Hand held blade sharpeners

[jbib]

Hand held knife sharpeners appear very popular. Their ease of use is a great selling point. I have perhaps an unusual question. Surfing this site there is a large constituency of high end knife collectors/users. Personally, I find it hard to imagine them hand sharpening their $500 - $1,000 knife. So my question is whether using one on any blade is bad for the edge of the knife (assuming its used properly)? Or is it more of a knife snob affection. And peace because I'm in that category.

 

[Blues]

If you know how to sharpen with a stone, (natural, synthetic, diamond etc), it doesn't matter what the cost of the knife was originally. It only matters that you can sharpen the knife without damaging it.

Or you can just use it to touch up the blade and use a rig for more serious sharpening sessions.

You can scratch up or otherwise mess up a knife with a rig as well, if you haven't taken the time or precautions to do so properly.

 

[jbib]

If you know how to sharpen with a stone, (natural, synthetic, diamond etc), it doesn't matter what the cost of the knife was originally. It only matters that you can sharpen the knife without damaging it.

Or you can just use it to touch up the blade and use a rig for more serious sharpening sessions.

You can scratch up or otherwise mess up a knife with a rig as well, if you haven't taken the time or precautions to do so properly.

when you say rig, do you mean a stone, Sir?

 

[Blues]

No. By rig I mean a "device" like an Edge Pro, Wicked Edge or any of several high end systems.

But a device can be as simple as a Sharpmaker which I personally make frequent use of.

For me, personally, simple is better...in most all things.

 

[Drop bear]

I have found this video helpful. And I got the work sharp hand held because of it. (Which I mostly just use the strop)

But it goes through a lot of options.

But I would say strop for high end knives would be the safest.

This is the hand held unit I have.

By the way. Should I be packing that shapener in a way that keeps the strop nice?

 

[Kryme]

As long as it's not one of them pull through sharpeners (they do more harm than sharpen) an edge is and edge and it doesn't matter how you got it. I've gotten shaving(with some difficulty) sharp edge off a fine grit brick, as long as you can keep a consistent angle you can get anything sharp. I use a KME to set even angles on all my knives, but after that I just maintain on a Falkniven DC4 which is a cheap-ish pocket stone about the size of a PM2. I sharpen everything on it, from my friends' gas station knives to my Hinderer/CRKs.

 

[FortyTwoBlades]

Knives are meant to be used in my book, and scratches and wear are part of it. But for those to whom signs of wear on the knife are a major issue, careful use of guided sharpeners is probably the best way to avoid marking the blade up. Handheld sharpeners are a huge category, however, and are widely varied in style, form, and complexity, but can be as simple as a pocket stone. Whether or not a given sharpener is bad for your edge or not depends entirely on the kind and the method of use, and without specific examples it's difficult to answer your question as-stated.

 

[Obsessed with Edges]

I'm also in the 'simpler is better' camp where sharpening equipment is concerned. Sharpening by hand with bench stones or handheld stones is a learned skill like any other. If you learn well, it can be just as reliable and effective as sharpening with a guided system and it'll be with you for life - it becomes muscle memory and automatic with repetition. And it can be much, much less expensive to do, once it's learned. You don't need elaborate, expensive systems to do it well, and you can produce excellent results on modestly priced stones of decent quality. But it's perfectly OK if you're not comfortable with that and prefer to use a guided rig for awhile, or indefinitely, until you choose to pursue sharpening by hand.

I used a guided system for some time, which helped me learn the fundamentals of how an edge is made sharp to begin with. Once that was clear in my mind, I gradually started doing some of my light touchup sharpening on handheld stones, just maintaining the apex crispness without focusing too much on completely regrinding bevels, which is more demanding of technique, i.e., holding a steady angle for many, many passes on the stone. Once I became comfortable with the light touchup sharpening done by hand, I started using bench stones for complete regrinding of bevels. Since then, I've done everything freehand and have not looked back. It's all a process learned over time and with patience.

I will agree with the earlier comment about the pull-through sharpeners though. So many of them are made to be 'simple to use' in concept and they're very popular for that reason alone. But the way they work, by scraping steel from the edge in a direction parallel to the edge, instead of perpendicular to it, will leave the 'sharp' edge torn, very weak & flimsy without very, very frequent resharpening, which drastically shortens the edge's useful life. They're not good at all for making sharp edges that will also be strong & durable. Literally any other means of sharpening would be better for the sake of the knife's longevity.

 

[jbib]

No. By rig I mean a "device" like an Edge Pro, Wicked Edge or any of several high end systems.

But a device can be as simple as a Sharpmaker which I personally make frequent use of.

For me, personally, simple is better...in most all things.

I'm kinda a do no harm person. Where configuration of the tool limits my ability to screw things up is preferred. So for me freehand has disaster potential. I envy people who can do it well.

 

[jbib]

I'm also in the 'simpler is better' camp where sharpening equipment is concerned. Sharpening by hand with bench stones or handheld stones is a learned skill like any other. If you learn well, it can be just as reliable and effective as sharpening with a guided system and it'll be with you for life - it becomes muscle memory and automatic with repetition. And it can be much, much less expensive to do, once it's learned. You don't need elaborate, expensive systems to do it well, and you can produce excellent results on modestly priced stones of decent quality. But it's perfectly OK if you're not comfortable with that and prefer to use a guided rig for awhile, or indefinitely, if or until you choose to pursue sharpening by hand.

I used a guided system for some time, which helped me learn the fundamentals of how an edge is made sharp to begin with. Once that was clear in my mind, I gradually started doing some of my light touchup sharpening on handheld stones, just maintaining the apex crispness without focusing too much on completely regrinding bevels, which is more demanding of technique, i.e., holding a steady angle for many, many passes on the stone. Once I became comfortable with the light touchup sharpening done by hand, I started using bench stones for complete regrinding of bevels. And since then, I've done everything by hand and have not looked back. It's all a process learned over time and with patience.

I will agree with the earlier comment about the pull-through sharpeners though. So many of them are made to be 'simple to use' in concept and they're very popular for that reason alone. But the way they work, by scraping steel from the edge in a direction parallel to the edge, instead of perpendicular to it, will leave the 'sharp' edge torn, very weak & flimsy without very, very frequent resharpening, which drastically shortens the edge's useful life. They're not good at all, for making sharp edges that will also be strong & durable. Literally any other means of sharpening would be better for the sake of the knife's longevity.

I do have a guided rig that for me appears idiot proof (a must for me). I'm just working up the courage to use it. I found your last paragraph particularly informative, thank you!

 

[Ourorboros]

Sharpening freehand is not the same as using a hand held sharpener. Holding a stone free hand requires relating two things that can change angles instead of one.
But yeah, what Blues said is the take away. If you can sharpen, why does the cost of the blade matter? It's like saying you won't drive a Benz because you learned in a beater car. The skill is the skill.
It doesn't take that long to learn how to sharpen better than what most brands provide out of the box. You can only get better from there.

 

[kvaughn]

I learned to free hand sharpen as a kid from my Gramp 60+ years ago.
Tried a Worksharp and screwed up enough knives that I retired it to sharpening axes and hatchets without the guide.
99% of my sharpening these days is done with a Diafold Coarse/Fine. I usually rest it on the edge of a stable surface to use it.
Closed cell foam backed sandpaper gets my convex stuff done. Finish with a strop.
All my users have the angle I want so just need touch up.
Diafold+++. I wear one out every year or so.
Free hand sharpening appears to be a dying art.
Good thing to learn.