I've determined my poor knife sharpening is from not holding the angle consistently and may buy a Lansky style sharpener, but I have to believe there are jigs for conventional stones to hold angles out there already (to buy or make).

Would anyone share sources or pictures of their homemade jig?

H

Several years ago, Buck made one that attached to the knife blade. I don't know if they still make it or not.

I had one, but it didn't work all that well.

If you use a jig and a convential stone, you are going to be faced with both honing the jig and blade at the same time, or if you make the jig from something soft, with clogging up the stone.

I thought at one time of making one kind of like a wedge from a piece of wood, but I think the wood rubbing on the stone would clog the stone.

Just my $0.02 cents worth....

Most of us can fillet fish, flesh and skin our game with the same skills it takes to sharpen our knives.

It is a blessing in my life to share those skills with local youth, and it would surprise you how fast they catch on!

It's not a forgotten art to sharpen a blade 'free-hand', we may be giving up a lot of practical field skills when we do use training-wheels, we may becoming reliant on them?

Just to add a couple points I believe in, it seems just as easy to test our sharpening skills as it it to know when a blade has lost it's edge.

We all may have a different ideas and need a different approach to learning the free-hand method, may I share a picture of one of the kids that has it mastered?



I guess my $0.02 cents worth would be that the advantages of mastering free-hand sharpening are well worth the time it takes to learn them.

I agree that you can learn to free hand. Get a POS knife at first if you are afraid of scratching up your custom. Come up with your own way of holding the blade for a consistent angle, BUT make sure it is the correct angle (~ 20 - 25 degrees).

I finally figured it out with trial and error, and so will you. My method of running the blade over the stone involves a 2 hand hold and keeps index fingers and middle fingers in contact with the stone. Just try what works for you.

That said, make sure you are using the correct (quality) stone/grit to get the job done for that particular steel and amount of dullness on the particular blade.

By being able to "free-hand", you can sharpen your blades whenever and wherever you are by just carrying the minimum. A steel works wonders to keep things sharp BEFORE a blade becomes useless.

I am a complete amateur when it comes to blades, but some of the other guys on here will give you more guidance.

The Lansky is great if you want to reshape and take off lots of metal. I have one, and love to do my broadheads on it. The double cutting edge does not lend itself to holding the broadhead when it is razor sharp, hence the Lansky.

I've done a fair amount of free hand sharpening, but I was impressed with a Gatco demonstration (at cabelas)and how quickly & consistent it was. The down fall is it works for smaller knives and I have several large butcher knives to maintain. I have a good sized dual grit Smith diamond stone that I would like to be more consistent (and quicker) with.

I was thinking of mounting the stone angled like the crock sticks because most people can visually see if they are vertical better than judging angle while looking down on a flat surface.
I also saw a knife sharpener with a vertical rod and sliding tube with a knife slot that held it at angle. It must not have worked because it was on clearance.

Years and years ago I bought my first Canada Knife from Herters. I also bought a "Buffalo Skinner?" for the lack of a better word. The skinner had a small clip attached to the blade for the sharpening angle. It didn't help me much, but this thread reminded me of it.