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Sharpening knives

Spydermag68 said:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharpening_stone
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^^^This

There's an art to it, but it's an extremely valuable skill to have, and will give a better edge than any easy sharpener kind of device. If the blade is trashed regrind the edge with a coarse synthetic stone, then use a medium Arkansas to sharpen. That's good enough for a rough duty knife. For a kitchen knife, finish on a hard Arkansas stone, and for a razor, finish that on a strop. Linen first, and then leather. You can use jewelers rouge to help stropping, but I've never used it.
 
I have a Spyderco Sharp Maker and it works great. I'm not interested in trying to free hand sharpen a blade and get it ultra super sharp, just damn sharp and easily and quickly, which the Sharp Maker does. Maybe some day I'll try stones.

I've also heard the Edge Pro Apex is great (similar type of thing).
 
I use a 1"x30" slack belt sander to great effect. If I take the time, I can get hair-splitting (lengthwise) edges.
 
I prefer the Lansky sharpening system, which can be had on amazon. Really nice for getting a super sharp edge on all of my knives. The stand that they make for it is well worth it too.
 
i use all 3 methods (and then some), but i recommend a simple browsing of YouTube, you will get all your answers there.


(they are stone, diamond steel, and sharpener)
 
For keeping sharp, carefully hand wash, don't scrape the edge on anything, never let it sit in the sink, or get put through the dishwasher. Also, use a gentle cutting board, like one made form a hardwood. Glass, metal, bamboo (which are mostly epoxy), epicurean, etc., avoid. Plastic are OK, but sanitation is questionable. Hard rubber are cool, but kinda heavy and weird.

Read this:
http://forums.egullet.org/topic/26036-knife-maintenance-and-sharpening/

Then go figure out how you want to go about it.
 
A belt sanded cutting edge will always be rounded. Polishing is not sharpening.


If you worked in a die room and polished your cutting steels with sand paper you wouldn't make it to first break before they'd be showing you to the door.
 
Squisher said:
A belt sanded cutting edge will always be convex. Polishing is not sharpening.


If you worked in a die room and polished your cutting steels with sand paper you wouldn't make it to first break before they'd be showing you to the door.
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Yes, because knives and dies are exactly the same.

Sharpening cannot be achieved with polishing.

I also fixed something else in your post for you.
 
Juddog said:
Why not just keep it simple?
http://www.amazon.com/DMT-DS2F-12-In...nife+sharpener
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Because those will tear the blade up, keeping the edge rough, and so you'll need to use that thing more often. 1200 grit in a whetstone, 1200 grit with a ceramic stone or rod, and 1200 from diamond are miles apart. You can see the difference clearly with a magnifier (I use a lit 40x). I haven't tried that rod, but results from a 1200 grit DMT plate were D:, under the magnifier.
 
I don't have a high opinion of sanding belts, electric sharpeners, or tools that scrape metal off the blade parallel with the edge.

I've used a multitude of different tools and systems, but I always find myself opting for a basic approach. First, I keep all my steel honed. Shaving sharp, except for more obtuse angles on a cleaver.

If the edge is banged up, I even it out with a diamond stone for bad jobs, or a finer Arkansas stone for not so bad jobs. After I've effectively replaced the grind and there are no more bumps or uneven areas, I smooth it all out with ceramic honing sticks (a V-hone some people call them). High alumina ceramic rods at 23 degrees makes for a sharp knife.

Lansky and Spyderco make fine products, I just think it's overkill and time consuming.
 
lxskllr said:
To be pedantic, the steel raises the burrs. It's meant to straighten an edge that's been folded over through use.
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The steel realigns the edge. No burr (wire edge) should be raised since burrs should not exist on a working edge. Burrs also do not form unless steel is being removed.
 
kage69 said:
I don't have a high opinion of sanding belts, electric sharpeners, or tools that scrape metal off the blade parallel with the edge.
Click to expand...
As I said before, I use a belt sander to get me an edge that can split hairs lengthwise. Depending on how worn the knife is, I may be able to accomplish that in under 10 minutes.
 
kage69 said:
Lansky and Spyderco make fine products, I just think it's overkill and time consuming.
Click to expand...
The Lansky/Gatco type systems are also really awkward for anything of the size of a chef's knife or larger. Originally, I thought about getting one. It turned out my neighbor had one, so I borrowed it, and while it was great for paring, it was not good for chef's or my cleavers (which are chef's knives, not meat cleavers).
 
I use synthetic japanese waterstones. Watched a couple of youtube videos on it & away I went. All my kitchen knives are sharp as razors. I am a professional chef & the time & skill to do this myself has paid for itself.
 
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