powered sharpeners about a year ago and it’s been well worth it. I think sharpening with a stone or rod is kinda a skill, one I’d like to have but don’t and amongst other time demands just isn’t a priorityh to me. With the powered sharpener iv been able to get high quality hard steel back to being as sharp as when I bought it in maybe 10 minutes.

Only thing you gotta be careful is not to round off the tip of fine pointed knives. I know this from experience. Rounded off a couple cheap fillet knives and won't do that again.

 

[LaHunter]

Lansky

 

[*zap*]

sharpening without a machine is a skill worth learning and like all other skills worth learning it can take time/effort.

stones, diamond hones, ceramic, strops with rouge and files all have their place. Time & effort = results. For super dull knives & tools I start with an angle grinder just to save some time....

 

[Rich M]

For a quick and dirty touch up in the field, i carry a pull thru sharpener. A medium or course stone is just as easy but the pull thru is fool proof and you don’t even have to put much pressure on it.

 

[JGTWI]

The Lansky system has been mentioned on here quite a bit. I have one that I purchased years ago and used a handful of times, but I don’t really care for it.

I’ve tried the worksharp also, and have had mixed results. Need to spend more time with it I think.

 

[*zap*]

sometime the blade edge is so rounded that you cannot get it to contact the stone if you use a shallow angle......that is when a file or grinder helps.

If you use a grinder keep a container of water near and cool the blade very often.

 

[mi650]

Only thing you gotta be careful is not to round off the tip of fine pointed knives. I know this from experience. Rounded off a couple cheap fillet knives and won't do that again.

Yes, a lesson I learned the hard way. Learn on a cheap knife. I bought a Work Sharp after going to an NRA convention and seeing the guys at the Benchmade booth using 1. I rounded the tip on my 1st Benchmade, took it to the booth at the next convention and they fixed it for me. I don't have any really expensive knives, though. I have a Lansky too, that I still use sometimes, but usually it's the Work Sharp.

 

[JGTWI]

To the OP-

The Lansky system has been mentioned on here quite a bit. I have one that I purchased years ago and used a handful of times, but I don’t really care for it.

I’d send it to you for $10-15 to cover shipping if you’d like to give it a try. I can post a picture if you’d like to see it first.

 

[JGTWI]

It’s a Gatco system, not a lansky. But the offer stands if you want it.

 

[JjamesIII]

I haven't had this problem before but higher end knives with far greater hardness are tougher to sharpen. The manufacturer offers free sharpening but I'm just not that guy. They recommend the Kershaw Ultra Tek 2535 sharpener which I bought. They instruct me to do the following:

Hold the blade against the Ultra-Tek at the original sharpened angle of 18°–22°.

Beginning at the base of the blade and tip of the sharpener, pull the blade down and toward you across the top of the sharpener in a slight arc as shown in the illustration. Do the same thing across the bottom of the sharpener as shown. This sharpens the top of your blade.

Repeat this “over and under” motion approximately three to five times on each side to fully sharpen your knife.

IT IS CRITICAL TO MAINTAIN THE CORRECT BLADE ANGLE OF 18° TO 22° WHILE SHARPENING THE BLADE.

Sounds simple enough but I cannot get the knives anywhere near as sharp as when I got em. Took two years of use to dull em. I can (after several minutes) get a barely acceptable sharpness but not the razor edge the blade is capable of. I'm sure it's my failure to maintain the required angle but damn, a 4 degree margin of error is hard. Any tips on achieving this cuz trial & error ain't cuttin' it. Should I be pulling it against the flat part of the sharpener or the edges? Tried both, no difference. Must be a technique error.

Power sharpening needs to be done with care. Free Hand sharpening takes skill to be consistent with the angle, and can take a lot of time if you’re shifting the angle of the stone. I would recommend a fixed angle stone system with an aggressive stone to bring up a burr fast, then run a medium grit, and finish with the strop to make your knife pop hair sharp. Don’t be afraid to apply some pressure to the stone to get it to bight on the hard steel. As long as you can maintain the edge angle, you’ll have it done easily. Free hand is an art, some can never figure out.

 

[Cnlson]

I haven't had this problem before but higher end knives with far greater hardness are tougher to sharpen.

