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loved your video...your definitely a pro...ex-military im assuming...anyway...just brought a set of karambit knives off eBay...but i have no idea how u would sharpen a curved blade like this
You have some good points in your video, but the thing you failed to mention actually happens to be the most important thing to keeping a knife sharp in the first place: *Keeping your stone flat!* Anyone wanting to learn how to sharpen themselves should learn how to maintain their stone before any other skill. You can have perfect technique, but technique doesn't mean jack if your stone is out of whack.
OUTDOORS55 what if the knife came with fuckered angles? I ordered a knife that has a really good steel buy the rumor is that they cut corners on sharpening. People have said they received it with 24° on one side and 15-17° on the other. How big of a problem is this and do you recommend having a professional reprofile the edge?
As a city kid who is learning about fundamental skills later in life, I really appreciate your concise, clear, and common sense delivery. Thanks for doing what you do!
@@mygaffer it is to many people actually. Unless you don't use knives in your life I guess. But I use knives for many things in everyday life. I carry one in my pocket at all times. And I believe it is fundamental to know how to sharpen it or any kitchen knife I use daily
Nice video. One thing you might consider adding to your beginner advice is to use a black Sharpie marker to color the edge bevel before a person begins working on their blade. It really helps a person see and understand what's happening during the sharpening process when they can see ink removed with just a few strokes against their stone instead of chasing a burr for hours. If others have already mentioned this tip sorry for the repetition.
Tino Valle I am just starting with stones and I really suck at it. I watched this video and tried my best but I made my kinda sharp knife so dull it couldn't cut butter. Thanks for the tip, I'll be sure to try it once I find a Sharpie. Let me know if there are any other tips I should know.
I have been sharpening for a few decades and I still use a sharpie on the secondary bevel. To match the factory angle you can lay the blade on the primary bevel flat to the stone. Come up really slow and can actually feel when the secondary bevel is flat against the stone. Stop when you feel this and lower it a tad and bring it up again to verify. You need to mess up a few times but it is worth it. He also didn't mention to take equal strikes from each side to keep the apex in the middle of the edge. You can alternate sides so you keep it in the middle. A light touch is better than a heavy one.
See you can always learn something. I’m 53 and you taught me something about the angle while stropping. Always had problems with a strop. Now I know why. Thanks young man
I come from a long line of German/English butchers... My grandfather was a butcher for 50+ years & he taught me the exact same as in this lesson. In Fredericksburg Texas look up Dutchmans Market. That is the shop my grandfather opened back in the late 60's early 70's. The only reason he quit being a butcher, the grim reaper came to see Pop in 1976. This sounds gross but I grew up in a slaughter house. Learned how to butcher a cow or a deer before the 2nd grade! It comes in handy since I live on a 7K acre Black Angus cattle ranch in Texas!
Tip for detecting burrs: run a stream of water over the blade from the trailing edge to the cutting edge. Like under a sink tap. As the water glides over the blade and off the cutting edge, you can see disturbances in the stream caused by burrs.
I've heard of this tip before, but remember differing schools of thought as to the size of blade it works on. From some sharpeners, I've heard/read that smaller blades (something smaller than the clip point blade on a Case medium stockman for example) this doesn't work. Personally I've never tried the running water method, but I am curious as to when this is applicable. (When looking for a burr I use a jeweler's loupe I keep in my sharpening tool box)
Something I just found out about. I was getting ready to buy a magnifying glass for the purpose of looking at my knife blades but, did you know that if you have an iPhone it has a built in magnifying glass feature? And that it also has a light. It’s totally awesome. For anyone that doesn’t know, here’s how. Go in settings, then tap on accessibility then scroll down to magnifier and turn it on. Some phones you go settings, general then accessibility. Then to access it, tap you home button 3x or there is a little magnifying glass icon on your slide screen that has your flashlight, calculator, alarm clock etc. on it. It works great and super powerful.
You mean like the review videos where they open and close the knife 17 times, talk about lunch, and their old car, and spend five minutes on the pocket clip?
