YANWDW Sharpmaker

[vampyrewolf]

More time or less time than with the diamond SM stones?

The diamond 204 rods will bite in faster than sandpaper, but keep in mind that you don't need any pressure when working with the diamond rods or damage the rods. That same 3-5lbs is more than enough.

You can also clamp sandpaper around the 204 rods binder clips and the flat surface on the rods.

[Swedge]

polishing out the scratches and getting my main bevel to a mirror finish before putting on the microbevel.

How are you polishing out the scratches with the same stone? With lighter pressure?

[Swedge]

stones don't have to be expensive.

I have:
200/300 combo AO stone
500/800 combo AO stone
...
hanging strop with 0.5 micron paste (veritas green)

I had no idea they were so cheap. I was thinking I would have to spend another $50 or $60.

What size stones do you recommend and do you recommend any particular suppliers?

What hanging strop do you use? And why not one on a wood backing? Suppliers?

[vampyrewolf]

How are you polishing out the scratches with the same stone? With lighter pressure?

Going from the 200, to 300, to 500, to 800, to the 303MF's medium and fine, to the strop with 0.5 micron paste, and then the final micro bevel with either the medium ceramics or 800 grit.

[vampyrewolf]

I had no idea they were so cheap. I was thinking I would have to spend another $50 or $60.

What size stones do you recommend and do you recommend any particular suppliers?

What hanging strop do you use? And why not one on a wood backing? Suppliers?

With benchstones you want the biggest you can find and hold comfortably. Mine are 2"x6"x1" for the 200/300 and 2x8x1 for the 500/800. Usually for an AO stone you'll spend $5-10. Should be a few suppliers online but I get mine at a tool sale that comes annually. My local knife shops sells the same stones for a couple bucks more.

My strop is a hunk of 2.5" x 12" 5-6oz leather. Paste on the smooth side. I have it hanging with cord at the bottom of the steps, and another length of cord on the other end. Just wrap the cord around a couple fingers and pull tight. By not attaching a hunk of wood I can use the rough side to align edges and remove burrs.
I got this one 4-5 years ago, but leather is cheap. Just picked up "1.9 square feet" (2 square feet and an angled jagged side) of 4-5oz cow for $15 at an upholstery supply shop here to make a sheath for my mule when I find the hardware I need for my handle.

Just cut a chunk that's 2-3" wide and 12-14" long. I can strop anything from the toad to my 5.5" beast on it.

[Swedge]

With benchstones you want the biggest you can find and hold comfortably.

My strop is a hunk of 2.5" x 12" 5-6oz leather. Paste on the smooth side.
...
By not attaching a hunk of wood I can use the rough side to align edges and remove burrs.

Do you hand-hold the benchstones? I thought one put them down on the bench or table top. Are you locking the knife down and moving the stone?

So you don't put any paste on the rough side when aligning the edges and removing burrs?

[vampyrewolf]

Do you hand-hold the benchstones? I thought one put them down on the bench or table top. Are you locking the knife down and moving the stone?

So you don't put any paste on the rough side when aligning the edges and removing burrs?

You have more control by setting the stone on a counter with non-slip padding underneath. Hold the knife edge trailing with the tip and 2-3 fingers worth on the stone. Place 2-3 fingers on the bevel facing you and the bottom of the blade itself. Lift the spine till you can feel the bevel hit fully (takes some practice), then push down and away along the stone. Lift the blade off the stone and move down a finger's width... repeat for the full blade from tip to heel, then flip the blade over to edge leading and pull towards you the same motion and steps. The longer the stone the more you get done per section (6" travel compared to 8" travel)

You might want to do 4-5 sets per side before flipping to get a burr going (and this method WILL get a burr quickly). Can be looking at 5min per set on a 5' blade and you will end up with a polished bevel as you do each successively finer grit until you can't feel it biting. You only need enough force to keep the bevel on the stone as you guide it along not trying to push through the stone.

You can drop the spine to lower the bevel easily but then you need a steady hand for the first dozen sets on each side or it's possible to end up with a wavy looking line and uneven bevels.

I only grab the stone and use it in my hand for touchups... at which point you want something you can hold comfortably for 15-20min.


The back (rough) side of my strop is bare leather, only the smooth side is treated (mineral oil and veritas green). Usually only takes a couple strokes to kill a burr on the rough side, and a couple minutes to clean up an edge. The front side is used for daily maintenance.

[mbhanzo]

What are the pro's and cons of DMT vs. AO stone?

The biggest advantage is that the diamond stones stay flat.. If you use ao type stones they will not stay flat for very long with much use no matter how much you may try to keep them flat.. In the long run the diamond is a better deal..

[Swedge]

Finally, I am getting some sharp edges with the SharpMaker. The biggest problem for me has been that the knives I have been working on needed some serious rebeveling.

Therefore, the single most important step for me was to go to Home Depot and buy some 100 grit sandpaper and some emery cloth (in 80, 100, and 150 grits). I cut the sandpaper and the emery cloth into strips and clipped the strips to the SharpMaker stones with binder clips. It still took a prodigious amount of grinding away, but I was finally able to reprofile some of the knives so that ALL of the black markings from the Sharpie were ground away, the shoulders were were ground back, and the bevels were set at 30°.

Now I was able to raise a burr and knock it back and forth and get rid of most of it. (Time to learn how to strop.) The $5 stockman slipjoint has decently sharp edges now as does the Heckels paring knife. My technique could still use some serious improvement, but now I feel like I'm at least in the game.

BTW, I went looking for some AO stones, but none of the ones I found in the hardware stores had any indication of grit--other than coarse/medium/fine.

I have an old benchstone that I bought from Sears years ago. To give you an idea of how old it is, the price sticker says $1.69. I don't know what grit size the coarse side it, but it seems much coarser than the grey SM stones. I fiddled with that for a while, but I had difficulty holding a consistent angle and gave up.

Anyway, thanks to all who posted here. I have been re-reading the posts and I have clipped some of the tips and put them in a text file that I will refer to from time to time until I get it right.

[THG]

Funny that this thread got bumped back up today. Today is the first day in many months that I've tried freehanding. I did it on my Leatherman with 420HC steel. It took a few hours, but I finally got a good edge on it (well on the straight part, at least; I'm having a hard time with the belly + tip).

So I'm on a learning mission, too :D