I'm good at sharpening and my spyderco wont get sharp I don't know if I'm doing something wrong or what but I've never had issues before I think I thought I was good enough to rush thank you for the mental check
People used to make fun of me for buying Old Milwaukee beer. But I never ran out like they did because it was so cheap I could buy a lot of it. Good video!
Hi Michael, greetings from the UK, thanks for the time you spend on these. I'm a novice sharpener,I prefer using natural stones, this is one I missed, I noticed on the knives I have bought that the factory sharpening seems to be rough then polished. I have a few stones, I take the edge back to smooth out the rough grind from the factory then run through a couple others finishing on a 'local' hone which sadly are no longer mined. The edge I end up with is polished and perfectly adequate for my needs, say about 5000 grit. I think the worry is you think you will wear away the whole blade keep sharpening, but as you say, patience, and a loupe...! helps enormously to check the bevel. You can feel the angle when you are sharpening after a while, and I have started sharpening like you though I set my stones down instead of placing them in my palm. A lot quicker. Thanks again for your time.
Greetings Michael! I appreciate to talking about feeling the apex, when hand sharpening! Not only can you feel it, YOU CAN HEAR IT!! last, but not least, beer helps to make you more patient!!
I just wanted to drop by and thank you for this video. I've always been able to get my knives shaving sharp... except for one, and it's been my 'white whale' for years. I came across your video and realized that I've been spoiled by knives with basically good edges already that sharpen in a few minutes. I finally sat down with that knife and some diamond plates and did the work to crate and chase a burr on the thing. I basically had to reprofile the blade before moving up through grits and finally to stropping. It's now just as sharp as my other knives. Thanks again for the video! You really helped me.
Oh dude. I used to go through hell trying to figure out why the hell I could sharpen a knife right. I used to dread sharpening. I'm no knife expert by any means, but now I pull the blade towards me on both sides using my right and then my left hand. It works because I can see if the blade bevel apex is contacting the stone at any given time. Good upload!
Great advice I wish this video was out there a few years ago when I was Learning to sharpen.I fuck up some good knives doing everything you just said.I think it took me about a year to get it down.
I bought one of the cheapest whetstone kits on Amazon, I've tried 2 times to sharpen a dull kitchen knife.. and I will admit you got it 100% right I was trying to rush it, going way to quick, still don't fully understand the burr 😂 I think I was pushing to hard because I could never really seem to find a burr, I was always rounding it over I guess and having to start over. I'm going to try again today and focus on the course stone and really develop a good burr at a good common angle across the entire blade.. wish me luck lol
Today i decided to sharpen my pocket knife collection because i haven’t done it in so long. As mundane and monotonous of a task it is; I had still realized how much i missed doing it. I had also figured out why i missed sharpening knives so much. Well theres two reasons actually. 1. Its really relaxing. 2. Sharpening a blade relates to the success in our everyday lives so much its uncanny. Sometimes in life people like to rush into things; they try too hard all at once. You jump into a marriage too quick and it fails; you procrastinate studying and try to cram the night before that big final and you bomb it. You want togo change your life and try to workout at the gym and push your body too hard all at once and you wind up injuring yourself. Or very commonly, you become obsessed with instant gratification and never financially secure your future. Take a knife for example, if i were to try and rush to get it sharp by grinding it too fast or pushing it too hard into the sharpening stone id never achieve that razor sharp edge im looking for. In fact id just effectively wind up with a duller knife than what i started with. You see, much like sharpening a blade, in life you have to focus on the slow and steady grind. Be precise, patient, consistent and persistent and that razor sharp edge will form itself all on its own. Have a great day everyone!
Sir, Thanks for your videos and your honest truths, struggling with my technique and patience at the moment and nice to know its just the learning process
I don't know if I'm the 1% or not because I came to this video after spending an hour on my whetstone. I've been trying all the tricks out their too make sure I'm at the right angle and that I'm hitting the edge of the knife evenly by marking it with a dry erase marker and I have been practicing with my whetstone for several weeks already and I have used whetstones a few times throughout the years. I assumed I was being to impatient and decided I'd spend more than 20 minutes sharpening this morning and I'm not even quite sure how long it has been. I started around 6:30 I thought and next thing I know it's 8 and I still can't get a clean cut through paper. I only have the lower end grit whetstone and thought maybe I just need to get the higher grit stones to really polish the edge up, but then I watch RU-vid videos of people who cam sharpen a butter knife faster and with a much sharper edge than I can with my pocket knife. I know if someone watched me they'd be able to tell me what I'm doing wrong instantly or give me pointers at the very least, but im getting pretty ticked at myself for it. Got myself questioning my manhood 😮💨🫡
I spent literally hours last night on my Lansky trying to get me Delica 4 sharp and even after feeling what I was pretty sure was a burr form on both sides over and over, it just never got sharp. I eventually got frustrated and took it off the Lansky. I then proceeded to attempt to finish up on my DMT stone and still didn’t get any good results. Better but not good. After some frustration, I decided to blunt the edge by making a few passes directly perpendicular to the stone. I was thinking that maybe the edge was so weak that it would just fold, so I wanted to ditch that last little bit of metal right on the apex. Then I went back and forth on the DMT stone and got some sharpness back but not as much as I usually could get. I just can’t understand why the Lansky system which has given me excellent results in the past, including on this exact knife, just wouldn’t reach the apex. I’m honestly at a loss and I’m sure that I’m the problem, not the knife. Maybe the system isn’t working like it once did but I’m more inclined to put the blame on myself. Even seen anything like that before? I used the Lansky the exact same way as I have in the past, but the last few times I’ve used it I just get awful results. Doesn’t seem to matter if I use the 17 or the 20 degree setting, the apex seems to not be touched. I’ve used both their normal stones and the diamond ones, same results. Only thing that has changed is that the knife is now older and has been ground back more. It’s a flat ground Delica so it is gradually getting thicker behind the edge but it should still have some life in it, right? The main reason I haven’t been using the system is because the last few times I have all it feels like I’m doing is throwing away good blade steel and not getting an edge. The freehand stone has given me better results but still not the best just due to me not being as good with freehand as I would like. I suspect that over time I may have become heavy handed and may be putting my too much pressure. Can that result in the edge rolling and feeling as though it has a burr? I was confident that I had formed a burr, but I obviously hadn’t.
