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So......is the guy at 1:15 missing his arms or is he cold? Anyone else think he looks a little weird? View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted:
So......is the guy at 1:15 missing his arms or is he cold? Anyone else think he looks a little weird? He tried shaving the hair on his arm and cut the whole thing off by accident. TRG |
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Being able to sharpen a knife is a necessary skill. Having a knife that requires sharpening less often is just as important. I constantly amazed at the absolutely shitty knives people carry. You won't know if your doing a good job sharpening if your edge goes dull after opening one cardboard box. Pay for a good knife with good steel and your time sharpening will be worth the effort. View Quote Yep. CPM-M4, S30V, or Elmax, please. |
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Being able to sharpen a knife is a necessary skill. Having a knife that requires sharpening less often is just as important. I constantly amazed at the absolutely shitty knives people carry. You won't know if your doing a good job sharpening if your edge goes dull after opening one cardboard box. Pay for a good knife with good steel and your time sharpening will be worth the effort. Yep. CPM-M4, S30V, or Elmax, please. agreed. get good steel, from a maker known to do good heat-treats. I like 1095, s30v, or CPM154 for daily use knives. Elmax and M4 are more wear resistant....which means longer sharpening intervals...........but also means they are harder to sharpen. |
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I use 1000, 3000 and 6000 grit water stones to sharpen my chef's knives. The technique is in a handy video called "the chef's edge" made by Korin.com.
If you want to learn the Japanese knife sharpening method(very easy to learn, IMHO), this is the way to do it. |
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Send it to Apex Edge Pro, free sharpening, well you pay postage both ways.
http://www.edgeproinc.com/ |
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Go to vintagearchery.com for an awesome strop method. Very inexpensive, superb quality. I bought it for broadheads, but use it for everything.
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That's a nuisance, indeed. I've been freehand sharpening for 30+ years. Though not an expert, I'm able to keep my knives functional. I've stopped going for a highly polished edge, just sharp and coarse enough for my mostly slicing cuts. Razor strops, cardboard, frosted then smooth glass, etc. are fun to use but overkill for me. View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted:
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i' put out approximately $100.00 for a Lansky sharpening system and I still managed to screw up one of my expensive knives after first practicing on a few cheap ones. I gave up on trying to do it myself and take my knives to a professional knife sharpener How did you mess up using a lansky? On knives with blades over 4" or so, the lansky will change grind angle towards the tip. The blade clamp has to be repositioned. Otherwise I'm not sure how it could screw up a blade. That's a nuisance, indeed. I've been freehand sharpening for 30+ years. Though not an expert, I'm able to keep my knives functional. I've stopped going for a highly polished edge, just sharp and coarse enough for my mostly slicing cuts. Razor strops, cardboard, frosted then smooth glass, etc. are fun to use but overkill for me. This is the crux of it. Having never been able to get a satisfactory edge using freehand methods, the lansky is the first method I've tried that gives a decent edge with minimal fuss. It's not perfect but it's far more consistent for me. Freehand sharpening has never been fun - it feels like a chore. Why bother if you don't like doing it? OP seems to be in the same boat as me. |
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I have a regular full size belt sander that I'll use with 320 and 600 grit sandpaper. Then I'll finish it off with a paper wheels.
