Whats You're Preferred Way To Sharpen A Knife?

[craww]

Been piddling around and found a few different ways. Ive gotten my blades sharp enough to butcher deer well, but I'm not quite where I'd like it to be. There are many different variations of stones, oils, and, gadgets and techniques. Out of curiousity, whats you're routine?

[daiwaguy]

Old stone and oil works good, I got an electric sharpener from the meat department at a local grocery store a year or two ago,they were replacing it,and man that sucker can sharpen a knife. Super sharp and super fast. I think they sold it to me for 20 bucks.

[.ghoti.]

By hand with a Smith's 6" fine diamond hone.

[J Francho]

Oil and a stone. I have an automatic sharpener for when I'm in a hurry.

[gulfcaptain]

working on a sportboat  in S. Cal for 10yrs as a deckhand, I spent many a day on the fillet board cutting fish on the way in.  We used a medium/fine 2 sided stone and just water. Once you sharpen it, don't change your pattern of how you run it across the stone.  Sharpening a 10" fillet knife, we sharpened from the handle up to the tip both directions, and never went the other way.(point down to handle)  If someone else used our knife we new because it would take off the edge we used as their stroke might have not been the same angle or direction of ours.  Quality blades will hold an edge better then cheaper ones will as well.Once you get it sharp, you can always use a sharpening steel to touch it up.

[tholmes]

 

Lansky sharpening system. It will get a filet knife scary sharp.

 

My wife hates it when I do the kitchen knives with it.

 

Tom

[moguy1973]

 

Lansky sharpening system. It will get a filet knife scary sharp.

 

My wife hates it when I do the kitchen knives with it.

 

Tom

 

Probably one of the best sharpening kits out there.  I remember back in the day a friend of mine sharpened his K-Bar with one of these to where he could dry shave with it.

[daiwaguy]

 

Lansky sharpening system. It will get a filet knife scary sharp.

 

My wife hates it when I do the kitchen knives with it.

 

 She should appreciate it. I bet it saves her from getting cut. The most dangerous utencil in a kitchen is a dull knife.

[clayton86]

I have the lansky kit and well it gets knives sharp it has a hard time holding some knives in the clamp. It won't hold a few of my kershaws and my crkt. I have been eyeballing the work sharp kit has a lot of good reviews and can do any knife

[BryanBrown]

Japanese waterstones for me.

[Teal]

Old school wet stone. It was old as crap when I was a little boy watching westerns with my dad while he sharpened his knife. Now its mine and it still gets the job done.

I will say that there is an art to doing it.

[Raider Nation Fisher]

Stone and oil or stone and water. For my pocket knives and sheath knives.

For my 2 splicer knives. One is stone and oil sharpened. The other I use either a brick or a file. That freaking thing will go through cable insulation like its butter. It will cut through a glove and skin too.

[Catt]

Novaculite Whetstone & Honing Oil

My knives are so sharp they cut 6" in front of the blade!

[gr8outdoorz]

Once a month my cooking knives get sharpened on a oiled stone then finished off on a wet leather strap to get the edge as fine as possible. After every use they get 10 strokes per side on a sharpening steel.

[The Rooster]

Tip to handle, both sides, on the fine side of a cheap Harbor Freight sharpening stone. I hit the medium side first if they're especially dull, but once I get one sharp it normally stays that way. No oils used, and no water either. After the stone, they get the back side of an old leather belt. I can shave with my pocket knives. Larger ones have no need for such an edge, though I have two that do have it.

[Oregon Native]

I use the "Worksharp" and it does a great job....touch up with Lansky Diamond.  Great for huntin knives and quick.  For kitchen knives since they get so beat up in sink and such I just use a cheap pull thru.

[HeavyDluxe]

Trying to say things that I haven't seen said rather than just "THIS".

 

So, I bought my first nice knives this year and, being the obsessive kinda person I am, that lead to me having to know everything I could about sharpening.  A couple thoughts:

 

I think stones/diamond plates are the best, all-around tools.  The downside to stones is that they wear and need to be leveled periodically or your sharpening efficiency will go down.  I wound up going with small diamond plates... More expensive to start, but easily carried and efficient.

