The Sharpening Thread

[dickymint]

There have been several threads on knife sharpening and other threads containing sharpening other tools so thought it may be worthwhile to have a dedicated sharpening thread?

I've been sharpening stuff since my engineering apprenticeship nearly 50 years ago for lathe tools, drill bits, chisels etc. As a hobby (and at a modest price for friends and locals) I sharpen knives, scissors, chainsaw blades and the like and have covered the cost of the equipment I've bought which is nice.

As Christmas is on us Wifey has done her usual and said "do you think you could sort our own knives out for a change?" Now it gets damn cold in the garage and can be a pain in the arse on times to do stuff. So I came across this system the other day and after watching hours of youtube videos and reviews this arrived earlier.............






Not used it yet (had to go to the pub with some mates and thought it unwise to try when I got home ) but I just know it's going to be a game changer....and Wifey will soon get the hang of it

Anyway I'll update when I've tried it but the point of this thread is sharpening in general and using the PH collective to share any questions and advice with each other

[Mars]

I use one of these:

[glennjamin]

How do you set the angle with that ?

[jonathan_roberts]

dickymint said:

There have been several threads on knife sharpening and other threads containing sharpening other tools so thought it may be worthwhile to have a dedicated sharpening thread?

I've been sharpening stuff since my engineering apprenticeship nearly 50 years ago for lathe tools, drill bits, chisels etc. As a hobby (and at a modest price for friends and locals) I sharpen knives, scissors, chainsaw blades and the like and have covered the cost of the equipment I've bought which is nice.

As Christmas is on us Wifey has done her usual and said "do you think you could sort our own knives out for a change?" Now it gets damn cold in the garage and can be a pain in the arse on times to do stuff. So I came across this system the other day and after watching hours of youtube videos and reviews this arrived earlier.............






Not used it yet (had to go to the pub with some mates and thought it unwise to try when I got home ) but I just know it's going to be a game changer....and Wifey will soon get the hang of it

Anyway I'll update when I've tried it but the point of this thread is sharpening in general and using the PH collective to share any questions and advice with each other

I have one of them. It works pretty well. Not quite as good as a stone but good enough and quick ish.

[defblade]

I've got DMT's little plastic angle/guide thingy plus a good few of their diamond "stones"... but to be honest, the guide thingy just speeds things up.
I've always been good at sharpening (for no obvious reason), I used to have a queue of people asking me to do their chisels in CDT at school, and I do most stuff by eye. I test on my thumbnail - small curls, sharp enough for average use; digs in, getting proper sharp... time to check if it'll pop hairs off my arm

I also learnt how to sharpen scissors the other day (turns out it;s not difficult, I'd just never considered it before) - SWMBO complained her nice fabric scissors were getting blunt and if I couldn't sharpen them then she'd have to buy new ones anyway. Handed them back and she tried them out... and got the same smile I do when I'm popping those hairs (OTOH, I then got presented with a clutch of other scissors to do the same with...)

[Celtic Dragon]

I keep seeing the ads for those, but always thought that they were overpriced for what they are, so will be interested in what you think.

So far I have 2 Waterstones, a Spyderco sharpmaker (use it for serrated blades) a lansky kit and a CRKT ceramic rod set that came with a couple of knives I bought from a US dealer decades ago. Go to for me are the Waterstones for the kitchen knives and Lansky for the field knives

[Simpo Two]

It's a good subject for a thread.

I generally use a Robert Sorby Pro-Edge:



I prefer it to a wheel because it grinds flat not curved. Not cheap, but quick, precise and repeatable, ideal for wood turning tools.

For rough stuff I use a grinding wheel on the outboard side of my lathe.

