Sharpeners

[John Wilson]

“I used to absolutely love using waterstones. Nowadays I absolutely love sharpening a knife in two minutes and moving on.”

I still have my water stones but rarely use them. Like you I thought they were a pleasure to use but found the diamond stone more efficient when sharpening many knives.

Agreed. Back before I was making knives I really enjoyed sharpening. That was my quiet time. Sharpening was very relaxing and I took great pride in it. I don’t have that kind of time anymore.

Learning to sharpen on a belt was a steeper learning curve for me than using stones. I can’t tell you how many blades I had to hand sand over again because I got too low to the belt and scratched the blade all up. Other times I’d eat away a bunch of steel.

Getting my edges thin enough when grinding my bevels was a big turning point for me. A serious lightbulb moment. Nowadays when a knife comes off the grinder the edge is somewhere between .005 and .010 before hand sanding. After hand sanding they are darn near a zero grind. With an edge that thin, sharpening is a breeze.

 

[opaul]

Agreed. Back before I was making knives I really enjoyed sharpening. That was my quiet time. Sharpening was very relaxing and I took great pride in it. I don’t have that kind of time anymore.

Learning to sharpen on a belt was a steeper learning curve for me than using stones. I can’t tell you how many blades I had to hand sand over again because I got too low to the belt and scratched the blade all up. Other times I’d eat away a bunch of steel.

Getting my edges thin enough when grinding my bevels was a big turning point for me. A serious lightbulb moment. Nowadays when a knife comes off the grinder the edge is somewhere between .005 and .010 before hand sanding. After hand sanding they are darn near a zero grind. With an edge that thin, sharpening is a breeze.

You hit the nail on the head with that one. The .005/.010 finished edge off the he grinder is the key. Although I tend to leave a thicker point to have more beef at the point.

 

[tkroenlein]

I do the convex edge like Ed describes. I've found my old 1x30 works great for this. I do a 120 grit on the platen on the big grinder to get most of the bevel, then go to 220 on the 1x30 until the burr is good, then I use a leather belt for the 1x30 with black compound. Makes a great convexed edge.

 

[John Wilson]

I do the convex edge like Ed describes. I've found my old 1x30 works great for this. I do a 120 grit on the platen on the big grinder to get most of the bevel, then go to 220 on the 1x30 until the burr is good, then I use a leather belt for the 1x30 with black compound. Makes a great convexed edge.

I tell people this all the time when they ask me which sharpener to get. The 1x30 is the best value on the planet, and if you catch a sale at Harbor Freight they cost peanuts. It is a truly fantastic sharpener with the right belts on it, and besides that it's a hugely useful tool for anyone who doesn't have the kinds of tools that we knifemakers have.

 

[EdCaffreyMS]

This thread came back to my mind this week. I had a gentleman send me two knives, a folder, and a straight knife, and wanted me to put convex edges on both. Now, the folder was a popular "mid-tech" model, and the straight knife was from a "custom" knifemaker. The folder had a decent primary grind on it, and fairly small edge bevels, which made the change to a convex edge pretty simple, and having cut with it before and after the conversion, improved the cutting resistance/performance noticeably.
However, the straight knife was a totally different story. The blade was a full 1/4" thick for it's entire 4 1/2" length. It was supposedly "hollow ground", but looked like the "hollow" had been ground on a 4-6" contact wheel, and had enormous edge bevels. I tried to measure the "flats" on the edge bevels, simply because I've never seen any as large....the best I could measure was approx .120" flats on each side of the edge...nearly 1/8" flats on edge bevels? WOW!!! Now, this much edge bevel CAN be convexed, but there's not much point. Even with a convex, any edge that is left that large prior to sharpening is basically a cold chisel. So, I got on the phone to the owner and explained the issue. He just didn't get it. He kept saying..... "but if you convex it, it will cut so much better!" I told him that in order to correct the issue, the blade would need to be reground, and that I simply would not do that to another maker's knife, no matter how poorly it was done the first time. I also suggested that if he was unhappy with it upon return, that he should contact the maker with his concerns.
The moral of the story? There's a couple..... If you're creating a knife, make sure your steel, and it's heat treatment are correct to produce a grind that is thin enough to cut well, without chipping/being damaged. (I'm pretty certain the straight knife I spoke of was left overly thick at the edge in hopes of preventing chipping/damage to the edge). NEVER try to correct another makers mistakes! (such as refusing to regrind the knife like I did). Make the client go back to the original knifemaker for anything major...otherwise you will trap yourself in a bad spot between another knifemaker and a customer/client. OK.....back to our regularly scheduled sharpening discussion.