Sharpening Tips Warning: Long Diatribe

[MountainManJim]

Hello Fellow Knife Nuts,

I apologize for any grammar/spelling errors in advance. I suck as a writer.

I have been working hard on improving my sharpening technique the last few months and I have some tips/tricks that I’d like to share with the bunch.

Wedges

I like to grind a good relief angle to my knives. This requires the use of coarse stones and all of my coarse stones are hand/bench stones. To keep a consistent angle with my bench stones, I use a very simple tool that I made myself. I have yet to see this tools referenced in any of the sharpening articles/books or sold by any sharpener manufacturer. Maybe it’s so simple it’s unpatentable and, hence, unprofitable.

I made wedges. I took a 4x4 cedar post and cut it at several different angles to make wedge- shaped bases for the sharpening stone. I primarily use a 10º and 15º wedge, so that I can grind the final edge with the Sharpmaker.

The concept of the wedges is essentially the same as if you took your Sharpmaker and rotated it 90º. You place the stone on the wedge and draw the knife across the stone in a horizontal motion. Where with the Sharpmaker it’s important to keep the blade vertical, the key here is to keep the knife slicing parallel to the ground. But, just like the Sharpmaker, this method is a lot easier than trying to keep some small angle relative to the stone consistent.

This method gives me perfect relief angles which, when I do it by hand, end up convex. And, I get to use any stone I like to do the grinding. Hence, I have 6 grits that I progress through. Thanks to the wedges, the Spyderco bench stones are starting to look more and more attractive for use with larger knives, for instance kitchen knives. I happen to think that the Spyderco stone material is excellent, but hand sharpening has always left me wanting better angle control. (Back to SFO we go)

Cheap Diamonds

One day a coworker asked me to help him out and take a look at his set of kitchen knives. He was frustrated that he could no longer get them sharp. I assured him that I could whip them into shape with the Sharpmaker. I mean how bad could they be, he was still using them in the kitchen and he regularly steeled them. Yikes!! I’ve seen sharper butter knives!

I was in a bind, I needed to re-profile these knives fast. Since I recently bought my Sharpmaker, I was too cheap to purchase a diamond stone. My Arkansas stones were not aggressive enough. Even my coarse waterstone was working too slowly (3 hours for one knife) and the stone was wearing very quickly. So, I happened to be in a Harbor Freight and found a set of 3 diamond stones for $15 (Tool King has a similar deal for $10). Sure, they’re cheap stones and probably won’t last for very long, but they worked!! And, they are still working to re-profile my numerous other knives. (I hate dull knives!!)

So, if you are interested in experiencing the joy of diamond stones, but you would rather save some money for more KNIVES, I recommend trying the cheap Chinese diamond stones. They turned out to be great beater stones.

Water

I have switched from oil to water for my sharpening stones, no matter what type (oil, diamond, etc). It works great, it’s less mess and it’s completely compatible with the Sharpmaker.

Seeing the Light

I use all of the typical tests for sharpness (except for the forum troll method. I still need to find a test subject), but the best method I have found is light. I like to use a very bright LED flashlight to inspect the edge of the blade. As we all know, if you look at the edge (as if it was slicing into your eye) and you are able to see a reflection of the edge, then there is a flat spot on the edge. The light is reflecting off the flat surface between the two sides of the blade. Since we are trying to get the two sides of the blade edge to intersect, this light reflecting off the flat surface is not good.

It’s not easy to get the room light to glance of the edge just right, but with a bright flashlight, I can control the precise relationship between the light and the edge. I usually hold the knife vertical with the edge pointing up and hold the flashlight vertical pointing down shining directly on the edge. What’s nice about this method, is that it lets you see the different portions of the blade and to find the areas that need work. I often find I need to spend more time on one area, often it’s the tip. Once you can no longer get the light to reflect off the edge, your knife is razor sharp.

Truth be told, I usually can’t get the reflection completely eliminated without stropping. For instance, the Tenacious that’s in my pocket right now has a slight burr. I can chase the burr from side to side with my Gerber steel, but I can’t get the steel to completely straighten the burr. The edge reflects the tiniest bit of light and yet it will push cut newspaper without effort. I will probably strop the knife to remove the burr, but in reality the knife is incredibly sharp. It seems hardly worth the effort to have a perfectly thin edge, since the moment that perfect edge touches anything, it’s gone. That said, where is that strop …

In the example above, I also used the flashlight to see the burr! I find that the Sharpmaker leaves a very small burr which I can’t always feel. But, if you shine the flashlight at about a 45º angle to the blade and directed toward the edge of the blade, you can get that little burr to light up. This technique also provides a great deal of information during the final steps of sharpening the knife.

Sorry, when I get going on about sharpening I can’t stop.

I hope you find these ideas as helpful as they have been for me,

Jim

[amen74]

Thanks MMJ. Always good to hear of others' sharpening methods and techniques. I should have known to check Harbor Freight for stones. They might be throw aways, but will do the job for awhile. LED flashlight inspection is also a good idea to get a good look at your progress. Nice long post bud.

[Bolster]

Good post. I always appreciate a post that has lots of good information in it, and experience behind it. Thanks for sharing; I had not thought of using either cheap diamond stones or an LED for hunting down wire edges.

[dalefuller]

Thanks MMJ. I kinda like the wedge idea for angling the stone. Might try to cook something up soon.

[bladese97]

:spyder: :spyder: :cool: :spyder: :spyder: Hey Jim....All :) ****, that was more reading than the reading I did all through high school....REALLY :o Anyway; Excellent info people, and thanks for sharing :) :D

[CajunMike]

Well I'm off to Harbor Freight for some stones and then into the shop to make some wedges.
Great idea on using the bright flashlight by the way.

Thanks Jim!

Cheers,
Mike

[MountainManJim]

Hey All,

I was wondering if anyone tried any of these ideas, how did it work, how can we improve or expand on these thoughts, etc, etc ....

Jim

[Jay_Ev]

Thanks for that post, Jim. I am an expert in making knives dull, and am always on the lookout for tips on how to make (and keep) them sharp :D .

Jay

[jaislandboy]

excellent tips Jim, thanks for sharing :)

[mrappraisit]

I like the wedge idea. It sounds like a good way to introduce controlled angles for bench stone use. :)