I also have a satinbrite belt for the sander, cleans the blade up nicely. I've also used 1000 grit glued to a mousepad for the final hone. |
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Quoted: agreed. get good steel, from a maker known to do good heat-treats. I like 1095, s30v, or CPM154 for daily use knives. Elmax and M4 are more wear resistant....which means longer sharpening intervals...........but also means they are harder to sharpen. View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Being able to sharpen a knife is a necessary skill. Having a knife that requires sharpening less often is just as important. I constantly amazed at the absolutely shitty knives people carry. You won't know if your doing a good job sharpening if your edge goes dull after opening one cardboard box. Pay for a good knife with good steel and your time sharpening will be worth the effort. Yep. CPM-M4, S30V, or Elmax, please. agreed. get good steel, from a maker known to do good heat-treats. I like 1095, s30v, or CPM154 for daily use knives. Elmax and M4 are more wear resistant....which means longer sharpening intervals...........but also means they are harder to sharpen. S30v is a PITA compared to D2. No experience with M4 or Elmax. |
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S30v is a PITA compared to D2. No experience with M4 or Elmax. View Quote My brother-in-law asked me to "touch up" his knife with S30V steel and it took me probably 20 minutes to get it to a razor with the wheels. He said that he had already worked on it "an hour or so" using a strop with some sort of fairly aggressive compound on it, and it hardly did anything to it. 154CM is a piece of cake compared to that stuff. He did say that it stayed scary sharp a long time, though... |
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Much harder to sharpen! S30v is a PITA compared to D2. No experience with M4 or Elmax. View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted:
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Being able to sharpen a knife is a necessary skill. Having a knife that requires sharpening less often is just as important. I constantly amazed at the absolutely shitty knives people carry. You won't know if your doing a good job sharpening if your edge goes dull after opening one cardboard box. Pay for a good knife with good steel and your time sharpening will be worth the effort. Yep. CPM-M4, S30V, or Elmax, please. agreed. get good steel, from a maker known to do good heat-treats. I like 1095, s30v, or CPM154 for daily use knives. Elmax and M4 are more wear resistant....which means longer sharpening intervals...........but also means they are harder to sharpen. Much harder to sharpen! S30v is a PITA compared to D2. No experience with M4 or Elmax. Elmax is, by far, the best steel I've used for an EDC knife. I need to search around and find its composition, as I'm betting it's just a more familiar PM steel that's been rebadged. Whatever it is, it's fantastic - provided you have something that will work on it. I've got maybe a dozen DMT stones, maybe twice that many Japanese water stones (from basic Nortons to a 10k Naniwa Chosera and a Sigma 13k), and another half-dozen oil stones (including a 10"x4" black stone that is the shit for simple high-carbon steels like O1). The best thing I've found to keep the edge shaving sharp is a quick daily strop on leather/mesquite with a 3µ diamond paste followed by a different strop with 1µ diamond paste. It's been a few months since it's touched a stone and it's still hair-popping sharp. |
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I've dicked around with a lot of different sharpeners, and the one I continue to use is the ten dollar Samurai Shark that I bought at Walgreen's in the "As seen on TV" aisle. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_dIq6Mdkp0s View Quote GAH!!! NEVER USE A CARBIDE SHARPENER! They just RIP the steel off the blade, and if you have a nick, those carbide bits make it a huge nick. Throw that thing away! Each time you use it, it's peeling about 2 years worth of life of steel off! Get the Razor's Edge Book of Sharpening, you can find it as a PDF, but I suggest buying it. I posted this in another thread: Lansky Set, not diamond (except maybe the coarse stone). A Strop and Chromium Dioxide. A SMOOTH Steel. Don't use oil on the stones, use water. It works as good and cleans up easier. Oil will eventually clog the stone. It's all about keeping the exact angle consistent, and sharpen one side until you feel the "wire edge" along the FULL Length of the blade's non-sharpening side. This tells you the stone is all the way to the edge for the full length. Only then Flip the blade, Step down one grit, repeat until wire edge, flip, remove coarser grit scratches until wire edge full length, go to next finer. Once you are at the white stone and have a mirror finish, a couple passes on the strop CORRECTLY will make the blade as sharp as a razor blade, equal to an X-Acto knife. If it is good steel, you'll only need to do the sharpening process above ONE Time. Every time the edge is a bit weak, run it along the steel at 35º once on each side with light pressure. If this doesn't give you the scary sharp edge back, go back to the strop. After that, if the blade doesn't catch on your fingernail at a 90º angle, it needs to be stone-sharpened again. ANY Blade will take a razor blade Scary Sharp edge. Steel type determines how long it holds that edge. Way too many knives are ruined by sharpening incorrectly and never getting a "perfect edge" due to poor technique, or doing "10 swipes on Side A, 10 swipes on Side B, and however sharp it is, that's as sharp as it'll get." |
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Stropman. View Quote Best Stropping Compound Ever - Herb's Yellowstone, it's not as easy to use or cheap as CrO2 (green stuff), but it cuts fast and polishes perfectly, a rare combo. |
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Edge pro is an excellent choice. You only need the 220, the next stone up and the 600 to finish with. You really don't need the finest stones or the polishing tapes. The 600 gives you a very useable finish. One you own the "system" replacement stones are inexpensive. I own a $700 Tormeck wet grinder and would rather use my edge pro.
