Knife Sharpeners

I've always done my pocket knives on a wet stone then touch them up on steel. I'm not great at it, but it serves the purpose. My dad was really good at it and sharpened his pocket knife every weekend....sharp enough to shave arm hair. I don't have that kind of patience, personally.

So I dug out my old Buck hunting knives in preparation of the upcoming season. One is in pretty good shape and a touch up on the steel will do. The other, however, has some nicks and is need of some TLC.

What are some good knife sharpeners or sharpening systems? I've always heard the Spyderco Tri-Angle Sharpmaker is very good.

What do you all use and recommend?

 

I used to use a Gatco, but have switched to the Work Sharp (I think that's what it's called.) It is the one that use belts-it does a great job with no skill and little effort-time to get it out and do the hunting and butchering knives.

 

My dad sounds a lot like yours. He can sharpen a knife and always cuts a patch of arm hair to check how sharp it is. I just bought the knife from Cabelas that has replaceable razor blades. I like the traditional knives but I don't keep up with the sharpening.

 

I've used the Spyderco sharpener for years. It works well, shaving sharp with gentle pressure. The key is gentle strokes, you don't want too much force.

 

I used to be pretty good with whet stones, but I used to carry traditional pocket knives with much thinner blades (swiss army, Old Timer, Case).

Now that I carry larger lock back knives with pocket clips, and their blades are typically wider, and I can't seem to get as good of an edge by free handing it. I've had good luck with Smiths field system, but now they use diamond hones instead of arkansas stone and the "stones" don't seem to hold up as long. But they still do a pretty good job. I think it's one of the best bangs for the buck.

http://www.amazon.com/Smiths®-Diamo...98&sr=1-2-spell&keywords=smiths+diamond+fielf


I'ave also head really good things about the Spyderco Sharpmaker, but I haven't used one.

I bought a Work Sharp system a couple year ago, but after a ton of practice and time spent reading forums and watching video's I refuse to use it on anything now but tools like hatches, shovels, hoes, and lawnmower blades, all of which it's GREAT at. For a while I was using it on cheap kitchen knives, but I've stopped using it for even that now. It'll get a blade sharp really quick, but it'll also round the tip SUPER quick if you're not careful and then you have to use a stone to re-profile the tip. The edge also doesn't seem to hold very long at all. I've read that the belts actually create something like mini serrations on the blade (like micron microscope small), so it's actually tearing what you're cutting, not slicing. And those mini serrations are so small they eventually snap off, which is why the edge doesn't stand up. I've read that stropping helps with this, but that's not a skill I've tried yet, and it seems to defeat the purpose of a quick and easy sharpening system anyway.

Earlier this year I spent the big bucks on the Edge Pro Apex system, and I'm pretty impressed! It's super expensive, but if you want consistently sharp blades I highly recommend it. There's much cheaper knock-offs available, but those all have issues and I didn't believe in giving money to chinese knock-0ffs when the designer of the Edge Pro is just a small business owner.

http://www.amazon.com/Edge-Pro-Apex...id=1447084528&sr=8-1&keywords=edge+pro+apex+3

 

I used to use a Lansky sharpening system, but switched a year or so ago to a Spyderco Sharpmaker. Very easy to use, resulting in shaving-sharp edges on everything from pocket knives to 8" chef's knives. Most excellent, and it all stores away inside the Sharpmaker case itself.

 

I ordered the Spyderco Sharpmaker. I sat and sharpened my pocket knives on the whetstone just fine last night, but the thicker bladed hunting knives were a bust. I managed to work a few little dings out, but they need lots of work. I think the Spyderco will help a lot.

 

I use a Tormek that I've had for about 15yrs. Does a fantastic job but is pricey unless you have plenty of other stuff that needs sharpening on a regular basis, like planer/joiner blades, chisels, scissors, lathe tools etc.
For those interested, there is a lot of great info about sharpening and knife edges here Knife Maintenance and Sharpening - The eGullet Culinary Institute (eGCI)

 

X2 for the spyderco sharpener but I am a biased spyderco fan

 

+1 for the Spyderco sharpeners...they work well

 

I've never tried using my Spyderco Sharpmaker to bring an abused/dented edge back to life. With the Lansky, you can just use the extra coarse stone to remove metal quickly. I guess I could use the Lansky for rough profiling, then the Sharpmaker for final sharpening.

 

The Spyderco arrived today and I've sharpened two pocket knives and two fixed blade hunting knives already. It works as advertised and I'm impressed!!! I still prefer to hone the edge on good steel afterwards but maybe my technique is what needs honing. LOL

 

Just gently hone on the white sticks, you'll be fine. A leather strop might work also but I'm not going there for my blades.
Hone on the triangle points, feel the abrasion, you'll be good.

 

I've got one more fixed blade to run through it. It may need the least amount of work of all of them.

 

I've used a diamond Lansky for about 25 years now. I purchased an EdgePro after reading how great they were. I tried it and went back to the Lansky.

 

Wow! you had to dig deep for this thread.

I have/use a couple different sharpeners. The Lansky works great on my bestest blades (diamond edition). For kitchen cutlery I use a WorkSharp Ken Onion edition. I use that on our scissors as well.