Thread: What angle do you sharpen your knives ?

Originally Posted by Steel

How does it cut? Can it shave hair from your arm? Much like a straight razor you have to make sure your bevel is set before you move on. If you can move your fingers along the edge and there is no grab or stickiness I would go back to a lower grit and work some more there before going up. A higher grit may make a smoother bevel/edge but not duller. I wouldn't take my pocket knife and run my fingers along the edge or I would be going to the hospital. Another thought is the Lansky system is relatively cheap and good for starting out.

Thanks steel,

I did go back and reset my bevel on my 325. And I noticed I must have had a bad wired edge that went unnoticed on my previous attempt. After i took back and noticed the wired edge I took it off with some very light finishing strokes on the 325 and it was much better. It's now sharper at the 1000 than it was earlier. And like you said I can't take my finger across it now without cutting myself though it's not shaving arm hair. But it's wanting to grab them a bit now. With a little more practice I think I will get it.

Oh and I reduced the bevel angle to about 20° instead of 25° since this blade probably will be used for field dressing.

Since I free hand sharpen I don't have a clue.

I just free hand sharpened a small Boker Barlow pocketknife last night. Around a 10-15 degree angle. Started at a medium grit synthetic and went to a 1k king to a guangxi stone to crox then feox then a strop and the blade is the sharpest Ive ever seen. I don't know how useful but definitely bragging rights with my friends and family.

Kitchen knives 19-21 degrees and I usually quit at 600. Gives a good durable edge, plenty sharp for kitchen use.

Originally Posted by rlmnshvstr8

I have this one hunting knife I'm trying to sharpen for a friend. I got it honed to 4000 @ around 25 degrees (on each side for a total of 50°). My problem is that it the edge just feels smooth rather than sharp. I can feel it wanting to grab a little bit on a TPT butyou can run a finger like a skate on ice. So I think I either have two problems that I can think of. Either my edge is rounded just slightly. Or too fine at too steep of an angle. When looking at the edge under a loupe. I see a clearly set bevel and nothing that indicates rounding so I'm just a little stuck.

Ha! I have an old hunting knife that fits this description pretty well. I bought it when I was ten or twelve (early 60s) cause it was big, bad, and shiny. As a youngster, I was always able to put an arm shaving edge on all my knives, but not this one! About a year ago I went back to this knife, confident that my greatly improved honing skills would finally get this knife sharp. I got results exactly like your describing. I'm pretty sure it's a steel/temper thing. My knife is made by York Cutlery, Solingen Germany, which I always thought was a good name in knives. I think this was either an early foray into stainless alloys for them, or possibly a forgery.

I hone most kitchen knives at 19 degrees with a 10-15 degree back bevel depending on the use of the knife. I never go beyond 1k and sometimes stop at 600.

For the few high end japanese knives I have honed by hand, they are very low angle.

For hunting knives, I usually do 21-23 degrees with a 15 degree back bevel. Again usually do 1k and sometimes stop at 600.