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My old man wouldn't let me carry a knife till i was proficient with it. That included sharpening. I carry a soft, fine, medium and course stones, as well as a leather strop and a strop loaded with rouge, if blades matter (the work after hunting on prolonged outings). On deployments I carry only the stones to a base type setting. All my brothers edges start out taking hair off a dude.
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And once you've mastered your angles using the Sharpmaker, you can graduate to coffee cups. Seriously, go turn over a couple of coffee cups, you'll find that you have 2 or 3 grades of perfectly good ceramic sharpeners sitting within arms reach of your cooking area. Here's my technique: Every time I grab a knife from the knife block, I turn the edge towards me in good light and look to see if there are any shiny bits along the edge. Tiny nicks and rollovers will show up as reflected light. If there are any, I grab a coffee cup and give it the edge few good swipes on either side, holding my desired angle. I then drag my fingernails along the side of the blade and across the edge in order to see if there is a wire edge. A wire edge will roll away from the side you sharpened on your very last swipe, so there will be a microscopic "hook" that catches your fingernail a bit. If there's a wire edge, I'll do one very light swipe at a really high angle - like 50 degrees. That's it. Takes like 30 seconds. The best part is that you can do this anywhere - including rental houses that always have those insanely dull knives. (The $15 set of knives that have been beat to crap for 5 years). It's a neat and very handy party trick. Sorta like being able to open a bottle of beer with almost anything, It also works on scissors - and that's an extra satisfying feat, to bring back the "snick snick" of scary sharp scissors. View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted:
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Spyderco Sharpmaker And once you've mastered your angles using the Sharpmaker, you can graduate to coffee cups. Seriously, go turn over a couple of coffee cups, you'll find that you have 2 or 3 grades of perfectly good ceramic sharpeners sitting within arms reach of your cooking area. Here's my technique: Every time I grab a knife from the knife block, I turn the edge towards me in good light and look to see if there are any shiny bits along the edge. Tiny nicks and rollovers will show up as reflected light. If there are any, I grab a coffee cup and give it the edge few good swipes on either side, holding my desired angle. I then drag my fingernails along the side of the blade and across the edge in order to see if there is a wire edge. A wire edge will roll away from the side you sharpened on your very last swipe, so there will be a microscopic "hook" that catches your fingernail a bit. If there's a wire edge, I'll do one very light swipe at a really high angle - like 50 degrees. That's it. Takes like 30 seconds. The best part is that you can do this anywhere - including rental houses that always have those insanely dull knives. (The $15 set of knives that have been beat to crap for 5 years). It's a neat and very handy party trick. Sorta like being able to open a bottle of beer with almost anything, It also works on scissors - and that's an extra satisfying feat, to bring back the "snick snick" of scary sharp scissors. I'll second that and add: Roll the window half down in your car. Use the top edge of the window. It'll surprise you in a pinch. |
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I'll second that and add: Roll the window half down in your car. Use the top edge of the window. It'll surprise you in a pinch. View Quote Works the same a smooth steel. This is all the maintenance most Good knives need once they are sharp, unless you hit some rocks with it. Too many people break out a stone when all the blade needs is the edge straightened out and any wire edge removed. Don't used the ribbed steel "sharpeners", those will remove more than just straightening the edge, forcing you to go to the stones sooner than otherwise! |
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Edge pro apex for a good blade profile, then use spyderco sharp maker to keep the blade honed and for quick sharpening jobs
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I started out using sharpening stones and oil as a teenager. The most difficult to master. At some point in time I got the Lansky sharpener and used it for a while. Works fine, a little time consuming. Then I tried the Spyderco Sharpmaker which I continue to use to this day. It's easy and takes little time. Unless you attach "manliness" and "gayness" to a particular method of sharpening take your pick.
