Sharpening knives

[John Coloccia]

Does anyone have any tips or tricks for sharpening knives? I'm thinking carving knives and things like that. I've never really been any good at that. I can get an edge on them but I've never been able to get a ridiculously sharp edge like I can on my other tools.

I know it's probably just a matter of practice, but since I use knives only rarely, I never really learned to do it correctly so I don't know what to practice! :)

[Stuart Tierney]

I'm not all that good at it either, but my big santoku (regular European looking, Japanese made kitchen knife) scares the bejeebus out of me at the moment.

All I really did was to find a stroke pattern I could consistently repeat on both bevels (I used my index finger to maintain angle/height to the stone) and had at it. Ended up with a nice, polished (yet slightly rounded) bevel that cuts better than any other knife I've ever used.

I'm pretty sure I also flexed the blade to get as much on the stone at once as possible, and ran the knife with as much bevel touching as I could. I'm nowhere near good enough to do it 'properly' as yet, and will eventually have to pin-hole someone here to show me how to properly sharpen a knife.


Good stones help too. ;)


Youtube has a few videos showing how folks sharpen on stones, and you might be able to pick up some pointers there as well.


Whoever uses the knives regularly in your house will thank you for making their knives extra sharp.

[John Coloccia]

I should clarify. By carving, I meant wood :)

[george wilson]

Maybe your knives are not as good steel as your other tools. I have a LV Japanese laminated kitchen knife that will get fully razor sharp.

Our other knives I have made from all-hard large power hacksaw blades. They are extremely durable,being HSS. Hard to get the all-hard ones,though they are still made. Mostly today they are softer steel with just HSS teeth welded on. If you can file the back edge of a power hacksaw blade,they aren't solid HSS.

Well,now you've specified carving knives. No reason they won't get razor sharp. It's your technique. Try bearing down harder on the stones,that may be why you aren't getting them as sharp.

[Mike Zilis]

John,

I've heard from some folks that the add-on knife sharpener for the Worksharp 3000 does a good (and easily repeatable) job. Since you are quite adept at using the WS3K (loved your video review) this could be a good option - or do you think the carving knives you have wouldn't work well on this system?

-Mike

[Tony Shea]

Very good question and I am in a very similar situation, I just suck at sharpening knives. I'm a geek about keeping my tools sharp and typically do them all by hand without a guide. One would think my practice on my tools would help with my ability to sharpen knives but boy is this not the case. I've been known to make my knives duller than when I started. Basically it is my lack of ability to hold a consistant bevel angle as well as knowing what bevel angle to start with on different knives. Seems like all my knives have different bevel angles and usually the micro-bevels are truely micro to the point of not being able to see what angle to start with. Some pointers would surely be much appreciated.

[Zach England]

belt grinder with leather belt and green "rouge"

[Johnny Kleso]

20º is what you want to shoot for ..

[John Coloccia]

I think George nailed it on this one. I just wasn't pushing hard enough. I was babying them!

re: the bevel
Everything I have at the moment is a straight bevel, so I can just rest the knife flat and rub. No problems with holding the angle. My pocket knives are a different story, but I don't bother keeping those razor sharp.

re: WS knife holder
I'm thinking about it, but it seems so easy to just do it by hand that I don't really think it would help me that much. I'm trying to avoid it because it seems like an inconvenient attachment. If it takes more than two seconds to make it work, I'm never going to use it. It will just be another item in the junk drawer.

[Maurice Ungaro]

John,
For that razor sharp edge, you need to strop your blades on some leather. Use an old belt (back side of belt), glue it to a board, and apply some green compound. Stroke it back and forth.

[george wilson]

It is a natural tendency to push chisels and plane blades down harder than a knife blade. Glad it worked for you. I've taught lots of people to sharpen,so I thought it might be the answer.

[Niels Cosman]

Hi George,
What is the motion you use to sharpen knives on flat stones? Do you push into the edge, off of the edge, or both?
I have a wet beltsander that I usually use for the job- I grind off of the edge to raise a burr and then strop the burr off with leather and honing compound. I had an back and forth with my dad about the other day about proper techneque and realised that I wasn't sure who was "right". If i'm not mistaken (as I often am), I recall in another thread you mentioning that at you sharpened off of the edge and then into the edge for the final strokes.
Cheers,
Niels

[george wilson]

I just make circular motions,then push the blade forwards when it's getting sharp,to wipe any burr off. Then,I pull the knife through the corner of a block of wood about 1" at a time(so as to not have the rest of the blade pulled through trash. I re hone just pushing forward a little more. Then,I strop. My stone sequence is diamond(if really dull),then black ceramic,then white. I use a squeeze bottle of water with a few drops of dish detergent in it. Last,I strop.

[Niels Cosman]

Thanks for the info George, next time I have to sharpen I'll give it a shot.
It's good to hear that if a circular motion is effective, my dad and I are both "right" half the time :)

[Dave Gaul]

re: WS knife holder
I'm thinking about it, but it seems so easy to just do it by hand that I don't really think it would help me that much. I'm trying to avoid it because it seems like an inconvenient attachment. If it takes more than two seconds to make it work, I'm never going to use it. It will just be another item in the junk drawer.

John, I too saw your video review of the WS, and I think you would find the knife attachment quite useful. After the first time I used mine, I wasn't overly impressed, but the second time, I had the hang of it. I sharped some pretty good knives for LOML's BFF and she said they are now sharper than when she first bought them!

I've used it on some of my own kitchen knives (although my Knuckle Sandwich knife has maintained it's perfect edge so far!), and my pocket knife, and it works really well.

[Mike Holbrook]

I have used a Spyderco Tri-Angle Sharpmaker (the newer one is Model 204MF) for many years. They are very easy to use. There is a holder that holds the ceramic stones at the correct angle, then all we have to do is pull the knife straight down the stone. The stones are triangular which has some real advantages. I use some serrated knives and the corner of the triangular stones is outstanding for sharpening them. There are even metal bars that fit in the holder to just about totally eliminate any chance of getting cut. The whole kit fits in the plastic stand which is very convenient for storage and movement between different locations.

[Pam Niedermayer]

LV has a ceramic rod honing kit for a lot less. Of course you make your own base and there's only the one set of rods, but still.

Pam

[jamie shard]

If you're looking at going the powered route, here's a you tube video that might help. Remember that there are very fine grits of sanding belts available and you can get just about any amount of seration (or not) that makes sense to you. The use of the power hone (as you know from the Work Sharp) makes a big difference in the final polished surface.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLjFjT4vYsM

-j

[Chris Fournier]

I have a knife problem. I like them and I like them sharp. Depending on the intended use of the knife I pick a bevel angle and either set up a little card with that angle drawn on it that gives me a visual or in some cases I'll make a stepped block that holds up one end of my stone at the bevel angle; all I have to do then is keep the knife horizontal to get a consistent bevel. Most often I do this by eye but when its got to be right and repeatable I use these helpers.