I'm 64 years old , I was born and raised on farm in foothills of smoky mountains, east tennessee, hunted, fished and farm my entire life(so far) so I know a little about sharpening, just want to say thanks for simple basic advice, people should benefit greatly if they listen,and practice, so much time and money spent on expensive gadgets and far out methods, my opinion is you said it best, thanks
Blazin609 for every one who says to sharpen backwards there is another who says sharpen forwards. I say do what works for you. I use both methods and get identical results. The key is practice and muscle memory. Be consistent in your angles.
@@GreatJim54 Good comment. I think that all the politics and secterism in the sharpening community is sometimes entertaining, but fundamentally ridiculous.
I'm a wood carver since about 1980. This is a good video for newbies. All the basics are covered and the guy doesn't over explain and make it hard to catch on
@@andrewtucker7990 Short answer: every material that can hold the abrasive paste it's fine, it depends only on your ability to not damage the edge. Long answer: historically the leather used to strop razors was the most stiff leather in the world: shell cordovan. It's the technical name for the leather cut made with the horse's butt skin (and the most expensive leather in the world too). It's a good compromise between a hard surface that can bend your edge while you strop, and a soft surface where your blade can sink and round your edge instead of sharpen it. That said, if you have a trained hand you can strop on hard surfaces like wood or mdf or very soft surfaces like soft leather, cork or even cardboard. As OUTDOORS55 has showed in the video, you can change your stropping technique to adapt to the material. For knifes with a double bevel, my opinion is to prefer more rigid surfaces like the shell cordovan. For other blades, like for example woodworking tools with one bevel only (plane blades, chisels), it depends on how you sharpen the bevel. Some woodworker prefers create a convex bevel with hand sharpening. In that case you can strop on very soft materials or leather with almost no risk. If instead you sharpen your chisel or your plane blade with jigs, you obviously want to maintain planarity on that bevel. In that case more hard and flat materials are recommended (like wood or mdf). PS: Forgive my grammar, I am not native english.
@@th34lch3m1st honestly, you have better grammar than most native English speakers. Also - great info in your post. I just recently decided to make a couple of strops for some friends out of leather scraps from making sheaths. The quality of lumber available is pretty poor, so I think I'm going to get a few pieces of MDF to use as a backing material.
@@andrewtucker7990 hi, my father was a wood Carver for 60 years and he used an old belt made of a pig's hide for all his carving knives. His old hunting knives, pocket knives, my mom's kitchen knives, and my assortment of old knives...etc. He said it was perfect. He passed away 8 years ago and now I'm using it. It's pretty beat up but he was right. It's perfect. 🙂
Another tip is tool keep in mind what steel your blade is made of and how hard it is. A soft blade only needs a few passes before noticeable progress I'd made, where harder blades will take longer. When I was first getting into sharpening, I mainly practiced on a variety of pocket knives I owned which are typically hardened to under 60 Rockwell. I then found an incredibly dull kitchen knife that my parents had and never used because it was too dull. I decided to try and sharpen it, using the same technique I used for pocket knives. This knife was a Japanese style knife with a hardness rating of 65, so it takes a lot more effort to actually sharpen (not to mention this knife was a better hammer then a knife when I started). In the end I did manage to get it sharp but it took my 10× longer then it usually would have because I didn't understand knife hardness at the time. Another pro tip, you can make any steel shaving sharp, but cheap steel is still cheap steel and would be dull again after only a few cuts. Don't put a lot of effort into making cheap steel razor sharp, when it doesn't have the strength to maintain that. This isn't as big an issue with modern blades, because even cheap 440 stainless can hold a decent edge, but older knives can definitely be made of sub par steel that isn't worth the time. Just get a $2 plastic pull through sharpener and use that on them.
DUUUUDE!!!! I cannot express how grateful I am! I have been into sharpening for over a year now, I have a belt grinder with which I can hone quite well, but recently I purchased some wetstones and I kept messing up. I read some books, watched countless hours of youtube videos, but couldn't figure out what I have been doing wrong. Then I found your video, and BAAM. You are awesome!