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I've got an old Gerber Gator. Half serrated. Locking blade.
It was my brother's knife (dead 12 years now). It's missing one half of the screw/binding post. Should I get a good knife-maker to just convert it into a fixed blade with a nice wood handle? The rubber grip is pretty well worn out and I can't seem to find a replacement fastener for it. I could maybe make one on the lathe but... that's alot of work for this. It's not worth much, but it does hold alot of sentimental value to me. |
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I've got an old Gerber Gator. Half serrated. Locking blade. ... Have you contacted Gerber? It's been awhile since I thought about this, so no not recently. Did find this http://www.amazon.com/Gerber-06079-Folding-Point-Serrated/dp/B00004WA4U/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1386465184&sr=8-5&keywords=gerber+gator Pretty much what I have. I'll bet I can get replacement screw. |
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I don't always sharpen knives but when I do I use the Spyderco Sharpmaker.
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So......is the guy at 1:15 missing his arms or is he cold? Anyone else think he looks a little weird? View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted:
So......is the guy at 1:15 missing his arms or is he cold? Anyone else think he looks a little weird? He's an odd one alright. |
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Quoted: It's been awhile since I thought about this, so no not recently. Did find this http://www.amazon.com/Gerber-06079-Folding-Point-Serrated/dp/B00004WA4U/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1386465184&sr=8-5&keywords=gerber+gator Pretty much what I have. I'll bet I can get replacement screw. View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: I've got an old Gerber Gator. Half serrated. Locking blade. ... Did find this http://www.amazon.com/Gerber-06079-Folding-Point-Serrated/dp/B00004WA4U/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1386465184&sr=8-5&keywords=gerber+gator Pretty much what I have. I'll bet I can get replacement screw. There ya' go. I'd rob another one of parts before sending it off to Gerber though, since it was your brother's. (They might just send you a new replacement.) |
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When you can shave with a KBAR and have no drag you know it's sharp View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted:
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I have this an will vouch for it. Hand sharpeners create a different profile. This creates a beveled edge that literally shaves your arm hair clean off once done. I love mine and have given a few as gifts with good success. When you can shave with a KBAR and have no drag you know it's sharp Nice! I was wondering if it could handle a blade like that. My KBAR is my favorite knife. |
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A nice big flat bench stone is the best option. The reason most people have trouble sharpening knives is they try to do it with a tiny pocket sized stone, holding the stone in one hand and the knife in the other. In the old days, people had nice big stones that sat on your work bench, and you could use BOTH hands to hold the blade steady at a consistent angle for sharpening. With a good bench stone you can sharpen knives, chisels, and polish metal parts, etc. A lot more useful than an awkward jig. As for the diamond stones, those need a break-in period before they work well. Out of the box they are way too coarse until a bit of use knocks off the big chunks of diamond and then they put a good finish on the steel. And you should always follow up with a leather strop with a little polishing compound on it to get the edge "scary sharp". View Quote This is the correct answer. I've been making knives since I was 13 (I'm 39). As far as I'm concerned, stones, either Arkansas or water, are the only way to sharpen a knife. It's a skill. You can't just pick up a knife and sharpen on a stone right off the bat, but once you learn how to do it correctly, you'll never go back to anything else. |
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