How to Sharpen a Knife: Beginners Tutorial 

Accidentally sharpened the rock with my knife.

You need to change that camo backdrop, I could barely see you.

This is such a great tutorial on sharpening. Simple and straightforward. I just can't get over the fact that those knives and stones were just levitating in front of you like that though.

Paper trick was very helpful, explanations were clear and presentation simple. Well done, mate.

3 years later and this is still one of the most useful 101 videos. Thanks, man.

Thanks for the tip on 22.5 degrees. I've always just guessed and have gotten very frustrated. Now I know how to find the right angle.

Simple and straight to the point. Very sharp video and tutorial sir.

Thank you!! My dad taught left me a huge collection of knives and never really got into teaching me how to sharpen them before he passed. I'll be testing this out on his Benchmade today, thank you 😊

All I heard was Nicolas cage telling me how he sharpens a knife. Maybe it’s just me.

Damn that paper angle trick is on point👍

super random, but if you put water in a spray bottle and sprayed it on sheets behind you, all the wrinkles will disappear! Anyways, I enjoyed the tutorial.

That whole folded paper thing (to get the right angle) blew my mind... So simple yet so useful. Thank you!

Army Barracks: This was the most useful and informative knife sharpening video I found. Thank you for sharing. I'd love to see a video on sharpening serrated edges like you talked about sharing at the end of this video. In the mean time thanks again, my fishing knife is razor sharp.

Thank you! I am not a beginner, but I have been sharpening for so long that I have developed bad habits. You gave clear explanations and I learned a lot. You do great work!

This was the easiest to learn way to sharpen a knife I have ever seen. Different people have tried to teach me to do this mostly with circles. The paper trick is awesome. Thank you so much wish I could give you more than a thumbs up and a subscribe.

Thanks for the excellent tutorial. Always wondered how people figured out the angle to sharpen at and the paper trick was so easy and simple. Your presentation was very clear and straightforward to understand with not any rambling bs. Great job !

Great tutorial. Very clear. Thanks.

Great video. I have a wooden box with a stone in the middle that was my grandfather's and since he died years ago, I found my pocket knife earlier and found the wooden box with the stone in it, so thanks for the tutorial of how to sharpen a knife. I appreciate it a lot, now it's time to sharpen old knives, thanks again! :D

Thank you, I’ve been having a hard time Preparing my lawn mower for my yard trimmings. You’ve saved many lives.

Hey thanks dude I appreciate the help been trying to figure out exactly how to do this for over 35 years and with in 5 minutes my knife was super sharp. Thanks dude.

Awesome tip with the paper. This helped me so much.

I enjoy your No Bull-Shit approach. ..Thank you! !!

I’ve been struggling with this for years. That paper trick for the angle really helped me. Thanks.

I feel like an idiotique noob now... I've been doing it soooo wrong the whole time! No darn wonder I couldn't get it sharp and or lasting... Thank you for teaching me

I taught myself how to use a stone. I have an interesting technique. When you are at the correct angle the blade sounds the quietest as you go over the stone. The blade is sharp when it no longer makes any (or almost any) noise as you run it over the stone. I use an oil stone and I believe a water or dry stone would sound louder. Keep that in mind.

The paper used as angle finder is a neat trick. Very useful. I wish I knew that when I started.

Awesome tutorial! Always been afraid to sharpen my own knife. Your directions made it simple and understandable. Thank you.

Love your straight to the point and very clear tutorial. Thx!

I love the folded paper tip! Why complicate things and it really helps to visualize what angle you should hold the knife at.

The angle thing really helped, got a cheap balisong shaving-sharp. You got my sub.

Dude, you're an excellent teacher, to the point, understandable and knowledgeable. Good job!

Thank you for the straightforward and informative video, exactly the kind of content that deserves appreciation!

Nice video. Love how you show to find the angle. Was how I was taught too 😃

i'm a survivalist and your videos have been very helpful lately if you don't have a tent creating video you should make one i'm building one out of pvc

The best tutorial I’ve seen thank you

Loving this guys delivery! Great video thanks!

Nice.. I learnd a lot. Tnx

Thank you! I've been swimming in improper directions on RU-vid. Lol

Thank you for a clear and simple tutorial! Loved the paper trick!

Thanks for the great pointers man. Been struggling to sharpen a knife for a while and it seem to work the way you told me it would.

When you do it and u forget the leather Me:ight, imma get ma shoe now

“But it’s actually pretty hard to do if you’re paying attention” me: 😳

Been researching the best ways to sharpen a knife so that I would be able to sharpen my new hunting knife that I just got, and this video helped a lot. Thanks for the well-explained tutorial, genuinely helped.

4 years later and still helping people with this video lol. i have never seen that paper trick before! invaluable tip, appreciate it!!

Hands down the best tutorial ive found for this

How do you find out what angle your knife blade is manufactured at ?? Any Techniques for finding this out ??

