Sharpening Stones

[airedale]

Collecting knives has added a side collection of sharpening tools and devices to keep edges sharp. I pretty much have acquired them all and they will all work well if used properly. My best knives are all sharpened by hand using various stones, it is slower and harder to learn but once mastered a shaving sharp razor's edge can be obtained.

Below are three of my favorites, a diamond stone, a soft Arkansas and a hard Arkansas. The diamond is only used on a really dull knife to get the edge started, the soft Arkansas will so most of the sharpening followed up by the hard Arkansas for the razor edge.

Like with just about everything else there are some youtube videos that can help one get started sharpening with stones in the right direction.

Just got done with the Dickinson Crockett and it will shave hair no problem.

Al

Edited November 29, 2022 by airedale

[airedale]

Always looking for an easier and simpler way of sharpening my knives, and I am a sucker that has purchased and tried many of the sharpening gadgets. I see Work Sharp has come up with another sharpener similar in operation to the old Lansky design of which I own with a much fancier jig. They have a cheap model and a high ender, both work on the same principle and I really do not think they will do a much better job than the old Lanskys.

With a good eye, steady hand and patience it is tough to beat good quality hand sharpening with stones pictured like those above.

Al

[landtracdeerhunter]

I bought a box of odd and ends on an auction some 30 years ago. It has 2 Diamond stones in it that I still use to this day. Always wanted to make a jig for them to get the right degree edge on the knife. Best 5 bucks I ever spent.

My sandstone wheel does a nice sharp edge also.I use that for my draw knives and block planes.

Edited January 16 by landtracdeerhunter

[luberhill]

I use the Razor Sharp system of cardboard wheels

i still have my stones but this is much faster and I can do a razor edge in minutes 

[Doc]

I have a collection of stones of all sizes and shape and grits, and I couldn't tell you what material is in them. The ones that work the best were white at one time. I use 3-in-1 oil, and they put a scary edge on all my knives and axes.

I went to a guy over in the Avon flea market and he had some kind of machine with a rotating wheel of some sort. In 15-20 minutes, he put an edge on my pocket knife that was about as sharp as any that I have ever seen. Unfortunately I was kind of on-the-run and didn't have time to chat with him about his equipment. I would like to know what was on that wheel. What I saw could have been a leather strop glued onto a wheel.

[escpen]

12 hours ago, luberhill said:

I use the Razor Sharp system of cardboard wheels

i still have my stones but this is much faster and I can do a razor edge in minutes 

Do you happen to have a link to this?  I'm always looking for better ways to sharpen my knives, etc.

I've been using the KME sharpening system for the past several years.

https://grizzlystik.com/grizzlystik-sharpening-kit-from-kme-sharpeners.html

[airedale]

I have two classes of knives, one class I call working knives and the others are for me collector knives. My every day working knives are sharpened with a couple of electric powered sharpeners with a final touchup on a hard stone. I have both a Work Sharp belt sharpener along with a Chef's Choice three slot electric, they do a good job especially on my kitchen knives, they are easy to use and fast and they make the knives plenty sharp enough for the jobs they do.

All of what I consider to be my higher end collector knives get carefully hand sharpened with stones like pictured above, to be honest they never get actually used and are for looking at but I still like them to have a razor edge.

Al

[luberhill]

4 hours ago, escpen said:

Do you happen to have a link to this?  I'm always looking for better ways to sharpen my knives, etc.

I've been using the KME sharpening system for the past several years.

https://grizzlystik.com/grizzlystik-sharpening-kit-from-kme-sharpeners.html

https://www.grizzly.com/products/grizzly-8-razor-sharp-edgemaking-system/g5937?gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiAkp6tBhB5EiwANTCx1OMfX5xLwCZAO7G0ABoka1_v70oQZLp2MriNWFxKs8s6SkscNhejFBoCeSMQAvD_BwE