Thread: Hand-honing knives

Guys,

I'd like to learn how to hone my knives freehand. I've always been curious as to how you'd do a good job at this. I'd love to hear your favorite techniques and hone progressions.

Right now I have a nice compliment of DMT hones in XX-coarse, coarse, fine, and extra fine. These will probably be my primary hones. I also have my Belgians, of course, but I don't think the knives will be going near those.

Looking forward to some good advice,
Josh

I do my knives on the blue belgians....they turn out VERY nice.

http://www.japanesechefsknife.com/HowToSharpen.html
http://www.japanesechefsknife.com/HowToSharpen2.html

that's it...

Nenad

Looks like on those two pages he starts off (on the Arato) with spine leading away from him and then the edge leading on the backstroke when honing, rather than the edge leading all the time. And then follows it (on the Shiageto) with a spine leading motion to finish it.

I've honed neither knives nor razors yet, but I was under the impression that the common thing to do is to (almost) always have the edge leading. How common is the spine-leading thing for knives?

You must learn to 'feel' the bevel of a knife blade. Once you can, you can hone any knife. It is not like a razor, where the bevel is set by the spine and you lay her flat with no pressure. I don't really know how to describe the right 'feel', other than there will be a noticeable difference in the drag of the blade across the stone. You will know it when you fee it, trust me. Also, pressure works with knives, to a point. (no pun intended)
Over the years, I've found a Wasita works well for coarse work, followed up with a Hard Arkansas.. You can also use your 4/8 Norton, but use light oil on the knife stones.
When I spent long hours on radio watch while in the Army, I honed a Buck Hunter to the point where it would shave hair off my arm with just a Craftsman two sided hone used dry. Anyone can do it it they will put in the time to learn.
I've always kept the edge leading when honing a knife. I do, however, often strop my knives, always with the spine leading.

That's the part I'm curious about--learning to feel the bevel. Sounds like the only way there is practice.

Do you think it's better to hand-hold the stone, or should I leave it on the workbench? Any other helpful tips?

Thanks,
Josh

Originally Posted by Hawkeye5

I've always kept the edge leading when honing a knife. I do, however, often strop my knives, always with the spine leading.

Hey Hawkeye, do you strop your knives on a hanger? Is this more or less an alternative to steeling them (on a non-abrasive steel solely for alignment, that is)?

I've often wondered.

I cook more often than I shave – – and am fairly good (not great by any means) at honing knives. I use scary-sharp, 300 then 600. Then I have a natural Japanese stone, no idea what type of stone but the thing is beautiful, light grey and blue with flecks and streaks and gashes of orange. It's a good deal faster than a hard ark but feels like honing on velvet. I love that thing.

But I still don't have either a strop or steel for my kitchen knives, which means I'm honing them a lot more often than I should need to.

The Conventional Method and multi-bevel method of this site is what I do.

http://users.ameritech.net/knives/knives1c.htm


Justin

Oh and a good knife steel can extend the life of your knives for a good while. The smoother and harder the steel the better. Using the knife steel just realigns the blade edge .

Justin

I must have clicked the wrong button as my reply is not here.

Josh, you will feel increased resistance when you are on the bevel, that is about the best I can explain the feeling. I hone both by holding the stone and with the stone on a table. Just depends.

I actually use an old hanging strop to strop knives, not the one I use for my razors. I hadn't given much thought to the difference with a strop and a steel. Mostly, I guess, it depends on the steel. I have an old steel given to me by a friend that worked in a packing plant. It is worn completely smooth and I guess it would do about what a strop would do, also perhaps a crock stick. A steel that has abraisive will still leave a rough edge that is not polished, and that is what the stropping does.

There are many different ways to sharpen knives, it boils down to personal prefference and ability. Oil stones, water stones, DMT plates, and crocks, heck even the bottom of a unglased pot can put an edge on a knife... not that you would want to, but it's better than nothing...

Your DMT's listed will get you where you want to be edge wise. Just be aware that any slip up will be harsh on a harder sharpening medium.

Edge leading and spine leading are both different aproaches to the same end. I see spine leading more often with single bevel knives that with bouble beveled ones. However once the bevel and edge are set a standard strop with spine leading is very common.