Hey I really like your presentation on the sharpening the knife you did a great job I really didn't know you went in in that direction to do it I really didn't know but I just learned something thank you so much for sharing

I'm 46 yrs old, and have never been able to sharpen a knife. I even worked as a cutter in a meat plant, where they taught us how to keep your knives sharp, because we were constantly sharpening our knives. I noticed my hands and arms were hurting quite a bit, and it was because I couldn't keep my knives sharp...lmao I guess its a curse...I will try it your way. Thank You.

I'd love to see how to sharpen a karambit.

The folding paper is an awesome ideas! Do you not put oil on your stone, or did you do that beforehand?

A great video. The paper trick has made such a difference in sharpening my knives. Much appreciated.

That was good. Clear, intelligent instruction with a sure hand.

Instictions unclear made knife to sharp it cut my stone in half

What about oiling or wetting the stone?

Excellent reminder, always going back to sharpening 101. Thanks for the info!

I have always had trouble figuring out angles. Thanks for showing the proper angle tip! I am going to use it in the future.

this is a great video and thanks for sharing. My main question is once you establish the angle with the paper, how do you guarantee you keep that angle across the entire stroke? Especially with a drop point or even more complex geometry of different blades. If this angle is so important (which I understand it is), then the geometric tolerance is so tight, that there is no way to insure you can get it exact by hand. We're talking a 7 degree tolerance over a distance of and 1/8 of an inch or less. Parts that exact are manufactured for aircraft and such and cut on $1 million machines. It seems to be a "feel" thing, which is fine. But I don't understand why a specific angle is called for in this method when you can't measure your accuracy. I'm not talking about the video poster, I talking in general. A human hand is not that steady. The method I see here is take a piece of paper to get a starting angle and then just guess. Then do it to other side of the blade. I get it, my post will probably get a lot of negative comments. But the point and question I have is, how is this accurate at all?

I’m actually really interested in learning how to sharpen a machete! This would be super useful for the field work that I do. 👍🏻 Thank you for the great video! Will practice this :)

Thank you. What a outstanding presentation of how to sharpen a knife. Very informative.

Thank you this was incredibly easy to follow.

He had a full set of gloves before doing this xD

are y'all the army barracks with stores in south portland/Scarborough and Conway?

I’ve watched allot of knife sharpening videos, this is super helpful! Thanks man🤙 also your comment about cutting paper was awesome 😁💚

Huge shoutout. So many videos about anything knife, flashlight, or outdoors related are drawn out and you wind up not learning shit because they talk like you're an expert or go through it so fast you never get it.

Idk what im doing wrong, i found the angle, made even passes on both sides really slow and nothing is happening?? Help?

I once saw a dude sharpen his knife with a rock and his belt. I think his name was Rambo

Nice tutorial. Easy to follow and well explained. It helped me greatly.

Thanks for the info. Great video! Short, simple, and to the point.

testing the sharpness of the knife dulls it for no reason. wow, i knew i was doing something wrong.

Who else is here because they wanna sharpen their practice knife 😂

Thanks for an easy-to-understand explanation. Cant wait to have sharp knives.

I am a hunter and I love to collect different types of hunting knives. I found a knife online and ordered it. The knife met my expectations and I just fell in love with it. Incredible! The details and craftsmanship are just breathtaking. It came super fast within a week and a half. I HIGHLY recommend and I will be purchasing more from Almazan Knives. I'm lost for words, it's amazing.

all I know is I have a dull pocket knife

when stabbing, why should i twist the handle & then break it off? oh sorry, wrong video. :-D

Brilliant vid. Thanks for sharing your knowledge.

I've got a fucked up knife and bled all over my keyboard to type this, thorough tutorial 10/10

I checked to see if my knife was sharp and ran my thumb across the edge without pressure, then a few minutes later it started stinging and looked at my thumb that it was actually bleeding.

What is the best pocket knife...

Simple and to the point! Thank you so much!

Quick and easy and to the point. Definetly gonna take those tips

how sharpen machete

I found out the most best way to sharpen a knife ..." WAIT FOR IT " GET SOMEONE ELSE TO DO IT !!!

Thanks for the video man. I've been doing it all wrong and I can tell a big difference in my knife now since I've been doing it this way

I really like your demonstration with the paper for a 22.5°! Great idea, great vid, thanks!

24 sec intro ... tone it down just a litttttttle bit

I'm so poor I can't even pay attention ...

Thanks for putting in the time to make this vid, time to sharpen my knife!

Thank you. Excellent presentation. And great tips!

"It's actualy pretty hard to do if you're paying attention" what

Is it weird that im 11 and i love collecting pocket knives???

I learned so much from the video. Thank you!

Outstanding video. Straight and to the point.

Carbide sharpeners are crap!

I like your honest style very much, very informative, no talk for the sake of talking! I’m impressed & will visit your site. Love the last OTF blade if I could get it up here. Thank you!

Very good instruction here. That double fold on the paper should make it easy to remember for anyone. I don't claim to be a knife sharpening expert, but I inform myself and your information here is very useful. Great useful information hear. You've earned my sub.

as a beginner and amateur collector, this really helps. thank you!

Great class. Thanks.

Good video its quite amazing how many people mess up their knives sharpening the wrong way! Thanks

The tip about using the paper for the angles really helped me.

Great tutorial buddy, really learned a lot. Thx