Posted: 6/12/2015 11:30:31 AM EDT
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I think I've finally got it.
Medium Arkansas flat stone. Wipe clean with WD-40 and paper towel then leave wet with WD-40. Place blade at edge of stone and establish blade angle by holding at 90 degrees, then half of that (which is 45 degrees) then half of that which is 22.5 degrees. Make one pass, grinding edge forward with moderate pressure across the entire length of stone, so that the tip comes off near the lower opposite corner. Do that three times. Then switch to the other side, same way, three times. Repeat the above four or five times. Then a couple of easy backstrokes to knock the burr off both sides. Makes my Benchmade sharper than it arrived from the factory. |
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Good start but... 1) Use honing oil 2) Be careful of crucible steels because it will wear out your stone before it gets sharp. Benchmade uses them quite a bit. Good luck. It's 154 CM steel. Actually, it seems a bit softer and easier to sharpen than my old Buck knife blade, which was a bastard to sharpen by hand. I usually use honing oil and even warm water before, but I just tried the WD-40 on a whim. It seems to work very well. |
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I handsharpen with an old #3 fine India stone, and then finish with some SUPER fine white stone. Both were given to me by my grandfather, no idea what the white stone is or where he got it.
I can put an incredible edge on a blade. I haven't tried any of the sharpening fixtures but I've got no reason to buy one. The ones that I have looked at, didn't impress me. |
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I know how do do it by hand if I have to, but have always been more consistent with something using a set angle, especially with my woodworking tools. I'll strop them by hand, but actual metal removal is done with a guide.
My M2 Benchmades are sent back to Benchmade. They are an intolerable pain in the ass to sharpen, and I've ditched them all except my 140, and I keep it simply for nostalgia. |
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Not trying to be a dick, but the sharpening stones I see people using are fucking ancient technology as compared to the steels being used today. In short, get something that is modern, i.e. Japanese waterstones or diamonds. Massive fail. The hardness of a steel, no matter how modern the steel is compared to the abrasive properties of a stone is what matters. Old school 57-60 Rc carbon steels sharpen very similar to the modern exotic steels with the same hardness on the same stone. |
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Massive fail. The hardness of a steel, no matter how modern the steel is compared to the abrasive properties of a stone is what matters. Old school 57-60 Rc carbon steels sharpen very similar to the modern exotic steels with the same hardness on the same stone. Quoted:
Quoted:
Not trying to be a dick, but the sharpening stones I see people using are fucking ancient technology as compared to the steels being used today. In short, get something that is modern, i.e. Japanese waterstones or diamonds. Massive fail. The hardness of a steel, no matter how modern the steel is compared to the abrasive properties of a stone is what matters. Old school 57-60 Rc carbon steels sharpen very similar to the modern exotic steels with the same hardness on the same stone. No, not really. The amount of chrome, vanadium etc have a huge bearing on how abrasion resistant a steel is. Also, lol at the "modern" Japanese water stones. 
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You could ask 10 guys how to sharpen a knife and get 10 different techniques. And most would work just fine.
One thing, use as much of the surface of the stone as possible, this will help keep the stone from dishing and needing to be dressed. In other words don't use the same little bit of the stone over and over. I use a circular motion from one end of the stone to the other. |
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Not trying to be a dick, but the sharpening stones I see people using are fucking ancient technology as compared to the steels being used today. In short, get something that is modern, i.e. Japanese waterstones or diamonds. For chisels and plane irons (by plane, I mean jack, fore, smoothing, try, and scrub planes), I would use japanese waterstone by Norton. At some point, I switched over to wet/dry sandpaper spray adhesive'd down to a thick piece of glass, or a granite tile. But I would finish up with a japanese waterstone smeared with a green polishing "rouge". The backs of the chisels and plane irons and their bevels would come out like a mirror. If you accidentally just brushed against the blade, you wouldn't know you cut yourself until you heard the blood dripping on the floor. EDIT: I would use a jig like this for chisels and plane irons: 
I'd like to get a Tormek, which will supposedly do knives. It also has a leather wheel you can load up with rouge: 
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After 35 years, I don't even think about it. The angle comes naturally and I can feel/hear which bevel i'm on, how much i'm turned into or out of the stone. I usually sharpen while watching TV and my hand just naturally finds and holds the angle. I think a good knife to start out on is one of the french Opinel knives. They are cheap with good steel. The thin fine blade geometry makes them easy to learn on. |
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No, not really. The amount of chrome, vanadium etc have a huge bearing on how abrasion resistant a steel is. Also, lol at the "modern" Japanese water stones. Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
