Sharpening Tools, Jigs and Methods - What's your process?

[Davefr]

What do you all use for sharpening knives, chisels, misc. blades, etc? How do you get super sharp edges? There are a gazillion methods and supplies. Is there any consensus on what's "best"?

There are:
- Traditional oil stones
- Japanese water stones
- Diamond plates
- Arkansas stones
- Sand paper and granite surface plates
- Various paste/leather
- Belt sanders
- Grinders (wheel and surface)
- Specialty sharpeners, jigs, fixtures.

 

[tubamonster]

I use the Spyderco ceramic stones. I highly recommend them. My only complaints are that they don't offer a 3 inch wide medium and fine stone to sharpen hand plane blades. I also wish they offered a course stone. I would just get a DMT coarse stone to supplement them.

As for jigs, I do mostly freehand. I do use a cheap jig for chisels and handplanes, but I only freehand sharpen knives. It would be better to use a jig, but I haven't found one that I like.

BTW, you can get good results with a Lansky, but it takes way too long. I've spent 2 hours on one knife with the extra course stone and it still didn't remove minor dings in the edge.

 

[tubamonster]

As far as what's best, you will get a lot of different answers. I'm into knives so there are a few resources I can recommend.

The first is The Razor Edge Book of Sharpening by John Juranitch. Some people don't like it, but the methods in the book yield a hair splitting edge with little time invested and minimal equipment.

The second is Leonard Lee's The Complete Guide to Sharpening. This book covers how to sharpen just about any hand tool.

The final resource I recommend is John Verhoven's knife sharpening experiments, which downloaded online. Just do a Google search for it.

Ultimately, it isn't what abrasive you use. It's your technique. A jig certainly helps get a fine edge. I don't care what some people say, you can't achieve the same perfection freehand as you can with a jig. That's not to say you can't achieve excellent results with freehand sharpening, but even freehand sharpening will have a slight variation in the angle.

 

[Ainsley]

I use a 1x42" belt sander. I can put a razor edge on just about anything. Start as low as the edge needs to remove any damage, usually 400 or more than about 6 or 8 steps up to a leather belt loaded with black then green compound.

 

[cgrutt]

I freehand my kitchen and EDC knifes on Norton wet stones. I think they are 200, 1000, 4000 and 8000. Usually just use the 4000 and 8000. Rarely use the 200 on knifes.

I bought a sweet Belgium coticule for straight razors. Haven't really gotten into it yet and find myself finishing most knifes on it.

I prep woodworking chisels and plane blades on the Norton stones but use a Tormek machine to sharpen these. I use the Tormek with jigs. Done a few knifes on the Tormek but don't like putting a hollow ground on my knifes or the way curved tips come out so I don't use it for knifes anymore.

Lee Valley Tools has some nice jigs for stones.

I'd like to add a nice set of diamond stones one day but want the full size stones and haven't gotten around to it yet. I know some people who swear by diamond stones and ceramic but haven't tried it yet. They seem to get good results.

 

[tubamonster]

Some more thoughts:
I stayed away from diamond stones because I was afraid they would wear out. This is unlikely, but I have heard that they can wear out. They may last a lifetime, but they won't outlast my Spyderco ceramic stones. I've heard that you should only buy Eze Lap or DMT diamond stones.

I decided not to go with any type of oil stone because of the mess. Natural oil stones such as Arkansas stones are also slow. There are also synthetic oil stones, but I have no experience with them.

Using oil with a stone is a bad idea except for maybe the extra coarse stone. Juranitch covers this in his book. The oil suspends particles that contact the edge when sharpening causing the edge to dull.

I have no experience with water stones. Water stones can be cheap (King Stones) and be effective. The problem is that you need a bucket of water or a kitchen sink to use them. Obviously, corrosion is a factor with water. Water stones are raved about by many, but they are not convenient to set up. They are quick from what I've read and come in extremely fine grits. They also require a lot of maintenance to keep them flat. Water stones may work for some, but the maintenance, quick wear, and mess steered me away from them.

The Spyderco ceramic stones don't require flattening. They are easily cleaned with any ordinary eraser when clogged. They cut fast, but not as fast as a diamond stones. As with diamond stones, they don't require any lubrication. The Spyderco ceramic stones are also cheaper if I recall correctly than diamond stones.

For final finishing, an edge needs to be stropped. Being on a limited budget, I have little experience with this. However, If you don't have anything else, Mother's Aluminum Mag & Aluminum Polish on cardboard will polish the edge. It seems sharper, but I have no evidence to back this up.

There are other methods of sharpening such as paper wheels. I've heard that these take metal off too quickly. I have gotten a quick, sharp edge using an MDF wheel and green polishing compound, so they should work.

If you're looking to just do knives, the Wicked Edge and the Edge Pro are excellent choices. Being limited to knives, I chose bench stones. Someone on Blade Forums did a comparison and found that the Edge Pro gives the most consistent edge of any system if I remember correctly. The Edge Pro is also cheaper than the Wicked Edge.

I'm no expert, but I hope that what I've posted is helpful.

 

[tubamonster]

I have used the "Scary Sharp" method to sharpen woodworking tools. This uses sandpaper on a flat surface such as a granite plate. It seems to go through sandpaper quickly, but it will work. You may have to hassle with spray adhesive for this method. From my experience, good sandpaper is not cheap. Paul Seller's had a post on his blog about this. He said it's the cheapest way to start sharpening, but the most expensive way to continue sharpening. I would agree from my limited experience.

 

[zkling]

For non special knives, axes, and the like I typically use my shop built 2x72 KMG style belt grinder, slow speed, water drip. Finish off with a leather belt and green compound. Puts on a wicked, slightly convex edge.

For smaller, more delicate knives I have a few jigs, primarily a homebuilt version of the edge pro system that I can load anything from die stones to glass plate and sand paper on.

Drill bits usually get done on the bench grinder fine stone, need a hard edge to work against as to not round over the cutting edge. If it is really rough or broken I'll start on the belt then finish on the stone wheel.

For blades that need to be flat such as chisles and plane irons I use a piece of glass, water and sandpaper up to 2K. Clamp the blades in a roller angle guide for consistency. It goes without saying you need to drag the blade backwards across the sandpaper as to not peel it off the glass.

Metal lathe tools, end mills, boring bars and the like get roughed on the belt sander, finished on the 6" bench grinder and then honed by hand with a number of die stones.

*I used to be **** about sharpening. For a number of years I consistently had a patch of hair missing from my right arm.


As for "best"... sharpening is all about angle consistency and surface refinement. How you get there is up to you. A $20 tri stone or a $2000 fixtured grinder, the principle is the same.