Sounds simple enough but I cannot get the knives anywhere near as sharp as when I got em. Took two years of use to dull em. I can (after several minutes) get a barely acceptable sharpness but not the razor edge the blade is capable of. I'm sure it's my failure to maintain the required angle but damn, a 4 degree margin of error is hard. Any tips on achieving this cuz trial & error ain't cuttin' it. Should I be pulling it against the flat part of the sharpener or the edges? Tried both, no difference. Must be a technique error.

You don't say what knife you are sharpening, so you are probably getting a few replies that are off point. So here is another one to add to that.

First, the person that suggested you use a sharpie on the bevel is leading you to the right idea but with what you've tried so far I'm not sure you are going to have much luck, because you have likely changed the bevel a bit in some of the spots. which is going to magnify the unevenness you have already caused on the blade.

If I was you, I would ask the mfgr (or google) and find out what bevel the blade has from the factory.

Once you have that knowledge I'd suggest a change of sharpening system. I too have many different sharpening systems, Spiderco, smiths, I had a lansky for a day and returned it. Each was good in their way, and If you had a serrated blade I would recommend the spiderco. If the blade is a plain edge however, I'd really recommend the worksharp precision adjust. It's inexpensive at $50 or less, you can set the angle in 1° increments, it holds the blade firmly, and allows the blade to be rotated 180 exactly to keep the sharpening paths on both sides of the blade parallel which helps with getting as sharp a blade as you can. It also has diamond hones so harder more expensive steels can quickly become hair popping sharp. And it has a ceramic finishing hone that you can polish the bevel to the point you can see yourself in it. Check youtube and you will find people swear by it. And there are plenty of videos where you can see it in action.

I would not recommend the precision adjust elite. you get more hones and a carrying case. I got it for xmas from the wife and I really wish that I would have only gotten a case, I really have not seen a need to use any of the other hones so far. I have sharpened about 20 knives with it so far, and it makes it much less of a crapshoot how the blades will turn out. I have sharpened 154cm, s30v as well as plain old 420 hc and the diamond hones make short work of getting a very sharp edge. And since it is not freehand you are not at risk of changing the grind and you work the blade.

I would never suggest a grinder, like the kitchen one mentioned or the workshop version. you will ruin the tip of the knife unless you are really good at feathering it. I was not and ended up sending the knife back to leatherman for it to be reprofiled by them.

 

[c670809]

I don't worry about rounding the tip with a powered sharpener. Since you have power, it takes just a few seconds to correct any rounding.

 

[Meety Peety]

I use a power sharpener and it works well for me. I used to mess around with manual sharpeners but I just don't see a point anymore.

 

[BRTreedogs]

Lansky diamond guided system.
I mounted my based to a 12" long board.
Sit in my chair and do all my hunting knifes at end season.
For the kitchen and boning knives I use a worksharp power belt.
Only thing is on some knives you can't get the blade deep enough to sharpen the entire blade because the handle hits the guard, I know you don't need that first 1/4" to cut but it drives me captain insano.

 

[Muddler]

I use either a Ken Onion Worksharp or free hand on stones. If you go the powered route, just make sure the blade doesn't get too hot if it's thin and/or you need to hog a bunch of steel off to revive the edge. I dip the blade in a glass of ice water to cool it back down if that's the case. And as others have mentioned, watch the tip. Once you put a convex edge on with the belts, it doesn't take much to hone it back up with a pretty fine grit belt. I like to free hand on stones too depending on the knife.

Whichever sharpening method you choose, you must raise a burr along the entire length of the edge before proceeding to the next grit. As you progress through your grits, the burr will get finer. Then finish it off with a couple of strops and you'll be good to go.

 

[xcutter]

I'm not the greatest knifer sharpener but this thing makes it stupid easy to get a knife hair shaving sharp. As long as you keep up on the sharpening you really only need to touch them up with the finer grit and ceramic.

Amazon.com

 

[Kilboars]

Wicked Edge Precision Knife Sharpeners

Knife sharpeners that are precision engineered to help you easily create the sharpest and most durable edges possible while taking excellent care of your knives

wickededgeusa.com

I used my buddy’s Wicked Edge Jude sharpener on all my home kitchen knives to the point where the cutting edge is a mirror.
Really cool


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