Not trying to be a dick, but the sharpening stones I see people using are fucking ancient technology as compared to the steels being used today. In short, get something that is modern, i.e. Japanese waterstones or diamonds. Massive fail. The hardness of a steel, no matter how modern the steel is compared to the abrasive properties of a stone is what matters. Old school 57-60 Rc carbon steels sharpen very similar to the modern exotic steels with the same hardness on the same stone. No, not really. The amount of chrome, vanadium etc have a huge bearing on how abrasion resistant a steel is. Also, lol at the "modern" Japanese water stones. I also lol'ed at the designation of water stones as "modern". I like to use diamond stones. Not because being "modern" makes them better, but because I find them a lot easier for me to use. I like the way they cut metal, and the maintenance is super simple. I've seen guys get amazingly sharp edges using waterstones, sandpaper, strops, etc. As long as you can abrade metal at a consistent angle any method will eventually get a knfe sharp. For me, diamond stones hit the sweet spot of performance vs. cost vs. ease of use. |
DMT Extra Coarse diamond for heavy damage (nicks and gouges in the edge,) followed by Spyderco bench stones (medium, fine, and ultra-fine,) finished with a smooth steel and/or leather strops loaded with 1 micron or .5 micron diamond slurry. My knives are Sharper Than Fuck 
ETA - NO water or honing oil. Messy, and tends to clog the stones. |
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I think I've finally got it. Medium Arkansas flat stone. Wipe clean with WD-40 and paper towel then leave wet with WD-40. Place blade at edge of stone and establish blade angle by holding at 90 degrees, then half of that (which is 45 degrees) then half of that which is 22.5 degrees. Make one pass, grinding edge forward with moderate pressure across the entire length of stone, so that the tip comes off near the lower opposite corner. Do that three times. Then switch to the other side, same way, three times. Repeat the above four or five times. Then a couple of easy backstrokes to knock the burr off both sides. Makes my Benchmade sharper than it arrived from the factory. My guess is that you are not knocking off that burr but just aligning it, to be flexed over again after a cut or two. LULZ at the whole idea of sharpening a decent knife on an Arkansas stone. |
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Lansky shapening system. Gives a shaving sharp edge and you can't screw it up if you can follow directions. Follow up with leather belt and you're done. Yea, I've got all the flat sharpening rocks form all over. The Lansky is just too simple and fool proof. I bought the lansky. Used it one time and then ordered a sharpmaker. Way better. But I dont think this thread is appropriate for either system. |
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OP, you sound like you are getting it. My only suggestion would be to dump the Arkansas stone. I've tried a couple of those early in life and found them to contain hard spots. I think the term is fossils. My best stone, which I've had now for over twenty years, is a two sided India stone. I clean off metal residue with WD40 when it gets too black. Also, I prefer plain old carbon steel blades in knives, axes, hatchets and machetes. Boring, but time tested.
Also, I've never found a need to shave or do self surgery with any of my knives, so strops, rouges and fine stones are never needed. If I'm skinning or de-boning a deer carcass, for instance, the knife only ever sees the rough side of the India. My pocket knife is whet on the smooth side of the India for cutting pocket knife chores. My favorite small stone for touching up pocket knives is actually a small, thin machinist's stone. 400 grit Gesswein (sp?) that a machinist gave me once. It's ten years old and still looks almost new when hosed off with WD40. Love that little stone. |
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My guess is that you are not knocking off that burr but just aligning it, to be flexed over again after a cut or two. LULZ at the whole idea of sharpening a decent knife on an Arkansas stone. Quoted:
Quoted:
I think I've finally got it. Medium Arkansas flat stone. Wipe clean with WD-40 and paper towel then leave wet with WD-40. Place blade at edge of stone and establish blade angle by holding at 90 degrees, then half of that (which is 45 degrees) then half of that which is 22.5 degrees. Make one pass, grinding edge forward with moderate pressure across the entire length of stone, so that the tip comes off near the lower opposite corner. Do that three times. Then switch to the other side, same way, three times. Repeat the above four or five times. Then a couple of easy backstrokes to knock the burr off both sides. Makes my Benchmade sharper than it arrived from the factory. My guess is that you are not knocking off that burr but just aligning it, to be flexed over again after a cut or two. LULZ at the whole idea of sharpening a decent knife on an Arkansas stone. I've been using it to cut things for the past week and the burr still hasn't flexed over yet. Actually there probably wasn't much of a burr to begin with since I only do 3 strokes before switching sides. That's the key to unlock Pandora's box. Keeps you consistent. I also do the 90, 45, 22.5 before each stroke to keep the angle consistent. Slowly moving across the stone in a very deliberate and consistent manner. Kind of like the psychopath did in Cobra, with Sylvester Stallone. |
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Not trying to be a dick, but the sharpening stones I see people using are fucking ancient technology as compared to the steels being used today. In short, get something that is modern, i.e. Japanese waterstones or diamonds. modern compared tooooooo?
modern compared to the cavemen sharpening tools on a cave wall I guess |