[B'stard Child]

defblade said:

I've got DMT's little plastic angle/guide thingy plus a good few of their diamond "stones"... but to be honest, the guide thingy just speeds things up.
I've always been good at sharpening (for no obvious reason), I used to have a queue of people asking me to do their chisels in CDT at school, and I do most stuff by eye. I test on my thumbnail - small curls, sharp enough for average use; digs in, getting proper sharp... time to check if it'll pop hairs off my arm

I also learnt how to sharpen scissors the other day (turns out it;s not difficult, I'd just never considered it before) - SWMBO complained her nice fabric scissors were getting blunt and if I couldn't sharpen them then she'd have to buy new ones anyway. Handed them back and she tried them out... and got the same smile I do when I'm popping those hairs (OTOH, I then got presented with a clutch of other scissors to do the same with...)

User name checks out

[dickymint]

glennjamin said:

How do you set the angle with that ?

They have an angle setting 'tool' like this..........



Failing that the easiest way is to use a 'Sharpie' marker pen on the edge you're grinding and adjust up/down to follow the existing angle. Tormek is regarded as the bees knees of wetstone grinder but is very expensive - I have the Triton copy similar to the one posted above but all my jigs are Tomek originals.

Edited by dickymint on Monday 18th December 22:47

[21TonyK]

I'm interested to get comments on knife sharpening. I use a range of stones and one of those eBay jobbies that takes various stones/diamond sharpeners. All with varying degrees of success.

Latest toy is a Zwilling V-edge sharpener with various stones down to about 1500. The advantage being its set to 10 degrees which works well with most of my knives, specifically one which has been reground to this.

I give this a once over every week and maintain on a fine steel during the day. Its a bit of a workhorse knife, RWH is 56.

I've gone all out and worked one blade to a polished edge which is great for shaving etc but lasts minutes in a busy kitchen.

I'm happy with what I have got, its functional but just wonder if there is something I am missing.

[LooneyTunes]

One of these in the kitchen:


Chef’s Choice 1520. Two different angle options plus a polishing/stropping stage.

Requires almost no skill whatsoever to use yet gives, fast, and razor sharp edges. Used to use stones for sharpening and rarely bother these days.

And one of these for the chainsaws:

Oregon 620-230

Makes very light work of chain sharpening. Keep it bolted to the wall in my workshop and regrind chains in batches. Again not a purist approach, and probably takes a bit more off the chain than hand sharpening would, but takes no time at all to do a chain.

[dickymint]

LooneyTunes said:

One of these in the kitchen:


Chef’s Choice 1520. Two different angle options plus a polishing/stropping stage.

Requires almost no skill whatsoever to use yet gives, fast, and razor sharp edges. Used to use stones for sharpening and rarely bother these days.

And one of these for the chainsaws:

Oregon 620-230

Makes very light work of chain sharpening. Keep it bolted to the wall in my workshop and regrind chains in batches. Again not a purist approach, and probably takes a bit more off the chain than hand sharpening would, but takes no time at all to do a chain.

I've never been a fan of sharpeners that grind both sides at once and not used one that can do a shave your hairs off finish. Personal choice I know.

Chainsaw sharpeners like you Oregon especially are fantastically simple and efficient I have mine set-up with a large lighted magnifying glass next to it.

[TGCOTF-dewey]

dickymint said:

LooneyTunes said:

One of these in the kitchen:


Chef’s Choice 1520. Two different angle options plus a polishing/stropping stage.

Requires almost no skill whatsoever to use yet gives, fast, and razor sharp edges. Used to use stones for sharpening and rarely bother these days.

And one of these for the chainsaws:

Oregon 620-230

Makes very light work of chain sharpening. Keep it bolted to the wall in my workshop and regrind chains in batches. Again not a purist approach, and probably takes a bit more off the chain than hand sharpening would, but takes no time at all to do a chain.

I've never been a fan of sharpeners that grind both sides at once and not used one that can do a shave your hairs off finish. Personal choice I know.

Chainsaw sharpeners like you Oregon especially are fantastically simple and efficient I have mine set-up with a large lighted magnifying glass next to it.

They don't do both sides at once.

They do leave it hair shaving sharp.

I have one... Bought on the recommendation of a pro chef.

It's beauty is that once you set your 45 or 30 deg edge, it's so fast to hone that you can do it every few uses as it takes seconds.

It may not be quite as good as someone with lots of experience using whets but unless you're prepared to get them out every few uses, this wins out because it's so convenient.

