Sharpening question

[THOaken]

Quick question. Is it possible to sharpen my Mora carving knife using a traditional waterstone or is the blade too small? Perhaps an odd question. I'm going to try to sharpen all of my blades today for the first time as they are finally getting quite blunt, especially the axe. Just wondering about the small blade on the Mora 120 though.

 

[THOaken]

Another question, actually. After I've used the 1000 side, do I need to apply the polishing nagura stone to the 6000 side? I'm looking at the Ben Orford video for sharpening knifes but he doesn't use it.

 

[Goatboy]

Hiya THOaken,

You shouldn't have any problems sharpening a small blade on your stone, in fact some may find it easier. I often quickly hone up some of my smallest little penknife blades on one. It's all about practice getting the grip and angle right. Though there are some real sharpening guru's/obsessives (in a good way) on here who would be better to talk to than me. One of my old mates had a job sharpening blades for laboratories back in the days before disposable chemically sharpened blades and he was a legend to watch.

 

[Two Socks]

Yep, I sharpen my 120 on waterstones. If the knife does not reach across the stone, invert it every now and then to let the stone wear evenly. It will be easier to true up again later. Just go through the grids of stones you`ll have, end with a loaded strop and it should be fine.

Edit to say: I obviously mean that the stone must be inverted, not the knife ;-)

 

[ged]

For something like the Mora 120 I'd recommend not letting it get blunt enough to need a stone in the first place.

Strop it every so often while you're using it. It will make the carving go easier too.

You can sharpen an axe with a bit of emery cloth on a board, no need to wear out those nice stones.

 

[THOaken]

I just sharpened one of my knives, the Mora clipper, for the first time. My technique wasn't so great, but surprisingly I didn't blunt the edge. It can cut paper pretty well, even make some fine curls. I used the back of my belt to strop it.

 

[Clouston98]

I thinks sharpening best den as and when needed, touching up, rather than letting something get blunt. I don't have a need for bench stones, I use a dc4, Gransfors diamond file and Gransfors axes stone. You can sharpen any tool on either if you can get the bevels rigt and then a good strop on a leather belt does it for me. I'm lucky that the knife I use has superb edge retention so it doesn't need sharpening often, axes the same really and I use them an awful lot, but just touching then up with one of the ceramic stone sides brings it back and just a strop to keep it good.

Hope this helps!

 

[Zingmo]

Have a read of this thread. You may find that the clipper will not stay sharp too long. The Mora 120 should be OK.

Z

 

[Baelfore]

Hiya THOaken,

You shouldn't have any problems sharpening a small blade on your stone, in fact some may find it easier.

I find this too.

My 120 is the easiest to sharpen of all my knives specifically because of the small blade.

Don't know about water stones, but I use a 2000/6000 stone I inherited from my grandfather nay years ago, then strop on an old belt with toothpaste rubbed into the leather.

end result is just as sharp if not sharper than when I got it.

let us know how you get on!

hope this helps

Ste

 

[THOaken]

Here are some compilation photos of the process. Apologies for the random and rather messy nature of them. I thought they'd be for personal use only.

For my first sharpening test session, where a lot could've gone wrong, it doesn't seem to have gone too bad. I thought I'd blunt and ruin the entire blade beyond repair. There's probably a lot of problems to be seen by someone with an eye for this stuff although it looks like I cleared away some of the nicks from the blade. I essentially just followed the Ray Mears and Ben Orford videos, taking a little from each video and combining their techniques. I applied marker to the bevel on both sides of the blade and used both sides of the waterstone until the marker was gone, applying the nagura stone to the 6000 side. I then stropped it a good amount of times with my makeshift belt system. Very novice stuff, I know.

Does this look alright? If you can tell that is...

At least it can cut paper...

 

[Baelfore]

As you said, very hard to tell from the pics but seems grand. no visible nicks anyway.

I understand your concerns, I absolutely WRECKED a knife the first time I tried sharpening it, but then again, I didn't have the forethought to get instruction first. (common problem that!)

Best way to tell is try to carve summit like a feather stick and and you'll see pretty quickly how sharp it is.

Hope this helps,

Ste

P.S. doe it shave the hair off your arm?!:tapedshut

 

[THOaken]

As you said, very hard to tell from the pics but seems grand. no visible nicks anyway.

I understand your concerns, I absolutely WRECKED a knife the first time I tried sharpening it, but then again, I didn't have the forethought to get instruction first. (common problem that!)

Best way to tell is try to carve summit like a feather stick and and you'll see pretty quickly how sharp it is.

Hope this helps,

Ste

P.S. doe it shave the hair off your arm?!:tapedshut

I'm fairly happy I didn't ruin the edge, but it doesn't shave arm hair, no. Luckily that was just a test sharpen and my actual carving knife doesn't need sharpening yet. Anyway, I guess it's just one of those things you get used to and become gradually proficient at over time.

 

[ex-member BareThrills]

I found using stones to be fairly easy first time out. The danger comes with the stropping. its very easy to roll the bevel and leave yourself in trouble. I now use a spyderco doublestuff for everything. the ceramic side gets it shaving sharp and i dont bother stropping. I prefer my edges a little rougher anyway. For my bigger blades i use a chefs steel. It was interesting when i was in sami Norway that the steel is preferred over anything else. I guess that a lot of the tasks include butchery up there though so not surprising that a rougher edge is prefered to a honed one