Knife sharpening for dummies

[Rodney65]

I have never been especially good at sharpening knives. The only sharpeners I ever use are the pull through ceramic type but I don't think they put the best edge on pocket knives.

What's a simple system that will get your knife 8/10 sharp with minimal skill? I am considering just collecting all my pocket knifes and taking them to a local guy that charges $5 but that's kind of a headache.

 

[Aftermath]

https://www.lansky.com/4-stone-deluxe-diamond-system.html

 

[_Windrider_]

I have never been especially good at sharpening knives. The only sharpeners I ever use are the pull through ceramic type for my but I don't think they put the best edge on pocket knives.

What's a simple system that will get your knife 8/10 sharp with minimal skill? I am considering just collecting all my pocket knifes and taking them to a local guy that charges $5 but that's kind of a headache.

Try a rolling sharpner

 

[John?]

The clip on guides like those offered Lansky and DMT will work. They’re far from perfect but very serviceable.

Honestly the best way is to buy a quality diamond bench stone and practice. DMT make good ones. The diamond cuts well so you can concentrate on proper technique. Medium DMT produces a good edge. You can refine with a ceramic stone if you like.

Now I use Norton Waterstones to sharpen knives and razors. Follow up with leather strop coated with fine rouge.

 

[Detroit_1]

Aside from sharpening systems that use a fixture, the secret sauce is to hold the blade consistently at the same angle / attitude as you draw it across the medium each time.

Secondly, unless you need to re-profile the edge, and you're consistent in angle / attitude - you can take a fairly dull blade, start on the bottom of a ceramic mug, transition to cardboard or a brown paper bag, and finish by stropping on an old belt. Point of the matter - learning how to be consistent takes a little practice but it is the real key.

Over the years I have ended up with Lansky / Spyderco / Apex. I rarely drag the Apex out. I use the Spyderco the most of the 3, but once 'sharp' I find myself just touching them up with the round ceramic rod that came with the Apex.

 

[Rodney65]

Try a rolling sharpner

Have not seen those before. I will look into them.

 

[Rodney65]

https://www.lansky.com/4-stone-deluxe-diamond-system.html

I have had those reccomended to me before. They seem popular.

 

[Rodney65]

Aside from sharpening systems that use a fixture, the secret sauce is to hold the blade consistently at the same angle / attitude as you draw it across the medium each time.

Secondly, unless you need to re-profile the edge, and you're consistent in angle / attitude - you can take a fairly dull blade, start on the bottom of a ceramic mug, transition to cardboard or a brown paper bag, and finish by stropping on an old belt. Point of the matter - learning how to be consistent takes a little practice but it is the real key.

Over the years I have ended up with Lansky / Spyderco / Apex. I rarely drag the Apex out. I use the Spyderco the most of the 3, but once 'sharp' I find myself just touching them up with the round ceramic rod that came with the Apex.

That does sound like very solid advice, I appreciate it.

I was hoping there was some kind of cheat/hack for sharpening like a better pull through but it seems sharpening does take some time, effort, skill, and a little money.

 

[1911hombre]

This little unit from WorkSharp has worked really well for me. Coarse and fine diamond stones, coarse and fine ceramic rod, leather strop, with guides for all. $35 at Menards/ Cabelas/ Scheels. I mostly just use the ceramic on my MiniFreek S90V.

 

[Gunfighter14e2]

I've used a LoRay for over 40 years, and it does very well and is fast as long as you keep it oiled. Then used a leather strop until I found out a paper bag w/a very lite coat of oil on it, placed upon the 600 grit stone was much better.
The one thing I like about the Loray is you can choose the Mfg'ers angles, or as I did make your own angle brackets for the angle the works for you the best on different cutting tools. With different OD sharpening ceramics getting that desired edge on a serrated is easy with home made angle guides as well. Just install heat shrink tubing over the end being used in the guide.

 

[Caterpillardoc]

Arkansas stones are good if you maintain the edge angle, Lansky is better and the best I have is a fixture with an adjustable angle. I don’t remember the brand or model I have however it is similar to the attached picture. If you do an internet search you will find them. What I like most about this style is an accurate edge that you can get very sharp.

 

[Rodney65]

This little unit from WorkSharp has worked really well for me. Coarse and fine diamond stones, coarse and fine ceramic rod, leather strop, with guides for all. $35 at Menards/ Cabelas/ Scheels. I mostly just use the ceramic on my MiniFreek S90V.
View attachment 8630857

That looks simple and in my price range. I watched a video on it before I started this thread.