My favorite tip for beginners is to continuously cut lots of paper throughout the whole process. The way the sound and the feeling changes is my most important tool to know where I'm at in the process. If you're really a super beginner, then you want to go crazy with the paper cutting: couple strokes on the stone, wipe, cut and repeat. You should end up with a huge mess of cut up paper on your floor and a better understanding of how your actions affect the blade. Most importantly, you'll be able to identify when you do something unsharpens the knife. If you're consistently checking the state of the blade, then you will be aware of its state at all times so you can learn to associate it with other indicators like what sound the blade makes on the stone based on various factors, how it glides etc. Now instead of cutting paper, I use just those other more intangible factors. And if I want to do a peak level job, then I might cut some paper along the way.
Thank you for your direct approach to what has alluded me for most of my life. I am an outdoorsman. fisherman , gardener, tinkerer , and I have been able to sharpen drill bits, garden tools, lawn mower blades, axes, machete , etc . But I was embarrassed that I was horrible at sharpening Knives. Now I believe I have the knowledge to remedy this !
I've been sharpening for years but I'm so glad I saw this video, I learned loads of new stuff. I love your vids, they're fantastic. Keep up the good work.
I have seen a lot of videos on RU-vid about sharpening knives and this is among the best. It is short and simple, and yet thorough. It is easy to understand and explains why certain things are done as well as how they are done.
Seriously you have some of (if not THE) best videos on sharpening and stropping on YT this will be the video I send to anyone that wants to know more or is just starting to work on their own edges!
Thanks for the comment! I really appreciate it! I'm just trying to share some of the mistakes, and things I've learned over the years. Thanks for watching 👍
Probably. It's not impossible to sharpen on 3000 but it will take many many hours. If your knife is quite sharp and you just need to make it sharper you can do it on 3000 but if it's dull you are saving much time by going to a low grit like 200 or 400 and then around 1000. Imagine having a rough plank and trying to make it smooth. You wouldn't start with 1000 grit sandpaper because it would take you forever.
Very good videos, just started sharpening and you (not to copy everyone else) really do have the best Sharpening videos by far, they're short, straight to the point and simple. Good Job!
Great tip about pulling the knife i was having a hell of a time because I was pushing and pulling on the stone and my angle was changing needles to say it was taking forever to find the burr and the lower angle when stopping wheeweee!!!! My knives are really sharp now thanks to you
Great video very informative I have been watching a lot of knife sharpening videos as I'm a beginner and you're the only one that gives an explanation of why you do the things you do thank you
Very informative video. You thoroughly explained the techniques in sharpening and removing the burr and also demonstrated stropping and how to find the proper sharpening angle. Great job
I think these are very good advice for beginners. Another thing I'll add is to listen to the sound of the strokes on the stone. Each stroke should sound the same each time and even through the motion of the stroke. If theres any change in the sound, the blade angle is changing or moving against the stone.
The 1st ever tutorial I've ever seen that made sense on this subject. I like the way it was illustrated.. good job. I've been trying it for years, I'm 64 and can now sharpen a knife.
I'm right there with you. I always used that thing on the back of the can opener ( I know it's should not be considered a sharpener but a duller). Cleaning out our Dada shop my brother handed me a rather large file to replace my "duller". Lol! He then manslained with his engineers way how to use it. I'm 65 and can sharpen kitchen knives and my yard tools ( some of my dad's yard tools) with that old file. Or a rasp as dad called it. And it's a way of keeping him in my thoughts. And that's probably the cornest thing I've ever said. Now let me go look for that sharpening stone I have of his. 😊
This has always been one of the 'man skills' that I've lacked. Watched your videos and bought a couple of cheap stones on the interwebs. Our worst kitchen knife is now the sharpest. Thank you for the educational video and practical tips. Great job!
After poor angles, the most common beginner mistake I see is TOO MUCH pressure. When a person starts out he/she almost always underestimates the effectiveness of the various grits, and they think they have to use force. Once you do it awhile and then experience the effect of something like leather - which some beginners can't even believe actually work - it starts to sink in how little pressure/force is required. Great video. Thank you!
