Knife honing free hand. Why bother?

[buca3152]

Last tidbit. Both brand new knives. One freehand, one paper wheel. Freehand took 15 minutes including stropping, the paper wheel took 2 minutes. Both push cut paper the same, both cut arm hair easily. I admit there are times when I enjoy freehanding. But I dont always have the time. Especially since there is no benefit in doing so.

 

[Clay S]

I can watch TV while doing it? And hear it?

 

[buca3152]

Sure you can. In the space of one commercial I'm done!

 

[eKretz]

The main thing besides having to go to the garage for me is the concave bevel you get with a wheel. I like the way a slightly convex bevel cuts, sort of like a splitting action. That and I just enjoy sharpening freehand. It's not a chore for me.

 

[buca3152]

The main thing besides having to go to the garage for me is the concave bevel you get with a wheel. I like the way a slightly convex bevel cuts, sort of like a splitting action. That and I just enjoy sharpening freehand. It's not a chore for me.

Yes sir. That is absolutely fine. The purpose of the thread was not to say freehand is useless or inadequate. It was to discuss the viability of alternate methods. Last week it snowed here. So I found myself freehanding. It was quite enjoyable. But that's because I had the time. I don't always have that though.

 

[timwcic]

Although I enjoy the Zen of a hand produced edge, The lazy old man in me said this is a new route home. I bought one of these things at today’s market. For $20 I could not say no. Even came with a DVD, how vintage, does not fit in my phone. Now to figure what to do with it.

 

[willc]

Although I enjoy the Zen of a hand produced edge, The lazy old man in me said this is a new route home. I bought one of the things at today’s market. For $20 I could not say no. Even came with a DVD, how vintage, does not fit in my phone. Now to figure what to do with it.

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You got a great deal on that, it looks brand new.
I have the same model and it really is good.

I really don’t use it too often though, if I have deep chips or need to thin an edge out are about the only times I use it nowadays.

But you cannot deny its usefulness when needed.

 

[timwcic]

You got a great deal on that, it looks brand new.
I have the same model and it really is good.

I really don’t use it too often though, if I have deep chips or need to thin an edge out are about the only times I use it nowadays.

But you cannot deny its usefulness when needed.

Thanks Brother, it is clean but the belts are toast. I will buy some consumables and take it for a test drive on some beater shop knifes to see what I can get out if it

 

[LJS]

I bought one of these things at today’s market.

One of my brothers gave me one of those as a gift a few years back. He was trying. Certainly good for folks who don’t really know how to sharpen with stones or need a govm’t quality edge in seconds. I gave it a go on a pile of knives relegated to shop duty (abuse). Puts a toothy sandpaper edge on fast. Not the smoothest functioning thing but that fits the edge frankly. Fine for machetes and shop knives used to hack rope and ugly work. Wouldn’t put any kitchen knife in it.

Biggest tip.....is the tip. Cuts an apex fast but rounds off and eats knife tips faster. Like one second. Seriously don’t run the tip through it. Or at least try it on something that doesn’t matter first and see what I mean. It’s a good tool for the right job like any other.

 

[Slash McCoy]

I have one and TBH I don't really care for it. I use it for a big humongous cleaver I have and that's about it. I prefer a dead flat bevel face, generally, and this thing doesn't give it to you. In fact the documentation brags on the convex bevel it makes. Great for a chopper of any sort. Cleaver, butcher knife, sure. But not most knives, not for me. Actually I am glad you reminded me of machetes. Mrs Slash had a machete on her boat for some reason, and it is in the shop now, and I have been meaning to take a file to it because it still has the store-bought factory fresh non-edge on it. A flat file is the usual tool for sharpening a machete. Learned that over several years living on my farm in Belize. My machete was not just for show. It was a tool in daily use, and there were extra ones around the house for household and kitchen chores and such. Everyone back-a-bush uses a file, and only sharpens the sweet spot, not the entire edge. But I could definitely see a bit of convexing on a machete edge.

