Knife Sharpening

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CB posted this 18 November 2012

Since I wuz a kid I've been fascinated by knives and always wanting the best edge. I worked in a factory for 32 years using a knife everyday. To this day the best sharpening system I've used (without power tools) is the Lansky Sharpening kit.

I just finished sharpening my 2-blade locking Kershaw pocket knife this afternoon and my butcher knife and 2 utility kitchen knives. Easily done and purtty near close to a razor edge.

I use the higher priced diamond stones cause they do not wear in-even like the actual stone material ones. I so finish with a black hard Arkansas stone.......Dan

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onondaga posted this 18 November 2012

Dan, I completely agree with you on the Lansky system . Not sure if the old guy is still around but Lansky is local to me and was a fixture in most local gun shows for decades here in Western New York.

His diamonds are fabulous.

For many years , I had a second home job, on call,  for a number of surgeons and sharpened surgical instruments. So, I have a collection of small stones and know how to use them on shaped blades to get them eye surgery sharp.. For my own knives, I use Lansky since before they came on the market and were only a local family business in WNY because the kits will set and sharpen a  bevel more consistently than anything I have ever used with my 2 hands.

Gary

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Wayne S posted this 18 November 2012

 +2 for the Lansky for my specialty kitchen knives , but for general kitchen duty I prefer what I call  the yo-yo sharpener because it looks like a yo-yo, a semi course stone with beveled metal on each side and then rubber wheels on each side, II\ll//II simple put the blade in the bevel, roll it back & forth a few times, switch side, repeat , and you have ruff cut cutting edge.

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Pigslayer posted this 18 November 2012

Not familiar with the Lansky. For twenty years now I've been using Japanese waterstones. I was given a beautiful set of Japanese bench chisels & along with them a set of waterstones. They go all the way up to 8000 grit. I end up with an absolute razor sharp mirror finish edge. Yes I can shave with the blade when finished.

If someone else had of done to me what I did to myself . . . I'd have killed him. Humility is an asset. Heh - heh.

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CB posted this 18 November 2012

+3 for Lansky. I have had one of their systems for over 30 yrs, dont have the diamond stones...Yet.. But I have always wanted a set. I do have Arkansas hard stones for finishing that I epoxied to a worn out Lansky stone that works well for finishing. I a

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larryfisher posted this 19 November 2012

I have to disagree.I have a Lansky set and can't get a good edge for beans.My oldest son has one and he loves it.He has shown me how to use it and I still can't get a decent edge.???? Beagle

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CB posted this 19 November 2012

Pigslayer wrote: Not familiar with the Lansky. For twenty years now I've been using Japanese waterstones. I was given a beautiful set of Japanese bench chisels & along with them a set of waterstones. They go all the way up to 8000 grit. I end up with an absolute razor sharp mirror finish edge. Yes I can shave with the blade when finished.

Oh Pat, you just made my heart skip a beat, I can hardly talk (I mean type) from saliva drooling. Id look up Japanese water stones, but I doubt I could afford such luxeries;)........

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Pigslayer posted this 19 November 2012

Dan Willems wrote: Pigslayer wrote: Not familiar with the Lansky. For twenty years now I've been using Japanese waterstones. I was given a beautiful set of Japanese bench chisels & along with them a set of waterstones. They go all the way up to 8000 grit. I end up with an absolute razor sharp mirror finish edge. Yes I can shave with the blade when finished.

Oh Pat, you just made my heart skip a beat, I can hardly talk (I mean type) from saliva drooling. Id look up Japanese water stones, but I doubt I could afford such luxeries;)........

Look online for the Japan Woodworker. They have KING waterstones. But also look for Grizzly Industrial . . . they have them too for a better price. If all that you are doing is sharpening knives then a set of stones will last you a lifetime. If you are sharpening Japanese chisels (laminated) then you will have to replace the 800 & 1200 grit once in a while. The 6000 or the 8000 finishing stone should last you forever. PM me if you want more info.

Pat

If someone else had of done to me what I did to myself . . . I'd have killed him. Humility is an asset. Heh - heh.

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CB posted this 19 November 2012

Uh, too late, I already looked. Man them ceramic water stones are the cat's meow. Thanks for the info, something I never knew before.

I used to collect sharpening stones, but just the common garage sale stone. I have a few natural type stone now, but sold most of the rest. I've kept a couple of old straight razor stones for final finish of the few times I use a stone........

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billwnr posted this 19 November 2012

I switched from a Chef's Choice to a Work Sharp Knife Sharpener and it does a very good job. They sell for about $100 with extra belts.

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CB posted this 19 November 2012

Hi Bill. Hey I like that. I like that it runs on 12 volts. That'd be especially great for those of us living mobile :cool:..........

I guess the rockhounders now have a similar belt system on 110 volt that has diamond belts. That sounds good for knives !.........

