best way for sharpening? stone vs 'knife sharpeners'

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unvisible805

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Jun 29, 2013
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hello all, this is my first post here. love the site! i was wondering what is the best over all method for knife sharpening? i've used both dry and wet stones but ive been wondering about the knife sharpeners, you know the ones.. either steel or ceramic (or both) blades that you drag the blade of your knife thru a few times. ill post a pic of one, so you know what im talkin bout.
41ntEe5E%2B6L._AA220_.jpg
 
Those "V" carbide sharpeners wreak havock on knife edges. I'm a firm believer in freehand sharpening, it's a skill that takes a bit to learn but once you are comfortable with it you're forever free from the need for expensive or gimmicky sharpening systems (which are usually rather limited in the types of blades or grinds they'll work with).
 
Been using a Spyderco Sharpmaker for years---also purchased a pair of ultra fine sticks and strop to go with it. I don't let my blades get too dull before sharpening, so they are always razor sharp
 
A lot of the V sharpeners work by stripping the steel from your knife. This produces a jagged edge which cuts aggressively but breaks quickly. Restoring the edge after that can be troublesome. Some pull through sharpeners use rounded ceramics or abrasive pads to sharpen and the more expensive ones have ceramic wheels - these can be ok. A lot of peoplr here use guided abrasive methods, where your abrasive surface is guided along the knife edge as you draw it along the blade; these can arguably be the best sharpeners because you can get very precise edges. Having said that, unless Im doing serrations I prefer more traditional stones; I just like the ritual of it and the feel of it.
 
Those carbide V sharpeners do not sharpen a knife. They deform and destroy a knife. Watch this video by Razorsharp-Travis:

[youtube]U9XIO4gVMeQ[/youtube]
 
unvisible805 said:
hello all, this is my first post here. love the site! i was wondering what is the best over all method for knife sharpening? i've used both dry and wet stones but ive been wondering about the knife sharpeners, you know the ones.. either steel or ceramic (or both) blades that you drag the blade of your knife thru a few times. ill post a pic of one, so you know what im talkin bout.
41ntEe5E%2B6L._AA220_.jpg
Click to expand...
Welcome to Bladeforums. Those pull-through carbide scrapers are junk, and will ruin a edge in no time. You've be better off with some wet/dry sandpaper or buying a Sharpmaker from Spyderco. If you have sharpening auestions or want to do some light reading on sharpening, this is the corct section here:
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/forumdisplay.php/794-Maintenance-Tinkering-amp-Embellishment

General Knife Discussion is for discussing knives themselves.
 
Like basically every other person here, I started with a Sharpmaker. It works pretty well if the edge is already established, but is kind of terrible for reprofiling. The diamond stones likely help, but the brown stone is still pretty fine.
 
The carbide rods, as I understand, are designed to reprofile a destroyed edge and then you'd move on to the ceramic rods. I don't use the portables like in the OP. A Sharpmaker, Smith's 3-in-1, or Lansky Turnbox (I've got all three) are simply terrific for a dull but OK edge. If you've got dings, dents, chips, etc. you'll need something more aggressive. Sharpmaker has a pair of diamond rods for the Sharpmaker but I ended up buying a DMT coarse/extra-coars Dia-Sharp dual sided stone. That and the standard Sharpmaker is all I need for a knife with dings, dents, or chips.

Matter of fact, I received an old Vic Explorer yesterday, well-used. Both blades were quite dull and the edges were as I described regarding damages - all three problems were on each blade. I gave the Sharpmaker a go and it resharpened the blade but the damaged areas were still there. I took the knife to my diamond stone and worked it lightly on both blades and went back the the Sharpmaker. Not perfect (I'm a little impatient) but about 95% fixed. I give it another go round later to make it 100%. Total time was maybe 15 minutes. Having the diamond stone with coarser grits made a lot of difference to me.

As far as the Sharpmaker's fixed angles, you can hold the knife at whatever angle to the rods as you wish just like you would free handing a different angle than 30 or 40 inclusive.
 
RevDevil said:
Welcome to Bladeforums. Those pull-through carbide scrapers are junk, and will ruin a edge in no time. You've be better off with some wet/dry sandpaper or buying a Sharpmaker from Spyderco. If you have sharpening auestions or want to do some light reading on sharpening, this is the corct section here:
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/forumdisplay.php/794-Maintenance-Tinkering-amp-Embellishment

General Knife Discussion is for discussing knives themselves.
Click to expand...

thank you, and everyone else for their replies as well. :)
 
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