I bought a Rough Rider cheapie knife to practice my sharpening on.
I have a very old wet stone and plan to sharpen freehand.
I also have a steel which came with a cheap kitchen knife set.
I want to know when do you use a strop, a stone and when a steel?
And do you guys use a strop or a steel, or is a stone sufficient?
Thanks in advance.
To answer your question properly we need to know what size knife, what you'll be cutting, and just how sharp do you want (not need, want) the knife to be?
Each tool has a different function. A stone removes metal quickly. The lower the grit the faster it will remove metal. A strop with compound removes very, very small amounts of metal, refining by polishing the edge put on with stones. A steel burnishes metal. Pushes it back into shape. Think about that....
it pushes metal around. It doesn't sharpen the knife but the result IS a sharper edge because of it. It pushes the sharp edge back in place. (Not exactly what happens, but that 'seems to be' the result.)
Some people have
'need' for extremely sharp edges. (Many of us just
'want' it!
We don't actually 'need' it. ) Woodworkers for example, who use a 'push cut' with their edges
need an edge polished down to 4,000-8,000 grit to get their work done correctly, while a chef in the kitchen would prefer to use knives sharpened to between 400-800 grit for most of their work. They slice food, and for slicing you want an edge with a bit of tooth. The kitchen folk use a steel often, just to 'freshen' the edge while they are working. The steel, especially a smooth one, doesn't remove any metal, but does give a good working edge for kitchen use by straightening up the edge that's been pushed over by use. That edge is NOT good for cutting harder, more abusive material, but it is fine for cutting food. Those folk who need to touch up their edges for cutting harder substances might prefer to do the touch up on a ceramic rod instead. That will remove a tiny bit of metal that's been pushed over and refresh the edge.
Using a strop with compound will result in the finest polish of an edge, it's a whole lot of fun to do, is
absolutely necessary for the woodworker and absolutely
NOT 'necessary' for almost anyone else!
We do it because it's fun to bring an edge to that level of sharpness. A barber will strop his straight razor because he is push cutting his customer's beard, and he will do so before every customer. The chef will steel his knife before every cutting job. The outdoorsman
might need to use a ceramic rod before each day's use. The knife knut will use first a ceramic rod or stone followed by 2,000-4,000 grit polishing tapes followed by 6,000 grit compound on a rough leather strop, 9,000 grit silicon carbide compound on a smooth leather strop, then 11,000 grit aluminum oxide followed by 1 micron diamond paste on a smooth leather strop followed by 60,000 grit chromium oxide followed by exposure to high winds..... because it's fun. For 98% of our cutting needs we probable could have stopped after the ceramic rods! Let me be clear though...
you do need to touch up your edge. This will make it last much longer and reduce to time spent in actually grinding off steel with a coarse stone.
What are you going to cut? How sharp do you
need your blade? Then, how sharp do you
want your blade? Now go out and spend next month's rent money on sharpening equipment. (Disregard the fact that you could do it all with a couple of sheets of wet/dry sandpaper and take your edge to 4,000 grit.) The goal is to have fun with your sharpening! :thumbup:
Stitchawl
