Sharpening Devices

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Hunt it
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Re: Sharpening Devices

Post by Hunt it »

Hi,
I do not find the blades soft at all. Sure the edge chips up on bone but we are talking surgical blades here very thin and scary sharp. If you don't do heavy bone work with it you are fine. It takes me two blades to skin, cape and cut up an entire moose. I'm more than fine with that. They re sharpen real nice on a diamond. One of my hunting group has a paper wheel and he takes all of our dull blades and re sharpens them at end of our moose hunt. As for the power tool, a no no for good blades for sure. Yes, custom knife makers use power to sharpen but these guys know way more about the steel they make than you and I. If your talking the run of the mill buck knife that's disposable then sure grind away if it turns your crank. You can wear down ruin those blades just as easy with a Ready Edge carbide sharpener and it will sharpen all your knives just as good as any grinder or belt. The carbide eats steel but on cheap knives and broadheads who cares as long as it's sharp. The Ready Edge is the only sharpener I have ever found that will resharpen the real German Kenetics - Silver Flames which are high quality, high Rockwell German stainless. If you insist on power get yourself a good paper wheel set up. For all my custom blades it's a DMT diamond stone for me.
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Re: Sharpening Devices

Post by newbie »

Hunt it.... just curious what do you think paper wheels are? A power tool no? Both the work sharp and paper wheels are a power tool just different mediums.
In one sentence you say no to power tools in the other you advocate them.
Paper wheels are just another power tool and will ruin a knife just as fast as a mini belt grinder will if improperly used.
As i stated learn to use it right and it will do less harn then the carbide sharpener you are also using.
Any powered device will destroy a blade. If ysed properly they all will do what they are designed.
I use my work sharp for all my broadheads as well. Does a fantastic job.

Nope im sure i dont know as much as the person who made my knives about the steel used. But i can attest i know how to sharpen them with a power tool. :wink:
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BrotherRon
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Re: Sharpening Devices

Post by BrotherRon »

I use one of these.


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Hunt it
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Re: Sharpening Devices

Post by Hunt it »

When I was referring to power tools and no no - I was referring to your Work Sharp or any other belt/grinder. A paper wheel in the right hands does not remove material at the speed a belt or grinder does. And yes I said the carbide will ruin knife, if it is a cheap knife who cares as long as it did the job for a few years, for the challenged it is quick fix and for those in the field. The big issue here is that many are sharpening challenged at best to say the least. These individuals constantly seek the Holy Grail of sharpening tools and are easy pray for every new gizmo sharpener. You and I both know more than a few that have bought many of these devices and at best can only make thier knives duller.
Learning how to use a good diamond or stone is not that hard but 95% of people use way too much pressure than what is needed. If angle is the problem and they need a guide then the KME or Lansky will help them. Power is only good in the hands of those that are skilled at it the rest just grind away and ruin blades. I' will consider you one of the skilled minority.
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Re: Sharpening Devices

Post by newbie »

A work sharp in the right hands doesnt remove a ton of material but it most definitely can. Like I previously stated the belts are too coarse in the package especially for the ones seeking the Grail. I seldom use anything lower then a 600 grit, I mainly use my well worn 6000 unless the blade is chipped.

I learned on stones and still use them but found i enjoy doing other things with my time.
Any power tool again will do its job if you take the time to learn to use it as in anything. Whatever your posion, paper or belts. If not they all will eat every 5 dollar blade thrown at it then the 600 dollar ones for desert.

One thing i will never use is a carbide they eat blades and i respect 5 dollar knives enough not to use one on them.

Problem is most dont want to learn the sysytem they have, why or how it works. They just want sharp and now.
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ThackMan
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Re: Sharpening Devices

Post by ThackMan »

Hunt it wrote:When I was referring to power tools and no no - I was referring to your Work Sharp or any other belt/grinder. A paper wheel in the right hands does not remove material at the speed a belt or grinder does. And yes I said the carbide will ruin knife, if it is a cheap knife who cares as long as it did the job for a few years, for the challenged it is quick fix and for those in the field. The big issue here is that many are sharpening challenged at best to say the least. These individuals constantly seek the Holy Grail of sharpening tools and are easy pray for every new gizmo sharpener. You and I both know more than a few that have bought many of these devices and at best can only make thier knives duller.
Learning how to use a good diamond or stone is not that hard but 95% of people use way too much pressure than what is needed. If angle is the problem and they need a guide then the KME or Lansky will help them. Power is only good in the hands of those that are skilled at it the rest just grind away and ruin blades. I' will consider you one of the skilled minority.

Exactly.
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flightattendant100
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Re: Sharpening Devices

Post by flightattendant100 »

BrotherRon wrote:I use one of these.


