The typical instruction for sharpening a knife on a stone is to push the blade down the stone edge first.
I have also seen folks who drag the blade up the stone, spline toward the person sharpening.
Also encountered folks who use a circular motion, and one Japanese guy who used a short stroke back and forth on the stone, almost like a "scrubbing" motion.
For those of us who sharpen manually with stones, what is your preferred method?
If needed in a bad way, pressure and circular grinding. As edge develops, lighter pressure, single direction, leading with the cutting edge being pushed.
If you take the time it takes, it takes less time. --Pat Parelli
American by birth; Alaskan by choice. --ironbender
Way I was taught, was long stroke oriented on center of stone with blade @ 45degrees to stone. Fingers up, 2 fingers just above the edge, consistent pressure on the stroke away from the edge no pressure pulling toward the edge. Gradually work down the blade from one end to the other. Finish one side and then the other.
Make sure to eliminate the burr when honing.
When stropping only one direction, away from the edge always the same angle.
This......I ain't as good or as fast as this guy but once I learned his method my sharpening jigs and contraptions started to collect dust. I'm sort of bummed out because in posting these links I learned that the guy doing the sharpening, Dr. Cliff Stamp, has passed away. He was a true knife nut internet legend a few years ago.
With a brick....
"Men must be governed by God or they will be ruled by tyrants". --- William Penn
I have never been satisfied with my sharpening skills. The other day I came across a paper that came with a Buck knife I bought years ago. It had suggestions for keeping your knife sharp. They suggest a circular motion without raising the blade from the stone. This makes it easier to maintain the same angle across the length of the blade. Work all the way across one side until you raise a burr on the top side. Then work the other side until you raise a burr. Then use successively fewer passes on each side. You can use successively finer stones to get a better edge. A leather strop gives the finest edge. A friend of mine is a saddlemaker and he used to use a buffing wheel to freshen the edge on his tools. Now he uses a leather strop.
[quote=RJY66]This......I ain't as good or as fast as this guy but once I learned his method my sharpening jigs and contraptions started to collect dust. I'm sort of bummed out because in posting these links I learned that the guy doing the sharpening, Dr. Cliff Stamp, has passed away. He was a true knife nut internet legend a few years ago.
Thats interesting. The idea of using a 200 grit waterstone to load what I assume is a regular Carborundum stone os a new one on me.
I vary how I sharpen a blade based on it's grind. For the Scandi knives, I use Japanese water stones. For the regular style, my EdgePro Apex system gets the nod. The convex edge knives are stropped. All knives are not the same, and can't be sharpened the same way.
Teal, have you established your angle and fully developed that? Use a Sharpie and mark the edge bevel on both sides evenly. Start with a clean stone and make a few light strokes per side and see if you are matching the angle on the blade. If so, you are in business. If not you either have to change angles on the Lansky until you match the bevel of the blade or you have to grind in a new bevel with coarse stones and continue on with that. Whatever the case, the whole point is having a consistent angle on both sides of the blade that matches your hone angle. Make sure your stones are clean. They will clog and fill with gunk and lose their effectiveness.
Every normal man must be tempted, at times, to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats.
Good points there. Clean stones very important and don't change sides or grit until you are rolling a burr. I stop on 600 grit with two sessions, the second one very light, and then finish with an impregnated leather strop
"The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them." Albert Einstein
At Khe Sanh a sign read "For those who fight for it, life has a flavor the protected never knew".
Got a Lansky - not getting near the level of sharpness I'd like with it. I need to keep working on it.
Might be I'm simply not doing enough with each stone. What's a "normal" number of passes to make?
Its like a Tootsie pop......no one knows!
Take a cue from the guy in the video sharpening the knife with a brick. Lightly cut into one of your stones at 90 degrees....like you are trying to cut it in half. This is going to cut off the old edge, remove stressed metal, and create a tiny "flat" where the old edge apex was. You can turn the knife spine up under a good light and see it. If you are my age you might need to grab some reading glasses or magnifier. Don't be scared, you won't hurt the knife.
Okay the object of the game now is to make that flat disappear by bringing the two planes of your bevel angle together so that they meet. Do an equal number of passes on each side, say 10, 20, whatever and each time you flip the Lansky check to see your progress under the light. You will see sections of the edge "going dark". Once the flat is completely gone you are done with the grinding part. The edge "going dark" is your cue that you are finished as opposed to a burr that you feel for. The other way works but it is more work and I much prefer and get better results this way. You have brought the planes together while minimizing the burr that you have to get rid of later. The knife is going to be pretty darn sharp at this point, should shave even from a fairly coarse stone. You can move up to a finer stone now but remember with it you are just polishing the edge you already created. Concentrate on creating a clean sharp edge with the coarser stone first because if you don't make the knife sharp with it, all you have after a stone progression is a polished, dull knife.
The same principle applies whether you sharpen by hand scrubbing back and forth, with circles, or use a jig. You want to make that flat disappear.
Last edited by RJY66; 08/16/21.
"Men must be governed by God or they will be ruled by tyrants". --- William Penn
