Do You Hand-Sharpen, Or Want To?

EDC Gear for Flashlight Carriers
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Howdy, all!

I was reminded in another thread of an old trick I used, to teach my muscles how to hold a knife for sharpening.

It may be commercially available, but I’ve never even heard of it, so I think this is my own original idea… As always, I appreciate any correction or feedback or comment on the matter!

Practice does not make “Perfect”! Practice only makes permanent.

Only Perfect Practice makes Perfect.

This gave me access to “Perfect Practice”, which helped more than I care to admit.

I’d love to know if any of you guys have seen such a thing, or if you would care to try it (perhaps to teach that recalcitrant relative) and let me know your thoughts about it.

To business: I made a holder for my stone, which would protect it and let me store it. It dawned on me that, if I put a block at the end which had been beveled to the correct degree for the body of the knife, I could lay my blade on the guide every stroke to force my muscles to remember it the correct way.

As a base I picked up a piece of decking board from the scrap pile. It was 5/4” * 6” by however long it was — “long enough”. I cut the guide from a piece of 2”*4” long enough to go all the way across the decking board, then ran it down the table saw at 1/2 the included angle of the bevel I wanted, then relieved the short end to make a wee lip, under which the Stone would slip. I made sure the relief cut fit the stone, of course. I fastened the guide to the base, slipped the stone under the lip (a touching fit, not tight) and used a left-over paint-stirring stick (you could use a Popsicle stick or any thin stock) as a “toe board” to keep the stone under the lip. By lucky happenstance, the base board was ~double the width of my stone so I made sure I could slide it from side to side, to get both hands “in the groove”.

That turned out to be important. Having a full-width guide let me sharpen machetes, Bush Hooks, etc. and sliding the stone from side to side as needed made both my hands “smarter”. It dawns on me, looking at it, that you could put a handle on the bottom, tighten up the stone’s mount, and use it on “the big stuff” at your pleasure…

Anyway, I know a lot of you don’t like a wall of words, so here’s hoping maybe this picture can be as helpful to you as it was to me:

PS: This picture should demonstrate conclusively why I chose Engineering as a career and not Art… :open_mouth:

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Hi Dimbo, I do hand-sharpen and find your idea clever and interesting! Will give it a they eventually.

In the years I shifted from checking often to relying more on the feeling of friction and even the sound it makes. I sometimes try to close eyes to focus on the feeling. I got into a near-trance state a few times ha ha!

Sharpening is a great activity done by hand, I love it.

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We speak the same language!

That trance helps me lots when I have to fix a bad gouge and/or re-curve a blade.

Of course, it also has some feeling when it’s on the wrong angle, so it helps to start with something that will cut…

My trick just trains the hands to get it “close”. The ears and fingers take it to the last degree.

Thanks,

Dim

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I would have to say you guys have honed your skills.

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But is freehand sharpening the cutting edge ?

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I once tried to learn how to freehand

But things did not go as I planned

Now I don't mean to carp

But my knife's still not sharp

From my job as a mohel I was canned

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But we’re just cutting up, right? You sound a little edgy…

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So, you were cut loose?

Here, let me give you a tip…

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Thanks Dimbo. Seems like a real good training idea. I free hand and find myself tending to one angle for all my knives. Obviously, different angles should be used depending on knife and intended use. Maybe this can help me train myself to use another angle or two.

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Thanks for the feedback!

That’s actually a design flaw. I just made it for kitchen/pocket knives & then started chipping edges on the “rough” uses (especially when I loaned knives to “friends” & co-workers) and had to adapt. And as Chenko pointed out, you soon graduate to “feel” & don’t need this anymore.

Fortunately, after a while (much longer if you’re Dim…) it gets easier to adjust. H)

I’m thinking hard about making another, but that “bug” is going to be a problem…

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Dimbo, GOOD idea! One little addition might help ie, the ability to adjust the height of the angle guide. This would help if you have to use different height stones or as your main stone wears down.

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Thanks for noticing that! I was more worried about the way the sliding stone would tend to erode the base to the point of failure.

Full disclosure, this is all being dragged, kicking & screaming, from the depths of a somewhat overcrowded memory…

I do recall, the muscle memory set in long before stone wear became a problem. It was just a training aid, after all. Basically I bragged about being able to sharpen any knife and a friend handed me his and said “show me”. (Details foggy, it was ~1972)

Having said that, and wishing I’d paid more attention in Art class, I’d like your opinion on this:

What if I could arrange a screw on the ‘front’ to hold down the stone, and (tapping in to Ima4Wheeler’s comment earlier) another screw at the ‘back’ to adjust that angle as desired? Maybe with a calibrated gauge so all you’d have to do is use the one screw to touch the stone; and the other to set the angle…?? If I could draw it, I would…

It occurs to me (thanks to all the feedback so far) that the “systems” with all their gimmicks, may not appeal to those of us who like the feel of rubbing up a wire edge for ourselves. Maybe I should work this out and make some?

Thank you again for sharing your thoughts on this!

Dim

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I once had a knife that was dull

So one day when my work had a lull

Dragged the thing on a stone

Sliced my hand to the bone

It's because my dexterity's null

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Just throwing out ideas here.HOLDERS: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rs7pKpvmnA
Sharpening Stone Holder 5-1/2" to 9" Long - KnifeCenter - D1091

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Thanks. Adapting the angle-starting trick to an off-the-shelf holder would expedite matters quite a bit!

The one that mounts on the sink looks especially interesting. I like the idea of sharpening under running water. It would even work with diamond plates; and make for a good excuse to touch up the oil on any wood handles.

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Thanks for the follow up Dim. I guess my problem is that I want all my blades to have shallow angle whither it's appropriate or not for the type of blade and duty it will see. So when I here that kind of zipping sound, I angle back to the same angle all the time. Not until I hear that sound at that angle am I satisfied. I guess I feel like I'm increasing the angle when I hear that sound before getting to that point. It gets the blade wicked sharp, but the softer steels will get bent edges pretty quick.

Kind of an OCD issue I guess. I guess more experience over time will be the cure.

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I do not sharpen my flashlights at all, that would be wrong on so many levels :expressionless:

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Why? :bigsmile:

Multi-tool flashlight

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Mash those up together and you get:

Multi-FOOL…

:smiley:

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When you have to eat a mm or more off the edge, or re-curve the tip of your favorite knife (maybe the irreplaceable one your favorite Grandfather left you?) to fix a chip or gouge, you may change your mind.

Don’t ask me how I know that. :expressionless:

As for me, I eventually figured out how Not To Use A Knife As Anything But A Slicing Tool… At least that’s what I like to tell myself.

The steep angled edges and convexity tricks I now reserve for “beaters”, “choppers” and yard tools.

For my EDC I figured out a way to have the tip and belly scalpel-shallow, then change to more “choppy” near the hinge. It’s a poor compromise but I make do (and never lend it out).

OCD is actually a major asset when knife sharpening, so don’t apologize! You wouldn’t have nearly as hard a time as I have, developing the ability to make a lot of exactly identical passes, with each hand.