Knife Sharpening ???'s

[Hotspotter]

Over the years I've used everything from a whetstone, to a bench-grinder, to kitchen knife sharpeners, to a stick-style sharpener, and I'm frankly not all that satisfied with any that I've tried. Suffice to say, they all put an edge on there, but with varying degrees of difficulty and time.

There must be an easier way.

Any specific products or sharpening methods you guys use to put a razor sharp edge on there everytime, consistently?

Hopefully this starts a good discussion of what everyone uses.

Joel

[bigdog]

I have tried a few and settled on the Lansky sharpener.

[harvey lee]

Joel,the easier way is to take it to a butcher shop.I have a retired neighbor who will sharpen all my knives for free and this guy can put a edge on knives.

I talked to him about this subject and his answer to me was number one you need to buy the right knife.When it comes to steels you need to buy a good stick style and he states that you will put a edge on there that will be good and stay for awhile.He says you need to spend at least 60 dollars for a good steel.

If you would like to talk to him just shoot me a e-mail and I will give you his phone number and you can get brand names.He knows his stuff.

[yellowsubmarine]

I also use the Lansky system. Another one similar to it is made by Gatco. You get consistent results with both because you are always using the same angle.

[Gissert]

I too use the Lansky. Very good system, but can be a bit time consuming if the blade is in bad shape.

I take my knives to a local pro about twice a year and have him put a really good edge on them. I then follow with regular Lansky sessions after use, and it stays very sharp with little effort.

[New Yankee]

Another Lansky vote. I use crock sticks to keep them sharp between Lansky visits.

[BobT]

One note about sharpening. The angle of attack is very critical. The flatter the angle the sharper you can get it but not without its drawbacks. I sharpened a hunting knife once with a very flat angle and when I got done I could shave with the bugger but the first time I hit bone the blade chipped. It was too thin to withstand any abuse at all. Too steep an angle and it is impossible to obtain a good sharp edge. I am not sure but when I hand sharpen my knives now I like to use about 15-20 degrees. This gives a very sharp result but maintains some level of durability.

Bob

[Froggy4371]

I agree 100 % with NY. I use the lanske with great results and then touch it up time to time with a Crock stick. The Lansky system costs about $30 and the Crock stick about $10.

[love to hunt]

Another vote for Lanske, works great.

[CodyDawg]

A belt sander is fantastic. I know a custom knife manufacturer and this is what he uses. It is easy to do as well, it just takes the right setup. I am not talking about a handheld belt sander, but rather the big ones with a motor and a belt across pulleys of some style.

I havent heard of the lanske system, I will check that out.

[ice_shack]

Lansky is a very nice system but you can accomplish the same thing with a wedge of wood and a whetstone.

You need to look at 2 things:

1. Quality of steel.

2. Type of knife i.e... fillet, utility, skinning

You get what you pay for in a knife, good steel takes a lot of effort to sharpen but holds an edge a long time.

If you used a bench grinder throw the knife away because it will never hold an edge again.

Mostly because you destroyed the temper in the steel by heating it up and cooling it down improperly.

Type of knife determines the angle of the edge. Angle of the edge determines how long it will hold an edge.

Sharper the angle the faster it will dull.

A good hunting knife will have aprox. a 15 deg angle. It won't get razor sharp but it will do its job many times between sharpenings.

So what it comes down to is spend a lot of $ on a motorized sharpener (not the kitchen kind), pay a professional, or a hone with a jig to keep the angle (Lansky system).

[irvingdog]

Do I bother?

Lansky.

Simply amazing. It has restored hundreds of dollars worth of destroyed kitchen knives.

One tip:

Get 2 additional stones with the kit. The absolute most coarse, and the Sapphire (most fine).

[BLACKJACK]

For quick and easy I vote for the electric Chefs Choice, I got it thru Cabelas. I used to have the dullest knives around, I hated to take the time to sharpen them on a stone. Now about once a month I run them all thru there, takes about 5 minutes, and they're sharp enough to cut a tomato. Same with my fillet knives and my Buck, just periodically run them thru. I'd never go back to hand sharpening, I have better things to do with my time.

[89Bronco]

I asked about this topic a couple of years ago and back then just about everyone said "Lansky." It does a nice job.

[almostthere!]

Good steel is the number 1 key to a good knife.

A brother-in-law made a knife from a file some years back for my father-in-law and that knife never needed any sharpening, after the initial sharpening. It is ugly as heck, but it can slice through meat and bone like butter.

[Jim Almquist]

If you already have a good stone you might look at the Razors Edge system.I have had one for 20 years and it works great.It will not get your knive so sharpe you can shave or anything like that but it will put a real nice edge.I also have a Lansky system and a paper wheel and a commercial 3 sided stone that is 18" by 6".The paper wheel is suppose to be great but I have not perfected it so I use the Razors edge alot.