Sharpening techniques

[Medic3388]

Hey guys. I'm a Newbie to the forum, I'm 27 years old and have a passion for knives. Esp sharp ones. I'm hoping someone can help me with correct techniques on knife sharpening. I have a Lanskey knife sharpening set, I sharpen my knives on a 20 degree angle but can't seem to get it shaving sharp with one sweep of the blade. When using the stone in the guide rods, am I suppose to apply pressure in a downward motion creating a burr or upward motion towards the spine of the blade? Any tips will really be appreciated. Oh I can read, speak and write in Afr. Just my spelling is not so good. Thanks

[henning]

Hey guys. I'm a Newbie to the forum, I'm 27 years old and have a passion for knives. Esp sharp ones. I'm hoping someone can help me with correct techniques on knife sharpening. I have a Lanskey knife sharpening set, I sharpen my knives on a 20 degree angle but can't seem to get it shaving sharp with one sweep of the blade. When using the stone in the guide rods, am I suppose to apply pressure in a downward motion creating a burr or upward motion towards the spine of the blade? Any tips will really be appreciated. Oh I can read, speak and write in Afr. Just my spelling is not so good. Thanks

I can tell you my experience and my knifes comes out perfect in my opinion.

While you are doing the rough work (getting the angle right) it makes no difference which way you draw the stone.
When you get to the finer stones I work towards the spine until you feel the burr.

I found a more sensible way of sharpening is by choosing the angle that you prefer and then sharpen the blade at one angle sharper, say 17 degree.
It is important to sharpen until you feel a burr over the length of the blade. If at any part of the blade you cannot feel a burr it mean that you have not take enough steel away to reach the edge.

Once you have achieved the above you then sharpen the blade at your preffered angle of 20 degree, although this time you only use the finest stone and finish it off with the honing stone.
The final sharpening is only done with a few strokes so that you do not take away much steel. The concept behind this method is that if you have to resharpen your blade, it will only take a few short strokes with the fine stone to return your original sharp edge.
In other words, because of the difference in the two angles you only need to remove a very small bit of steel to access the cutting edge (feeling the burr).

It takes many resharpenings before you will need to maintain the original sharper angle again.

I believe that you do know you can only achieve a good edge on good quality steel.

Regards
Henning

[mariusr]

Also have a lansky, sharpening most knifes on 25 degrees.Few strokes on one side and i turn around with fast strokes pull and push in continious movement.lansky says otherwise? But it works for me and you spare some time! I never use the very fine stone (white stone with yellow handel) because i have noticed if you used to much the edge falls away and you must start all over again? Know when to stop! There i only use the fine red stone wit some oil till i can cut hair from my arm or leg? Then i take thick leather belt and swipe the knife few times like the barbers do with the cut throats! Sharp as can be!

[Medic3388]

Thanks Mariusr and Henning. Some really good advice I shall be trying. Henning, what you said makes sense and I now see where I need to improve. Yeah I know about good steel the hard way. Gonna try sharpen my Buck 420HC . Will let you know how it goes. Thanks

[slagdop]

Henning ek bring vir jou so paar van my messe wat kan doen met 'n behoorlike skerpmaan dan leer jy my hoe. Ek kry dit net nie vlymskerp soos jou messe nie. Dit wil se as dit oraait is met jou.

[Beretta]

Die fyn stene is om jou edge te polish hoe meer jy hom polish hoe beter gaan jou edge wees met so n bietjie moeite kan jy hom net so skerp soos n minora blade maak. Jy kan ook jou edge strop on n leer belt.

[henning]

Henning ek bring vir jou so paar van my messe wat kan doen met 'n behoorlike skerpmaan dan leer jy my hoe. Ek kry dit net nie vlymskerp soos jou messe nie. Dit wil se as dit oraait is met jou.

Deon, jy weet mos jy is welkom, net die probleem is dat ek maak hulle bang skerp en jy moet hulle baie versigtig hanteer want hy raak net aan jou en jy kan jouself tot teen die been sny.

Ek steek my skerp messe weg vir my vrou want sy is te onverskillig met hulle en sy het ook nie genoeg respek vir die harde werk wat ek in gesit het om dit skerp te maak want sy sny sommer op enige harde oppervlak en maak dit stomp vinniger as wat dit my vat om dit skerp te maak.

Groete
Henning

[tau]

Wat dink julle vir 'n jagmes. Baie fyn en skerp of stop by tweede laste steen en los hom so bietjie grof? Ek het die Gatco wat soos die lansky is, maar hy het 4 stene en angle steen vir serrated blades. Het gister aand my jagmesse skerp gemaak en vind dat 22' en so bietjie growwer die jag gaan aanvat en kyk wat gebeur. Ek het atyd teen 19' en dan tot met die laaste steen gesluip, maar na twee varke is die mes maar stomp.