Ok so I've been reading about sharpening knives for a long time and well... I'm confused! I have a Victorinox farmer, a Kellam wolverine and I've ordered a Mora clipper I guess as a practise knife before I ruin my more expensive Kellam knife. I have never sharpened a knife in my life because I've pretty much been using swiss army knives and though I can now tell how dull my first one is (I have 3 SAKs) I really didn't use it enough to worry about it. Now I've been getting into bushcraft more so I really need to know how to sharpen them but although I've been reading so much about it, I'm still not sure what to do.
I've ordered a DC4 stone because I figure I can use it like a bench stone but I can also bring it with me when I go camping and stuff, so I'll be using it to sharpen my knives. I know some people prefer a completely flat scandi grind and others like to have a secondary bevel or micro bevel or whatever but I have a knife with a scandi grind and I just noticed, it has a micro bevel (I think that's what it is) so let's focus on that.
So first, how do I use a DC4 stone to sharpen my wolverine knife? I have a leather belt as well that I guess I could use as a strop if I need to. Since it already has a micro bevel I might as well keep it that way so what do I need to do to sharpen it if I can't feel that bevel? From what I hear the mora clipper has the same grind (scandi with micro bevel) as my wolverine so I guess I could sharpen it the same way, or am I wrong about it's grind?
Second, my swiss army knives. With the DC4, how do I sharpen them? I don't know angles so saying "hold the knife at 20º and push it along the stone" isn't going to help me much. So is there some way of finding out how to hold the knife at whatever degree they have?
Also, do I push the knife edge first into the stone (DC4 remember, not a waterstone) and only edge first or do I pull back only or do I push then pull and repeat?
These questions have been on my mind for a while and I figured I might as well see if someone can clear these things up so hopefully I'm just missing something and these questions will be easily answered by someone more experienced with sharpening. :notworthy
I've ordered a DC4 stone because I figure I can use it like a bench stone but I can also bring it with me when I go camping and stuff, so I'll be using it to sharpen my knives. I know some people prefer a completely flat scandi grind and others like to have a secondary bevel or micro bevel or whatever but I have a knife with a scandi grind and I just noticed, it has a micro bevel (I think that's what it is) so let's focus on that.
So first, how do I use a DC4 stone to sharpen my wolverine knife? I have a leather belt as well that I guess I could use as a strop if I need to. Since it already has a micro bevel I might as well keep it that way so what do I need to do to sharpen it if I can't feel that bevel? From what I hear the mora clipper has the same grind (scandi with micro bevel) as my wolverine so I guess I could sharpen it the same way, or am I wrong about it's grind?
Second, my swiss army knives. With the DC4, how do I sharpen them? I don't know angles so saying "hold the knife at 20º and push it along the stone" isn't going to help me much. So is there some way of finding out how to hold the knife at whatever degree they have?
Also, do I push the knife edge first into the stone (DC4 remember, not a waterstone) and only edge first or do I pull back only or do I push then pull and repeat?
These questions have been on my mind for a while and I figured I might as well see if someone can clear these things up so hopefully I'm just missing something and these questions will be easily answered by someone more experienced with sharpening. :notworthy