I've had a kme for a couple months now. and I love using it. I can get my knives really sharp with it. and I've never had an issue. but I also know how to free hand and have been learning to sharpen for over a year and a half. and just like you I enjoy sharpening. so maybe I don't have issues with it because I take my time.
I recently sharpened my Bradford G3 in M390. I hit a piece of metal while cutting and put a small nick in the edge. With my KME it took me about 2 hours to get it to what I like. Then another 30 minutes of stropping.
I’ve done chip repair and tip repair in as little as little as 30 minutes on M390 but I also sharpen for thousands of hours a year and have gotten the technique down to allow for it to be that fast
It was my first time sharpening M390. But I think I was at too high of an angle and trying to remove to much material. Although after all that time, I did end up with a nice edge.
Ok so I just tried to sharpen a fillet knife, at about 16 degrees. Started w 180 as it was messed up dull Worked my burr one side, did a burr other side. Then worked from 400 to 800 to 1200 to 3000....taking my time. Knife WILL NOT SHARPEN! DID it a 2nd time. Spent like 2 hours, still not sharp! Seems your tip to be patient doesn't apply to me. So what's the deal??? I'm missing something! I'm not sure what however. I can see my new edge reflect surfaces and appears about same.both sides. I.dont push hard. It just won't get sharp! It appears that one side feels "rounded" to a small burr or something but I just don't have experience to know what the deal is and why it never gets sharp. Frustrating.
I agree you have to be patient when sharpening a knife I've been working at a cow slaughterhouse for the last 11 years and I believe that sharpening knife is one of the most important things and making your job easier yet I have completely got it yet my knife is sharp enough to do my job but working 11 sometimes 12 hours a day having a razor sharp knife with nuts hurt some people say my knife is the sharpest in my area and I laugh at them because I think my knife is not as good as it should be or could be but patience is a virtue but it is hard to find time to sharpen my knife correctly when the line never stops I enjoyed this video and wanted to let you know that I agree patience is the key
skipping stones is what i notice about my friends. i finish at 6000 they love my edge but they use 2 grits instead of my 6. i usually cardboard strope their knives because i know its something that makes a huge difference, that they cant get to themselves
Hey Mike, I watched your video from 3 years ago about using patience to get a knife sharp. I’ve been free hand sharpening on water stones for 40 years, as well as sharpening with a Lansky angle system for 15 years, and I have cheap Pakistan knife that I just can’t sharpen. So I have a quick question: do you think there are knives with poor quality steel and poor heat treat that just can not be sharpened no matter how patient you are? Thx for your input and keep up the great work! Mike S.
Yes if the Knife has not been properly heat treated you were going to have a difficult time sharpening it one of my least favorite tasks is sharpening soft crappy steel… But it is an exercise in making sure you’re not using too much pressure
If you're talking edge pro 1000 grit then yeah but a shapton 1000 grit eats steel like nothing. You should clarify which stones you're talking about, a nooby might get a shapton 1000 and think I should save this till the end or think that it's similar to the 1000 edge pro stones which are about 6-7 k in Japanese water stones.
Michael Emler - Crazy Sharp Riiight. That's why Japanese stones are rated on a JIS standard and edge pro aren't. A 1000 grit shapton pro will not give you a near mirror polish, a 1000 grit edge pro gets close to a mirror. That's why it's the finishing stone for edge pro while using water stones your finish grits are 5k to 10k or even finer.
I was not making fun of your choice of beer Mike, I was just suggesting some other beers which may be better.. I drink Stella as well, but only when I am drunk... Cheers, buddy!! 🍻🍻🍺🍺
Nah you're wrong the problem is they let it get dull. I can get a razor edge on my large ceramic rod and a strop. Given if you're abusing it on a camp out use whetstones but if you can't sharpen just keep it from needing a full sharpen job
Eventually you have to sharpen... a ceramic rod will not repair a chip or a severely rolled edge... for maintenance that’s fine or if you really don’t cut a lot of hard or abrasive material... but I have a lot of customers that wreck knives and send them to me...
Michael Emler - Crazy Sharp yeah I get that that's why I said I use stones on camp knives. My edc knives Don't have hard tasks so it generally doesn't chip or damage
When you have an even angle on both sides it terminates at the “apex”... so when you have reprofiled or repaired an edge fully on on both sides you have apexed it ... this is the most critical step of sharpening
It is when you make cutting motions back and forth on the edge of a steel plate. This will even out the edge on a horizontally evenly distributed plane allowing the maximum possible cutting performance.