Actually almost all my knives, pocket or kitchen or shop, I sharpen with a Lansky Quad-Sharp pull-through. I love that thing. There are a couple in the kitchen, one in the car, one in the truck, a couple on the boat, a couple in the shop, one in the office, and another one that usually rides in my pants pocket. Cheap, fast, effective. There is a knack to using them to best effect, but once you catch on they give an edge that cuts like a skil saw.

 

[duke762]

I once saw a thread years ago and I can only hope it was a joke (but I don't think it was) about how to get an edge on your knife. There were the usual surface plate set ups and crock sticks and such, but also a good selection of home made knife sharpeners. Big contraptions to hold the blade and present it to the stone. It actually made me sad. If that much effort was put into learning to free hand sharpen, they would have had it down.

Funnest factory edge I've ever seen is the edge on my KaBar 1272. Ground on a belt sander and then stropped. Probably on some kind of wheel or belt. If I was going to try to reproduce an edge for an outdoor knife with equipment, this would be my goal. Very toothy and freaky sharp. I used it once to cut up a bunch of worn out T shirts. It's like the edge melted through them. Still hair popping after. Spooky.

 

[buca3152]

I once saw a thread years ago and I can only hope it was a joke (but I don't think it was) about how to get an edge on your knife. There were the usual surface plate set ups and crock sticks and such, but also a good selection of home made knife sharpeners. Big contraptions to hold the blade and present it to the stone. It actually made me sad. If that much effort was put into learning to free hand sharpen, they would have had it down.

Funnest factory edge I've ever seen is the edge on my KaBar 1272. Ground on a belt sander and then stropped. Probably on some kind of wheel or belt. If I was going to try to reproduce an edge for an outdoor knife with equipment, this would be my goal. Very toothy and freaky sharp. I used it once to cut up a bunch of worn out T shirts. It's like the edge melted through them. Still hair popping after. Spooky.

Sounds like an edge off a paper wheel. Wicked sharp and fast. Mine is preloaded with 180 sic and the strop component is coated with white compound.

 

[Ridgeback]

On a $100 knife YES....On a $1500 Knife NOOOOO!

 

[David]

I bought my dad one of these for christmas with the grinding belt attachment. I'm looking forward to playing around with it and seeing how it works for thinning.

 

[buca3152]

Harbor freight works better. I modded my angle attachment for it to 5 degrees for the thinning. It works quite well and ensures uniformity.

 

[eKretz]

I just picked up a nice 4" x 36" wet belt sander. Doing some restoration work on it at the moment - going to surface grind the platen flat, change the bearings and maybe add a pyrex platen insert eventually. S.O.B. is heavy as hell. I will probably convert it to a 3-phase motor so I can use a VFD for variable speed also. Have a couple spares lying around. Any of you guys use the pyrex platens? This one's not mine, but same model. The u-shaped shield is removable.

 

[JohnEzra]

Power tools can definitely be handy and quick, if your goal is a “good enough for government work” edge, but to insinuate they can recreate or be even better than the edge produced by proper freehanding on good stones is plainly ridiculous, especially if we are talking about kitchen knives.

 

[buca3152]

Power tools can definitely be handy and quick, if your goal is a “good enough for government work” edge, but to insinuate they can recreate or be even better than the edge produced by proper freehanding on good stones is plainly ridiculous, especially if we are talking about kitchen knives.

I totally disagree. Paper wheel can get a wicked edge very quickly.

 

[buca3152]

Check this video out.

 

[SliceOfLife]

Once you kit up and go through the steps to mechanically put a high level edge on it's as much or more work, cost, and space than stones are.

Wheels and belts are great for bulk removal. As desired refinement goes up they become less and less effective as their increase in force applied begins to work against them as much as it assists them, and hand honing becomes superior... Or you tune speed down and now the set-up time becomes more significant.

Maybe if you're pushing through 50, 100, or more knives at once, high grit wheels make sense. For 1-12 knives, stones are the better option in my opinion.