Professional knife sharpeners.

[Okidokey]

First time posting.

I am hopeless at sharpening knives and have an extraordinary talent of ruining a perfectly fine blade.

I was wondering whether any members could recommend a professional who sharpens knives who they have had used.

Many thanks in advance guys

 

[Sundowner]

Following with great interest

 

[Toddy]

Maybe a good idea would be to ask if there's someone nearby who, once the cover-19 rules clear it well enough, would happily meet up with you for a couple of hours and show you how they do it ?

I confess I rarely sharpen mine. @warthog1981 taught me how to use a strop and I use it often and the knives stay sharp enough for me.
It's a very good thing is a good strop.

Best of luck with it

M

 

[Duggie Bravo]

Have you considered getting a sharpening system such as a Lansky?

Pretty simple to use and you get good results. First time can take a while as you may find you are putting a new edge on the blade, depending on the original grind.

Also very therapeutic.

There are also tools such as the Smith Sharpener which is an easy way to do it as long as you can be consistent with your hand position.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Broch]

Welcome to the forum!

I'm with Toddy; if you use knives you've got to be able to sharpen them especially out in the field. I would find someone to teach you to do it - once you've got it it's very Zen

I give everyone a brand new Mora when they come to my wood. I hand it to them, show them how sharp it is, then I seriously dull the blade by running it down a course stone. We then spend the next hour getting an edge on it that was better than when it came out of the box - it's an enlightening moment for most people and I don't think I've had anyone not capable of getting a good edge by the time they finish.

 

[dwardo]

Knife sharpening is one of those things that just clicks after practice. It also depends on what kind of edge you are after on which steel with which grind and using which method/tool. Yes you can put an edge on anything with a stone pulled from a river but you would struggle to put a mirror edge on a high scandi with a rock you just picked up..

What is it you want to sharpen and we can see fi there is an easy way for you to get stared. You will need to learn at some point, may as well crack on.

 

[Corso]

Longstrider was the man on BB/Edge matters

not sure how to get hold of him now though

only used him once for a very stubborn D2 steel slipjoint - it was a lazer when he'd finished he hates D2 but still did a bang up job

@Nice65 might know how to get in touch?

Longstrider sharpening.

I've just got a knife back from Longstrider. He put a fantastic polished edge on it. It's incredibly sharp. He took a break from the sharpening but is back in business of anyone wants any work done. I have no affiliation, just a very satisfied customer.

bushcraftuk.com

but I agree learning yourself is the best long term solution

 

[crosslandkelly]

You could try Dave Budd of this parish.

 

[Stew]

What’s the knife?

 

[gra_farmer]

I would get yourself a worksharp, that sort of thing really is good to get that first real edge and then stones and strop after that. The key as many have said here is to jump in and try it.

 

[Okidokey]

I have a couple of cold steels in sv35vn and a few buck knives. The real pain is the tanto points i have. For some reason I cannot get them to an edge whatsoever.

 

[santaman2000]

I confess that when I just don’t feel like being bothered to do it myself, I drop my knives of at the knife counter in Bass Pro. They sharpen them as a free service. That said, I think your best bet would be to ask your local butcher if he’d consider doing it on the side.

 

[Dai]

Is it worth getting a cheap knife to risk sacrificing in the process of learning? Until recently I would have classed my knife sharpening as hit and miss, but after reading through some of the sticky threads in here and watching a few (read loads of...) youtube videos my consistency has improved greatly. I'm not yet ready put my skills to the test on my expensive kitchen knives but hopefully by the time they need any more than the steel I will have perfected my technique on the cheap knives.

 

[Nice65]

I confess that when I just don’t feel like being bothered to do it myself, I drop my knives of at the knife counter in Bass Pro. They sharpen them as a free service. That said, I think your best bet would be to ask your local butcher if he’d consider doing it on the side.

No, excuse the pun, but a butcher will butcher it. They sharpen with steels to give a toothy edge.

I have Longstriders number somewhere, I think it’s stamped onto a strop but I’m not sure where it is. Fielder might know as he had a knife sharpened a while ago. Maybe you could get an EdgePro clone off eBay? It’s a filing jig with assorted grit stones, can’t really go too wrong with bevel angles.

 

[Robson Valley]

Barbershop & Hairdresser. Find out who sharpens their clippers and scissors.
Buy a few lessons then practice on every blade in your whole house.

Fine finishing wet & dry automotive finishing sandpapers are good.
Cereal box card strop on a flat surface. Stick of chrome green honing compound.

I was taught free-hand sharpening of all the straight and curved gouge edges for wood carving.
Not two hours of the basics then a month of daily practice. Good skill to learn for life.