@@ayekantspeylgud A straight edge has a bunch of tiny(very thin, bendable) teeth under a microscope, the strop will align all of this making it much sharper. Ive seen and heard this is why a strop is effective. And when it dulls a little, bring it back to the strop and it will be great again.
Pressure (or lack thereof) only matters when you're working the burr off, or if you're sharpening razors. I usually use more pressure when initially profiling the edge, and transition to almost no pressure at all when finishing. A moderate amount of pressure is sometimes necessary when working with some stones, such as Arkansas stones. The biggest mistake I see beginners do is use too fine a stone on a new knife that's never been profiled -- you need to be very patient to apex a new (or old) knife with, say, a 1000+ grit stone.
I am a rank beginner. I bought a course stone from ace hardware, and I think it’s like a 200/300 grit. Anyway, I do understand grit and pressure as I work as a fabricator. But this one stroke backwards is great. One stroke, and I am able to work on my form. When I go back and fourth I feel like I am all over the place, and that I am damaging and filling the blade even more!
@@JeffAboularage I had to think back to a post I made 4 years ago, LOL. Darn, time flies! Since that time I've gotten much better at sharpening. The stage I'm working on now is sharpening broadheads for hunting deer during archery season. This has driven the point home even more. It's about angle and pressure, which cannot be taught. You just have to do enough of it to develop FEEL. I can now feel things that wouldn't remotely register years ago. My suggestion is to get a bunch of cheap, dull knives and spend hours getting them sharp. You can do it while watching TV or during breaks at work. Seriously. Just sharpen and sharpen, checking the edge every few strokes. You'll find most of what you do actually makes the blade duller, LOL.
Great tips! Just picked up some of the cheapo Harbor freight stones to learn on some Walmart kitchen knives before trying my EDC leatherman and pocket knife.
hey man, thanks alot, i have just started trying to sharpen a few knives and ive committed several errors along the way, this video was very helpful and simple. thank you so much for your contribution to the community.
Every time I feel like wasting some time, I go to RU-vid, look up some knife sharpening tutorials and try to sharpen my deadly dull folder (that actually was kinda sharp before I decided to remove a nick in the edge). Pretty much every next tutorial seem to poop all over what was said in the previous one, yet none helped me produce any success so far. I've tried dry stones ,watered stones, oiled stones, moving the knife away, moving the knife towards me, moving the knife in a circle, alternating after 5 strokes, alternating after 20 strokes, alternating after 1 minute, moving alongside the whole edge, sharpening the tip and the blade separately, screaming at the knife in utter despair. I'll either sharpen or just whittle it away eventually.
Buy the guide-knife it help a lot... you reach a nice angle. I start sharpen 1 year ago my chefknives without results and now slowly slowly i see that every time come better and to adjust a knife you don t need 2000-3000 grit buy a wet stone 400 and 1000 is enough for normal purpose and is enough to keep sharpen most of the knives. When youll learn how to sharpen better move on more grit and when you will learn very good move on diamond stones because diamond stone if you don t know how to sharpen very well are gonna fuck up your blade.
See, this is what happens when you actually see and hear how someone with experience, knowledge and understanding demonstrates how to sharpen a knife properly. You just showed me the step I didn’t know about when stroppng that is why I sometimes get a slightly rounded over edge. Use a lesser angle. Now it makes sense. That’s why you see guys strop a blade and they’re practically holding the knife parallel to the strop. It’s those key points that are too easily taken for granted that people overlook explaining. Thank you for explaining things properly. A great, to the point, no nonsense video with clear instruction.
The best delivered tips i have ever seen. Knives sharp enough to shave with. If you cannot shave with the blade it is not sharp. I liked what you said about muscle memory. When sharpening a blade the angle is a critical element in being able to sharpen it. Thanks! well taught!
Eventually it's nice to start going forward and backward on your stones, it's much, much faster. When I started sharpening fourteen years ago it's what I did right from the start, but I made a lot of mistakes. When you are ready to learn this I recommend you learn on knives that don't matter much, sharpen kitchen knives you buy from thrift stores or old cheap pocket knives with no sentimental value to you, or even garden tools like an old rust machete or an axe. Get the muscle memory and you will be set.
