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Posted: 2/18/2013 2:04:46 PM EDT
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long time listener, first time caller,,,,here
I have John Juranitch's book coming but what sharpening kit?? Lansky?? |
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What size are most of the knives that you are interested in sharpening? Fixed angle "stone" kits (Lansky, Gatco, EdgePro) are OK for medium to large knives but not great for small knives. A Spyderco Sharpmaker is good for medium to small knives and other small edged "cutting" devices like scissors, router bits, nail clippers, wood working tools, etc. but is not great for large knives. In addition a Sharpmaker can be used to sharpen serrated knives. Most of the kits can be used in "the field" but the Sharpmaker is smaller than most others.
The more you understand about sharpening, the more you realize that there is not 1 do-all sharpening kit (that is simple, easy to use, and reasonably priced). |
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EDC knives CQC7, 1840 Kershaws, Cryo Kershaw, Spyderco and Wusthof for the kitchen. At least that's what's in the rotation right now
Edit. I'll buy what I need to do what I have. Need some schooling on the knife thing. I have carried the Delica and CQC7 for close to 20 years but have always sent them back to the MFG for sharpening. Time to learn how.. The gun thing is where I want it, need something new.. |
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Quoted:
What size are most of the knives that you are interested in sharpening? Fix angle "stone" kits (Lansky, Gatco, EdgePro) are OK for medium to large knives but not great for small knives. A Spyderco Sharpmaker is good for medium to small knives and other small edged "cutting" devices like scissors, router bits, nail clippers, wood working tools, etc. but is not great for large knives. In addition a Sharpmaker can be used to sharpen serrated knives. Most of the kits can be used in "the field" but the Sharpmaker is smaller than most others. The more you understand about sharpening, the more you realize that there is not 1 do-all sharpening kit (that is simple, easy to use, and reasonably priced). +1 |
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I have no respect for a man that cannot, or does not use a whetstone. Arkansas oilstone preferred, but diamond is acceptable. Part of having a fine knife is learning how to sharpen it. If a knife doesnt have a few scratches on the blade, it means the person never uses it, which means... they set in their chair and talk online all day long instead of hunting, camping, fishing, skinning, and sharpening their knife when dull.
Top knife is a J E Middleton & Sons Bowie. Bottom is a Buck 192. The Middleton is very rare in the states and was worth about 350 before I started using it and sharpening it. But who else has a top quality bowie knife they arent afraid to actually use? 
Post Script. I made the guard from bar stock on the bowie. I broke the old one. I also made the grip scales from buffalo horn. I give God the glory as he gave me the skills. PPS, I also made the whetstone case. |
| I received a Spyderco Sharpmaker years ago as a gift from my parents. It is easy to use and sharpens my knives really well. They come with a DVD to instruct on its use. Mine didn't have the DVD, but the instructions were easy to read. You can YouTube videos on it to see how easy it is to use. |
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Lansky is pretty idiot proof and a good place to start learning how to sharpen. Sharpening tools by hand is a skill and an art. I use Japanese water stones but it took me years to acquire the skill. I started with a Lansky set. Thanks Covert, I ordered a kit from Juranitch at Razor Edge. After reading a few chapters of his book it seemed like a better start than the Lansky that seemed more like a gimmick than a tool that I can really learn on... |
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Lansky is pretty idiot proof and a good place to start learning how to sharpen. Sharpening tools by hand is a skill and an art. I use Japanese water stones but it took me years to acquire the skill. I started with a Lansky set. I just watched the video on the Lansky website. It does seem like a decent product. I think the wife will be getting one for her birthday. |
| I dont understand whats wrong with getting an arkansas stone and bottle of honing oil from lowes. then, take a few minutes every day to learn to sharpen a kitchen knife or something if you're afraid to scratch your knife up. It dont take that long to get the hang of it. I learned how to sharpen a knife when i was a kid. |
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I have a Sharpmaker, I would not recommend it for serrated edges. The Sharpmaker has a triangular ceramic sharpening rod, but the angles are way too large to fit inside the serrations. I know people recommend that you sharpen serrated edges on the "back" side, but Benchmade does not recommend it for their knives. If you want to sharpen serrated edges, you should get a triangular jewelry file.
