Knife Sharpening

Easy: buy a set of stones with angle system.

Autism: practice until you can do it all by hand somewhat well.

Also, the number of stones is directly related to how practical and fine you want things to be - for example, one for removing a lot of material, one for smoothing away any marks the first stone leaves and finally a high-grit stone for polishing the blade.

>>816502
you go from a low grit stone, to a high grit stone, to an ever higher grit stone. may i suggest a soft arkansas for the high grit and a medium or hard arkansas for a higher grit. you can use diamond stones too, i like those a good bit, and theyll pretty spell out for you what grit they are

if you dont know shit about sharpening, dont practice on knives you like. you will eventually know what angles you want for sure.

dont do easy mode on >>816504
if i saw someone using that crap, i would laugh at them all day long

intended task determines angle and grit

>>816502
I use a 180/280 stone for my 60HRC Mora.
When I grinded the chips away I take a 1200 Stone and the fine work. At last I strop it.
For Normal grinds I use a 10 € Victorinox dual sharpener with a strap of leather glued onto it. Works perfectly.

The best general purpose stone is the Norton IB8. It really is the only stone you need.
But having finer or coarser ones is nice too.

>>816502
I use 400 grit for slight nicks in the blade.
Then 1000 so the blade actually cut stuff.
Then 5000 so the blade cuts really well. You can stop here.
Because I'm autistic and sharpening relaxes me, I then use a 10k grit for a perfect mirror finish, and finally, leather strop with blue Dialux

240 / 800 / 1500

240 or thereabouts is needed for blunt edges and reprofiling

800 or thereabouts will bring back a dulled edge quickly and is fine enough to put a paper slicing edge on

1500 or similar as a finishing stone, not necessary depending on the knives, but useful to have a higher grit to maintain an edge on.

I use whatever

It all works

You just don't get the polished look without the higher grits

File: lansky crock sticks.jpg (36KB, 500x496px) Image search: [Google]

36KB, 500x496px

>>816502
>how many stages of sharpening is best
All of them and you get the perfect mirror finish with minimal effort. If you don't enjoy shapening, forget the mirror finish.

800 diamond and a fine arkansas stone for finishing is what I use. I believe proper stropping is more important than the grit of the last fine stone. Stropping is not necessary, but you can easily build a stropping paddle out of a piece of wood and a piece of leather. Just glue it on, add some stropping paste and there you go.

>What about non-scandi blades?
Crock sticks with two sets of rods. For reprofiling expensive knives you should consider some guided sharpening system, I just don't know which one.

I have Lansky knife sharpening system and it's not good. I had to use a lot of tape to make a full flat grind knife "flat" and build a "cardboard angle measuring device" just to get the angle right. The whole thing is flimsy and useless for small knives because of stupid design. That being said I have sharpened a couple knives with it and I was happy with results.

If your knives are cheap, create less than 20 degree angle by hand and then use crock sticks for that perfect 20 degree angle. If you're not sure about the angle, use a sharpie to paint the bevel, pull both sides carefully through crock sticks and look where the black disappeared.

One last thing. Whatever the grit or sharpening tool, always use more force in the beginning and less towards the end. It makes the stone work like a slightly finer stone.

>>816509
>laugh at them all day long

Autism is a curse, no doubt.

What is it you think stoning by hand does that an angle system doesn't? Say a Spyderco Sharpmaker.

>>817109
Tradition and feel good is what I'd say, and then you've learned the skill. So if you had to out in the little boonies OP you could sharpen that

>>817109
>What is it you think stoning by hand does that an angle system doesn't? Say a Spyderco Sharpmaker.

Not being limited to some arbitrary angle for one.

And the ability to actually re-profile a damaged edge.

The fact that you needed someone to tell you this makes you a fucking idiot.

>>816502
Sandpapers

After seeing a Mexican sharpen a putty knife, sandpaper is the way to go for cheap.

>>816502

Hi Op,

knifemaker here.

I have a sweet collection of whetstones, but I don't take them into the field. In the field, I have an axe file, a ceramic rod (virtually unbreakable kind, very light, about 8" long), a small piece of wood with leather on 2 sides loaded with 2 types of honing compound, and a small diamond 2-sided fold-up "stone" with 300 and 600 grit sides.

A bushcraft knife should be easy to sharpen, compared to a 62 RHC sushi knife. Mora's are very easy to sharpen. Most of the time, a few passes on the ceramic rod and a little stropping and they're back to shaving sharp. The only time I need to crack out the coarser tools is if I've really nicked one. I recommend mora to everyone just getting into bushcraft. They are, hands down, the best value for your money.

An axe file is all you need to carry for your axe or machete, although my ceramic rod or strop block makes de-buring easy.

If I had to pick just one sharpening tool for bushcraft, I'd choose a swiss-cut axe file. My local Lee Valley sells them for $11 CAD. With light pressure I can put a pretty tight edge on a knife and strop on my belt, palm, whatever, plus I can fix an axe or machete that bent on a knot.

>>816558

I very much doubt your mora is 60HRC. I'd put them at about 56-57HRC.

>>817237
Easy to make a cheap sharpener for recurve blades with sandpaper too.

>>817229
>hurr
http://www.edgeproinc.com

>>817229
Why can't you reprofile a damaged edge with a Sharpmaker? Diamond hones are available for for the impatient.

And for 'arbitrary angle', they do 15 and 20. I have probably 60 knives and while some of the came with edges other than 15 and 20, they all could easily be resharpened to that and do just fine.

I know the mirion time folded crowd believes their calibrated hands can tell the difference between 15 and 14, but they can't. Also, if you want a fat edge for a hatchet or something, you can flip the thing upside down, lay a pair of hones in the grooves, and do whatever you like.

>>817263
>I very much doubt your mora is 60HRC. I'd put them at about 56-57HRC.
really depends on which you are talking about some hc is rated 60.

>>818728

AFAIK, the Mora's are tempered to around 57. The laminated wood working knives have a core hardness of 60+, But I don't know of any of the Mora brand craft and outdoor knives being that hard.

I have 7 mora's an none of them are even close to 60RHC. Now, obviously I'm a fan of Mora, don't get me wrong. But they are tempered down pretty far.

>>817263
Mora Bushcraft black is 59-60 HRC.

>>818903

I did a google and I found this on Amazon canada.

https://www.amazon.ca/Morakniv-Bushcraft-Tactical-4-3-Inch-Sandvik/dp/B009O01H0Y

It says 56-58HRC.

http://www.industrialrev.com/assets/documents/MORAKNIV_comparison_chart_outdoor_MSRP_only_Sept_2013.pdf

This says all their carbon steel is 59-60, but I have one of their craftline q in carbon and it doesn't seem that hard to me.

So I don't know man. I'd like to see it tested independently because I don't know if I believe it.