Today, getting over a bad cold and not wanting to go out in the rain, I chose to sit and watch some sports on TV. But I wanted to 'do something' with my hands at the same time; make something, sharpen something... you know what I mean.
There is no question about the fact that I'm a die hard EdgePro lover but I don't use that while sitting back in the recliner. So today I dug out a favorite 'Gentleman's Folder' I sometimes carry when wearing a tux. It's a very slim, thin 3" 'Moki' brand folder. Weights nothing but carries good steel. And although it was still sharp enough for anything I'd ever need, I decided to sharpen it again, this time using the "RazorEdge" system clamp.
For the clamp, I chose the RazorEdge 'Cub' as the blade was short. The Cub is for blades under 3 1/2 inches. This Moki was just under three.
http://www.razoredgesystems.com/ind...3_Cub_Guide_for_blades_3_1/2_and_shorter.html
This clamp is about as basic as they come. No idea of the exact angle, (although quite adjustable) it uses four hex screws to clamp the blade. I just 'decided' that I wanted as thin an edge as I could get and set it up for that. Once the screws were tightened, I took the coarse stone in one hand, the knife and clamp in another hand, and my glass of gin in my other hand and began scrubbing (as John Juranitch, the inventor) called it. Rubbing the clamp guide and the edge back and forth over the dry stone while laying back in the easy chair watching the game. I had a towel over my lap to catch the stone and metal dust. I paid little attention to the sharpening. After about 5-8 minutes I dragged a nail across the edge, found a burr along the entire length, and turned the knife over and did the same thing to the other side. Once I had the burr raised, I flipped it back and re-did the burr (just a wee bit) to each side, wiped everything down with the towel, and switched to the fine stone.
No change to the clamp, only changed the stone. Scrubb, scrubb, scubb. I was moving pretty slowly as I was more interested in the game and in my gin, but still eventually there was a little bitty burr along the entire edge of the blade. I turned the knife over to the other side and did it all again. Twice again, as is my method. Now I began alternating sides with the fine stone, going slow and easy, back and forth. I probably gave the blade another 100 slow, light strokes alternating as I went.
At this point, Juranitch advises that you move the clamp just a little bit to create a secondary bevel, but i didn't bother. But I did bother to switch to an even finer ceramic stone and then a couple of sheets of polishing tape to 10,000 grit. All this fine grit stuff was done quite slowly, but still paying far more attention to the TV and the gin than to the sharpening. By the time the game was over, so was the gin and so was the sharpening. I still had most of my fingers, my knife was sharper than my mother-in-law's tongue, and not too much to clean up.
Some thoughts on the "RazorEdge" System;
There are several different sized clamps and I've tried the Cub, Regular, and Broadhead. They work well.
Drawback is that you really don't work with specific angles if that is something important to you. For me, with this knife, it wasn't. I wanted 'thin,' I got thin. Easy enough to change. You are just about re-profiling each time you sharpen with these.
The 'Cub' is just the right size for smaller blades. The 'Regular' size is better for larger fixed blades but you really should move it along the blade as you work for best results, and that's a bother.
The stones are used dry, and cut very quickly but last well. Still, you need to flatten them from time to time but as specific angles aren't such an issue, not as often as with water stones.
RazorEdge Systems sells honing tapes. These are sort of like very thick sheets of sandpaper mounted on adhesive backing. They have both coarse and fine grits, and these last much longer than sandpaper and cut faster, but without the weight of full stones. Something good to mount on a fishing tackle boxtop or the hood of your friend's 4x4. Handy.
BUT... one major drawback... you DO wear away the clamp as you sharpen. The edge of the clamp rides the stone just as the blade does. The clamps will last you 50 knives or more, and only cost less than $20, but it is something some folks will not care for.
EDIT: I just wanted to mention that these folk also make a nice testing tool. It's a plastic rod with various angles on it. You use it somewhat like folks use a thumbnail, but get to work with a few different types of tests, and with more accuracy than a thumbnail. I like 'em. I suppose a Bic pen body could substitute but it actually is a different plastic.
