How should I learn the skill of sharpening?

Z

ZIVANOVIC

Joined
Aug 27, 2019
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18
Hello everyone!

Sorry for my bad english, I'm a hungarian guy!

I have a Böker Arbolite El Héroe hunting knife, and I need some help about it's maintenance. This is my first cutting tool ever, and I never sharpened any knife before. I saw a bunch of sharpening guide on the web, but each one use different techniques. Someone "push", others "pull" the knife edge on the whetstone's surface. I hope everyone knows what I mean. :D

I have a 600/1500 girt whetstone, I worked on that for an hour, but my knife is still a bit dull. After I use my knife, the edge has been damaged. I cant equally pull/push the blade on the whetstone. Some part of the edge surface's is bigger than the other. The edge first side is higher, when the other side is smaller. I tried to do it properly, and it's seems like it's okay, but as I said, it is not. :(

Somebody can show me a sharpening video for that type of knife? The edge line seems a bit tricky for me. Or can you guys give me a description how to properly do that? I don't know how to choose the best angle, and how to keep the knife on it.

I've followed the instructions from Ray Mears knife sharpening video. (
)
 
Hi, the stickies at the top of this forum are a great place to start. This one in particular https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/the-seven-secrets-of-sharpening-redux.1628756/

How ever much I like Ray Mears, that is probably not the best video to start with. Without a sabre grind (as shown in the vid) or a full flat grind it is much harder to hold a consistent angle.

Have a read and a practise, watch a few additional videos (I quite like burrfection on youtube) and then come back with any more questions.

Cheers
 
I learned sharpening basics from the book The Razor Edge Book of Sharpening, by John Juranitch. Hopefully it's available in Hungary.

There is some great info on this forum, and I have learned much here, but without knowing and understanding the basic principles, which are actually very simple, I was just floundering around in trial and error, trying many suggestions and wondering why none of them worked.

Once you understand the basics, and can get a sharp edge, then you can refine your sharpening technique and stones to get the best edge for what you need your knife to do (e.g., toothy vs. smooth edge, edge angle, thickness, etc.)
 
ZIVANOVIC said:
I have a Böker Arbolite El Héroe hunting knife, and I need some help about it's maintenance. This is my first cutting tool ever, and I never sharpened any knife before.
Click to expand...

Welcome to the forum. Knife sharpening is fairly simple, but not particularly easy. If you want to keep the Böker looking nice you either need to get a sharpening jig like an EdgePal, KME, Hapstone, Edge Pro, etc., or you need freedom to experiment and make mistakes. I suggest you get an inexpensive knife with a fairly thin blade in good steel, like an Opinel, and learn to sharpen that well before you work again on the Böker. Search for "deburring" or "burr reduction" as that can be one of the more tricky aspects of sharpening, and what you need to do often changes with the steel being sharpened.
 
I'd recommend getting a lower cost knife to practice on. Those new to sharpening are prone to accidental scratches. You are also freer to play around with different techniques on a blade you don't care about. But stay away from really cheap steel, they are no fun at all to sharpen.
"Simple but not easy" are hauntingly true words. You want to hold the blade at a constant angle. This means that your body needs to be in a stable position and you are aware of the movement of your hands. Consistency is key. Practice will help you build up muscle memory.
Do not use heavy pressure, especially on the edge leading stroke. The abrasives will do their job.

Sharpening is one of those things where many techniques can work if they keep the basic fundamentals. Fortunately learning basic sharpening doesn't take much time.
 
MtnHawk1 said:
I learned sharpening basics from the book The Razor Edge Book of Sharpening, by John Juranitch. Hopefully it's available in Hungary.

There is some great info on this forum, and I have learned much here, but without knowing and understanding the basic principles, which are actually very simple, I was just floundering around in trial and error, trying many suggestions and wondering why none of them worked.

Once you understand the basics, and can get a sharp edge, then you can refine your sharpening technique and stones to get the best edge for what you need your knife to do (e.g., toothy vs. smooth edge, edge angle, thickness, etc.)
Click to expand...
Welcome! ^^ This book is available on Amazon. Excellent book to get started on the basics and cut through a lot of the bad info out there.
 
