The first sharpening

Incredibly, I only learn about your YT channel today.
I will take a look at it tomorrow, and eventually tell you about it.
You've given me lots of good suggestions here, and I really appreciate that. I'm sure that your videos will help me improve even more.

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Real good job on the videos. Seems like you don't edit anything out. I like that. When did you start useing water stones? I thought you were a DMT hone guy. Next thing I'll see is you useing paper wheels. :)
 
Thanks, db

I plan to do some editing for flair in the future but I don't think I'll ever edit out too much of the actual sharpening. Still love the DMT's but needed to complete the tool kit. I've used some cheaper waterstones on and off for a few years then sold them, bought some natural waterstones, spent a embarrassing amount of time searching the word "waterstone", then a little over a year ago I purchased the arashiyama stones. I now have about.... um.... 12... soon to be 15 with a growing obsession for Aoto stones and natural finishing stones. It's bad, and I see no end in sight :D
 
I have a Shapton 1000 and a Norton 4000/8000 and I really do like the edges and how they grind steel. I just never use them anymore simply because I don't like to sharpen in my kitchen. And I'm too lazy to get a bucket of water and bring it where I do my sharpening. Right now I'm on a belt grinder kick for most sharpening. Keep up the great work on the videos. You really show how important that first coarse stone is to get the bevel set. For me the hardest part is trying to decide what grit I should start with after I've already done the first regrind and am looking more for a touchup/mild sharpening.
As I think I sharpen the best edge for my own cutting needs. After seeing your videos, I'm very tepted to send you a knife to sharpen just to compare to my own edge.
 
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I am new to this forum, I came by chance to this topic, and I registered just to thank knifenut1013 for such contribution. Three years later it is still of great value to many of us ... Thank you very much!
 
I'm showing up years late to this party, too! As a noob, I've only just graduated from the five dollar pull through sharpeners (pause for groans and face palms) to my new (yet-to -arrive) Sharpmaker. This whole thread has been informative and inspirational. I'm anxious to fix the damage I've been doing to my daily users and eventually graduate to some of the methods discussed here - even the most rudimentary of which are still light years away from This Guy!

Thank you, Knifenut, for sharing your encyclopedic knowledge with all of posterity.

You stay classy, Blade Forums!
 
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I've used knifenut's free hand technique of lifting the handle to control the angle around the belly for two days. I also am familiar with a technique where you don't lift the handle at all. Both work very well but I think lifting the handle is easier to control. It's a bit difficult to change from one stroke to another. But I like this method and maybe being somewhat proficient at both may come in handy. I've got to say this thread has been as informative and benificial as any I've read. Thanks knifenut for sharing your skill and experience.


Jack
 
What a great resource. Thank you.

I am just starting out learning to sharpen my knives. I have several kitchen knives, a few folders, a couple of fixed blades and a Leatherman to get sharpened. In the past I have been sending off my production folders back to the factory to get touched up but that is not practical.

I am on the verge of picking up some DMT stones. My first question is can I get away with 6" stones? That certainly helps to keep the costs down especially with the double sided ones
http://www.sharpeningsupplies.com/DMT-6-Dia-Sharp-Kit-P404C3.aspx

Also, is there any advantage to choose the DuoSharp stones for a beginner?
 
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I have 6" and 8". The 8" is definitely nicer to have the extra length, but not a necessity. I can sharpen just fine on the 6". So it just comes down to the pocket book of course :) It's nicer to have more surface for bigger blades as well.

I would get the Diasharp and not the Duosharp. The Diasharp is a continuous diamond surface unlike the Duosharp that has those pockets all over.
 
Still been practicing knifenut's technique of lifting the handle to maintain the angle around the belly. Continue to be impressed with the accuracy. I've been using an EP for 3-4 years and only got into trying to improve my free hand ability in the past few months. So, instead of having flat bevels on all my knives they all have convex bevels now. What I have done in the past is try to maintain a flat bevel (created with the EP) on bench stones. For 2 or 3 strokes I can "feel" when the bevel is flat on the stone. After that I've rounded the bevel enough that I can't feel any flat portion on the bevel any more. When the bevel is flat I can see any imperfection in angle consistancy just by looking at how much I am rounding the bevel. Since they are all convex now I have used a marker to see where the bevel is touching the stone. Using knifenut's technique I'm seeing emprovement in keeping the removed marker line consistant in location on the bevel around the belly. Not perfect (never will be), but it's getting better with practice. So far the only thing I have done is try to maintain the same convex bevels on the knives. I haven't tried to create a bevel as flat as I can yet. In one of knifenut's posts I think I remember him saying the knife sort of rides on the bevel during the stroke. Since the only knives I've worked on have convex bevels I haven't had this feeling at all. I think I may need to create a flat bevel with the EP then try to maintain the same angle free hand. I have done this in the past and failed. But now that I'm using this "lift the handle" technique I need to do it again. I just want to see if I can "feel" the edge angle on a flat bevel as I go around the belly. Maintaining the angle on a straight section of a knife edge is easier. Just find the flat spot, lock your wrists and go slow. When going around the belly you need to start raising the handle I have a tendency to change the angle unintentionally. The angle is changed by spinning the knife handle in my hand/fingers. This is a no-no. So far I have been spinning the handle intentionally since I have been working on convex bevels.

The key to improve any skill is practicing. Don't know how often I have sharpened a sharp knife. :) On knives I don't care about how much steel I remove I just mark the edge and practice maintaining the same angle by watching where the marker is removed. I use a very fine grit stone when just practicing so very little steel is removed but I still get the practice.

This thread has been great for me because after learning (not mastering) of one technique to control the angle I now have another one to use. In addition to having an option of technique to use I also seem to have a better understanding of maintaining the edge angle. I don't know how to expalin what I mean so I'm not going to try. I was practicing with a knife last night and as I rounded the belly and getting all the way to the tip I was not touching the edge apex for the last 3/16" of the edge. I was hitting the apex around the belly except for this one spot. At first I was thinking my angle control was flawed at that spot for some reason. That meant I needed to do something different in how I was holding the knife and/or moving my hands. The only way to hit the apex in this one spot would be to raise the angle a tiny bit. I know this is a no-no but I couldn't think of any other way to get to the apex. THEN IT HIT ME! Maybe there was nothing wrong with my technique! MAYBE I just needed to remove more steel on the bevel at the same angle I was trying to maintain until the edge apex was on the stone. Wow, could it be that simple? This made more sense than changing the angle just to hit the apex since maintaining the same angle is the goal. I know (well, believe) that is the answer but I haven't done it yet. It was getting late and my head was nodding. :) One sharpening tradition I like to keep is not to fall asleep when working with knives allowing my head to fall down onto the extrememly sharp edge. :D I do enough damage to my face when shaving. :)

Thanks again knifenut for a great thread. You do know (don't you???) that some people charge for this knowledge??? I have considered buying Murray Carter's DVDs but never did. I'm sure they are FULL of great info but so is this thread. So thanks for this because I can now use the $70 or so to buy shoes for my 10 starving kids. :D

Jack
 
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