Thread: Knife sharpening

Originally Posted by shooter74743

I don't have any really nice blades for the kitchen or for carry, just good steel ones. In my kitchen I use a Wusthof set, for my pocket knives it's Case. I like diamonds for both to 1K. At one time I would keep them ultra-keen, but the wife is ultra-rough on edges in the kitchen & a 1K diamond edge is a happy medium for my household.

You let your wife use your kitchen knives?!

Notice that all the responders do something different; there are many roads to sharp. Lately, I have been setting bevels on knives with my DMT 325 and my old/fine Smith diamond hone. Then, depending on the blade, I use a very long/big hone I call "the airport runway" to start doing sets of circles, Japanese-style back and forths, and x-strokes on heavy slurry (just depending on what the blade tells me is working, no real system), gradually diluting and lightening pressure as I go, then finishing up with light x-strokes. This hone, whatever mystery stone it is, is giving me the best knife edges I've ever had:

I'll follow that up with 30-50 brisk back-strokes on a CrOx linen strop to get wicked sharp edges!

On my kitchen knives a light touch up on a Jnat is all that's usually needed... on friends knives on the other hand, I tend to need to start out on the DMTs/Tormek/Plastic Explosives to get them in any knife like shape before the sharpening begins.