. . . In addition a Sharpmaker can be used to sharpen serrated knives. Most of the kits can be used in "the field" but the Sharpmaker is smaller than most others. . .. |
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I dont understand whats wrong with getting an arkansas stone and bottle of honing oil from lowes. then, take a few minutes every day to learn to sharpen a kitchen knife or something if you're afraid to scratch your knife up. It dont take that long to get the hang of it. I learned how to sharpen a knife when i was a kid. Juranitch's kit from Razors Edge use stones... |
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I dont understand whats wrong with getting an arkansas stone and bottle of honing oil from lowes. then, take a few minutes every day to learn to sharpen a kitchen knife or something if you're afraid to scratch your knife up. It dont take that long to get the hang of it. I learned how to sharpen a knife when i was a kid. Juranitch's kit from Razors Edge use stones... Got a link? |
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Quoted:
I dont understand whats wrong with getting an arkansas stone and bottle of honing oil from lowes. then, take a few minutes every day to learn to sharpen a kitchen knife or something if you're afraid to scratch your knife up. It dont take that long to get the hang of it. I learned how to sharpen a knife when i was a kid. Juranitch's kit from Razors Edge use stones... This. |
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I dont understand whats wrong with getting an arkansas stone and bottle of honing oil from lowes. then, take a few minutes every day to learn to sharpen a kitchen knife or something if you're afraid to scratch your knife up. It dont take that long to get the hang of it. I learned how to sharpen a knife when i was a kid. I guess some of us aren't as bad-ass as others. I've tried to learn without much success. Maybe it was bad stones. Maybe it was lousy technique. I don't know, but some of us have talents and others don't. I am looking for a sharpening solution that works. Period. If there is a means for me to easily learn an effective technique that uses cat spit and a concrete block, I'm all ears. I'm very curious about the Wicked Edge, but darn, that's steep! |
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Update on the Razor Edge kit I purchased.
Not having used stones there has been a learning curve. Before I destroyed the wife's Wusthoffs I pulled the 2 dullest POS's out of my toolbox. He talks about the burr you obtain as you work the knife against the stone. Some folks refer to it as the "wire". Well kids, if you take your time and do what he says, the wire shows up. Get it on both sides and then switch to the fine stone and damn, you get a sharp knife. Far from being a knife sharpener, but I think someday I can be.. |
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Quoted:
Quoted:
I dont understand whats wrong with getting an arkansas stone and bottle of honing oil from lowes. then, take a few minutes every day to learn to sharpen a kitchen knife or something if you're afraid to scratch your knife up. It dont take that long to get the hang of it. I learned how to sharpen a knife when i was a kid. I guess some of us aren't as bad-ass as others. I've tried to learn without much success. Maybe it was bad stones. Maybe it was lousy technique. I don't know, but some of us have talents and others don't. I am looking for a sharpening solution that works. Period. If there is a means for me to easily learn an effective technique that uses cat spit and a concrete block, I'm all ears. I'm very curious about the Wicked Edge, but darn, that's steep! I've got the Wicked Edge and the Sharpmaker and a friend has the Work Sharp. The Sharpmaker is the "easiest" to use if the knife bevel is already set at a 15 or 20 degree angle. If it isn't at either of those angles, it takes forever to reprofile it on the Sharpmaker - and buy the time you buy all the Sharpmaker accessories, you are in the same price range as a basic Wicked Edge; but still stuck with those two angles. The Wicked Edge is for people who are borderline OCD about their edge. You can do a very pretty, very sharp, perfectly precise edge on it even as a relative novice IF you are willing to spend obscene amounts of money on all the gadgets. Reprofiling knives to different bevels is still work (though nowhere near as bad as the Sharpmaker) but you can adjust in 1 degree increments from 15-30 degrees, so you only need to reprofile if you want something different. Once you have your knives set up and learn the system, it takes maybe 5-10 minutes to set it up and sharpen several knives. It also doesn't deal well with thin, high angle (15 deg) blades (Swiss Army knives, some kitchen knives) because the screw in the vise protrudes and hits the stones making it awkward to sharpen around it. Big blades are also awkward and need to be sharpened in sections to maintain the angle exactly. Finally, double edged blades are doable; but a little tougher to set up. Haven't used the WorkSharp myself; but if you want to reprofile fast, it seems to be the winner and it will do super sharp, if not pretty or precise, edge. The big downside on it is it seems to be the Dremel tool of knife sharpening in that you have to be focused on what you are doing since it will show you any mistakes in technique pretty fast. Also much cheaper than the Wicked Edge. |
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