I also have a full set of sypderco stones + some traditional stones as my late father was a tool maker. I never use them now.

[Miocene]

Timely thread - I've been using whatever sharpener came with our fairly average knife set.

I want to get a couple of better knives - i'm not realistically going to start using whetstones, so what's a sensible way / tool of getting a decent edge?

I looked up chefs choice above, but £200+ is a bit much for my purposes!

[Huntsman]

I have this

[Mars]

glennjamin said:

How do you set the angle with that ?

Use that bracket on the top

[MK1RS Bruce]

dickymint said:

There have been several threads on knife sharpening and other threads containing sharpening other tools so thought it may be worthwhile to have a dedicated sharpening thread?

I've been sharpening stuff since my engineering apprenticeship nearly 50 years ago for lathe tools, drill bits, chisels etc. As a hobby (and at a modest price for friends and locals) I sharpen knives, scissors, chainsaw blades and the like and have covered the cost of the equipment I've bought which is nice.

As Christmas is on us Wifey has done her usual and said "do you think you could sort our own knives out for a change?" Now it gets damn cold in the garage and can be a pain in the arse on times to do stuff. So I came across this system the other day and after watching hours of youtube videos and reviews this arrived earlier.............






Not used it yet (had to go to the pub with some mates and thought it unwise to try when I got home ) but I just know it's going to be a game changer....and Wifey will soon get the hang of it

Anyway I'll update when I've tried it but the point of this thread is sharpening in general and using the PH collective to share any questions and advice with each other

I have seen this advertised in a few places too, I was wondering how the knife sticks to the angle block? When I saw it for a start I assumed it was magnetic but then I was thinking Stainless steel won't be magnetic??

[dickymint]

MK1RS Bruce said:

dickymint said:

There have been several threads on knife sharpening and other threads containing sharpening other tools so thought it may be worthwhile to have a dedicated sharpening thread?

I've been sharpening stuff since my engineering apprenticeship nearly 50 years ago for lathe tools, drill bits, chisels etc. As a hobby (and at a modest price for friends and locals) I sharpen knives, scissors, chainsaw blades and the like and have covered the cost of the equipment I've bought which is nice.

As Christmas is on us Wifey has done her usual and said "do you think you could sort our own knives out for a change?" Now it gets damn cold in the garage and can be a pain in the arse on times to do stuff. So I came across this system the other day and after watching hours of youtube videos and reviews this arrived earlier.............






Not used it yet (had to go to the pub with some mates and thought it unwise to try when I got home ) but I just know it's going to be a game changer....and Wifey will soon get the hang of it

Anyway I'll update when I've tried it but the point of this thread is sharpening in general and using the PH collective to share any questions and advice with each other

I have seen this advertised in a few places too, I was wondering how the knife sticks to the angle block? When I saw it for a start I assumed it was magnetic but then I was thinking Stainless steel won't be magnetic??

There are many grades of stainless steel but most are either austenitic or martensitic - the vast majority of kitchen knives are martensitic which is magnetic and contain a certain amount of iron that also gives steel other benefits for knives. It's a complex topic (Google is your friend here) I think you'd be hard pushed to find a steel knife that's not magnetic........waits for someone to say "my set is austenitic"

[Square Leg]

Our kitchen knives are terribly blunt so only yesterday I had one of these delivered (£9.99 from Amazon).
Due to the price I wasn’t thinking it’d do a decent job, but needed something quick and idiot proof.

Pleasantly surprised with it - knives have been transformed.
Not sure how often it can be used though, as there’s a noticeable amount of filing residue left.

Years ago I had a pair of decorating shears that I’d had for well over 20 years - always had them sharpened by a little hardware store sadly no longer here.


https://diamondedge.uk.com/products/diamond-edge-n...

[21TonyK]

Square Leg said:

Not sure how often it can be used though, as there’s a noticeable amount of filing residue left.

This is the problem with these and other similar "sharpeners", they destroy the knife fairly quickly.

You rapidly end up with an uneven blade which doesn't rock or chop properly if you aren't very careful.