In my opinion wet is better than dry because you can remove those grains from the stone... Try to visit my channel..I also have a technique on how to sharpen my knife
My intent is not to toot my own horn but I have been proficient with knives and sharpening for decades . this video is very well stated ... A very good tutorial
I thought I had it figured out but I just got schooled. I Appreciate the knowledge Ever Man Need a good edge. Its just part of being a Man. Now it may cut butter Thank Ser
I absolutely suck at this. I am so mad at myself right now for I have ruined my mora bushcraft and spyderco polestar edge. You make it look like buttering toast.
You can't really ruin an edge completely unless you took it to a bench grinder. Just practice maintaining an angle and go slow. It does take some practice. The mora bushcraft is a scandi grind. All you have to do with that knife is keep the bevel flat on the stone. Again just go slow and maintain an angle. Hope this helps🙂
@@richardhatt6541 Systems with a set angle are not the best on Scandi grinds (use the Wicked Edge a lot myself). The problem is that the system is very exact, but the grinding on the knife is not. So it needs a more flexible touch, which can be achieved free hand. Easily, since the grind itself functions as an angle guide.
I work on knives/swords/hatchets/axes as an avocation. Yours is the best explanation of using stones for a beginner. If a person has limited time, bad lighting, less than perfect eye sight and isn't using the knife to shave or filet sushi, and it is not serrated, a person might consider a two handed, manual, non electric sharpener with a set angle. There are fine ones for under $20. You hold the unit in one hand and draw the knife through with the other. If you are still a beginner, but are working with a volume of knives or the knife has serrations, consider a belt sander. The way you do the serration is to use the edge of the sanding belt which is narrow enough to get into the groove. Hint-I do my belt sanding outside on a stand and not indoors. It reduces the chances of accidental fire and also reduces the amount of particles that might accidentally be inhaled over time. The lighting is also better. You worked with a spyderco. Ok. Guy on eBay advertised a "dull" Endura. Less than $20 delivered. two passes on the belt sander with one a couple of seconds pass on the edge for each serration. Similarly, I sent three nieces college age last month each the same Cold Steel folder bought off youtube, cleaned up and sharpened. Added a leather sheath for each.
Great tutorial. However, at 3:00 or so I did not quite catch what you said regarding reflection. If light reflects from the edge, does that mean an apex has not been achieved, or vice versa?
My understanding is if you see light reflected off the edge of the primary edge (the part the cuts) then you have to keep going with your sharpening strokes. When the primary edge comes to a true point, light is not visibly reflected off it.
Hi Mate, Thanks, really informative videos and very well done, thanks. Had a quick question... I heard that a scandi grind, while time consuming to do initially, was going to be one of the better types for sharpness and ease of keeping sharp. Would you agree?
Where I come from, toilet paper has perforations every 4 inches or so. This way it will rip where you want to rip it, and you don't need a super sharp knife to cut it.
Sharpen backwards?? Then you go against the edge.. I learned..never sharpen backwards. There are different methods to sharpen..but backwards?? Alone go backwards when stropping.. But..so I have learned it. Maybe your method works..it's only strange that after the sharping the knife still struggling to cut that paper. I never seen this before..a knife that can shave..always can cut paper easily..
Exactly!,,and this is better if cut hard materials,just like heavy used ropes, ,,,in my work in the sea we have to do with coarse nailon nets and full of mud ropes. Only a buckwards sharpening on a medium stone have effect. Shave sharpening in a fishing trawler ia absolutely useless .
Your wrong that a knife that can cut paper can shave hair 😂😂😂 my Bowie knife can slice through paper with ease but it struggles to shave arm hair and my other knife can shave arm hair but it can't slice a newspaper or any paper with ease it just tears the paper
@@sergeantdef.3572 yes I know what you said and I said a knife that can cut paper can't always shave arm hair I am being trained in knife sharpeming from a man who has been doing sharpening of all kinds of blades for over 50yrs I have seen knives that can shave your arm actually struggle to slice through paper its the other way around if you can slice paper like butter you can shave your arm hairs and he also repeated back to me what I just told you so I am repeating back to you what a master knife sharpener once told me
Tip 4. Sharpen your blade with the edge toward you, e.g. forward! You'll end up with a sharper blade. I've been sharpening this way for many years, it works better for me at least.
