A question for the knife guys about maintenance

scottmandue · 10-21-2006, 07:41 AM

I have picked up a few Buck knifes over the years and recently (due to your bad influence

) bought a SOG and a Spyderco. I have noticed that all the knifes come new sharp as razor blades but after a year or two they get a little dull. Now the old knifes are still sharp enough to **** you up but not that super "out of the box" sharp. How do I get them back to that condition?

I have one of those ceramic rods in a "V" shape that I use to keep my kitchen knifes sharp. I also have a sharpening steel that came with a set of kitchen knifes that I have been playing with on my chef knifes. And my brother gave me one of those three stone sharpening kits last year for Christmas but I haven't used it.

I also noticed that the new knifes come with a light layer of oil. I have a gun cleaning kit, should I wipe them down with solvent and lubricate them with gun oil (I love the smell of the gun oil

)

Thanks,
Scott

Joeaksa · 10-21-2006, 08:34 AM

I still use an old fashioned whetstone. Actually have three of them. Have done it this way for years and never found anything that works better.

One coarse, then a medium and a fine. The coarse is used only if there is a nick or problem with a knife. The medium is usually started with and if its going to be very sharp then will finish with the fine stone.

If its done right I can shave with a good blade. I test them on my arm and if they will not take the hair off nicely, then they are not sharp.

Joe A

scottmandue · 10-21-2006, 08:40 AM

Sounds like the three stone kit my brother gave me.
My dad had a fine whetstone we used to keep the fishing knife sharp as a razor blade.
Thanks Joe.

Joeaksa · 10-21-2006, 09:04 AM

Scott,

If you want it really sharp, you can do like I was taught as a kid. I worked summers in a nursery, grafting trees and rose bushes. On your knees and grafting long rows of plants and the knife had to be razor sharp.

We took an old piece of leather from a used horses harness. About 2 inches wide and 5-6 long. Used the knife to slice the top part of the leather about 1/4 inch deep for half of the length of the leather. Then put valve grinding compound in the slices. Used it this way the same way that the old time barbers did for their razor, dressing the knife back and forth when needed.

You really could shave with a knife after that but it took a bit of work.

onlycafe · 10-21-2006, 09:39 AM

when you start to use your stones make sure that the angle of blade to stone is kept the same. generally somewhere between 15 to 30 degrees depending on the knife.
do not use vegetable oil as it will clog the stone
happy honing.

Milu · 10-21-2006, 10:40 AM

The easiest option with modern steels is to keep the edge sharp by frequent touch ups and avoid the need for a full sharpening job. All the replies above are great but I would especially point you to Joeaksa's honing technique with the leather, I would only add to be careful how you lift at the end of the stroke not twisting the blade. Almost as good is using a mousepad with very fine grit sandpaper or the back of a notepad. I've e-mailed you some notes which expand a bit on the topic.

scottmandue · 10-21-2006, 01:29 PM

Wow, great write up Milu, Thanks!

WolfeMacleod · 10-21-2006, 03:33 PM

Another thing to look out for -
drag your fingernail along the edge. If you feel your nail catching or dragging, your edge is not sharp - lots of little nicks.

Hugh R · 10-21-2006, 04:03 PM

Hold the blade towards you in the sunlight and look at the edge, you'll see more reflection where its duller (sunlight rays are very parallel due to the distance, versus a light bulb.)

masraum · 05:25 PM

I've used stones in the past, but I'm just not consistent enough to be able to always get the blade perfect that way. I use the Lansky sharpening system, and get my blades shave sharp everytime. The nice thing about the Lasky is that the thing gives you a consistent angle which I find to be the hardest part about using a stone.

http://www.lansky.com/products/systems/standard.html

I'd like to get the diamond kit to speed things up a bit. I have Benchmade knives in ATS-34 and D2 tool steel with a RC of 59-61. It takes forever to get anywhere with the fine on blades that hard.

alf · 10-21-2006, 05:33 PM

Stropping like Milu and Joe mentioned above will keep the edge sharp without changing the edge and keeps the knife sharp. I use an old leather belt, and will have to try Joe's valve grind idea.

For stones, i use Japanese water stones. I do not generally like the edge geometry of most commercial knives and modify them with these stones. They will not look pretty afterwards but work much better as tools.

Milu · 10-22-2006, 01:35 AM

Japanese waterstones are considered the Rolls Royce of sharpening stones.

BlueSkyJaunte · 10-22-2006, 07:17 AM

LOL...there are sooooo many levels to that metaphor.

Alf do you do togi work?

I get by with a leather strop (back in the day when I had hours of free time I used a straight razor instead of a safety razor) and a couple of stones as well. One's even Japanese...but for some reason I keep wanting to pick up a Lansky. I think I'm inherently lazy.

alf · 10-22-2006, 07:42 AM

Nope, i do not do j-sword polishing; I leave that to the professionals. The waterstones are for my pocket and kitchen knives. Gets them scary sharp. My wife often complains that the kitchen knives are too sharp and unsafe.