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JeffinNZ posted this 19 November 2012

Yeap, without my Lansky you could ride all of my knives to London and back without fear of a cut on your backside.

Cheers from New Zealand

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6pt-sika posted this 20 November 2012

A friend gave me a Lansky about 10 or so years ago for Xmas . I used it a couple times and never really cared for the thing .

 

For the last 40 or so years I've used the same Buck wetrock that I purchased when I was in the tenth grade !

I also have a number of old wet rocks I've picked up at auction sales over the years .

 

But if I have that Buck stone , the tongue out of a set of old Docksiders and some gun oil I can sharpen any of my knives (hunting or cooking) , my meat clevers and a couple old hatchets that I typically keep shaving sharp .

 

Incidently I got into old turn of the century meat clevers a couple years back and I gotta say they have to be one of the best things I've acquired over the years for deer butchering ever since I started a number of years ago !

Since getting the clevers I can hang a deer , skin it , gut it , take off the back straps and tenderloin and then quarter it in about 20 minutes as long as no wiseass is bothering me !

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Chargar posted this 20 November 2012

When I was growing up in my Grandfathers house, there was a large bench Arkansas stone in the kitchen pantry he used to sharped the kitchen knives. It was some where between a soft and hard stone.

I learned by trial and error to hold the blade at the right angle to the stone. I still have that stone and continue to use it over all others for all my blades.

I have never tried all the new fangled fixtures that will hold the blade at the right angle, because I learned to do that as a child. Folks that know me, understand that I am “old school". Once I figure out how to do something and that works well for me, I don't spend the rest of my life in the quest for something better. That includes women, dogs, guns, reloading and everything in life. There is a term for folks like me, but I forget what it is, because it is not complementary.

Here is what I have learned over the years..

  1. Never let a blade get dull, sharpen it before it gets dull. This makes sharpening and life easier.

  2. If you have a blade that is very hard to sharpen, dip it in boiling water for a few seconds prior to sharpening.

3 Ed's Red makes as fine a sharpening fluid on a stone as I have ever found. The stone won't clog or glaze with this stuff.

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onondaga posted this 20 November 2012

There is no miracle stone for sharpening. Even the Japanese Waterstone is nothing special and it is available in grit size from 60 grit per inch to 6,000 and finer. using them with water produces a wet slurry as the stone erodes from friction. This is common to all natural stones suitable for sharpening.

I am a flint knapper and work with many types of stone from all over America and the world. The silica content percentage and grain size is what makes a stone suitable for knapping. Stone that has insufficient silica or too large of a grain size will not fracture concoidally for knapping flakes from the stone. Some stone can be heat treated to modify grain structure to make knappable, man knew this eons ago without being able to measure grain size.

You know them as Arkansas oilstone, wet stone, hard and soft Arkansas stone. The Arkansas stone name is just a fetish. It is all Novaculite and I am familiar with knapping many grades of Novaculite from coarse to ultra fine and heattreated. It can be knapped into beautiful arrow points, spear points , knife blades, axeheads, drill points  and various stone tools in a myriad of colors and grades and grit sizes.

Novaculite can even be translucent and glassy in the highest grades and can be cut as a gemstone is.

It is a wonderful sharpening stone in the grit matched to the job, and that is the key to being happy with it or any other natural sharpening stone. Novaculite can match any grit size or quality  that Japanese waterstone or any other quality sharpening stone is available in. There is no magic to it at all.

 The 5 small white points on the left are Novaculite

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Pigslayer posted this 20 November 2012

I have Japanese waterstones from 80 grit to 8000. I will use nothing else as long as I can afford to have them. I am an accomplished cabinet maker & also a maker of fine furniture. My chisels are absolutely razor sharp as with my plane blades & scribing knives. The backs & cutting edges of my chisels are mirror bright & to barely touch the cutting edge means blood. I have found nothing . . . absolutely nothing that will cut as fast or leave an edge like Japanese waterstones. I'll go up against anyone using the “Arkansas” (noviculite)stones. My stones will cut faster & leave a keener edge . . . hands down. I've been doing this for a very long time. My Grandfather was a finish carpenter who used hand tools only. He was a fine carpenter as was my Dad with very sharp tools.I watched them hone their chisel & plane blades by hand & observed how much labot that ir took . . . a lot more than with waterstones. I'm not saying that the conventional stones used here in this country are inferior or should any way be dismissed, it's just that I've done it both ways & the Japanese waterstones are far superior and that is not for debate! I'll take anyone up on a challenge. I have to give credit where credit is due. The japanese have been working steel for far longer than we, here in this country have and perfected the art of making blades of all sorts of which I have found no equal. Japanese waterstones do erode with use & therefore have to be flattened periodically. A simple proceedure using emery paper & a thick flat piece of glass. Try that with an arkansas stone! American chisels are made of chrome moly throughout & even the high carbon chisels are made of the same material throughout. Therefore when sharpening one must remove metal from a very hard & thick piece of metal whether it be a chisel or knife. The Japanese cutting tools are hand laminated using a very thin layer of “White” or “Blue” steel for the cutting edge while using a soft steel for the thick backing which makes them very easy to sharpen and they also hold an edge far longer than our chrome moly, stainless or high carbon steels. While out in Monterey & Pebble Beach California (8 years) I did nothing but very high end work for the very rich who, by the way, demanded perfection and would pay whatever it took. I would spend an entire day mortising in three hinges on a custom made mahogany door where there could be no gap whatsoever between the metal of a custom made “Baldwin” hinge & the wood. I swear you could hear the air escape when the hinge settled into the mortise. I had one job on Ocean Avenue in Carmel, Ca where I had to mortise in all the door hardware on 72 custom made mahogany doors. I did them all with perfection and am proud to say that! There was no other cutting tool or sharpening system that I could have accomplished that with but with Japanese cutting tools & waterstones. By the way, that was a 3000 squre foot house & the remodel cost was $2,000,000.00. You can take that to the bank!! Pat

