Freehand sharpening Karambit

[cap'njake]

What do any of you use to freehand sharpen Karambit style blades? I sharpened one by tipping my waterstones on the side and using the very corner but that didn't work well because I couldn't keep it wet and couldn't build a slurry since it is such a small area of stone. Would a sharpening steel work better or some other rod sharpener or is there something else that works better?

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[bucketstove]

What do any of you use to freehand sharpen Karambit style blades? I sharpened one by tipping my waterstones on the side and using the very corner but that didn't work well because I couldn't keep it wet and couldn't build a slurry since it is such a small area of stone. Would a sharpening steel work better or some other rod sharpener or is there something else that works better?

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G870A using Tapatalk

Hi,
did you raise a burr? did you cut it off at increased(double) angle?

Corner of stone should work well
as long as you keep force/pressure low
and keep from snagging/digging into the stone,
slurry not required

If the abrasive can scratch the steel it will all work equally well,
naturally more narrow abrasive , or round,
hugs the curve of the blade slightly easier,
but they should all work equally well with a light touch
raise a tiny burr, cut it off at increased angle (double),

if you dont have rod sharpeners,
or your stone has snaggly corners
sandpaper over rod/dowel is always available

[video=youtube;ISkSVl3DIco]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISkSVl3DIco[/video]

 

[cap'njake]

Hi,
did you raise a burr? did you cut it off at increased(double) angle?

Corner of stone should work well
as long as you keep force/pressure low
and keep from snagging/digging into the stone,
slurry not required

If the abrasive can scratch the steel it will all work equally well,
naturally more narrow abrasive , or round,
hugs the curve of the blade slightly easier,
but they should all work equally well with a light touch
raise a tiny burr, cut it off at increased angle (double),

if you dont have rod sharpeners,
or your stone has snaggly corners
sandpaper over rod/dowel is always available

[video=youtube;ISkSVl3DIco]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISkSVl3DIco[/video]

I got it sharp I was curious mostly about what the easiest way to sharpen them freehand is.

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[Alberta Ed]

You can get a variety of rounded hones for wood gouges that would work fine with the extreme recurve, or a diamond-coated or ceramic rod.

 

[bucketstove]

I got it sharp I was curious mostly about what the easiest way to sharpen them freehand is.

Hi,
Yeah, thats kind of the thing,
once you figure it out ,
what you need to do (raise burr cut it off),
how to do it (hold blade, angle, follow curve),
its all easy
judging whats easiest gets kind of tricky
and it becomes more about which you like rather than which is strictly easier,
kinda like shoe laces versus velcro straps versus shoe buckles
... if all you know is slippers well all those are confusing
if you know buckles you also know velcro and vice versa
if you know shoe laces then you also know velcro and buckles

stones are square, you can snag on the corners, so I'd call them slightly harder

water stones are softer, you can cut into them edge leading, so they need stropping motion which is different from regular cutting motion, so call that slightly harder

so rounded hones are harder to snag , to that makes it easier

if using sharp corners or smaller diameter rods
you need a lighter touch (less than ~1oz or ~20 grams)
but thats already part of regular sharpening skill
but it can take some practice to figure out,
so those tools make it slightly harder

pull through slot gadgets, either tungsten carbide or diamond or ceramic/crock sticks,
also require a light touch, and it takes some figuring out to hold blade vertical as you pull
but lets call these slightly easier as they require less knowledge, just pull through,
even if the sharpness you can get might be slightly less

sandpaper over dowel ought to be similarly easy but a bit less so,
as it requires stropping motion,
pull left, pull right a few times
if not sharp immediately, press a little harder and repeat pull/strop

see what I mean?

if you've got some practice holding the knife and what the goal is in sharpening
its all about equally easy,
it only gets slightly harder when you're getting very particular about looks/finish/angles/speed

Consider this coffee cup sharpening for first time, it would have worked with a hawkbill too just about as easy Sharpen a knife - Katie Robichaud