Thread: Need advice on a Honing System

Originally Posted by Knife

Maladroit

What do you mean by dishing? And the gauge your talking about is it imperceptible and would my lapping plate take care of that without too much concern? I did notice grey lines on the stone as I sharpened my knife, when the tip or back end rubbed across the stone, I just figured more metal was coming off because its a weak by virtue of being a point, it wiped off easily with my finger.

Also with your first sentence, I'm left with the impression your thinking was, the 220/1000 stone is better but if your not confident you should get the lankey, or was it both are good but since your not confident you should get the lankey.

Dishing is when a hone becomes worn down more in the centre than on the ends - this happens commonly with the softer water stones and tends to be more pronounced with knife sharpening than with razors. A flat hone is generally regarded as a prerequisite for effective razor honing and honers often run the hone over a diamond plate after a honing session to ensure flatness is maintained. Dishing on a hone exclusively used for knife sharpening is not that much of an issue.

I think that honing systems like the Lansky and the Gatco offer a method of sharpening that takes out the variables that make knife sharpening difficult and therefore I would recommend them. I think for most people, these types of honing jigs will give superior results to freehanding.

I have the lansky Diamond system and have had it for years. For kitchen knives it's great. The only downside it for really big knives it's difficult to use.

Big ones are a pain to apply to stones. I have a really long carbon steel knife I use to slice brisket. I use a DMT knife sharpener in one hand and hold the knife in the other. I apply the DMT to the edge instead of vice-versa. Sort of like an axe or scythe. Then, I follow-up with small hones in progression and usually finish up with a broken Swaty. Maintaining the angle is easy for me that way. YMMV

The rods do pull out yes. Allows for different lengths of stroke for different length knives.

Freehand knife honing takes a while to develop skill, practice and use sharpie ink to mark the edge and test your progress. Use your fingers as a guide, thumb on the away stroke and forefinger on the, to stroke, to keep a consistent angle. Eventually you will not need the finger contact.

All, of the knife jigs work, some better than others. As with any honing the quality of the hone makes a vast improvement on the edge. The inexpensive ones have inexpensive- cheap stones that provide equal results.

With the advent of the Edge Pro and Wicked Edge in the last 5 or so years, a vast selection of quality stones has become available. Interestingly an arms race of high grit stones up to 30K, and Nano grit lapping films to hone knives has ensued.

As said, for all but a few knife applications, a 1k edge is more than enough. Guys on knife forums are going to quality high grit stones, Chosera’s, Shapton and Nubatama, cut and mounted for the Edge Pro and Wicked Edge, and nano grit polishing films, not so much for edge producing capability, but for the look, polish and consistent bevels.

A quick search of the knife forums will give you a good insight into the more popular systems and what is available for them. As with most things, the sky is the limit on pricing.

With a little practice and a good 1k, you can develop the skills to keep your knives very sharp. If you are going to use the same stones for razors and knives, mark them clearly and use one side for razors and the other for knives. If you go with a jig system, you can get great result quickly, but better, easier to use systems can be pricy in the $3-500 dollar range with stones.