Need some sharpening advise please

N

No.Body

Joined
Jun 28, 2020
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Although I've owned and used all kinds of budget knives in the decades past, I've never really sharpened them. This year I've taken up an interest in higher quality knives and have been enjoying this new interest.

I'm also new to knife sharpening. After going through plenty of reviews, I picked up the following from Worksharp, which each have thousands of positive reviews:

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Long story short, I've followed the instructions and although I see "some" improvement, my knives aren't nearly as sharp as the brand new ones I get from Spyderco, Zero Tolerance etc. I've tried doing it over and over, and I do follow the instructions to the tee, but my knives really don't get sharp.

I would like them to be like factory sharp... where I can slice through a paper with ease and no snags. In particular, I have a used 3" XM-18 that gets "a little" sharp, but nowhere near as sharp as my new ZT's or Sypdercos. What can I do??

Any advise is most appreciated -- thank you!
 
Take those two gadgets and throw them as far as you can, then invest in a set of bench hones (preferably diamond) or one of several guided sharpening systems. The Maintenance, Tinkering and Embellishment forum here is a good place to learn more about sharpening -- do a search. There are several excellent books on sharpening, too -- do a Googlesearch.
 
You'll get some excellent advice from guys with more experience with sharpening than I do...first thing is ditch the pull throughs they don't work. I've just recently dove deeper into sharpening and finally have it to where the edge gets razor sharp...which took a good bit of practice and patience. What worked for me was a two sided diamond stone and I got a tri-hone with a coarse, medium and fine grit and finally a strop to finish. Its a labor man.....proper angle, proper pressure, when to get the burrs off, do you have more than just a wire edge and getting that nice fine polished sharp as hell edge. I'll start with the diamond stone, 20° angle, work a side til the burr is significant enough to change sides, check the edge till I think its sharp enough to go to the honing stones, once I'm happy with that to the strop. Do a search to get fine details etc....all I can tell you is it's worth the effort you put into it, start with cheaper steels until you get your technique down. Make sure to keep your angle while moving with the edge, that was a tricky part for me to get correct....but man once you can get it right its pretty cool to have that perfect edge nice and razor sharp and you know how to do it yourself. Patience, practice and do your research....lots of good info here from guys who really know their stuff, it helped me through some snags. Good luck!!
 
Makes me laugh when people say they want it as sharp as new. Every knife I’ve ever bought needed to be sharpened out of the box.

point being, it’s worth the effort to learn how to sharpen knives, because you’ll be able to make them better than new.

good advice given to loose the pull through and to get a diamond bench stone. Then practice practice practice.
 
Chunk those out with the trash. Get you a DMT Diafold and call it a day. It will keep your knives sharp for decades and with practice, will come the sharper edges.
 
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This two sided diamond sharpening stone is the bare minimum I would go with, and probably all you’ll ever need. But large bench stones are nice to have.

I buy coarse diamond bench stones. They get worn down to “fine” and I buy another coarse one.
 
Spyderco sharpmaker or lansky guided system, both fairly cheap and versatile and both more or less control angle for u. Which if u nothing about is very hard to do on free stones as a new comer
 
If you want to stay on a budget...

- Ultra Sharp Diamond Stone
-- I prefer 8" for versatility and recommend the 300/1200 combination stone: $70USD
-- Too much? Get the 8" 300: $45
-- Still too much? Get the 6" 300: $20

- Universal Stone Holder: $20

- Sharpie

- Diamond paste/spray/emulsion is tough to skimp on but get what you can afford (avoid Chinese junk) in the 1 micron range.

- Some paint sticks for the diamond paste/spray/emulsion to use as a strop.

Learn. You can do it. You will never regret it.
 
There are three ways you might get a decent edge.
One is with something like a Spyderco Sharpmaker where you have a base and two abrasive sticks set up like a 'V'. Don't know if that's good with really dull knives. On the plus side it is easy to set up and might have the shortest learning curve. There are diamond rods available for the Spyderco.
The second is with a rig - the best being Wicked Edge or Edge Pro. Now we are looking at some money. You have more learning curve, but a lot of consistency. A number of people have said it helped them understand sharpening for when they went to freehand. There are some limitations on blade sizes, curves, and what not.
Third is freehand sharpening. This is the most flexible and potentially portable. If you get into it and explore this can also be the most costly. There is a learning curve, but also a lot of videos and advice on how to learn. If you take pleasure in tactile things, you may also enjoy this the most.

There is a sticky in this subforum that explains free hand sharpening. Depending on the steels you are sharpening, I wouldn't necessarily push diamond stones.
So first look at your options - you can find videos on YT. Also figure out your budget - because there are options. Look at the steels and blade types you have. Then it's easier to talk details on how to outfit your first kit.
 
It depends on what you want to do, how you want to do it, and how much you are willing to pay for it. My advice is to get a Wicked Edge.
But it is good to learn how to freehand.
 
Wow, thanks guys.... I take it I should throw these away :D

Somehow spending $15 and taking it to a $400 knife .... doesn't seem to add up. I'm having a difficult time reconciling how thousands of people are giving it 5 star reviews... is it because maybe the vast majority of them are sharpening lower end steel... and perhaps the higher end steel cannot be properly sharpened by these devices?

