Knife sharpeners

[tddeangelo]

That's one reason I got the worksharp.

My everyday knife has S30V steel, which holds its edge well. It's also a son of a gun to sharpen, too. The WorkSharp does a nice job on it.

 

[hereinaz]

I use a cheap four side diamond block from harbor freight and a piece of leather belt glued to a board and load half with white aluminum oxide and the other half with jeweler's rouge.

The first time takes me about 20 minutes, then after never more than five. Often, it takes just a few passes on the strop. Only five minutes if it has done some serious work...

The key is learning to put a wire edge on one side along the whole blade, then switch to the other side of the blade.

Repeat for every grit, finishing with a polish on the strop to take off the finest wire edge

It leaves it razor sharp every time.

 

[truck driver]

Just like some rifles some knife sharpeners aren't for everyone so get something that works for you.

 

[Dr. Vette]

I have the Lansky 5 stone Deluxe as well, and used it today to sharpen 3 hunting knives of a friend. I watched him hack his way through a deer a few weeks ago, and couldn't bear the thought of watching him do it again this week when we try for late season doe.

I added the blue Super Sapphire polishing stone as well, and use that for final finish on nicer knives.

 

[jimbires]

I have a Lansky sharpener and really like it. It can take sometime to correct improper angles on the edges or severely used knives, but once you get the edges right touch-ups only take a few minutes and the knife is back in business. One thing I bought extra that really helps is the Super C clamp they sell so you can attach it to a bench, table, or counter. It makes the who process a lot easier and simpler.

David

this is I think my problem with my two hunting knives . it's like they only sharpened the very 1/16" edge of the blade . a while ago a guy told me to color my blade with a sharpie to see where the stones were hitting . I don't think I've messed with them to check this . I gotta get the knives back out and mess with them a little more .

 

[jimbires]

Jim, I use a pliers to change Havalon blades. I don't think I'd spend the money on a tool to do it when a pliers, or better yet a vice grips, would do the trick.

I use the Barracuta (fillet knife) for most of my butchering work. I also have the smaller Piranta. The smaller one is the nastier one for changing blades, but the pliers seems to do the job nicely.

I use a WorkSharp Ken Onion for everything else and am pleased with it. I actually resharpened Havalon blades with it, believe it or not. Didn't want to put on a new blade to skin, so I slicked up the dull one on the knife and went to work.

Tom , I have the piranta . I'll try pliers next blade swap . I never thought to try to sharpen these blades . I've just been tossing them .

 

[SJB358]

Another vote for a Havalon as well. I use the 60A blades on mine and 1 blade with skin and quarter an entire elk very easily. I do carry a good folding Buck for other tasks but the Havalon gets the majority of work.

 

[salmonchaser]

HereinAz makes a good point.
I don't recall everything Col. Cooper said a man should learn to do. I do know I've achieved most of the list, even landing a plane.
The point being technology, as rudimentary as it appears on the surface has greatly changed our skill sets. Correctly operating a Ken Onion belt sharpener vs an Arkansas stone and a leather strop. I'm retired now, we'll sort of. Going to visit my ailing father today, bet he still has his Arkansas stones. The leather strop, Mom threw that away years ago, after all us boys had moved out. It's alternative use being appropriate for boys but not young ladies.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[jmad_81]

I carry a Havalon in my back as well. Apparently I'm a bit aggressive with it as I seem to break a blade every time I use it. I like the replaceable blade concept a lot. A buddy of mine runs an Outdoor Edge knife (swing blade I think) and I like that design a bit better than the Havalon. It seems more "Jake proof" if you will.

I think I'm going to get a small set of the Lansky to try first. If it doesn't do what I like, I'm out $35-$40 as compared to $140 with the KO Worksharp.

 

[tddeangelo]

Jim, I use a pliers to change Havalon blades. I don't think I'd spend the money on a tool to do it when a pliers, or better yet a vice grips, would do the trick.

I use the Barracuta (fillet knife) for most of my butchering work. I also have the smaller Piranta. The smaller one is the nastier one for changing blades, but the pliers seems to do the job nicely.

I use a WorkSharp Ken Onion for everything else and am pleased with it. I actually resharpened Havalon blades with it, believe it or not. Didn't want to put on a new blade to skin, so I slicked up the dull one on the knife and went to work.

Tom , I have the piranta . I'll try pliers next blade swap . I never thought to try to sharpen these blades . I've just been tossing them .

I can only get away with it with the longer fillet blades.

By the way, the fillet knife (Barracuta) ROCKS for butchering. You can bend the fillet blades fairly hard and not bust them. I fillet off the silver skin from backstraps and such really well with them. I ran out of 60A blades for my Piranta and used a 22T for the last deer. That was a pain, lol, and busted the first one I used because I'm used to the fillet blades.

For me personally, if I had to own ONE and ONLY ONE knife for processing deer, I'd pick a Barracuta from Havalon. And...now they make one that has two folders in one. One end takes the 22/60 blades like the Piranta, the other takes the fillet/boning/saw blades like the Barracuta. That makes a tone of sense to me. I'd be all in for one if I didn't already have them separately.

I use a Kershaw ZipIt Pro for field dressing and the Havalon to process the animal. I can do the entire deer with the Havalon, except for grinding the trim meat.

With the WorkSharp, I can sharpen the fillet blades relatively well. Enough to take one dulled from processing a deer and make it suitable for skinning the next one. Then I toss it and get a new one when it's time to get down to boning/trimming.

The pliers will make you feel a lot more at ease with blade changes. I agree, done by hand, it's pretty easy to see how a blade change could turn into an ER trip.