 

(edit: If you get comfortable with using stones, you have the benefit of training your hand to find the blade angle and maintain it - as opposed to depending on a sharpening system to maintain the angle for you.  That means that, in the event you really had to sharpen a knife in the field in an emergency, you could likely do so sufficiently to cut what needed cutting using two flat rocks - one more coarse, the other more fine - that you could find near a river or something.)

 

The other aspect to sharpening that I haven't seen addressed here is blade geometry/grind.  Make sure you know the real shape of the blade from the bevel to the cutting edge and, if the knife has one, at the cutting (aka secondary) bevel that actually runs at the sharp edge.  If you don't know approach sharpening the knife in a way fitting for that blade shape, you'll find yourself having to work harder to get things cleaned up and you'll not have a lot of cutting efficiency.

 

Last thing, blade maintenance.  In addition to whatever you get to sharpen/rework the blade, get or make something that will allow you to easily touch-up the edge after every use.  For example, a small ceramic rod or leather strop with polishing compound can be used to 'polish up' the edge and take out small rolls quickly.  This keeps the razor sharp and keeps you from having to use the stones (which remove more metal) as often.  

 

Hope that helps and adds to the discussion.

 

 

edit:  FWIW, here's the best article series I found on knife sharpening in my internet travels.  Hope it helps.   http://forums.egullet.org/topic/26036-knife-maintenance-and-sharpening/

[Fishes in trees]

In the past, back when I was a bush hippie, I used a Rapala fillet knife for all cutting chores - fillet fish, cutting up vegetables, assorted kitchen knife duties,whatever.  Whenever my knife got too dull, I'd go buy another one.  30 years later, for the most part, I still do that.

 

I've tried different sharpening systems over the years, and while they work ok, the "razor sharp, dry shaving edge" that you hear so much about is unattainable by me.  I think I've got a blunt thumb or something.

 

I've got the Chef's Choice electric sharpening system.  I've got the ceramic rods.  The little hand held mini ceramic rods that came one time with a fillet knife I bought work as well as anything.  I don't know.

 

I do know that for some cutting chores, there are better tools than knives.  For parting out chickens, a heavy duty pair of kitchen shears works as well or better than a knife for me.   I know that for slicing roasts, using my electric fillet knife, I can get much more consistent slices than I can by hand and a new set of blades for that electric knife only costs $10 or so.

 

If I have to slice up a bunch of chicken breasts for chicken stir fry, (one of my favorite summer crowd dishes) it is easier to freeze them and then cut them into slices using my electric slicer than it is to do it by hand.

 

This blunt thumb of mine applies to yard tools as well.  I have a dremel sharpening set and a variety of files and stones and still I have issues getting yard tools sharp.  I know that it is important to use sharp yard tools.  It is a good thing that I have a buddy that likes to hunt on my property.  I put him to work sharpening all my yard tools and he's done in 40 minutes or so and they are all sharp for a while.   

 

Some people just have "blunt thumbs" when it comes to sharpening knifes and tools and I am one of them.  I've managed to recognize my shortcomings and adapt over the years, but it is still a pain.  The funny thing is that I am pretty good at filleting fish, when I've got a sharp knife - go figure.    When all else fails, go buy another Rapala fillet knife.

[Jrob78]

FWIW, here's the best article series I found on knife sharpening in my internet travels.  Hope it helps.   http://forums.egullet.org/topic/26036-knife-maintenance-and-sharpening/

Thanks for posting this!  I bought the Spyderco Sharpmaker a couple of weeks ago after reading through this link.  It was the best $50 I've spent in a long time.  My sharpening skills with a stone are hit or miss.  The Sharpmaker makes it easy and comes with quality stones.  All my knives are now sharper than when they were new.

[A-Jay]

Whatever you do - Do Not let 00mod take it to BPS ~!

 

 

A-Jay