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Bet it work well tho.
bubba
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Re: Sharpening Devices

Post by bubba »

I'm with you on this Newbie. I have been using a work sharp for years, once you learn how to use it properly i find it's the fastest and safest to use. So i can move on to other interests, i also have diamond D.M.T. stones of varies grits, along with a few stropping leathers and compounds to maintain a good edge during a long skinning and meat processing chore. To each his own.
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Re: Sharpening Devices

Post by 8ball »

Depends on how much money you want to spend-I have a lot of sharpeners-the best to me is the wicked edge-the one sharpener that can truly get a knife scary sharp,I've heard all the stories about how sharp people can get them on stones free hand,1x30 belt sharpeners,I have tried them all,and still own a few,but I've never been able to get a knife as sharp as a wicked edge gets it-if you want to get by cheap get a harbor frieght 1x 30 belt sander,a leather stropping belt a couple of differant grit belts and you can get them very sharp,but it is a powered sharpener and you can ruin knives with any powered sharpener,plus you will never get the same angles repeatably-I'm not saying you can't get them sharp other ways- but with the wicked edge it is repeatable time and time again,ck them out-like I said they are quite spendy but I think well worth it-if you are going to just sharpen you hunting knife once or twice a year don't look at them,but if you sharpen quite a few it is well worth it,plus they have several models and you can add stones or strops as you go-well thats enough hot air from me-good luck with what ever you choose,and be careful!
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blue360cuda
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Re: Sharpening Devices

Post by blue360cuda »

If you want the most idiot proof way to sharpen a knife and get super SCaRY sharp edge I highly recommend the edge pro apex. It's a little bit of an investment but I've been very happy using it for 2-3 Yrs now. The most important thing about it is the stones edge pro sell with it are total trash, junk, don't bother. If you decide to get the edge pro go check out the website chef knives to go .com. They sell a edge pro "essentials" kit that comes with some sweet goodies to make
Your life easier and the Shapton Glass stones. Those are the ticket. I got the kit with 500,1000,4000 and got an extra 8000 grit. They're amazing stones, splash and go so no soaking. Cut amazingly fast and don't load up, leave a beautiful edge. If you want you can skip the 8000 and just get a nice leather strop. The best stop I've found is from a guy who makes by hand. Website is stropman.com. I gots the "4-stroke" and love it

Now recently I decided to get some jap water stones for broad heads mainly but have tried sharpening more knives freehand and they're awesome too just takes some practice. To get into it id recommend a King 1000/6000 combo stone, cheap on Amazon like 25 bucks. I recently got a Shapton Pro 1000 and it is much much faster at removing material than the king 1000 side but the king 6000 leaves a great mirror polish hair popping edge. Then you strop.

If I had to buy it all over now I would get the Edge Pro Apex essentials kit that comes with the 120grit diamond stone and the 500, 1000, 4000 grit shapton glass stones. recently got the 120 diamond and holy cow it cuts super super fast which saves your 500 grit some work/life then the 500 and 1000 clean up the edge nicely and 4000 is plenty sharp, strop if you want more.
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Hi5
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Re: Sharpening Devices

Post by Hi5 »

Thanks folks for the replies. There was a lot of useful information here. The Edge Pro makes my Lansky type sharpeners look like a tinker toy.

When i get to the city, I'm going to look hard at the Work Sharp. Just might pick up an Outdoors Edge knife, just for the heck of it, and give it a try.

(I won't dispose of used blades. I'll sharpen them on my Work Sharp.) :mrgreen: :mrgreen:
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Re: Sharpening Devices

Post by SEC-ond 2 none »

I have the Work Sharp KO edition and i really like it. It takes some practice, on old blades, to use it properly which is why its not for everyone. I sharpen my pocket knives, to my 16" bowie and everything in between. I have "User Knives" which are not expensive but are not cheap. BTW, if you purchase the W.S. get an assortment of extra belts.
Just my opinion stated.

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Boo
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Re: Sharpening Devices

Post by Boo »

This is what I use. But I finish it off with a good fine steel.
https://www.spyderco.com/catalog/details.php?product=77

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Re: Sharpening Devices

Post by newbie »

Boo wrote:This is what I use. But I finish it off with a good fine steel.
https://www.spyderco.com/catalog/details.php?product=77

Image

Image
Thats a good system too. If you need to fix chips etc with that i would reccomend the diamond rod upgrade.... just saves some time.
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blue360cuda
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Re: Sharpening Devices

Post by blue360cuda »

I used the lansky system for many many years, tried so many different types of stones they offered and was never happy. I always ended up using wet/dry auto sand paper up to 2500 grit and just cut off strips and wrapped around the stones. Ya overall the lansky kind of stinks. The edge pro is very sweet. As i said though, make sure you go through the chef knives to go .com website and get the "essentials" kit with those shapton glass stones. night and day dif from lansky. Never used wicked edge but heard some good things. Ill stick with edge pro and play around free hand with my new jap water stones too.

whatever you do though be sure to get a decent strop or make one, old belt, heck even cardboard with some compound works. You can get your edge "scary" sharp by stropping after using your stones/diamonds or whatever. But the key is stropping afterwards often, it keeps the edge super sharp and really cuts down how often you need to take a stone to it, saves time and knife steel.
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15.5" Spinal Tapp double wall bolts, Grizzly 125g single bevel heads, 75g titanium tuff head adapters, 125g brass inserts
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Shadow zone

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