 

[Rodney65]

Arkansas stones are good if you maintain the edge angle, Lansky is better and the best I have is a fixture with an adjustable angle. I don’t remember the brand or model I have however it is similar to the attached picture. If you do an internet search you will find them. What I like most about this style is an accurate edge that you can get very sharp.

That looks a little intimidating to me lol.

 

[Caterpillardoc]

That looks a little intimidating to me lol.

Not at all. Once you do a couple blades it’s pretty easy. The stones run from 60 grit up to 6000. The stones clip into the rod and are held in place by spring tension and swap out quickly

 

[Fig]

I have more blades than I do guns (and that's sayin sumthin). There are many ways to put a good edge on a knife, all of them take time and some of them take skill. I can make just about any blade shaving sharp with an Arkansas stone, but it takes time and I'm not going to take all day to sharpen a whole block of knives with one.

Tormek sharpeners take neither time nor skill. The jigs and measuring tools that come with them allow you to turn any blade scapal sharp in a minute or two. The Japanese wet stone polishes to molecular sharp in seconds with no stropping, and there is no possibility of hurting the temper because the stones ride a water bath. You can do the same with a fine dress stone and the power strop, but it takes more passes. No wire edge because you are always polishing into the blade.

It won't do serrated (for that you need a Lansky) or convex grind (you can free hand it but it takes some skill), but any straight grind is good to go, any steel, any blade. Just about every hunting and fishing buddy I know comes over to my house to sharpen their knives on my T-7. I have a half dozen jigs, and a couple of different stones for it. I've tried them all, and nothing does better.

The Scary Sharp method with the emery paper will give you that molecular, razor edge, but it takes forever to do a single knife. The power sanders are ok, but they degrade the temper on knife steel, and while fine for a cheap knife there is no way I'd put a multi-hundred dollar, composite or super steel blade on one.

I'm super anal about having sharp knives, and for me the Tormek is a totally essential machine. If you have a couple of knives it's a waste of money, but if you cook a lot and clean a lot of game and/or have many knives that get used you simply can't beat it. I usually do all the knives in the kitchen once a month or so. Setting it up and adjusting it takes all the time. The actual sharpening goes very fast. Usually a few second per side and it'll split hairs.

Rockler used to sell them for shaping (with a rough dress) and sharpening turning tools, and I got to try mine in the store before I bought it, but the last time I was there I didn't see any... Now they make a T-8, and I'm not sure what the difference is.

I used to dread sharpening knives because of how long it took sometimes, but I like setting it up and running the T-7, and I love the results. Seriously, if you demand as sharp as the steel can go, invest. Thank me later.

 

[nagantguy]

Depending on stew/hardness I use ceramic rod- wet stone leather strops rough to smooth. About 30 strokes on each medium to each side of blade usually makes shaving sharp.
Really hard or cheap steel I’ll start with a diamond stick before ceramic.

 

[Franko]

I have used the Spyderco sharpener system for decades because it is easy to use and provides a "good enough" edge for my knives and tools.

 

[Bandit31]

This little unit from WorkSharp has worked really well for me. Coarse and fine diamond stones, coarse and fine ceramic rod, leather strop, with guides for all. $35 at Menards/ Cabelas/ Scheels. I mostly just use the ceramic on my MiniFreek S90V.
View attachment 8630857

Going to second this also.

 

[powdahound76]

Lansky if you struggle by free hand.

I have one now, after years of doing it by free hand.
So much quicker/easier.
Esp with the modern steels used in hood blades vs the stuff I had when i was younger.

There is a youtube video where a guy uses a fixture to test edge sharpness and tests many sharpening systems.
Lansky won.
Beat out the much more expensive Wicked Edge and a few other popular ones.

 

[jbell]

I am very proficient with a flat stone (of which I have several different kinds), but the least 5-6 years I have been using a Wicked Edge and really like it. It is very quick to set up & is repeatable. It does an excellent job. I have used the original Lanskey and hated it, they were too flimsy for my liking. Maybe they have improved but IMO the Wicked Edge is one of the best. I looked at similar styles such as the Work Sharp Elite and they look ok also but I like the robustness of the WE design.

https://wickededgeusa.com/?srsltid=AfmBOopSOalk80TazAqsInf4Ifl_bt9zDxqSpjzw7AeS1B0lYyldoywx

 

[Ranchhand]

I came here to say work sharp also.
It's simple stupid.
I have the simple version, it has a course side and a smooth side. Works great.

