Question: How to sharpen a knife

Arnaud Van Tilburgh

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As there are some excellent knife makers, perhaps one of them could answer my question.
I have different knives, especially for the kitchen.
My first set of quality knives where the French “Sabatierâ€￾. The blades are hard but not Ice Hardened. Making them sharp again was piece of cake using a sharpening steel.

Now these days it seems shops only sell Ice Hardened knives, and even using a diamond sharpening steel does not work very well.

So perhaps heating the Ice hardened knives makes them softer, otherwise I will use the Powerhone to sharpen them.

Question: what angle is best to sharpen a knives?

arnaud
 

Peter E

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Arnaud,
I am not a knifemaker but I have been sharpening my knives for most of my life. You are correct about some of the new steels and the options in abrasives. Keep in mind that a "sharpening steel" is best used to keep a sharp knife sharp and should not be used if material needs to be removed to sharpen a dull knife.

My best advice would be to spend some time on www.bladeforums.com. There is EVERYTHING you would want to know, and specific forums for about any topic that is knife related. Many that are NOT knife related too:big grin:

From the "General" drop down menu at the top, try the forum "Maintenance, Tinkering & Embellishment".

Regards,
 

KCSteve

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'Best angle' is a very hard to answer question. It depends on the type of grind the blade has, the overall shape of the blade (including thickness), the type of steel, the intended use - just a ton of stuff.

All that said, for a kitchen knife I generally go with about a 20 degree (per side) edge with a 25 degree secondary bevel. That means that I sharpen the knife at a 20 degree angle to the stone, then lift up 5 more degrees (to 25) and sharpen again, just a bit to make a small, secondary edge. That secondary edge is what does all the cutting and takes all the abuse. When it gets dull you usually only have to resharpen it, which doesn't take much.

I've got a surprisingly popular write up on my simple website on How I Sharpen for those interested.

To put the sharpening systems I reference into perspective for folks around here, just about any sharpening system for knives is like going from free-hand sharpening your gravers to a sharpening system (of course). The EdgePro setup is like getting a PalmControl / AirTact - you're still doing the same thing, but the tool just doesn't get in your way at all.
 

Tim Wells

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In my opinion this is the best choice:thumbs up:!
http://www.texasknife.com/vcom/product_info.php?cPath=223_43&products_id=977

Very simple to use, fast and affordable...you don't need anything else.

P.S.
I use my belt grinder with a lot of sanding belts (up to 4000) just to have a perfect polished cutting edge on my knives, but for a domestic use I don't know a better system than Lansky!

All the best:)
Carlo

yes, yes, yes. Buy a Lansky and be done with it.

Much like all the graver sharpening fixtures out today, your knife blade will have the same angle every time you sharpen so you don't get rounded edges or facets, just a nice crisp edge.
 

diandwill

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Both of those links are for Lansky. I can see how the first works, does the second set up in the handles the same way? Is one of those two better for ease of sharpening (for someone like me that doesn't sharpen very often)?
Will
 

monk

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for "junk" kitchen knives, the little hand-held gadjets with the carbide blades set in them work fine for my wife. for xtra special blades, a tormek system, ( quite pricey) will make them sharper than you might want them. the tormek will sharpen darn near anything with the correct fixture.it uses a 2" x 10" dia., water cooled stone, at slow rpm. except for the price, you cant beat this thing !
 

Arnaud Van Tilburgh

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Thank you all for the information. I don’t know if I can find a Lansky over here in Belgium.
Steve, good explanation on the how to use.

I understand it is hard to sharpen with the right angle by free hand, just like a graver, that is why I asked you this question.

arnaud
 

Peter E

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I understand it is hard to sharpen with the right angle by free hand, just like a graver, that is why I asked you this question.

arnaud

It can be done just as many of the master engravers can get their gravers sharpened effectively BUT....precision is MUCH easier when using one of the fixtures.

A major factor is how sharp you need or desire the edge to be. For the most part, it IS possible to have acceptable sharpness using hand stones or abrasives.

If you want a near perfect, hair popping edge, the fixtures are NO DOUBT the way to go.

One simple trick for hand sharpening is to use a sharpie or magic marker and carefully coat the cutting edge. That way as you sharpen, you can more easily see if you are making contact at the correct angle.

Good luck Arnaud
 

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