Knife Sharpening

[mattpittinger]

How do you sharpen your knife? Do you have any tricks or tips to keeping a great edge? Most of my knives are either D2 or S30V, do I need to do anything different? And how in the world do I keep a consistant bevel on my Emerson Commander?

[Failure2Stop]

I find a certain relaxing quality to bringing a razor edge to a blade.

I have tried pretty much everything from cheap norton india stones to 3000 grit japanese water stones.
What I have found is that diamonds are the way to go.
Easy to use, fast cutting, no issues with getting dished out, readily available in a great array of grits.

You can esily get through life with 3 good diamond stones- course, medium, and fine. I do like a leather strop for a really exceptional edge, but it is actually just feel-good effort that doesn't make much difference when it comes to real-life use.
For anything with an unconventional grind (such as the Commander) you will need to use a round rod type device. Rods sharpen much slower than traditional bench-stones since there is so little of the cuting/polishing material in contact with the edge during sharpening. It seems to me that the ceramics are the best final step when it comes to rod sharpeners, but I don't have nearly as much experience with ceramic rods as I do bench stones since I tend to buy straight edge knives that I can easily resharpen in the field.

When it comes to resharpening the most important thing you can learn about is the "wire edge" and it's raising and removal.

[theJanitor]

http://www.emersonknives.com/ekEK_Sharpening.php

[Gutshot John]

Croc Sticks. Easy as it gets.

[Frank Castle]

I use the method posted by The Janitor on my Emerson M-Wave (and all my knives for that matter) and it works great. I picked up an oval ceramic sharpening stick at Bass Pro for about $20 and it keeps all my knives razor sharp. Most of my blades are S30V or 154CM- if it matters.

[bkb0000]

i've got a generic medium wet diamond hone that i use to shape the edge. then i move to a fine arkansas wet stone to "sharpen," then put the final polish on with an ultra fine arkansas wet stone.

its always seemed silly, to me, to put any extra effort into getting your utility/EDC knife sharp enough to shave with.. you lose that surgical sharpness after the first thing you cut with it. with the three-stones, i can get my field and pocket knives almost razor sharp, but to get that final polish just right enough to actually shave with requires a good deal of effort and skill that's totally wasted on a knife that will cut anything other than hair/flesh.

[Frank Castle]

i've got a generic medium wet diamond hone that i use to shape the edge. then i move to a fine arkansas wet stone to "sharpen," then put the final polish on with an ultra fine arkansas wet stone.

its always seemed silly, to me, to put any extra effort into getting your utility/EDC knife sharp enough to shave with.. you lose that surgical sharpness after the first thing you cut with it. with the three-stones, i can get my field and pocket knives almost razor sharp, but to get that final polish just right enough to actually shave with requires a good deal of effort and skill that's totally wasted on a knife that will cut anything other than hair/flesh.

It takes no effort if you maintain your blade, use the proper equipment, and technique- I would suggest you reassess your methodology. It is no wonder you don't want to take any "extra effort", your method takes 3 separate stones and procedures. By the time you have sharpened your EDC, I'm on my second beer. Cheers!

[Drummer]

Knife sharpening is a science unto itself. I find that a large majority of factory knives' edges are too think to take a good sharp edge. No amount of "sharpening" will fix that. Companies do that because customers bitch and complain that their edges chipped out when using it for a screwdriver, prybar, etc.

The Spyderco Sharpmaker or crocstick-style ceramic sharpeners are moron-simple but don't really allow for varying edge angles. Many knives need a different edge than what the v-sharpeners work with. If you use one and are happy with the results, keep using it and don't look back.

But the best solution is to get some good quality stones and learn to sharpen free-hand. I prefer the Norton silicon carbide ones because they are relatively inexpensive and cut fast on modern high-alloy steels. They do need to be re-flattened with use though. Some people prefer edge towards yourself, some prefer edge going away. In my mind, edge going away is the 'right' way, but many more knowledgeable people would disagree. Whichever way you do it, consistency is the key. You have the maintain the same edge angle stroke after stroke to see any difference. It helps if you coat the edge with dykem blue or sharpie first so that you can see where the stone is cutting. Start with a cheap knife that you don't care about and practice until it becomes natural.

One of the secrets of really excellent knife sharpening is a strop. A quality strop with a fast-cutting compound loaded on it will make a knife edge sing. And best of all, it's almost fool-proof. I personally use a strop as a follow-up from the stone or mostly use it to touch up an edge that isn't too my liking anymore but doesn't need the stone. A few swipes on each side of the edge will usually get a knife edge hair-popping sharp.

[UVvis]

Also take time to consider what your uses for the knife will be.

Sharp varies by purpose, in my opinion. Coarser stones will leave a more jagged edge that helps the blade grab onto some surface and hack through them fast. Finer stones can leave shiny sharp edges on a blade that night be great for more precision cutting of softer things. You also have the edge angles and blade materials to deal with.

For example, my daily carry of late has been a fairly thick blade on a spyderco folder. My wife normally carries a little benchmade with a thin profile blade. Both are S30V steels. My blade takes much more abuse, and is more suited for heavier work, like cutting down telephone poles. My wife's blade is about half as thick, and the knife style is more suited to lighter duty tasks. Her blade gets sharpened a much more shallow angle, and to a finer grit. Mine wouldn't do so well with that angle, as I like to have a little more mechanical strength on the edge, and I don't polish my blade as much so I can have more bite.

That is why your kitchen knife sets have about a million different types of knives. Sure they all cut, but some a better geared to particular tasks.

I like to use DMT diamond plates for sharpening uses. Like these. They have other assorted shop uses as well.

[bkb0000]

It takes no effort if you maintain your blade, use the proper equipment, and technique- I would suggest you reassess your methodology. It is no wonder you don't want to take any "extra effort", your method takes 3 separate stones and procedures. By the time you have sharpened your EDC, I'm on my second beer. Cheers!

what does your knife get used for? by the time i'm sharpening my knife, it's not any sharper than a putty knife.

my EDC gets used for any and all cutting needs, if i dont happen to have an alternative cutting device immediately at hand. i cut a LOT tie-straps, rope, cord, twine, etc, sharpen pencils almost constantly, cut lots of electrical wire, USE AS A SCREW DRIVER, explore rot with it, pop tacks and staples off lumber, scrape rust off steel/crap off glass/paint off anything, pry shit with it... i've even used my EDC to cut felt, shave thickness off varying materials, test the hardness of various materials, slice open shingle bundle-wrappers (which just KILLS the knife, so i try not to) etc. etc. etc. and that's just at work.

when your knife does little more than collect pocket lint, it doesn't take much to sharpen it.