Either way, I'm going shopping for a real sharpener, and look forward to learning a new skill -- thanks very much to all for the recommendations.
 
I would say that they are probably selling sharpeners like that for people to put in their pack to take hiking or something just in case they need to sharpen their blade in the bush. I would rather take my DuoSharp diamond stone.
 
eveled said:
Makes me laugh when people say they want it as sharp as new. Every knife I’ve ever bought needed to be sharpened out of the box.

point being, it’s worth the effort to learn how to sharpen knives, because you’ll be able to make them better than new.

good advice given to loose the pull through and to get a diamond bench stone. Then practice practice practice.
Click to expand...

I used to wonder why people sharpened new knives in some of the youtube videos. I have just had cheaper knives as a reference point for "sharp", but sharpening them with water stones redefined "sharpness" for me - and I am sure most experienced members here would still call my knives dull. There is another level of sharpness that I haven't experienced yet :)

No.Body said:
Wow, thanks guys.... I take it I should throw these away :D

Somehow spending $15 and taking it to a $400 knife .... doesn't seem to add up. I'm having a difficult time reconciling how thousands of people are giving it 5 star reviews... is it because maybe the vast majority of them are sharpening lower end steel... and perhaps the higher end steel cannot be properly sharpened by these devices?

Either way, I'm going shopping for a real sharpener, and look forward to learning a new skill -- thanks very much to all for the recommendations.
Click to expand...

People who buy that thing for $15 probably don't own other sharpening devices to compare them to. My parents have one of these pull throughs (other brand) and were very happy with the sharpness. But after I took the knives on a cheap water stone they were pretty shocked. So before the water stones they would rate the tool at 5 stars, too. Now they don't even use it anymore - I quite literally ruined it for them with my beginner sharpening skills. Also, under the microscope the edge looks completely jagged after you pull it through such a V-shape and the scratch pattern has lines parallel to the edge - you don't want that.
 
Spyderco Sharpmaker and add the diamond or cbn rods if you want to go guided. Watch some videos on burr formation, the sharpie method, and of course the Sharpmaker video itself.

I wouldn't go with a Lansky. I have one and used it for a long time, and got pretty good with it. It is fiddly, and you have to use a protractor, angle cube, or an app for your phone to be precise with setting your angles. It's a good system, but very limited. The sharpmaker is much simpler to setup and use, and yields excellent results with a little practice.

If you go freehand (get some really cheap knives to practice on first), I would go with a Sharpal diamond stone. It's dual sided (coarse/extra fine), comes with a case that doubles as a stone holder, and an angle guide, which works but you don't have to use it. The Sharpal is about $30 for the 3x6 model, I think, and $50 or $60 for the 3x8. I have both, and have reprofiled/sharpened plenty of knives and they are pretty awesome. They will cover all steels, and the extra fine side leaves a nice sharp, toothy edge.

Also, if you go freehand, check out outdoors55 on youtube. His videos helped me a ton.
 
Yep, I would get rid of the Work Sharp and purchase one combination stone. A coarse / fine from Norton, their JB- 8 in SiC grit. This one will take you a long way.
It runs about 30$ to your door. DM
 
David Martin said:
Yep, I would get rid of the Work Sharp and purchase one combination stone. A coarse / fine from Norton, their JB- 8 in SiC grit. This one will take you a long way.
It runs about 30$ to your door. DM
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I doubly agree with David here about the Norton Crystolon stone.

I would never suggest diamond plates to a total beginner sharpener unless their only knives were in Maxamet.
Diamonds are very aggressive and require a mostly light touch.

Plus new diamond plates are regularly needing to be smoothed out to get to a uniform surface.
I started out with Norton Crystolon, India, and Arks and still managed to butcher a few knives.

I can’t imagine what they would of looked like if I had diamonds.
Diamonds cut fast and can take off a lot of material fast and that is great for pros and those who know exactly what they are doing.
 
Disagree somewhat on the failings of a diamond stone for a beginner. I myself use water stones but even the atoma 140 or DMT XXC are unlikely to remove metal so fast that you won’t be able to correct any initial mistakes.

They are pricey tho so you may want to go for a cheaper (although quality) alternative as a beginner
 
Craig James said:
Disagree somewhat on the failings of a diamond stone for a beginner. I myself use water stones but even the atoma 140 or DMT XXC are unlikely to remove metal so fast that you won’t be able to correct any initial mistakes.

They are pricey tho so you may want to go for a cheaper (although quality) alternative as a beginner
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I agree.

I am also a big fan of Norton and routinely recommend the JB8 that David Martin David Martin mentioned. The only reason I didn't in this case was the mention of Spydercos and ZT. That leads to the assumption of higher vanadium steels so I recommended the diamonds as I think for a beginner with those steels they will produce better results.

I have the Ultra Sharp 300 I recommended and it doesn't remove an over abundance of material, even on softer knives. You do want to check often but no biggy.

I don't have a ton of experience with different makes of diamonds but the ones I have didn't need any kind smoothing.
 
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