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What does everyone use to sharpen their knives?


minderasr
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I have a Work Sharp (Ken Onion Edition).  But I find it works best on larger blades.  Pocket knives not so much.  This is more than likely due to a lack of sharpening skills on my part.  I also have a Spyderco Sharpmaker and can get a great edge on my blades with this.  I usually touch up my blades on a Green Elephant ceramic sharpening rod.

What do you use?

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Chefs Choice electric sharpener for the easy to sharpen ones. For the oddly shaped ones I will either go to my butcher who sharpens them on what I think is a belt sander for a fee, or send them to the factory for the price of getting them there.

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I'm not a free hand stone sharpener.   So my larger knives I also use the Ken Onion Work Sharp.   I think the smallest knife I've used that rig on is my 0450 Zero Tolerance which I carry daily. 3.5ish inch blade.  It performed flawlessly.    

Any shorter of a blade than that, and I use a borrowed Lansky.   It works amazingly well, but holy balls is it time consuming.  

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Spyderco Sharpmaker for my non-serrated blades, for the most part.

 

I will admit, though, that at the gun shows, there's a fellow who will put a heck of a nice edge on your blades for 2 bucks, and that I've used his services on more than one occasion. 

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I finally moved away from the gadgets and jigs about a year ago, and just bought a few decent stones.

I just grew tired of the set up this and adjust that routine.

Now I just grab my knife, a stone, a little oil, and go to town on it.

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Smiths diamond for super steel knives.  Benchmades ans Spydercos stainless will dish a water stone, they are way too hard  

 

My Moras and Victorinox knives, and my nice kitchen knives get sharpened on Japanese water stones. 1200 grit and finished on 6k grit. 

 

All get stropped on leather with green polishing compound and then bare leather for a final touch. 

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I use exactly what you use,  the spyderco tri-angle sharpmaker and the Ken Onion Edition.  But, (and it is a $99 dollar but) , I use the Blade Grinding Attachment.  Yes, I know $99 is a lot for an attachment to an already expensive machine, but it works well on any size knife once you get used to using it.  I saw the Benchmade guy at the last couple NRA annual  shows using this and sharpening a lot of knives very quickly. Of course they can afford it and they had more than one machine set up with different grits so they could move from one machine to the next.  Kind of like the professionals do but on a smaller scale.

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4 hours ago, cbones62 said:

I use exactly what you use,  the spyderco tri-angle sharpmaker and the Ken Onion Edition.  But, (and it is a $99 dollar but) , I use the Blade Grinding Attachment.

Interesting.  I just googled this and watched some videos.  I may have to consider this option.  And it's down to $79.99 on Amazon.

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12 minutes ago, t4terrific said:


I heard it rounds off the tip of the knife blades.

 

I cut a finger a couple times after sharpening my Japanese kitchen knives by just touching the edge of the blade. It was basically too sharp. I think the rounding only happens when you use a high speed setting and when you consequently overheat the blade.

Edited by crockett
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I'd love to learn sharpening on wet stones.  But I need some guidance to do so.  Unfortunately I know of no-one in my area who can show me.  Now before you say it, I've watched countless youtube videos on the subject.  But nothing compares to hands on instruction.

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2 hours ago, minderasr said:

I'd love to learn sharpening on wet stones.  But I need some guidance to do so.  Unfortunately I know of no-one in my area who can show me.  Now before you say it, I've watched countless youtube videos on the subject.  But nothing compares to hands on instruction.

It's very simple to learn but like anything else it takes practice. My grandfather taught me to use wet stones when I was 8 years old by placing a dime on a stone and using it's thickness as a guide for the angle. Over the years I just picked up a feel for it. I would suggest using cheaper knives and steels until you get the hang of it.

Edited by John Galt
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I have various stones, the Work Sharp Knife Sharpener (non-Ken Onion), the Work Sharp Guided Sharpening System, DMT Aligner Deluxe Kit and a Chinese knockoff of the Edge Pro Professional. I used the DMT Aligner for a while but it becomes a pain when you get to larger folders and fixed blades. The Work Sharp does a decent job but it has a learning curve and has its limitations to certain knife designs, especially thicker fixed blade knives.

I have had excellent success with the Work Sharp Guided Sharpening System (and Upgrade Kit). I have sharpened folders and fixed blades with it and have no problem getting a hair popping edge in short order. In a matter of minutes I can go through the various plates, then the ceramic stone followed by their strop and my larger strop and wind up with a mirror finish that looks amazing. I purchased the Edge Pro Professional knockoff to see if I liked that type of sharpening system before I go and spend $500 plus on a system that I don't like. Unfortunately I haven't used it yet so I have no input on it.

There are several other systems I would like to try like KME and Wicked Edge. The KME allows you to clamp the knife and them the clamp and knife will rotate 180 degrees so you never have to unclamp the knife to sharpen the other side. The Wicked Edge system is somewhat similar in that you clamp the knife and it uses two stones (one on each side of the blade) to sharpen the knife. Unfortunately all these systems are pretty pricey.

If I had to recommend a system to someone new to sharpening and on a budget, it would definitely be the Work Sharp Guided Sharpening System. The standard system and the Upgrade kit can be found for around $70 and in my experience it is super easy to use and produces excellent results. An added benefit is relatively small system and can be easily carried in a backpack if you are camping, etc. It will also teach you good sharpening techniques which will allow you to use basic sharpening stones. Another recommendation I have is to get or make yourself a large strop. I have a couple that I use and mine are two sided with pretty thick pieces of leather. One side is the rough side of the leather and the other side is the smooth side of the leather. Load it up with some good compound and it will really make a difference in the edge and leave you with a mirror finish. 

Edited by Greg45FL
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