Knife sharpening systems

**Camus** · Posted On: 6/23/2007 1:09pm

My god, that poor 870, what a travesty.

**Dr. Sleepless** · Posted On: 6/24/2007 2:42am

Originally Posted by hungryjoe

The key to sharpening with a stone is to keep a consistent angle throughout the length of the blade.

Degree of angle depends on your intended use.

Same goes for blade material/hardness.

I'm with Olorin in that I get satisfaction from maintaining a sharp edge. This takes little time if you sharpen often.

Ding! Ding! Ding!

TM · Posted On: 6/24/2007 9:55am

Ding!
DMT makes great diamond stones, but all the little systems to hold the blade at the correct angle lack the heft to do the job with the pressures needed to cut modern steel. Learn how to keep the stone from sliding and hold the blade yourself and it will go a lot quicker and more effective.

**Tonuzaba** · Posted On: 6/24/2007 1:53pm

Originally Posted by Olorin

Ya it might take some getting used to. I happen to like sharping my knives, I find it soothing.

Originally Posted by TM

Ding! DMT makes great diamond stones, but all the little systems to hold the blade at the correct angle lack the heft to do the job with the pressures needed to cut modern steel. Learn how to keep the stone from sliding and hold the blade yourself and it will go a lot quicker and more effective.

Sharpening your own knife indeed is a great way to spend time and a great experience. It has a special "magic" - once it used to be an everyday must, nowadays it's more like a hobby (very few of us actually depend on the knife as the No. 1 means of earning a living/surviving I guess...).

So I went back to trying my Aligner again today.
This time I went through all 3 diamond coated stones from the package:
Coarse 325 mesh, 45 micron, Fine 600 mesh, 25 micron and Extra fine 1200 mesh, 9 micron. The first time I used the set I only used the Fine and Extra fine, thinking my knives weren't that bad off to need all.
But starting with the Coarse stone helped, I think.
I managed to actually get a sharp edge on both the NOKS Smersh 4 and TOPS Tom Brown Jr. Tracker.

One thing that annoys me though is that the knife clamp (which, I understand, is an upgraded version of its predecessor, because it has adjustable width to hold knifes of different blade thickness) repeatedly felt apart while working on the really thick bladed and curved Tracker. The thickness of both knives I sharpened is comparable, yet the Russian blade's got a straight back.

Anyhow, I'm happy that I got the set to work.
Nevertheless I'm looking forward sharpening my knifes with solo stones in future - I view it as the higher level of sharpening, without a set of tools to help you keep the angle...

Thanks for all the input - I hope we can make (and keep) this thread a useful source for its topic.

**Dirty Rooster** · Posted On: 7/04/2007 5:25am

I use a very fine grit abrasive paper from a Russki bomb factory, layered over 1mm leather on a wooden board. All Cheap stuff. I personally get a better edge with that than oil and stone, but I've never knuckled down to really getting the oilstone method to work.