how do you sharpen your cutting edges?

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how do you sharpen your cutting edges? not just knives, but also clippers, scissors, trimmers, etc ? for example, i have never been really happy with my knife sharpening. sure, i can get a reasonable sharpness, but i can never get a really keen razor sharp edge. i have bought all kinds of gizmos and gadgets, i think most were a waste of money. i used to know a really old gunsmith, i would take him my knives and he would make them **RAZOR** sharp. he would never let me watch, but when he handed them back to me i could truly shave. not just carbon steel, but it amazed me he could do this on stainless steel knives. i think he used some sort of a bench grinder with a wool wheel, and various kinds of rouge (spelling rogue ?? ) anyway, not only were they razor sharp, they were also polished to a glistening shine. alas the old codger passed away. i never learned this secret from him, or the secret of his incredible deep black gun bluing.

anyway, i have various stones, steels, gizmos and gadgets, etc, and can just never quite seem to get a really sharp edge. just awhile ago i was noticing not only some kitchen knives that needed sharpening, but also my small limb loppers and other tools of shrub and tree maintenance around the house. some are carbon steel, some stainless steel. from ol joe ( the old gunsmith), i can attest that stainless steel can be resharpened to an amazing sharpness. what works for you? what doesn't work?

thanks and have a great day gene

-- gene ward (gward34847@aol.com), May 14, 2000

Answers

I have 4 whet stones (course, medium, fine, and really fine) and use plenty of oil. It's takes time, but I prefer to sharpen my knives by hand on a stone. The hardest part for me was learning to keep a decent angle to the blade while I was sharpening it. And remember to clean the stones when your done!

-- Eric Stone (ems@nac.net), May 15, 2000.

ok thanks, how do you clean your stones ???

-- gene ward (gward34847@aol.com), May 15, 2000.

I usually use just hot water and a good small scrub brush (4 inches long, 1.5 inches wide, with 1 inch bristles), and work the brush over the stone lifting the oil and steel out of the pores of the stone. Probably not the best or most high tech method, but it has served me well.

-- Eric Stone (ems@nac.net), May 15, 2000.

For my knives i use the Lansky system. It's basically a clamp to hold the knife and a set of stones attached to metal bars. You insert the end of the bars through one of 4 holes in the clamp, which allows you to vary the pitch of the stone filing away at your knife edge. As long as you keep the bars in good shape, and your stones clean it'll do a good job. There are cheaper sets just like Lansky's, but I haven't liked the quality. All this set-up does is keep your sharpening efforts consisitent, which is ultimiately the key to doing a good job (that's why some people can do such a better job than others).

-- Chris Stogdill (cstogdill@rmci.net), May 15, 2000.

I agree with Chris, the Lansky system is great. I've always had trouble keeping the angle correct when sharpening but with Lansky it's easy to keep a consistent angle on both sides of the cutting edge. If you are shapening stainless you should get the diamond sharpening stones.

-- Bill Pollard (sportmonza@aol.com), July 09, 2000.


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