The Bleeding Edge

[bikermutt07]

I consider myself a complete novice on sharpening. I spent most of my life owning cheap throw away knives because I couldn't sharpen a knife. Being a carpenter I always had a razor knife on my side at work, but it always bother me not being able to sharpen something. I thought to myself "a man should be able to sharpen a knife".

So, I began a long process to learn how to sharpen a knife. I will tell you up front what works for me probably isn't right, but it does work for me.

After watching probably a hundred different videos on YouTube, I heard the one bit of advice I had never heard from anyone and it made perfect sense.

The advice was as such: the first time you sharpen a new knife, expect it to take a long time. Because you will be putting your edge on it. What I gathered from that was I wouldn't be touching up the factory bevel. But I would be slightly modifying it.

This made me understand how I had always given up to soon on my knives.

So, here is how I sharpen all my knives now, and it works for me (that's what counts, right).

I found a firm sanding pad ( similar to a mouse pad) at O'Reilly. I then take various grits of automotive sandpaper to my edges. I pull away from the edge and tilt the blade up until I feel it dragging on the sandpaper. It took me awhile to get the feeling for it.

After this I strop it on a hard surface with polishing compound.

I know this eventually will create a convex edge on all my secondary bevels, but I don't care. I'm a man, and I can now sharpen a knife, lol.

The knife I learned this process on was a cold steel Aus8 voyager. I had previously destroyed the edge trying to used a fixed sharpening system.

This knife's secondary bevel has been completely converted to a convex edge and is a great work knife. 

I know this isn't the proper method of sharpening, but I'm proud that I was able to accomplish a good working edge. My knives will shave o.k. and mostly slice paper. That's good enough for me.

I hope this post will help some other guy out there who's been scratching his head for forty years.

For what it's worth, there's my story.

Edited May 30, 2016 by bikermutt07