If someone else had of done to me what I did to myself . . . I'd have killed him. Humility is an asset. Heh - heh.

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onondaga posted this 20 November 2012

http://www.castbulletassoc.org/view_user.php?id=6171>Pigslayer:

It is just a matter of grit and grade. Glass flat and abrasive cloth with water will certainly  re-flat Novaculite. I use a Diamond slab and water  for flattening because I have one that works well. If you have difficulty re-flatting with just water and abrasive cloth, try adding a spray cleaner like 409. I have a lapidary diamond saw also and these cut very flat and smooth. I don't slab out sharpening stones, But I could.

You might guess that the highest grade of American Novaculite sharpening stones  never see the shelves in America. It gets exported and is just as demanded in other parts of the world as the Japanese top grade stuff. Why? because it is equal in quality for the same grit and grade.

The molecular matrix of Novaculite is not identical to any other sharpening stones, it is however, one of the stronger of the types and does erode somewhat slower than Japanese Waterstone. That is a plus to me and a significant plus across the European market also.

I am sure you are very happy with your Waterstones, You might get that grade of Novaculite directly in Arkansas if you put your mind to it and really wanted to buy American. It does, however, take a very special skill to grade select any type of sharpening stone.

Here is some slabs of Agate I cut and shaped with a diamond Lapidary saw. They are gem quality and  will be knapped into points and blades, but would also be awesome finishing stones:

I only sell them in person at shows and Knap-ins where people watch me work and I sign them.

Gary

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Pigslayer posted this 20 November 2012

Tell you what Gary. You bring your chisels & blades & I'll bring mine. You choose the place. I'll go up against you. I'll do it faster & better.

If someone else had of done to me what I did to myself . . . I'd have killed him. Humility is an asset. Heh - heh.

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onondaga posted this 20 November 2012

http://www.castbulletassoc.org/view_user.php?id=6171>Pigslayer: that would be fun, I'd love to. But that is your particular skill. I wonder how you would do sharpening an eye surgeons scalpel ? You could surely learn. I have done a lot of those and have made obsidian flake scalpel blades for facial plastic surgeons....You want to try that too!!!! Obsidian flakes have a 1 micron edge and they are single use non-sharpenable.

One of those things disappeared into my shoe by accident. That was a disaster. I felt an itch on my foot and yanked off my shoe causing a 2 inch gash to my heel bone. Nasty, I was on crutches for a month.

Gary

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Pigslayer posted this 20 November 2012

I would love to! You're right in that it is my skill. I mean . . . we were talking about shapening knives weren't we? But . . . I would love to try my hand at an eye surgeons scalpel. I have a close friend who is an eye surgeon. He performed cataract surgery on me. I think that I would acquire that skill in short order! I once allowed a co-worker to use one of my (Japanese) chisels . . . someting I normally don"t do( lending tools, that is). He slipped with it, runnining the chisel diagonally from the bottom right corner of his left palm to the base of the index finger severing tendons & muscles. His hand is pretty much useless now. Gary, I am very good at what I do. I have always believed in doing the very best that I can & if it takes buying tools from abroad to accomplish that, I will do it. I really love buying “American", I really do. But there are times when “American” just doesen't do it! You'll note that I drive a Mercedez-Benz. Let's get back to sharpening knives now. Nuff said.

Pat

If someone else had of done to me what I did to myself . . . I'd have killed him. Humility is an asset. Heh - heh.

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delmarskid1 posted this 20 November 2012

When I was working in the woods I kept one of those cheap carborundum stones in my back pocket. When I needed a break I would touch up my axe with it. Once I got so lazy that I shaved the hair off of my arm testing the edge. Good stones are tough to beat but a good edge can be had with cheap stuff if one is patient end keeps a good angle. I shave with a straight razor.

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