Sharpening?

I've been thinking about getting this jig for sharpening http://www.leevalley.com/en/Wood/page.aspx?p=32992&cat=1,43072,43079&ap=1 , but wanted to get some opinions of experienced makers first. What do you guys use for sharping? Please let me know.

Thank you
Joel

 

I don't see any problem with that at all... Myself I prefer fine belts on my 2x72 and honed with a paper wheel and jewellers rouge on the bench grinder BUT that jig is the same principle just more time doing it by hand

 

I would go with a lansky over the the lee valley simply because you can get a wider range of stones for it. I use mine quite a bit for smaller knife touchups. For initial sharpening and larger knives I use my bubble jig and fine belts on my grinder.

 

i would go for the wicked edge if anything.

 

I got something similar, the edge pro apex 4. Lots of different grits. And some high grits as well. I use the belt grinder to get the angle close then this to true it up.

 

I used the sharpmaker for years and it gives great results but its time consuming. Now I use my belt sander to get the bevel set and finish everything up on my ceramic bench stones.

There's just something about free hand sharpening that makes me feel good inside.

 

I get great results on my 1 x 42................I would like to try a good set of stones one day just to see..................

 

Thanks for all the great input guys. But now you've thrown a few more possibilities into the mix so now it'll take me longer to decide.
Cheers

 

Bench stones are nice but a good set is pricy. My spyderco ceramics cost me almost $300 for 3 stones. Some stones are even more money!

I had a set of water stones before the ceramics and I didn't like them at all.

Another option is some fine belts for a belt sander followed by a cork belt with pollish on it.

 

If you have a 1x32 belt sander you can use fine belts and can also buy a 1x32 leather stropping belt with jewellers rouge for it from edge masters. I have this combo and use it on smaller knives and indeed get Razor sharp.

 

can't you do this on your 2x72?

 

Sharpening no problem but I've never looked to see if you could get a leather belt or not. I also use an 8" paper wheel on the bench grinder with jewellers rouge for honing the edge. It works amazing if you know what your doing. As a rule of thumb your cutting edge should be at about the same angle as a match book on end.

 

lots of guys do...............
I made a little jig for my 1 x 42
flip the grinder on its back (grinding away from you ) and its now pre-set at the angle I like to sharpen, the jig keeps your angle degree accurate and blades nice n sharp......

 

My best suggestion I could give is to go jigless. The best way I have found to sharpen a blade is to hold it to a honing stone, file, 1000 grit sanding paper) and angle it till you feel it go flat to your sharpening media. From there go the full length of the blade adding a little pressure to it. Count your strokes and repeat the same process on the other side of the knife blade. Adding some 3in1 oil to it will help flote the removed metal from your sharpening media.

Hope it helps.

 

I used the belt sander recently up to 3000 grit then moved to the buffing wheels. made for an impressive edge but not really practical, normally I just use a diamond stone and sharpen by hand.

 

I've used a Lansky for years. But that's on store-bought knives.

 

I have more shapening media than I can shake a stick at. Being a neanderthal handtool woodworker, keeping plane blades and chisels to an extremely high degree of sharp is very important, and of course this carries over into knives...

For my kitchen knives, I tend to freehand using DMT diamond plates with a bit of mildly soapy water for lubricant. If I have to re-establish a bevel for any reason, I use a 600 grit, and once I can get a nice even burr along the blade edge on both sides I move up to the 1200. Once I can feel a burr with the 1200, I will strop a couple dozen times on horsehide charged with green compound and finally strop a few more times on bare horsehide.

After that, if I am being good and my wife isn't using the knives for tools other than their intended purpose, I just use a knife steel and if I can tell things are getting a wee bit degraded, I just hit the green compound charged strop a little. If the are a bit more degraded, then I go down to the 1200 grit DMT plate and come back up. Again, I only go down to 600 when I rarely need to re-establish a bevel.

I use this basic system on my daily carry pocket knives as well (no knife steel though) and refresh the edge on the strop.

I do have many Japanese water stones through the grits up to 13k as well but I prefer to keep those for my woodworking tools...