DIY Sharpening vs. Professional Services

[HeavyHanded]

Just buy a couple of India stones and some cheap diamond stones.
Learn to sharpen on cheap knives. First, learn the MECHANICS of sharpening. Then, learn the skill.
It's not hard, nor does it have to be expensive.

This ^

Do not learn on blades that you value. When your cheap learning knives become valuable to you for their edge quality, move on to your more expensive knives.

Kitchen knives are ideal if you do much cooking as you'll also get an education on what different edge finishes are best at.

 

[bucketstove]

B bucketstove where do you find diamond pastes for $1? I haven’t been able to find them for less than $15

Hi,
I'm 99% sure you've read about it already
How come your notes dont tell you? Forgot to take notes?

ebay / amazon / aliexpress ... "diamond polishing"

sort by price
find seller with 95%+ rating and thousands of sales/reviews
under $1 individual pick your grit tubes,
maybe cheaper in sets of ...6/7/12 "pcs"
with prime it is under $2
...

 

[CasePeanut]

Hi,
I'm 99% sure you've read about it already
How come your notes dont tell you? Forgot to take notes?

ebay / amazon / aliexpress ... "diamond polishing"

sort by price
find seller with 95%+ rating and thousands of sales/reviews
under $1 individual pick your grit tubes,
maybe cheaper in sets of ...6/7/12 "pcs"
with prime it is under $2
...

B bucketstove thank you! I’ve missed it before.

Edit: found 0.5 and 1 micron for under a dollar with free shipping. 0.25 and 0.1 micron seem to be harder to find for cheap.

 

[bucketstove]

B bucketstove thank you! I’ve missed it before.

Edit: found 0.5 and 1 micron for under a dollar with free shipping. 0.25 and 0.1 micron seem to be harder to find for cheap.

Heh, I had you confused you with another

What do you do with .25 and .1 micron powders?
Yeah it looks like you gotta pay $5 for .1

 

[CasePeanut]

I’ve never tried 0.25 micron. Thought it would be fun to try on a strop or my kme

 

[miso2]

I suck at freehand.
Bought Edge Pro.
I have learned a quite bit of sharpening and can get edges I really like.
Lately, I just use a single coarse stone to get a very consistent toothy edge.

With knowing what I should look for, I tried freehand on DMT diamond stones, coarse followed by EEF on a trip.
To my surprise, I was able to get a pretty good edge and proud of myself.

My point is that a guided system can help learning what sharpening is and eventually help learning freehand.

 

[CasePeanut]

I suck at freehand.
Bought Edge Pro.
I have learned a quite bit of sharpening and can get edges I really like.
Lately, I just use a single coarse stone to get a very consistent toothy edge.

With knowing what I should look for, I tried freehand on DMT diamond stones, coarse followed by EEF on a trip.
To my surprise, I was able to get a pretty good edge and proud of myself.

My point is that a guided system can help learning what sharpening is and eventually help learning freehand.

Same here, a KME and a worksharp GSS were really critical in helping me understand how to freehand. The clamping systems are really well known and a great way to learn. I think the Worksharp GSS is a little under appreciated. Its a really well-thought out system that does a great job of providing a "bench stone with training wheels". The coolest part is that you can adjust the system to match your skill/comfort level with the removable guides and pivot system.

 

[colin.p]

Even though I use knives at work, and have been for close to 45 years, it's somewhat arguable as to how well I can sharpen a knife. I can sharpen freehand (kind of) using stones but the easiest and quickest way is using a system like a Sharpmaker. I got a deal on the Lansky version and I must admit it works very well. That and a homemade strop made out of a paint stir stick and an old belt and I have a whole lot of knives that are way too dangerous for me to handle.

 

[Phydeaux]

DIY. I'm partial to free hand.

Free hand sharpening is a constant learning process for me. Over the years, I've improved my skills. One of the things that helped me a lot was watching a friend sharpen knives. He'd sharpen my knife and give me a few pointers each time.

My son recently took a interest in sharpening knives because he is out of high school and can regularly EDC a knife. I showed him the basics, then lit him loose on a couple of cheap dollar store ones. After he worked those for a while, I let him have at some of the our kitchen knives. I was amazed how well he sharpened them.

Ric

 

[BigDogg795]

To follow up on my initial post; I still haven't purchased anything yet. I did however find a sharpmaker I must have purchased a while back. Having mucho time to kill waiting for the iPhone preorders to go live I decided to watch some youtube videos and give it a go. On my Benchmade Barrage I managed to get a pretty good edge IMHO. It's enough to push cut through paper but there's no mirrored edge either. Again, in my opinion more than sufficient for an EDC. I think the greatest reason why I put the spyderco out of sight and out of mind is I originally bought it to keep my Endura 4 with ZDP189 sharp; which some cursory research found it is a difficult steel to work with in the first place, compared to the S30V I have on my Barrage. While I (and a close friend of mine) still believe a guided system would be beneficial especially to repeat the results over multiple knives, I can't help but think a good set of diamond stones (DiaSharp Plates or even Diamond Whetstones) might take me where I want to be. Yeah, mirrored edges are gorgeous and definitely a desire of mine. But $75 - $100 for a set of stones and learning a skill that'll be useful when the SHTF vs spending $200+ on a jig that one could end up being too reliant on make the decision a bit easier I think.