 

[Gunfighter14e2]

More people cut their selves w/a dull knife than a sharp one. However its much easier to tell meat quality or cooking w/a dull knife.

 

[Fig]

How is a dull knife going to cut you more/worse than a really sharp one?

 

[John?]

How is a dull knife going to cut you more/worse than a really sharp one?

Dull tools require more force. Of necessity that means less finesse in controlling that tool. Dull knife, axe, or saw are very dangerous

 

[Fig]

That makes sense to you?
Seems to me a really sharp knife will cut you much more easily than a dull one. Not that I’m advocating dull knives, but less force to cut and easier to nick or slice yourself. A sharp axe is pointless. I have Brux axes and there’s no reason to make them shaving sharp, because they’re dull by the second whack.
Also, there is no hand tool that’s “very dangerous”. I have broadswords that may be lethal, but they’re far less dangerous than a circle saw. I’ve never picked up a blade and felt any danger at all.

 

[carbonbased]

How is a dull knife going to cut you more/worse than a really sharp one?

Like, you’re struggling to cut a bag/box open with your dull knife, so you put more juice into it. You either suddenly cut through the item (or slip) and knife stuck in leg, or slashed leg, arm, etc.

It’s literally happened to me. If you’re not an idiot with a sharp knife, it’s super controllable.

Just think about it…if you were a surgeon, would you want a sharp scalpel or a dull one?

Don’t you dare say that’s different lol. It’s not.

Unless you’re a klutz, sharp is safer and more precise. If you’re cutting yourself with a sharp-ass knife you’re doing something wrong and should analyze your technique or stop using knives.

 

[carbonbased]

I’ve never picked up a blade and felt any danger at all.

I wouldn’t say I feel “danger” when I pick up something as sharp as a razor blade, but I sure as hell am more aware wtf I’m doing. Definitely dial down the effort I put into a cut so I don’t overshoot into something important.

Now if you’re bouncing between using a dull knife and a super sharp one, holy fuck is that a great way to stick yourself. You’ll tend to forget the level of effort needed for that first cut and

 

[Forrest84]

This little unit from WorkSharp has worked really well for me. Coarse and fine diamond stones, coarse and fine ceramic rod, leather strop, with guides for all. $35 at Menards/ Cabelas/ Scheels. I mostly just use the ceramic on my MiniFreek S90V.
View attachment 8630857

Started using this sharpener as my general purpose sharpener and it has been working really well from my pocket knoives to my 9” cooking knives.

 

[Rodney65]

Started using this sharpener as my general purpose sharpener and it has been working really well from my pocket knoives to my 9” cooking knives.

That's the third recommendation for this affordable and relatively simple sharpener.

I appreciate everyone's suggestions for the various products, I am sure they all have their merits, but I think I am going to go with one of these.

 

[Rodney65]

That makes sense to you?
Seems to me a really sharp knife will cut you much more easily than a dull one. Not that I’m advocating dull knives, but less force to cut and easier to nick or slice yourself. A sharp axe is pointless. I have Brux axes and there’s no reason to make them shaving sharp, because they’re dull by the second whack.
Also, there is no hand tool that’s “very dangerous”. I have broadswords that may be lethal, but they’re far less dangerous than a circle saw. I’ve never picked up a blade and felt any danger at all.

Perhaps "easily" is being taken out of context. Yes it requires less overall force to cut yourself with a sharp knife but you are using much less force with a sharper knife in the first place so have much less built up energy and also better control of said energy.

 

[ToddM]

If you're willing to put in a lot of time and have some old knives to practice on it's very rewarding to be good at freehand sharpening on a stone, and it's flexible. You can toss a small flat stone in your pocket and always have a sharp knife. The flat stones with guides on either end are a great intermediate step too, and get nice results. The important thing to remember is it takes time to build the muscle memory so use some junk knives to start to get the process down. If you're not going to do that, probably the easy button for low $$ is the Lansky system. It's not fancy, but it works. The nice thing about the lansky is it's relatively small and inexpensive. The diamond kit is nice, at about $90, and it cuts faster but their normal stones IMO put a better edge on. You can get the 5 stone standard system for like $50, and add their coarse diamond stone, and IMO you'll get better edges and spend less than the full diamond set. The weak link of the Lansky is the rods tend to bend after awhile and the clamp is not the best (they've cheapened up a lot of the parts over the last couple decades. I used one for probably 20 years before I moved onto other options.

