How do you sharpen your hunting knives?

gitrdun

gitrdun

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Over the years, I sharpened my own knives except for a custom made stainless blade. The resulting job was at best "satisfactory". I then purchased a Lansky sharpening kit. It works well, once you get accustomed to it, at first it's a little scary especially without the table top clamp. But after using it for a couple of seasons, I sort of got the picture and decided to buy a couple of stones and do it freehand. Now, I enjoy sharpening freehand which is a good thing because I have collected more knives than I really need.

How do you folks handle your sharpening tasks? Do you do it yourself or send them out to a sharpening shop? What has worked best for you?
 
I just bought a steel...seems to do the trick...just have to keep an edge on the blade, cause other wise your wasting your time....

how do you guys determine if your knives are sharp....cut papper...shave hair....run it across your nail????
 
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I sharpen them by hand and by eye. To put an edge on a knife I use a stone starting with a fairly coarse one. I lay the stone on my bench and work the knife two strokes on each side back and forth, careful to keep the angle consistant. To get the correct angle, hold the edge at 90 degrees to the stone (straight up and down) and rotate the blade to half that angle, (45 degrees). Half that angle again by eye and that's the angle of approach you want. Use a finger on the dull side as a reference to keep the angle consistant.

Once it gets sharp I switch to a very smooth polishing stone and work it as above but lightly and even more carefully. If you look at the edge after sharpening with the coarser stone with a magnifying glass, you'll see that although sharp, there's wee little bits of burr on the edge. A lot of guys make the mistake of not getting rid of these microscopic burrs. That's where the polishing stone comes in. Carefully finish it off so that you can't see any burs with your magnifying glass. Now, you've got a sharp knife. And the edge will last unlike if you don't deburr it. (800 grit or so good quality sanding paper will work if you don't have a polishing stone).

Other than that I use a big steel usually to touch it up now and then, or a tiny eze lap pen sized thingy that I just bought to touch things up in the field. I find though that any knife that's used a lot needs the thourough going over every once in a while starting with a coarse stone, carefully deburring it. I've finally got to where i like sharpening knives. Got in to it more by trying to keep good quality wood chisels doing what they're supposed to do.:runaway:
 
RickF said:
Another Lansky user here. Great system.
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X2!! ......... The Lansky is a great system for regular folk who lack the hand/eye coordination to sharpen freehand, like me. :)

As a retail meat cutter (in the past) I used a special belt grinder for knives and finished with a steel. The steel will only work so much and then the blade will have to be ground again as the edge gets rounded.
 
I use a 1X42" stationary belt sander:)
I sharpen the knife with a 400 grit belt then a 600 grit belt dipping them in cold water to keep from heating up then I use a strope to break the feather
You can shave with them when I'm done;)
 
Camk said:
You can shave with them when I'm done;)
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The trouble with a feather edge is that while they are very sharp to start with, they tend to lose their edge quicker than a regular working edge.

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Go to your local Home Hardware store and purchase the knife sharpener , its mobile and small and does the trick for me and my hunting partner with minimal effort. Good luck
 
I don't have room in the junk I carry to cart a Lansky system around.

I have a couple Eze-Lap diamond files that I use. A medium one, that is usually all I use, and an extra fine one for doing light touchups on the edge.

Total weight, about an ounce.

Cheers
Trevor Jones
 
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It's overkill, but I ended up with a Chef's Mate 120 electric sharpener, and all I can say is ... wow! Anything that let's somebody with 10 thumbs take a knife from dull to *sharp* in 60 seconds is truly one of the wonders of the world.
 
Soft and hard arkansas bench stones. Then a real fine grit that is for the straight razors. Final step the razor strap. Sharp? you bet. Cut fingers? You bet, if you aren't careful. :D
 
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