 

[BigDogg795]

Pictures of my edge...bear with me; it was like 230 in the morning lol.

 

[Sharperthansticks]

Recently I sold my KO WorkSharp with the plan to get a guided system like the KME or EdgePro. I haven't pulled the trigger on either at the moment but it's gotten me thinking...outside of being self sufficient; at what point does one decide to maintain their own edges versus sending them out to be resharpened? The majority of my knives are production blades with various factory sharpening programs (Spyderco, BM and ZT). I have one or two that aren't "factory" so I am on my own when it comes to those knives which means sending those out to say, Josh at REK. Outside of paying for return shipping from the manufacturer, there's no additional cost; whereas buying a system, or even a decent whetstone is $40 or more. That would cover the cost of sharpening at least 6 times.

I don't know, I guess my concern is me investing in the hardware to sharpen myself and one of two things happens; I either a) make every edge in my house razor sharp and then the hardware collects dust until six months later I need to resharpen again or b) I can't produce a good edge, get aggravated and wind up sending the knives back to the manufacturer or a professional to get it done anyway and I end up wasting money.

I'm not sure if there's a right answer; I think this was more of a brainstorming session on what to do but if you have any input, feel free to respond!

I've been reading the various comments, and I think we're neglecting something important in your post: what was your experience with the WSKO? (I have one with the blade grinding attachment.)

 

[BigDogg795]

I've been reading the various comments, and I think we're neglecting something important in your post: what was your experience with the WSKO? (I have one with the blade grinding attachment.)

Well you see that pic of my Benchmade with all the scratches on it?

That was from me using the worksharp. Don’t get me wrong; it was great for making things sharp. I made several kitchen knives quite sharp as well my EDC’s. But whether it was my technique or lack of thereof perhaps; I didn’t feel like my knives were aesthetically “pretty” coming from the WSKO. AGAIN, the onus is on me I’m sure, but I felt like the WKSO was an AK in a world of AR’s. It did the job just fine but it just was not as refined in my experience; which is one of the reasons I wanted a manual (non-powered) solution.

 

[Eli Chaps]

BD, I would say to just put mirrored edges out of your head. They can come down the road if you find yourself still wanting to chase them later. And that goes for whatever path you choose. You will be surprised at how much reflecting a properly honed edge can produce when held perpendicular to a surface but still look a little milky when laid flat. My KME is not about getting super high polished edges. I've done that and to be honest, didn't like how the blades cut.

For me, as I probably already said, the KME provides excellent repeatability and control. There is absolutely nothing wrong with using a guided system. Having sharp knives off a guided system is vastly superior to having semi-sharp knives freehanding! I'm surely not trying to discourage you from launching into freehand sharpening. If you feel like you have the confidence and patience, go for it! It isn't terribly hard so long as you match proper media with proper steels and learn the fundamentals and such. But, it can be trying and frustrating as evidenced by how many people give up on it. Just be aware of that.

Now, all of that said, I think you'll find that you aren't going to save any money going freehand vs. something like a KME or Edge Pro. Eventually, you will get to those numbers and surpass them. You'll realize that you need this stone and that stone and oh I should get another strop and so on. It's just how it goes. And I'm talking about just getting the bases covered, not branching off into niches or experiments. It doesn't take long to eat up $200 on sharpening gear that ensures you can work with a variety of steels.

Again, not trying to steer you in any direction, just offering up my thoughts and hoping to continue encouraging you to pursue sharpening no matter what path you choose!

 

[Old Biker]

I live close enough to Kershaw/ZT/KAI to easily take advantage of their free warranty sharpening. I started sharpening my knives myself, when I realized how fast the free sharpening was wearing out my blades. I use an Agptek guide, with mostly edge pro stones.

O.BB.

 

[HeavyHanded]

I live close enough to Kershaw/ZT/KAI to easily take advantage of their free warranty sharpening. I started sharpening my knives myself, when I realized how fast the free sharpening was wearing out my blades. I use an Agptek guide, with mostly edge pro stones.

O.BB.

Interesting observation. When I sharpen for $ one of the biggest considerations is retaining as much material as possible. Unless specifically told to do so, I won't even completely grind out larger dings.

 

[David Martin]

I do a regular sharpening for them. Give it back to them sharp. Then inform them the knife has a chip which would require me to remove a
lot of metal to get it out. If you will bring it to me to sharpen I'll work out the chip gradually removing as little metal as possible. DM

 

[David Martin]

I live close enough to Kershaw/ZT/KAI to easily take advantage of their free warranty sharpening. I started sharpening my knives myself, when I realized how fast the free sharpening was wearing out my blades. I use an Agptek guide, with mostly edge pro stones.
O.BB.

They likely sharpen every knife in the same manner. Taking it through a 1-2 grit progression, every time. Whereas you can give a blade special
attention. Just a few light strokes on a medium or fine stone and this brings the edge right back, will little metal removal. Glad you put this observation out to us. DM