I’ve been sharpening blades the other way for years with some success and much frustration at dulling edges. God tip about sharpening the other way . Thanks!
Great comment. Stroking backwards will cause the burr to roll from one side to the other while stroking forward will pull the material away from the apex. 20+ years on a burr bench in a precision machine shop taught me this.
Yea it is but you missed the point of why he said that. When you do that it's easy for a beginner to move the angle and mess it up and have to start over.
I was told it redeposit's metal where its not needed going backwards, I was taught edge control low angle 22 degree apex going forward on a diamond rod or stone....... But that's me and I am 52 now, we will try this on a axe and see where it ends up. Aloha
Thank you for doing this vid. I have struggled for years (literally) in getting my blades sharpened correctly. I saw and old timer once a couple decades back who sharpened his blades "backward" and it blew my mind. When I asked him why he did that, he just smiled and said, "when you sharpen a blade backward, it cuts better going forward." I was totally lost as to what he meant but thanks to this very video, I understand now. Please keep up the good, no, make that great diy/how-to videos.
Im 55, and started out at about 6 years old sharpening like you show here. It is very effective. Then at about the age of 12, a butcher that came to my familys fishing camp said to me, do you cut your meat like that? Ive been sharpening the other way, ever since. My best advice to the newbie, find a beater knife and practice and use notebook paper for your sharp test.
Love the channel just got the edge pro blocks 220 600 1000 no strop just a belt back side on a table your channel has brought bandaids alot of my money lol you have the best channel for sharpening idk why i just get what u say thanks man
Thank you so much for making this video. I am a person who has tried a few times and given up every time to try and learn how to sharpen a knife. I like you no hype helps. Now to find my stone.
Thank you so much!!!!!! I’ve been trying to get an edge on knives for years!!!! Too no avail nothing ever worked. Trying your method of working backwards and feeling for the right angle helped tremendously! I didn’t work it long enough to get a burr (for fear of reshaping the apex) but the little I did do made it a game changer for me! Once I get a strop I’ll venture to the burr. 👍
Excellent video. 👍👍👍 Il especially appreciated the leather stropping tip. I tended to keep the same angle, if not a higher one, and your advice for a shallower angle makes total sense.
Wow. Best instruction for sharpening I have seen yet. Now I need to see if there is one for asian kitchen knives. I have a brand new Global G-5, and while I realize it isn’t a Masamoto or a Chelsea Miller blade, I’m not a professional chef, and I’m pretty convinced that the Global is still a hell of a nice kitchen knife and I want to know how to bring it back to as close to pristine sharpness as I can. Plus, it’s a tool everyone should have in their arsenal of valuable life skills. I bought a KING KW65 1000/6000 and hope I got the appropriate stone. After we lost everything in one of the California fires, I replaced my kitchen knives with a block set from a very well known “German” brand which is made in Spain (?!?!?!). Yeah. Go figure. Wouldn’t hold an edge for any decent length of time, and when they began to rust, in spite of hand washing and drying in a very low humidity climate - that was it. Garbage confirmed. This time it’s gonna be Global, one fine knife at a time.
Hey Alex, despite your video making me a bit nostalgic for my hillbilly youth, and at the same time shaming me for lacking the patience to practice and learn how to sharpen from my dad, I truly appreciate what an effective teacher and good communicator you are. Thank you!
After posting that message I see that lots of folks recognize and appreciate your talents as a communicator and teacher as well. Those skills may be partially innate but they take focused and persistent practice - have you considered starting your own RU-vid channel? 😊
A strop is basically a strip of leather if you have a 100% genuine leather belt you could use that as a strop if you wanted to we have all seen strops in one form or another but we just never knew it haha
