Are knives the most frustrating things to sharpen?

[aesmith]

Every now and again I try to have a purge on the kitchen knives, and properly sharpen them. Each time I marvel at how many elements conspire to make it as difficult as possible. (1) relatively soft stainless steel, (2) curved edges (3) all different sizes and shapes (4) flexible blade which bends as pressure's applied. Finally once you have a method that accommodates all these factors, you have to do everything mirror image to sharpen the other side.

As a final straw, the last one I did had a bent tip, so curved in two dimensions!

What sharpening methods do people find work well? I've been trying a small DMT diamond hone, using a rest to keep the angle consistent. The principle's good but the hone clogs really quickly. I don't think diamond is the right medium for such soft steel.

 

[paulm]

My other hobby is pocket and other knifes, collecting, rehandling, fiddling with generally :shock: :lol:

This is what most of the knife nuts use

http://www.spyderco.com/catalog/details.php?product=77

Costs around £50, you can purchase diamond rods seperately if you need to do more aggressive reprofiling, works a treat and easy to use.

You can also use an Edge-Pro system that I think Rod (Harbo) has which is better still but a bit more complex and expensive, or a Lansky system which is a bit fiddly, but the Sharpmaker I would say is first choice for most people, easy to use, great results and fuss free.

A bit OT, but here's some simple replacement scales I did for some small pocket knives recently

Left to right is spalted beech, she oak, and then pau rosa.

Back left and front are pau rosa, back right is some old, dark yew heartwood.

Apologies for the hijack !

Cheers, Paul

 

[lurker]

I turn my cheapo belt sander on its back (clamped to the bench) and use that slightly flexible section between the drive wheel & flat sanding plate.

You need to ensure the belt is travelling away from the blade edge & use a 180 or finer grit belt (prefereably worn).

 

[loftyhermes]

I use one of these when our kitchen knives want sharpening,

 

[LocalOak]

After suffering many years of similar frustration I've hit on a simple solution. I have some cheap, (less than a tenner) diamond stones, coarse medium and fine, and just do it carefully by hand. I've got razor sharp edges much to my surprise and the slight flex in the cheap stones seems to help rather than hinder.

I just eyeball a suitable angle and go from coarse to fine, stroking the blades forward from edge to back, following the curve of the blade as I go. The other thing is that I keep the stones dry, a tip I picked up somewhere I've forgotten now, but I have very sharp knives and little sweat.

The trick is how to formalise it enough to really explain what I do...

Toby

 

[aesmith]

Thanks for the comments. I think there's two problems to solve. Firstly to get the knives sharp in the first place, then secondly to resharpen at the same angle so as not to have to do it all over again.

Some new, and some neglected knives have the weirdest angles on the edge, which means a lot of material needs to be removed, or each needs to be sharpened differently For example I bought a new pocket knife whose blade tapers quite a lot from the back towards the edge, but then the final edge is ground to a really obtuse (?) angle. It took a lot of work to make that into a usable blade, although it seems to keep an edge OK now.

I was considering "moving the goalposts". The only knive that are pleasure to sharpen are our two "fish knives", with proper steel blades. They get sharp and stay sharp, and the bevel is well enough defined that I can easily sharpen them on a bench stone. That supplier offers a range of knives with carbon steel blades and maybe a couple of the longer ones in the kitchen would cover the need for really sharp knives ....

http://www.gaelforcemarine.co.uk/Commer ... GF-Knives/

 

[aesmith]

By the way, what do the experts reckon is the correct angle for various types of knives? A very acute angle is easily damaged or blunted, but a very obtuse angle make it difficult to use, for example you can't take a shaving.

 

[Benchwayze]

If you merely want a knife that's sharp enough to be called a knife, the 'Dremel' tool has a small, 'vee' shaped carbo-stone, that produces a double ground edge in seconds. Then a quick whet on a leather strop and it's 'mind your fingers'!

John

 

[Benchwayze]

My other hobby is pocket and other knifes, collecting, rehandling, fiddling with generally :shock: :lol:

Hi Paul..

What would you use to make new rivets; i.e. the rivets that hold a clasp knife together please?

