Sharpening

[Will Carry]

I use a Lansky sharpening kit. I use my knife all the time and I like a sharp knife. The Lansky kit is easy, quick and only touches the edge of the blade do it won't scratch the finish.

[Handsome Rob]

I have 2 diamond stones that I've been using for the past 15 or 16 years. One is a medium grit, no-name stome bought from a flea market, the other is a super-fine DMT flat stone (NOT the one with the diamond shaped holes)

Every knife I've ever made & sold has been sharpened on these 2 stones, freehand. I would never let a knife leave the shop unless I could cleanly shave with it. Learning to sharpen freehand is a pretty handy thing to know.

That said, I've been using one of these for the past year, on my own knives, with absolutely spectacular results! KME Precision Knife Sharpening System (Works for many broadheads too) It's far better than the Lansky/Gatco type, fixed angle sharpeners. The reason being that once you've 'locked in' your sharpening angle (which is infinitely adjustable from 17 to 30 degrees) the stone stays at that angle with no chanceof it shifting.

If anyone would like to try out the KME, I'll happily mail it to you for a 1 week trial

[Guest steve24]

Apparently I need some type of sharpening system myself. I'm not having much luck putting an edge on my knife at all!

[Guest mosinon]

I have 2 diamond stones that I've been using for the past 15 or 16 years. One is a medium grit, no-name stome bought from a flea market, the other is a super-fine DMT flat stone (NOT the one with the diamond shaped holes)

Every knife I've ever made & sold has been sharpened on these 2 stones, freehand. I would never let a knife leave the shop unless I could cleanly shave with it. Learning to sharpen freehand is a pretty handy thing to know.

That said, I've been using one of these for the past year, on my own knives, with absolutely spectacular results! KME Precision Knife Sharpening System (Works for many broadheads too) It's far better than the Lansky/Gatco type, fixed angle sharpeners. The reason being that once you've 'locked in' your sharpening angle (which is infinitely adjustable from 17 to 30 degrees) the stone stays at that angle with no chanceof it shifting.

If anyone would like to try out the KME, I'll happily mail it to you for a 1 week trial

You make knives? Could you post some pics? That would be awesome.

[Guest tenman]

Teman,

Have you ever used Japanese water stones, or high qualitiy ceramic stones?

I am sure by reading your post, you know what your are doing! I am sure that you have seen some horrible things that people have done to the edge of a knife.

You know, Chef knives that have been turned in to bread knives? LOL

Never used water stones, mostly ceramic, fine grit sand paper, sharpmaker, etc. Also keep a leather strop handy. Learned a lot about sharpening on the SM and reading various knife boards, learning about the differing steels, talking to knife makers, etc. The device I use turns very low RPM. When I got it I pulled a couple of old knives out and tried to heat them up intentionally with the intent of ruining the temper- couldn't do it. I've never had an issue with heat, it just does not turn fast enough to be an issue.

Edited November 9, 2010 by tenman