Keeping sharps sharp - a foray into knife-sharpening

[j44ke]

I called these folks this morning. They seem like super nice people and if it wasn’t for the fact that you have to leave the knives overnight, I would drive up, do a hike in the gunks and pick them up at the end of the day. Alas, they keep them overnight so I’m going to mail them in. Thank you so much for your help

They are great! The owner is a cyclist!

Glad it worked out.

[ColonelJLloyd]

I would strongly suggest a leather strop for knocking the burr off (even better if it's prepped with chromium oxide).

A year ago I got my first non-Western knife. I now have 1K and 6K Arashiyama stones, diamond plate for flattening the stones, felt deburring block, and a ceramic honing rod. I think it's time to add a strop setup. Looking at a 3x11 base and one or two pieces of leather. What do you recommend in the way of pastes or sprays?

[spopepro]

What do you recommend in the way of pastes or sprays?

The green 1 micron chromium oxide compound. My local shop has it in small bottles, but it seems to be pretty widely available.

[9tubes]

Chef Knife to Go has some nice 3 x 11 leather strops. They say the sprays are easier to apply but the pastes seem to be less expensive.

[Mark Kelly]

They say the sprays are easier to apply but the pastes seem to be less expensive.

I have a couple of kilos of lapidarist's aluminium oxide (0.5 micron) which I bought when I was experimenting with modifying the acoustic impedance of epoxy. It's about $20 per kilo, I spread some on a piece of 'roo leather and wet it down with the water spray I use on the stones. Seems to do the job.

My favourite sharpener guru says aluminium oxide isn't hard enough for the super hard high vanadium steels but I don't have any of those.

[Eric Estlund]

Adding compount to a strop is bone simple. Grab bar, rub a swipe on the leather. You are loading the buff in the leather, so it's not a heavy/ greasy coat. Just enough to add a little more tooth than the fleshy bits.

You can also strop with bare leather, a strip of carboard, your jeans or the palm of your hand (be careful). Stropping to polish is one thing, stropping to straighten and knock a burr can be a tab different.

[9tubes]

There is a great website/blog called the Science of Sharp. Watch out, it's a rabbit hole. A very interesting rabbit hole if you are curious about metallurgy. The guy has access to electron microscopes and I think his day job is as an Intel engineer.

After a ton of research the author favors deburring on plain denim or linen. Stropping to refine the edge is another matter.

[choke]

I've used one of these for several years https://jreindustries.com/shop/ols/products/strop-bat

Mine came with the black/green/pink/plain setup. I purchased bars of compound and it's easy enough to reload, though from what I've read paste is easier. They do offer an unloaded version if you want to go that way.

My only complaint is that the leather doesn't go all the way to the edge so it makes getting the pommel end of a puukko a challenge. But that only applies to a specific type of knife and for anything else it works great.

[Mark Kelly]

Regarding the "science of sharpness", the single best thing I've ever read on the subject is this: a sharp blade is two polished surfaces meeting at an acute angle.

[caleb]

Bernal cutlery only does stone sharpening by hand. Here is what they charge at SF living wages no less.

I stand corrected. Hadn't thought of a wheel as a stone, but of course it is.

[Matthew Strongin]

One of these showed up today. The new Work Sharp Precision Adjust. It's not the fanciest or most versatile since it only has two diamond stones and a ceramic hone, but for the money it's pretty fantastic. I'll really put it to use later this week when I have a chance, but I've already used it to touch up a couple pocket knives that have done hard work with the pile of cardboard from the holidays and a kitchen knife that was embarrassingly dull. The pocket knives are nearly shaving sharp and the kitchen knife is now usable, though I could probably go at it again since I was in a rush. Happy customer so far.

[ColonelJLloyd]

Interesting device. It shows there's certainly more than one way to skin a cat. I can see where that might be advantageous with small blades.

My MIL gifted another of these Vietnamese leaf-spring mono-steel knives for Christmas. This time a gyuto. The grind is pretty crude, presumably done on a wheel. It works fine and the food release is good but since I was going to put a better edge on it I thought I would try my hand at using a whetstone to polish/refine the entire grind or blade path or whatever it's called before then putting a new edge on it. I wasn't particularly careful so I worked into that line/demarcation but it doesn't seem important as a practical matter. It was a good learning experience. I was really wishing for a strop setup finishing these. I'm going to place an order this week.

Untitled by ColonelJLloyd, on Flickr
Untitled by ColonelJLloyd, on Flickr
Untitled by ColonelJLloyd, on Flickr
Untitled by ColonelJLloyd, on Flickr
Untitled by ColonelJLloyd, on Flickr

[dgaddis]

Touched up all my knives over the weekend to start the new year off right. Touched up all of these in ~15minutes with my WorkSharp. It might not put the absolute sharpest edge on a blade, but hot damn it's fast.

[Bobonli]

They are great! The owner is a cyclist!

Glad it worked out.

Thank you very much, once again, for the referral. Knives came back in under a week wicked sharp all for less than $15

[dgaddis]

Takamura video, I can't seem to figure out how to make it embed and show up here...

https://i.imgur.com/hVfzDAI.mp4

[jwalther]

This guy has the right idea.

[dashDustin]

Got my DMT Course and Fine stones today. Tomorrow, we begin.

[dashDustin]

*coarse

[Too Tall]

*coarse

We are all friends here Dustin ;)

Maybe old news, this is great news to me: https://www.districtcutlery.com/ DC has a real deal knife store for people with too much time on their hands. I've got a a bunch of really really too nice folders that have lost that loving feeling and could use a new bevel. Best part is this is interesting bicycle ride for me, similar to some routes I use for delivering NFS to local shops. Win win win.

PS Just scored a shapton 50202. Holy crow it cuts fast.

[spopepro]

DC has a real deal knife store for people with too much time on their hands. I've got a a bunch of really really too nice folders that have lost that loving feeling and could use a new bevel.

It’s hard to overstate how nice it is to have a real knife shop local. I actually don’t even know the details of the maker/type of some of my knives because I bought them by cutting shit with them, not by comparing specs on the internet. I know not everyone can bring carrots into a shop and go to town, but when you can...

Also, I do not sharpen my wife’s G&G Hawk prototype folder. If I’m honest, I don’t have the guts to touch it. Having a local person is golden.