But for putting a razor sharp edge on a knife without paying any more attention to it than to the TV remote control, it's a dandy little rig!
Stitchawl
There is no question about the fact that I'm a die hard EdgePro lover but I don't use that while sitting back in the recliner. So today I dug out a favorite 'Gentleman's Folder' I sometimes carry when wearing a tux. It's a very slim, thin 3" 'Moki' brand folder. Weights nothing but carries good steel. And although it was still sharp enough for anything I'd ever need, I decided to sharpen it again, this time using the "RazorEdge" system clamp.
For the clamp, I chose the RazorEdge 'Cub' as the blade was short. The Cub is for blades under 3 1/2 inches. This Moki was just under three.
http://www.razoredgesystems.com/ind...3_Cub_Guide_for_blades_3_1/2_and_shorter.html
This clamp is about as basic as they come. No idea of the exact angle, (although quite adjustable) it uses four hex screws to clamp the blade. I just 'decided' that I wanted as thin an edge as I could get and set it up for that. Once the screws were tightened, I took the coarse stone in one hand, the knife and clamp in another hand, and my glass of gin in my other hand and began scrubbing (as John Juranitch, the inventor) called it. Rubbing the clamp guide and the edge back and forth over the dry stone while laying back in the easy chair watching the game. I had a towel over my lap to catch the stone and metal dust. I paid little attention to the sharpening. After about 5-8 minutes I dragged a nail across the edge, found a burr along the entire length, and turned the knife over and did the same thing to the other side. Once I had the burr raised, I flipped it back and re-did the burr (just a wee bit) to each side, wiped everything down with the towel, and switched to the fine stone.
No change to the clamp, only changed the stone. Scrubb, scrubb, scubb. I was moving pretty slowly as I was more interested in the game and in my gin, but still eventually there was a little bitty burr along the entire edge of the blade. I turned the knife over to the other side and did it all again. Twice again, as is my method. Now I began alternating sides with the fine stone, going slow and easy, back and forth. I probably gave the blade another 100 slow, light strokes alternating as I went.
At this point, Juranitch advises that you move the clamp just a little bit to create a secondary bevel, but i didn't bother. But I did bother to switch to an even finer ceramic stone and then a couple of sheets of polishing tape to 10,000 grit. All this fine grit stuff was done quite slowly, but still paying far more attention to the TV and the gin than to the sharpening. By the time the game was over, so was the gin and so was the sharpening. I still had most of my fingers, my knife was sharper than my mother-in-law's tongue, and not too much to clean up.
Some thoughts on the "RazorEdge" System;
There are several different sized clamps and I've tried the Cub, Regular, and Broadhead. They work well.
Drawback is that you really don't work with specific angles if that is something important to you. For me, with this knife, it wasn't. I wanted 'thin,' I got thin. Easy enough to change. You are just about re-profiling each time you sharpen with these.
The 'Cub' is just the right size for smaller blades. The 'Regular' size is better for larger fixed blades but you really should move it along the blade as you work for best results, and that's a bother.
The stones are used dry, and cut very quickly but last well. Still, you need to flatten them from time to time but as specific angles aren't such an issue, not as often as with water stones.
RazorEdge Systems sells honing tapes. These are sort of like very thick sheets of sandpaper mounted on adhesive backing. They have both coarse and fine grits, and these last much longer than sandpaper and cut faster, but without the weight of full stones. Something good to mount on a fishing tackle boxtop or the hood of your friend's 4x4. Handy.
BUT... one major drawback... you DO wear away the clamp as you sharpen. The edge of the clamp rides the stone just as the blade does. The clamps will last you 50 knives or more, and only cost less than $20, but it is something some folks will not care for.
EDIT: I just wanted to mention that these folk also make a nice testing tool. It's a plastic rod with various angles on it. You use it somewhat like folks use a thumbnail, but get to work with a few different types of tests, and with more accuracy than a thumbnail. I like 'em. I suppose a Bic pen body could substitute but it actually is a different plastic.
But for putting a razor sharp edge on a knife without paying any more attention to it than to the TV remote control, it's a dandy little rig!
Stitchawl