The spyderco sharpmaker is great for touch up and maintenance, but unless you get the coarse diamond stones it would take you hours to re-profile a very dull edge. I use a sharpmaker a lot for touch up/maintenance on my knives. I set an edge that's a bit more shallow on a system like the Lansky, Wicked Edge etc. and use the sharpmaker to maintain it. The same is true for kitchen knives, I'll use something like the work sharp ken onion to set the edge fast on kitchen knives and a sharpmaker to maintain it.

The Sharp Works Precision adjust elite is like $140 and is a pretty nice system, I'd say a step above the lansky but i's a bit more bulky. In 2025 I'd buy it over the Lansky. Either one will put shaving sharp edges quickly on most knives easily.

The Wicked Edge is great, and it gets crazy sharp/consistent edges, but it's more than 99.9% of people need, and to really get the maximum out of it, it's not trivial, the little details matter. Like precision reloading, the concept isn't hard but getting everything to perform it's best is slow and intricate. I bought one a few years ago when they were not quite so expensive and I like it, but I'm not sure I'd buy one again. Their Pro system now can easily go over $1500 depending on which options you get.

The idea behind a sharp knife being safer than a dull one, is with a dull knife you are likely having to use a lot more force to cut, and it can be more likely to "get away from you". Especially if you are cutting something tough like leather, etc.

Just beware it's a rabbit hole that has no end if you let yourself go down it

 

[Haney]

That makes sense to you?
Seems to me a really sharp knife will cut you much more easily than a dull one. Not that I’m advocating dull knives, but less force to cut and easier to nick or slice yourself. A sharp axe is pointless. I have Brux axes and there’s no reason to make them shaving sharp, because they’re dull by the second whack.
Also, there is no hand tool that’s “very dangerous”. I have broadswords that may be lethal, but they’re far less dangerous than a circle saw. I’ve never picked up a blade and felt any danger at all.

That is some funny shit there. Talk about pointless...

 

[Darryle]

I have more blades than I do guns (and that's sayin sumthin). There are many ways to put a good edge on a knife, all of them take time and some of them take skill. I can make just about any blade shaving sharp with an Arkansas stone, but it takes time and I'm not going to take all day to sharpen a whole block of knives with one.

Tormek sharpeners take neither time nor skill. The jigs and measuring tools that come with them allow you to turn any blade scapal sharp in a minute or two. The Japanese wet stone polishes to molecular sharp in seconds with no stropping, and there is no possibility of hurting the temper because the stones ride a water bath. You can do the same with a fine dress stone and the power strop, but it takes more passes. No wire edge because you are always polishing into the blade.

It won't do serrated (for that you need a Lansky) or convex grind (you can free hand it but it takes some skill), but any straight grind is good to go, any steel, any blade. Just about every hunting and fishing buddy I know comes over to my house to sharpen their knives on my T-7. I have a half dozen jigs, and a couple of different stones for it. I've tried them all, and nothing does better.

The Scary Sharp method with the emery paper will give you that molecular, razor edge, but it takes forever to do a single knife. The power sanders are ok, but they degrade the temper on knife steel, and while fine for a cheap knife there is no way I'd put a multi-hundred dollar, composite or super steel blade on one.

I'm super anal about having sharp knives, and for me the Tormek is a totally essential machine. If you have a couple of knives it's a waste of money, but if you cook a lot and clean a lot of game and/or have many knives that get used you simply can't beat it. I usually do all the knives in the kitchen once a month or so. Setting it up and adjusting it takes all the time. The actual sharpening goes very fast. Usually a few second per side and it'll split hairs.

Rockler used to sell them for shaping (with a rough dress) and sharpening turning tools, and I got to try mine in the store before I bought it, but the last time I was there I didn't see any... Now they make a T-8, and I'm not sure what the difference is.

I used to dread sharpening knives because of how long it took sometimes, but I like setting it up and running the T-7, and I love the results. Seriously, if you demand as sharp as the steel can go, invest. Thank me later.

I use a Jet JWS 10 at work for chisels, it gets them ridiculously sharp, but I have a guide/clamp. I have used it free hand for axes and hatchets with great success but I have not been able to sharpen a knife on it reliably. I have a half dozen cheap knives that I practice free hand on and I just can not get the hang of it.