 

[jimbires]

I misspoke yesterday . Denise's sharpener kit is also the knockoff by Gatco . her kit is stone and has ex- course , course , medium , fine , and a serrated which looks to be ceramic . mine is the diamond kit . it has course , medium , fine , and the serrated ceramic . I also bought the ex-fine which looks to be ceramic . my havalon piranta uses the 60XT blade . I did buy a box of 22XT that are supposed to fit it . I like the shape of the 60XT blades better . I've thought about getting a Barracuta for butchering .

these knives both stayed sharp for a long time . I'm not sure if these are a hard metal to sharpen .
this is one of the knives that I'm haveing a hard time sharpening .

http://www.cabelas.com/product/cabela-s ... QAWidgetID

this is the other .

http://www.cabelas.com/product/hunting/ ... rPage%3D48

 

[jimbires]

Jmad-81 , sorry for hijacking your thread in my last couple replys .

. if you have any serrated blades look at them . my blade has rounded serrated notches . the serrated stone that comes in the gatco kits are pointed so it doesn't really fit the rounded notches in my blade at all . so I've been using one of the ceramic sticks from an old smith brand sharpener . like this one .

https://americanboatoutfitters.com/delu ... DQodj24CIw

maybe lansky or gatco sells rounded stones for serrated blades .

 

[hereinaz]

Replacable blades are an awesome convenience. Make it easy and fast. They are awesome. I've considered them, but have so many knives I like to use.

The OP asked about sharpeners. I have talked with some who have a Lansky system, and though they "follow" the directions they never have success.

Whatever system you use, learn how to put on the wire edge, and you can make a razor sharp knife. It is the foolproof way I discovered after years of trying. No system worked, no angle, no specific motion, no stone, etc... it was learning about and finding that wire edge. Boy, the first time I sharpened a knife that way took all the "magic" out of it...

The wire edge is proof you have sharpened that side all the way to the edge. If you don't know about, and don't make the wire edge, you leave some blunt edge there. Almost sharpened doesn't cut it....

Butchers worked on entire cows, repeatedly without having to sharpen their blades. So, you don't either. There is no need in the normal course to really sharpen a good knife during the course of skinning and gutting. Boning may require a touch up. Of course, they had a skill set we don't.

But, butchers would "steel" their , because the fine thin cutting edge rolls over, and running the knife on the steel would straighten the razor edge back up. Stropping can have a similar effect.

Learn about sharpening, or even the best set might do nothing for you.

Now, a belt system works better, simply because it takes off so much so fast and gets it sharpened all the way to the edge without much effort. That also means a lot of the knife ends up on the floor. The heat can also ruin a blade.

 

[jmad_81]

Jmad-81 , sorry for hijacking your thread in my last couple replys .

.

Not a problem at all.

Replacable blades are an awesome convenience. Make it easy and fast. They are awesome. I've considered them, but have so many knives I like to use.

The OP asked about sharpeners. I have talked with some who have a Lansky system, and though they "follow" the directions they never have success.

Whatever system you use, learn how to put on the wire edge, and you can make a razor sharp knife. It is the foolproof way I discovered after years of trying. No system worked, no angle, no specific motion, no stone, etc... it was learning about and finding that wire edge. Boy, the first time I sharpened a knife that way took all the "magic" out of it...

The wire edge is proof you have sharpened that side all the way to the edge. If you don't know about, and don't make the wire edge, you leave some blunt edge there. Almost sharpened doesn't cut it....

Butchers worked on entire cows, repeatedly without having to sharpen their blades. So, you don't either. There is no need in the normal course to really sharpen a good knife during the course of skinning and gutting. Boning may require a touch up. Of course, they had a skill set we don't.

But, butchers would "steel" their , because the fine thin cutting edge rolls over, and running the knife on the steel would straighten the razor edge back up. Stropping can have a similar effect.

Learn about sharpening, or even the best set might do nothing for you.

Now, a belt system works better, simply because it takes off so much so fast and gets it sharpened all the way to the edge without much effort. That also means a lot of the knife ends up on the floor. The heat can also ruin a blade.

Sounds like I have some more reading to do so I can learn what I need to be doing before I make much of an investment. I feel like right now, I know enough to screw it up. Thanks for the advice.

 

[truck driver]

Back in the 1960's Yeah back in the day we had a water wheel that you turned by hand or if you had a fancy one you could sit on a seat and pedal it to turn to get the wire edge and then finish it off on a bench stone to get it hair popping sharp.
My one sister's boy friend was in the Navy assigned to the Forestall Air Craft carrier. He showed me how the Navy taught them to sharpen a knife with a bench stone and I could also get the hair popping edge with one of those also. The new sharpeners just makes it easier and faster for some and for some a faster way to ruin a good blade.
You have to learn to get the wire edge on both sides and then using a fine stone polish it off drawing the edge into the stone

 

[DON]

I could never get my Buck knives sharp as I wanted until I bought the Lansky 5-stone set up. They are like razors now. But I will say hunting Elk with my nephew in Colorado introduced me to the replaceable blade system that looked impressive!!

Don

 

[jmad_81]

I could never get my Buck knives sharp as I wanted until I bought the Lansky 5-stone set up. They are like razors now. But I will say hunting Elk with my nephew in Colorado introduced me to the replaceable blade system that looked impressive!!

Don

I also decided to go the route of the Lansky 5 stone set up. I have done three knives with it this weekend. I will say that it will deffinately get a knive very sharp. It does deffinately take some time to get the initial edge how you want but I think that the next sharpening will go much quicker. You won't be setting any sort of record for sharpening a bunch of knives per hour thats for sure. That wasn't to big of an issue for me. I have very much enjoyed sitting by the fire sipping on a cocktail and sharpening a knife an evening.

I think that if I was going to go do all my kitchen knives I would go a different route. I don't know how well the Lansky would work on the longer kitchen knives. I have a few of my very low end butcher knives I'll give it a try on and see what happens.