What am I doing wrong? Sharpening is a pain!

[dangerman]

I've been using my lansky pocket sharpener to practice putting a nice edge on some of my blades. I'd completely abused my BG mini parang and damaged the edge on nails and metal bits on used wood. I was thinking I'd destroyed it but tried it on the carbide portion of my sharpener - it took off quite a bit of material! There is still one little dink that I can see, but it's small and I can't feel it anymore when running to over the ceramic.

The thing is, after spending, like, ten minutes and making my arm sore running it over the ceramic, it didn't get sharp like I was hoping. It feels ok when I run my finger over it but it won't shave hair from my arm or anything like that.

I tried using it on my other knives, the BG Ultimate Knife and the Lansky legal carry one, but couldn't get any of them to shave either. Then I tried on my Fallkniven F1, which famously keeps an edge and is supposed to be easy to replenish an edge. It didn't go shaving sharp either. And I really tried!

What am I doing wrong?

I was thinking of getting a leather strop, but the dedicated ones are expensive and so I'm waiting to acquire an old leather belt instead. Is this what I need to get my blades good and sharp? I'm a total novice, innit.

[jansman]

There comes a time you have to use a stone or ( as you said) a carbide wheel. I have just edged my work knives up ( got some weekend work with a local farm shop butchery to keep my hand in)Just touched them up on the wheel and then on my fine stone.It is trial and error, as we all use a knife in a different way, so there is no 'one size fits all' sharpening 'system'. My knives look like hell but they are sharp.

[tanstaafl]

I use the Lansky sharpening system and can now get my knives hair popping sharp, but only after watching a lot of utube vids and a tutorial on British Blades (BB)........


Although there is a school of thought that you should not sharpen users that sharp, also info about that on BB

Jase

[Mr R]

dangerman,

Like tanstaafl I use the Lanksky system for sharpening most of my knives, using a barbers strop to make smaller blades (penknives etc.) razor sharp. The Lanksky system is good for taking out dings and dents and once used a few times on a knife gives the blade an excellent finish. If you do buy one, once the Lanksky oil runs out, use sewing machine oil which is far cheaper but good quality.

I also use a Lanksky pocket sharpener for garden knives which don't need a fine edge, however I would not let a decent knife anywhere need it.

Hope this helps.

[metatron]

I use a knock off Chinese Edge Tech Pro, comes with a nice set of 6 stones, a marker pen and the whole frame setup makes it idiot proof to get a shaving sharp edge on anything.

[The-Mendologist]

I have seen a vid on youtube in which a guy makes a wheel out of MDF and attaches it to his bench grinder and polishes such a razor sharp edge on his knives they actually slice through paper.

Sorry i couldn't find the link, but there is quite a few vids on the same subject on there.

Maybe this will help you.

[dangerman]

I think the paper thing is really standard - if I use a slightly sawing motion the blades I have already cut through paper quite cleanly. But it's just not good enough for my liking.

Metatron, any chance of a link? Knock off sounds perfect because knock off indicates cheap.

I think I'm going to order the Fallkniven DC something or other on my next amazon order too. See how that works out for me while I'm out and about.

[nzbred]

On bigger knives, parangs,kukri's etc, i use wet and dry sandpaper,resting on a book.You can really follow the contour of the blade and get a very good edge. I use 800 1500 2000 2500grit papers. https://youtu.be/vplOsEUgwIg here's a link to a good video

[The-Mendologist]

I think the paper thing is really standard - if I use a slightly sawing motion the blades I have already cut through paper quite cleanly. But it's just not good enough for my liking.

Metatron, any chance of a link? Knock off sounds perfect because knock off indicates cheap.

I think I'm going to order the Fallkniven DC something or other on my next amazon order too. See how that works out for me while I'm out and about.

This guy did not use a sawing action, they just fell through the paper, so in my eyes thats razor sharp and that would be good enough for me.

[Yorkshire Andy]

Problem is a sharp knife is good and will hold its edge a razor sharp edge will often dull quickly and chip with ease...