Grind both sides of knife on norton economy stone,thats silicon carbide,when you get burr raise angle littlebit and take it off with light strokes.Sharpening is not rocket science,dont be afraid to ruin the knife or scratch it.Its hard to screw it up on stone.John juranitch book is good,but you dont need it.Theres many videos on youtube for free.Even Murray Carter has his sharpening video online for free.Its 2,5hrs long.Do not over complicate sharpening.Get the burr and minimize it,thats all.
 
I would agree with most of the above. I got both of my kids cheap ozark trail (Walmart brand) knives to learn on. Also use a sharpie to mark the edge you are going to work on.then make several light passes on the stone. Next look at the edge to see where you are actually taking medal off. Look at the edge closely both before and after you grind. Take your time. If you are worried about scratching the blade or handle you can always tape them up just leaving the edge of the blade bare. Now that I am getting older I use a jewelry loop to see the edge up close so I know what I am doing to the blade.

https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/what-is-sharpening-a-knife-about-2015-updates.1014274/
 
Look up Pete Nowlan on YouTube. He's a kitchen knife sharpener but his videos are very good. Between that and the Murray Carter video mentioned above the rest is just practice.
I also second a Norton stone but I feel the crystolon is worth the extra couple dollars over the economy stone
 
Buy cheap knives you are willing to trash, practice sharpening them. It takes ALOT of experience to sharpen well freehand. I learned to sharpen knives in boy scouts and it's a skill I used so little I just am not very good at it.
 
Learning how to sharpen is a 2 step process.

1) Read/watch sharpening guides/tutorials, then experiment with the different techniques until you find one that appeals to you.

2) Make the commitment to practice that technique until you're good at it, and be prepared to not be good at it for a long time, like 6 months to a year, depending on how frequently you practice.

That's pretty much it. What I can tell you is that it's worth it. Good luck and enjoy the ride!
 
Z ZIVANOVIC If you aren't going to be sharpening all the time to get good at it I would buy a Hapstone system that clamp's the knife in place and buy a set of Venev stone in 100% concentration and you will be fine,also buy and angle cube to set your angle's.

If you are going to be sharpening a few times a week at first and also sharpening regularly to stay good at it you may want to try freehand.

If you do decide to buy a guided system contact the owner of this website he has an online store in Russia as well and it may cost less for shipping from Russia to you.

https://www.gritomatic.com/products/hapstone-r2-lite-knife-sharpener
 
As far as cheap practice knives, victorinox kitchen knives are great. Inexpensive but not crappy steel.
You can learn a lot for short money and they are good, solid kitchen knives.
 
welcome to the forum. off the top of my head hungary liszt ligeti bartok goulash kocsis sandor schiff dohnanyi kurtag kodaly kadosa fucsovics but that would be offtopic :thumbsup::p

congrats to trying freehanding right away! me too i watched lots of youtube videos for getting started into sharpening. good luck on your journey to developing the new skill.
 
Last edited:
ZIVANOVIC said:
Hello everyone!

Sorry for my bad english, I'm a hungarian guy!

I have a Böker Arbolite El Héroe hunting knife, and I need some help about it's maintenance. This is my first cutting tool ever, and I never sharpened any knife before. I saw a bunch of sharpening guide on the web, but each one use different techniques. Someone "push", others "pull" the knife edge on the whetstone's surface. I hope everyone knows what I mean. :D

I have a 600/1500 girt whetstone, I worked on that for an hour, but my knife is still a bit dull. After I use my knife, the edge has been damaged. I cant equally pull/push the blade on the whetstone. Some part of the edge surface's is bigger than the other. The edge first side is higher, when the other side is smaller. I tried to do it properly, and it's seems like it's okay, but as I said, it is not. :(

Somebody can show me a sharpening video for that type of knife? The edge line seems a bit tricky for me. Or can you guys give me a description how to properly do that? I don't know how to choose the best angle, and how to keep the knife on it.

I've followed the instructions from Ray Mears knife sharpening video. (
)
Click to expand...
Answer to your question; You shouldn't worry in your case to push or pull method because your problem atm seem to be blade's geometry if your other side is higher than the other you should first try that you sharpen your tip of the knife closest section of the stone because bicep muscle automaticly raises the blade and shoulder part you should sharpen at the end section of the stone stretcher muscle activates there best; If you don't get my point don't worry just keep sharpening, and everyone learns everyday more about sharpening. I have been sharpening daily now 7 or 8 years but still there are days nothing won't work and notice it was something small or big mistake which I did but still you have to solve the problem.
 
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