What to sharpen with ?

[MSkiba]

Hello. Nice forum, just gutted I didnt find you guys 15 years ago. whats with the last post being first?

So, I need to know what to sharpen my knife with. I will explain a little more.

Ive read the threads on what the most popular sharpening material is, ive seen lots of tips etc.. I just want to take it a step at a time. money is limited so I do not want to "experiment" with expensive stones that I may not like, or dont need.

Following advice given to other noobies on this forum, I bought myself a cheapo high carbon Mora knife to practice on, later I will purchase a F1 or similar once I know I can maintain it properly without damaging it.

I have a cheap sharpening stone, but its very abrasive and I feel all I will do is damage the knife if I try to sharpen it.

Ive seen lots of tips from shushi chefs, bear grylls and ray mears how to sharpen, they seem to favour the jap stones.

my question is this.

What do I need to purchase, to properly sharpen my high carbon knife, or the laminated steel knife without damaging it? Any links are highly welcomed

What will I use my knife for? Sharpening sticks mainly, maybe a bit of wood carving and the odd fish.

 

[Graham_S]

To be honest, you could do worse than have a look at this thread

 

[sxmolloy]

If you would rather buy than make I would suggest a Fallkniven DC4. I used to own a carbon Frosts Clipper knife and now own (amongst others) an F1. It works great on both. If later on you decide to invest more money I would highly recommend Japanese water stones just as Mr Mears uses. The DC4 and then stropping on a leather belt will work just fine, but I always manage to get a sharper knife using the waterstones then stropping. Hope this helps.

 

[Asa Samuel]

Firstly, welcome to the forum!

As Graham_S said, the five pound sharpening kit is excellent and if you want to practise the basics of sharpening then it's perfect. Once you have the hang of it then for home sharpening a 1000/6000 grit combination waterstone such as here: http://www.axminster.co.uk/king-japanese-combination-waterstones-prod22468/ is probably the most popular choice. If you want something to take in to the field then DMT's diafolds (http://www.dmtsharp.com/general/featured.htm#product4) are known to be pretty good but the more popular is probably the fallkniven DC4 (http://www.fallkniven.com/misc/eng-sharp.htm), both of which are light and small enough to fit in your pocket but big enough not to be too fiddly.

 

[MSkiba]

That is a fantastic thread.

But I can invest a little more than £5. I see lots favour DC4 diamond stone. They are roughly £15, right in my budget.

some questions about the DC4 if I may?

a) does the diamond stone wear away over time?
b) is it not too abrasive on the steel? Do I need a 2 types of diamond stones thicker and thiner?
c) can it be used on any knife?
d) do I need some sort of paste to go with it?

Putting the knoledge together from the other thread you mentioned, would this system work OK for a expensive knife?

1) Use the Basic Honing skill mettioned but with a DC4 (just a DC4, or 2 diamond stones?)
2) Use the Strop and steel skill with a leather belt and toothpaste
3) Remove blurr using a car window

Anything Ive missed?

last question I did not see on other post. when using a car window, do I slide the blade towards the sharp edge, or away ?

 

[MSkiba]

thanks for the replies guys!

 

[MSkiba]

£14 for a double sided jap wetstone? I thought they were like £60 each?

 

[JonathanD]

The DC4 needs no lubrication or paste, it will last years and the diamond side will last a long time. You can use it on most knives, but I'd consider it a field system for topping up the edge rather than the best way to keep your knife in top condition, for that I'd recommend the 6000/1000 grit combo water stone, which is much easier to use due to the size. A DC4 should be fine base kit for a Mora, for a more expensive knife, I would recommend the waterstones combination.

When using a car window slice as if you are cutting a thin piece of glass off. Also, don't use pressure, the weight of just the knife is fine.

Axminster sell the combo water stones for about £24 each.

 

[MSkiba]

Perfect! Thank you!

Ive just ordered a DC4 and a 1000/6000 King Jap stone.

One final question before I bugger off

After I use the jap stone, is it still nessesary to use the leather belt, and window tactic, or is the 6000 stone enough ?

 

[Asa Samuel]

For a lot of people the 6000 stone is enough but I still like to strop on a leather belt as I find the edge lasts longer. The window tactic isn't necessary either, what it does is add micro-serrations to the edge which makes slicing cuts slightly more effective.

 

[MSkiba]

Thank you to all who replied for making me welcome, and possibly answering the same questions they get everyday without shouting =)

Time to wait for the stones to arrive and finally sharpen my first blade the way its meant to be sharpened

 

[Asa Samuel]

You are very welcome, and don't worry about asking any questions, everybody has to start somewhere

 

[JonathanD]

Perfect! Thank you!

Ive just ordered a DC4 and a 1000/6000 King Jap stone.

One final question before I bugger off

After I use the jap stone, is it still nessesary to use the leather belt, and window tactic, or is the 6000 stone enough ?

In my opinion, you have just bought the perfect combination and possibly the only one you will ever need. I personally don't do much stropping after the 6000 grit. You can use your DC4 as an alternative to the window, it will produce the same results. Just hold it at a less acute angle like you were putting a secondary bevel on it. And be light again.

You can just about make out the smallest of secondary bevels in the pic above. Makes the edge stronger and less prone to chip. Very easy to maintain too.

 

[Siberianfury]

i use a peice on wood with some leather glued to it, and a block of flexcut gold stropping wax, gets an insane edge. when i want to sharpen a more dulled knife (rarley as im always stropping after use) i use a spyderco doublestuff, for flattening bevels i use a diamond stone.

 

[ged]

I'd just like to reinforce something that JonathanD said. Go lightly. A lot of people think sharpening is about how much metal you can take off. After your tools have been around for as long as some of mine have, you start to think in terms of how much metal you can leave on!

 

[MSkiba]

Thank you.

DC4 arrived today and I cannot wait to sharpen something, anything!

I like the idea of turning the leather pouch inside out for a strop. Just 2 questions

Which paste to buy? lots of different colours out there.
If I rub the paste in, will it evaporate? rub off? Should I rub it in now and put it all into a plastic bag, or rub it in on the field when nessesary ?

 

[heath]

I use the Flexcut stuff or Autosol. I've tried toothpaste in the past, but i wouldn't recommend it, it leaves your knife tasting minty fresh but makes a mess of your strop. In my experience stropping is the key. I use my knives mainly for carving and find that if I strop before I start and about every 20 minutes whilst I'm carving, for just a few passes, then i rarely have to take my knife to the stones.

Thank you.

DC4 arrived today and I cannot wait to sharpen something, anything!

I like the idea of turning the leather pouch inside out for a strop. Just 2 questions

Which paste to buy? lots of different colours out there.
If I rub the paste in, will it evaporate? rub off? Should I rub it in now and put it all into a plastic bag, or rub it in on the field when nessesary ?

 

[andy r]

DC4 ...... Good choice, the back is a synthetic saphire ?? which polishes the edge up nicely without the need for stropping, just one little tip, when sitting grinding away at a blade and the results arent coming along as expected, just clean up, put everything away and leave it for a while, experience has proved that anger can be dangerous and lead to mistakes !!

 

[JonathanD]

DC4 ...... Good choice, the back is a synthetic saphire ??

Might be a tad more expensive if it was. It's ceramic, about 2-3000 grit.

 

[andy r]

Might be a tad more expensive if it was. It's ceramic, about 2-3000 grit.

Just read and re-read the advertising blurb on a few different websites...... "made from a special ceramic of synthetic sapphires" so it aint me telling porkies OK