 

[santaman2000]

No, excuse the pun, but a butcher will butcher it. They sharpen with steels to give a toothy edge.

I have Longstriders number somewhere, I think it’s stamped onto a strop but I’m not sure where it is. Fielder might know as he had a knife sharpened a while ago. Maybe you could get an EdgePro clone off eBay? It’s a filing jig with assorted grit stones, can’t really go too wrong with bevel angles.

You do realize that when I do my own I also use steels. Sharpen with a stone and fine tune with a steel (I prefer it over a strop)

 

[Robson Valley]

Imagine the ultra fine tooth needed to slip into an extremely over-ripe tomato.
I carve very soft woods so I suppose few here are after the "carving sharp" edges that I use.
However,
The technique is the thing to master.
You sharpen from your knees, never from your elbows. That's a recipe for failure.

 

[Erbswurst]

I recommend to take an Opinel, a cheap Mora or Hultafors and to start sharpening it.

My 10 years old nephew learned to sharpen both in round about half an hour.

Here we have a few videos about it:

Recommended EDUCATIONAL FILMS about the propper classical way of BUSHCRAFT and SURVIVAL

That's interesting, @Janne! You should look up the names and open a special thread about it! I think the right way is to go via the Latin names and write them in the thread as well, so it's relatively easy to translate it in every other language. Names of wild plants often change theyr local...

bushcraftuk.com

 

[Nice65]

You do realize that when I do my own I also use steels. Sharpen with a stone and fine tune with a steel (I prefer it over a strop)

No, I didn’t realise that, and it would never have occurred to me.

When you say steel do you mean a carbide steel, a thing that looks a little like a fire poker with fine ridges? Or a carbide edge such as that found in a rubbish knife sharpener that tears off swarf? Either of these will wreck profiles and reshape the blade over time. Butchers sharpen softish steel regularly,, just a few sweeps of the blade.That is not sharp, but the tiny serrations created in the blade by the crude method is perfect for cutting flesh. It’s no good for anything that requires finesse, or for knives that cost much more than a butchers knife and have a well calculated bevel angle to give optimum performance. Unless I’ve misunderstood what you mean by finishing with a steel, I don’t get it.

In many years of being involved with all aspects of knives, steel types, bevels, sharpening techniques, I have never heard of finishing with a butchers steel, except in the case of the crude edge put on a kukri with a chakmak. A good edge, hair shaving sharp is best maintained with a strop and compound. When the bevels need correcting this is done with stones, diamond hones, sandpaper, filing jigs, Sharpmakers, Lanskys, EdgePros, or Tormaks. Not with a metal file. Metal files are for mower blade type sharpening, removing steel to get back to an even edge after abuse.

 

[santaman2000]

No, I didn’t realise that, and it would never have occurred to me.

When you say steel do you mean a carbide steel, a thing that looks a little like a fire poker with fine ridges? Or a carbide edge such as that found in a rubbish knife sharpener that tears off swarf? Either of these will wreck profiles and reshape the blade over time. Butchers sharpen softish steel regularly,, just a few sweeps of the blade.That is not sharp, but the tiny serrations created in the blade by the crude method is perfect for cutting flesh. It’s no good for anything that requires finesse, or for knives that cost much more than a butchers knife and have a well calculated bevel angle to give optimum performance. Unless I’ve misunderstood what you mean by finishing with a steel, I don’t get it.

In many years of being involved with all aspects of knives, steel types, bevels, sharpening techniques, I have never heard of finishing with a butchers steel, except in the case of the crude edge put on a kukri with a chakmak. A good edge, hair shaving sharp is best maintained with a strop and compound. When the bevels need correcting this is done with stones, diamond hones, sandpaper, filing jigs, Sharpmakers, Lanskys, EdgePros, or Tormaks. Not with a metal file. Metal files are for mower blade type sharpening, removing steel to get back to an even edge after abuse.

Yes. That’s exactly what I mean: the common round butcher’s steel. Hunting and fishing are my main outdoor knife uses (cutting flesh) and whittling tent stakes are secondary. This edge works well for both and steeling works well on my hollow ground knives. In the last half century I’ve had no problem getting a razors edge but first sharpening on a whet rock (by pulling and pushing the blade across the rock as if trying to slice a thin piece from it——this obviously shapes the hollow grind I began with) then quickly steeling it with that same motion. The edge I get is sharp enough to shave, processes game and fish well, whittles tent stakes, and cleans out horses hooves as well as my fingernails. As I said, I’ve been doing it this way ever since I first began sharpening my own knives back in the 1960s. Other than the hollow grind, fancy “profiled” edges just aren’t my thing. And even the hollow grind is only there because I grew up using it when it was the ubiquitous on hunting knives.