Cheers
John

 

[paulm]

My other hobby is pocket and other knifes, collecting, rehandling, fiddling with generally :shock: :lol:

Hi Paul..

What would you use to make new rivets; i.e. the rivets that hold a clasp knife together please?

Cheers
John

Do you mean the pins that hold the scales on John or that the blade or backspring pivot on ?

For the scales I usually don't bother and epoxy them instead but you could use brass rod that you can get from B&Q or elsewhere, for the blade or backspring pivots then silver steel rod.

For fastening scales to fixed blade knives then again epoxy but with the addition of Corby or Loveless bolts which screw together from either side of the knife and are then ground or filed flush afterwards.

This is a good source for the bits and pieces

http://www.attacc.com/acatalog/KNIFE_MA ... ORIES.html

Or here

https://www.brisa.fi/portal/index.php?o ... e&Itemid=1

Cheers, Paul

 

[xy mosian]

I turn my cheapo belt sander on its back (clamped to the bench) and use that slightly flexible section between the drive wheel & flat sanding plate.

You need to ensure the belt is travelling away from the blade edge & use a 180 or finer grit belt (prefereably worn).

Electric scary sharp?

xy

 

[lurker]

I turn my cheapo belt sander on its back (clamped to the bench) and use that slightly flexible section between the drive wheel & flat sanding plate.

You need to ensure the belt is travelling away from the blade edge & use a 180 or finer grit belt (prefereably worn).

Electric scary sharp?

xy

More Cheapskates Sorby Pro edge :lol:

 

[Derek Cohen (Perth Oz)]

Hi Tony

I recently bought a Lansky Sharpening System with diamond stones and a sapphire finishing stone. It was for my wife , but I did appropriate it for re-sharpening a few of my marking knives. It did an excellent job.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KW64B0MZVOE

Regards from Perth

Derek

 

[paulm]

By the way, what do the experts reckon is the correct angle for various types of knives? A very acute angle is easily damaged or blunted, but a very obtuse angle make it difficult to use, for example you can't take a shaving.

Generally an "all in" angle of 40 degrees ie 20 each side for most applications and general usage, and 30 degrees (15 each side) for very fine work. The thinner the edge the sharper but also more prone to damage and blunting in use of course.

Then there's the steel type and the edge geometry to think about too, but best not go there it's a big topic in it's own right and a bit specialist !

Cheers, Paul

 

[Evergreen]

Tony

I use a well worn cheapo combination waterstone for sharpening the kitchen knives. It's seriously concave lengthwise and that seems to help the process. I only use the coarse side because I read somewhere in a cook book that professional chefs like a slightly serrated edge on their carving knives.

I employ the Mk I Human Eyeball for judging the angle and I'm pretty sure that I don't get both sides of the blade sharpened at the same angle but it doesn't seem to matter!

The important thing is to sharpen a little and often.

 

[Harbo]

The best system for knife sharpening is the Edge Pro

http://www.edgeproinc.com

See the video

Rod

 

[Doctor]

Have I missed something, why not use a steel?

 

[Benchwayze]

Thanks Paul...

PM sent to save cluttering the post!
John

 

[aesmith]

Its amazing how many devices are sold for knife sharpening. This is the one that I rigged up myself. It shows some promise, worth redoing with adjustable stops I thnk :

(Of course in use I'm using one hand to hold the blade and one to work the hone, but then I wouldn't have a spare hand for the camera)

It seems to me that the weak point is that diamond hone I'm using there. It just clogs too quickly on that soft steel. I think I might try some slips of wood with different grades of sandpaper.

Interesting point about using a steel. They seem to be out of fashion, I notice that it certainly wasn't the first suggestion. A lot of kitchen places push diamond "steels" which of course is a totally different principle. I'm OK using a steel to touch up, but I simply can seem to get a completely blunt knife back to sharpness using a steel only.

 

[aesmith]

Generally an "all in" angle of 40 degrees ie 20 each side for most applications and general usage, and 30 degrees (15 each side) for very fine work. The thinner the edge the sharper but also more prone to damage and blunting in use of course.

That's interesting. I think mine are at the shallow end of that range, and for example my fish knife came from the supplier sharpened to an all-in angle of less than 25 degrees.