hey guys. new to the forums, and knives in general. i have a kershaw blur and westin. just trying to find a decent knife sharpener i could get under $50. i got one of those amazon ones, but it doesn't reach the very bottom of the blade, so i'm scared to use it. PLUS not sure if it would do more harm than good. i'm sure this has been asked a million times. am i looking for a whetstone or something?
Recommendation? noob question knife sharpener?
- Thread starter glitch777
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For that price range, yes the sharpmaker would be your best bet... I started out with one, never did get a real good handle on it. Of course, I didn’t really give it a chance and went for the Wicked Edge, which is completely not $50.
I started with a Lansky guided system, they're affordable and work ok for smaller blades, but not so well on kitchen knives. A far better guided system is the Edge Pro but it's more expensive than what you're wanting to spend.
You could also look at getting a double sided whetstone, say 1000 grit on the one side and 6000 on the other. Steeper learning curve but a worthwhile skill to have. Lots of videos on YouTube to show you how to use it and not as difficult as you might think.
You could also look at getting a double sided whetstone, say 1000 grit on the one side and 6000 on the other. Steeper learning curve but a worthwhile skill to have. Lots of videos on YouTube to show you how to use it and not as difficult as you might think.
jc57
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With a recurve blade like the Blur, a Spyderco Sharpmaker will help out. There are some weak points about the stock Sharpmaker. It works great if the existing edge angles of your knives are close to either the 40 degree or 30 degree angles (20 and 15 per side) that match the slots. If not, you'll spend a fair bit of time reprofiling the edge until it gets there.
And along with that, the brown medium stones are not especially fast at steel removal. The set doesn't come with coarse stones that help you quickly set the edge. They are available, both diamond and CBN, but the extra set of stones can cost more than the basic kit. What I did, personally, was to augment the Sharpmaker with some bench stones - diamonds or silicon carbide, for setting bevels, reprofiling, and quick metal removal, and then used the Sharpmaker for refinement and edge maintenance.
To get there, I had to learn how to freehand in the first place on those coarser stones, which led me into just freehanding in general. I do still use the Sharpmaker for quick touchups sometimes, so it's not a tool you will necessarily outgrow.
And along with that, the brown medium stones are not especially fast at steel removal. The set doesn't come with coarse stones that help you quickly set the edge. They are available, both diamond and CBN, but the extra set of stones can cost more than the basic kit. What I did, personally, was to augment the Sharpmaker with some bench stones - diamonds or silicon carbide, for setting bevels, reprofiling, and quick metal removal, and then used the Sharpmaker for refinement and edge maintenance.
To get there, I had to learn how to freehand in the first place on those coarser stones, which led me into just freehanding in general. I do still use the Sharpmaker for quick touchups sometimes, so it's not a tool you will necessarily outgrow.
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Sharpmaker + using the sharpie method.
sharp_edge
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Agree with this guy. Spyderco sharpmaker is perhaps the best choice for people new to knives. It is quick to set up, VERY easy to use, priced well, can handle blades in any shape, and on top of these, can get you razor sharp edges.
jc57
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The budget version is the Lansky Turnbox. Same concept, but round stones instead of triangles, wood base instead of plastic, and I think the angle choices are 25 and 20, versus 20 and 15. They have different models, even one with diamond coated rods.
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This is a great sharpener but works best to keep your knife sharp, not for reprofl8ng or bringing a totally dull knife back.
Highly recommended first sharpener.
sharp_edge
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Yes - as many suggested it should better be called SharpMaintainer. The key is not to wait until the knife is already very dull. I think a coarse diamond plate, a sharpmaker, and a leather strop are a sufficient sharpening setup.
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This set up should work well for many people. At some point you may want a better system but you'll still find uses for the Sharpmaker.
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I’d recommend you get the Sharpmaker as well, but in addition to that, grab the Bull Thistle Scythe Stone (the 10” straight one) from Baryonyx for 12 bucks. You can hold it at an angle like your spyderco rods and reprofile your blade insanely fast, then use the sharpmaker to apply your apex finish. It’ll save you a TON of time
I took a look at the Scythe Stone and was wondering how it would respond to super steels?
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Honestly my issue with the sharpmaker is that if you ever get a knife with an edge inclusive of over 40 (which is not uncommon) and you’re just hitting the shoulders. It was so frustrating for me that I just eventually started using the Spyderco sharpmaker rods freehand.
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So, I have personally sharpened many supersteels, up to S110V on aluminum oxide abrasives up to 16,000 grit. I have also successfully stropped S110V to hair whittling on chromium oxide. And although I haven't done any formal testing, I have never noticed any differences in edge quality or retention versus diamond abrasives. So I really don't know where so many people are having such problems.
So with that out of the way, the Bull Thistle will sharpen anything, no problem. It is 150 grit, so the shavings of steel it removes will be so large it will be comprised of chunks of matrix steel containing whole, entire carbides, effectively removing them from the equation. Although I haven't put my S110V to it yet, it has seen some S30V and S35VN, both of which it reprofiled fully with literally a few strokes. I pretty much guarantee the Bull Thistle will reprofile anything you have in under ten minutes, then you can jump right to the fun Sharpmaker stuff without dreading setting a bevel on those medium rods.
As far as using it goes, you could just hold the stone in front of your Sharpmaker and eyeball the angle, making it slightly shallower than the rods as you can see them, thereby allowing you to instantly hit the apex once you actually move to the Sharpmaker rods.