Angle Guide for Sharpening

[Dictionary]

I'm looking to purchase a guide i can use to sharpen my knives and hatchets to keep a consistent angle when i sharpen.

I'd like to know what some of the members here use, if any even use them.

Also id like for someone to tell me about my method..

I first attempt to raise a burr on one edge. So i lay the knife flat against the coarse stone and go in circular motions for a few minutes. I tend feel for a burr. If there is a burr, i raise a burr on the other side.

Then i go to the fine stone to remove the burrs entirely? Is that the correct way?

Any better tips on how to feel for the burr? Im not sure im actually feeling it. Sharpening has always been my achilles heel.

[osage outlaw]

I use a Lansky sharpener on my knives and trade points.  It clamps onto the blade so you get a precise angle.  I can't use a stone at all. 

[JW_Halverson]

Similar to the Lansky is the Gatco sharpener...only difference is that the Gatco has wider stones. 

In the last 20 years I have used up two sets of stones and am on my third.  All my friends insist I sharpen all their knives for them anymore. 

[jthompson1995]

For things such as hatchets and lawnmower blades I use my vertical belt sander. I have a Tormek grinder for sharpening everything else (knives, lathe tools, scissors, etc.). It has jigs for holding everything and getting an even grind. It's overkill for some stuff but it sure puts a nice edge on everything.

[Dictionary]

I have had awful luck with all these new sharpening systems........I'm trying to be simple and figure out how some people can  get clean edges with a stone. I was told using a guide to keep a consistent angle is a good tip.

Honestly, i dont think i've used a sharp edge on a tool in a long time. Im consistently using dull tools. We are technically woodworkers....has there been a thread posted where people talk about their sharpening methods? A sharp tool is a safe tool right..

[mullet]

I have several sharpeners, slow belt with a Lansky angle adapter, electric water bath grinder with angle adjustment, paper wheels with carbide chips and one with jewelers rouge( the best) and files, leather stops, ceramics etc.

 Most of the time once you get a good edge with the proper angle, when it gets dull all you have to do is leather strop it to get it back. Meat cutters do the same with irons and barbers with a leather strop.

[Fred Arnold]

On my draw knives, hatchets, axes and most wood tool blades i use the circular motion you described above until I get the burr and then switch to pushing or pulling the stone across the entire edge in long smooth strokes alternating sides and working down to finer grit until polished.

For my knives and broadheads I either work front of blade to rear or visa versa  with a constant angle. Smaller tools like knives and bh's seem to work better drawing the blade across the full length of the stone while with the larger blades held in place with clamps or a vice it's easier to draw the stone across the blade.

Forgot to mention that a 25 degree angle is a good starting point for most tools. I've been sharpening knives for many years (meat cutter by trade) and purchased a KME knife sharpening system a couple years ago. It made the work of establishing and keeping the proper angle much easier. I only use it for knives and 2 blade broadheads.

[Stringman]

I had my grandpa teach me his method a dozen years ago. He was a master meat cutter at the local shop for 20-30 years and knew how to handle a knife. No 2 ways about it, that guy knew his way around a butcher shop. Obviously, he grew up in a time before there were a lot of gadgets for blade sharpening and what he taught me required only a good 2 sided stone, and a steel. Over the years I have acquired my own decent sharpening stones and also an amazing honing stone. The technique I use is similar to what you described, but the blade won't be sharp until you develop the muscle memory to achieve a consistent stroke every time.

To describe it is simple, work one edge until you raise a bur, flip and do the same on the second edge. Continue this while reducing the grit and pressure and you will polish a blade until it is sharp. Like has been said, a leather strop is an excellent maintenance device. If you can't develop consistency without a gadget, don't be proud, go buy one. Nothing worse than being cut with a dull blade, or the ache that develops from over working with one.

Scott

[Dictionary]

Thank you stringman for your helpful post and to the others. Can you tell me your method to feeling when a burr has formed?

[Stringman]

Well you will be able to feel it, but you can also see it. Just hold it in the light and it will shine. Takes a little practice so my advise is to get comfortable and make sure you get a rythim you can maintain. If you have a lot of steel to grind off early you might not get a bur at first. Just go with a dz strokes on each side till you start getting a bur.

If I get a chance I will try to take a pic of the way I hold it.

Scott

[Dictionary]

Hm....okay well it sounds like the burr should be quite obvious then. I keep thinking it is something that is very hard to detect.

More practice is needed though i guess.

[JABK]

I always used arkansas stones, but I recently bought a couple of diamond stones and they are pretty handy.  It takes about 5 times less work to build an edge, but for final honing there is nothing like a good piece of novaculite and a leather strop.  I have japanese water stones I use for broadheads and certain kinds of blades (high-end japanese steel seems like it takes a hone better on them, any thoughts?).  Let me know if I get too pedantic, but when you are honing an edge you are working the steel down to a thickness of, ideally, a couple molecules of steel.  So, I find it helps to visualize the burr being knocked off and leaving a fresh line of molecules.  (Too zen?  You must be the steel, grasshopper... )

Like Stringman said, it takes practice.  I spent a lot of my childhood ruining cheap knives learning the necessary muscle memory, but now I do everything freehand.  Of course, a weird shape like a kukri shoots all of that hard-earned practice in the foot, but keep on practicing.  My suggestion is practice on cheap steel that's not precious to you, or buy a jig.  Jigs are really nice for spokeshave and plane blades, in my opinion.

I don't know if this is advisable, but I drag the edge across my thumbnail to detect the burr and tell when it's sharp.  A truly sharp edge will bite and stick in the thumbnail (just don't put a lot of juice into your testing, you'll lose a nail ).  A burr will feel like, well, a burr: it will kind of jump and rasp across your nail, and never bite in.  A dull blade just glides across your nail.

Good luck.  Sharp tools are one of the small pleasures in life, and dull tools are just really annoying.  You start cutting into a chunk of osage with a truly sharp drawknife and you will wonder how you ever managed to make anything before.

Jack

[spyder1958]

Murry Carter @ Carter cutlery has some good you tube videos teaching good old fashion sharping. DMT also has a good set of diamond stones and guide, a nice small pouch to carry it all in. PLUS you don't need oil to sharpen, use water or dry. I think amazon had a good price. good luck.

[Stringman]

I used to use oil, any more I just spit on it. Works just the same

Scott

[Fred Arnold]

I use kerosene. It's a cheaper alternative and a better carrier. Also works wonders for cleaning your stones after use.