Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire What do you use to get your hunting knives razor sharp

https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbt...s/12188064/knife-sharpening#Post12188064

I love the spyderco sharpmaker also.




Dave

I do not like the Rada thing. It just tears metal from the edge,which I will not do to a good knife.

Work Sharp with after market,very fine grit, belts.

I've known people that say the same thing and they're not joking.




Dave

Yep, Rada thing good for work knives, kitchen, etc.

The easiest way for me was to let my father and neighbor sharpen them. They both used stones and they were deer gutting sharp when they were done.
They are both gone now so i bought a jig to hold the blade at the right angle. Still can't get them as sharp as Dad and neighbor did.

Work Sharp and finish with a pull through ceramic.
I know that a super sharp knife is a point of pride for many guys but one a little less sharp does the job just fine and requires less messing around. It just works. If it'll cleanly slice a fresh garden tomato without squeezing out the juice , it'll handle any hide or meat.

worksharp is pretty easy once you get the hang of it.

if you like convex edges, a mousepad and sandpaper work well too.

For non convex edges I use DMT diamond bench stones.

I finish off everything on the strop with both green and white compound

DMT fine diamond folder for field use. A steel for home knives.

I have tried for years to properly sharpen my knives, but can never get that new knife edge. I have the lanskys, and Arkansas stones and several other gadgets that are suppose to work. Finally gave up last year and bought a Outdoor Edge knife with replaceable blades and really like how easy it is to gut and skin now.

I freehand sharpen on oil stones which I encourage people to learn. It takes time and a little practice but once you have it, you have it forever and will never be in need of a gizmo to put an edge on something. I have several stones but my go to "system" is a two sided coarse/fine Norton India stone which I use to get a really dull edge back in shape. I follow that up with a Soft Arkansas and sometimes a hard translucent Arkansas if I want a super polished edge. This "system" works great for me because I have a lot of knives with low end basic steel like Buck 420 and 1095. IF your knives are made of a harder steel with Rockwell somewhere in the 60s, you would likely need to use diamond or Silicon Carbide stones to avoid a great deal of frustration.

As you can see there are many different paths to a sharp knife, each with advantages and disadvantages. People have to find what works best for them.

None of mine would be considered razor sharp.
Never got the hang of using the stone or hone rod.
I seem to be the only one that uses a Smith brand sharpener.
I follow that with a strop.

Try a much lighter hand...... Like everything else, it's all in the technique

I can get a razor edge fairly easy with a good sharpening stone and a steel but it is much quicker and easier using ceramic rods and a steel.

Edge pro, crock sticks and steel. If you take the time to change grit all the way down to polishing tape with the edge pro you can get chit skeeery sharp.

But I don’t like fing with changing stuff out so I use the 3 pieces of gear I listed

This.

I have DMT Diamond stones in blue (coarse) red (medium), and green (fine). I only use the blue on knives that are in really bad shape, and do most of my work with the red. I rarely use the green. I'll hit one side of the blade 10 strokes with medium pressure, then hit the other side 10 strokes. Then I'll repeat that with 8 strokes, then 6, and so on down to one. If the edge still needs help, then I'll repeat the sequence using lighter pressure.

The key is not letting a blade get too dull in the first place. It's easier to keep a knife sharp than it is to get it sharp.


Okie John

Thanks for posting this!

The Havalone knives with the replaceable blade are sweet, along with a folding razor knife with the roofing blades. Makes fr fast cleaning.

Just picked up a Lansky rod set yesterday and used it on a real dull knife and 10 minutes it was razor sharp. Great $20 investment!

Warthog