New edge for one of our 3 Spyderco Z-Cuts. Fantastic kitchen knife for light to moderate use!
3 Thanks
Where are we going with these knives? Lol
I bought 4 of them when they were on sale for about $18. I have some paring knives that I like better for those tasks. I use the Z-Cuts for steak knives. They work well for that. But they do seem to need more sharpening than I like. I have the pointed plain edge version.(like the one in your pic).
Overall I like them.
Lately I have been pairing my Victorinox with this 1990s Cuperinox from Albacete, Spain (national to me).
I wish I could tell you the fascinating story of this now vintage piece, but sadly, faithful to the âbudgetâ connotation of this forum, I just bought it on Wallapop for 4⏠a while ago (about $5).
I wish it had a metal handle but it is unfortunately in plastic. I just use it mindfully and itâs fine.
Can someone point me to a good sharpening guide, please? When I got it it was new and very sharp, now itâs getting a bit dull.
2 Thanks
Are you asking about instructions for how to sharpen the knife, or a physical guide to control the sharpening angle?
I meant an online guide as in tutorial 
Not a person 
I found one in Lithuania last month, though: an American fella in Vilnius with a sharpening knives business in a market, but I didnât have this knife with me
1 Thank
OK. There are lots of products that either attach to the blade or hold the blade and control the angle of a stones or stones. These are also called guides. Or guided systems. Or sometimes controlled angle systems. Which is why I asked. Something like this (but there are many types)
Or this:
They simplify things by controlling the angle for you.
I will see if I can find something online. But really, after learning the basics of hand sharpening, it is all about learning the technique that works for you. I started with knives that were not important to me and did a lot of practice. Eventually you figure it out and it becomes quite easy.
https://www.seriouseats.com/knife-skills-how-to-sharpen-a-knife
Might get you started, but there are lots of good tutorials online. BTW, I would avoid any of the spinning motorized sharpeners, or the pull through fixed angle things with carbide wheels. They will just frustrate you and possibly ruin you knives. Just get a good set of stones and learn your technique.
For under $50 you can get a decent dual sided stone and leather strop to get started. If you get to where you have any specific questions you can PM me.
2 Thanks
The guy I met in Lithuania had a tray with water and there different âstonesâ of different grit.
Well, I meant how to file them in this way, I understand it is the most time consuming, but probably it can give the best results.
Ah, donât worry, but thanks!
It was if anyone had at hand some link, but if you have to search, please donât worry, I will do it myself later.
Cool!
$18 each is a good deal!! Weâre big steak lovers in our house, so we usually grill once a week and as you saidâŚexcellent steak knives! We usually use them for steak/chicken/fish dinners. Cutting up cheese.
BD1N steel definitely doesnât hold the best edge, but Iâve found if I can keep my wife and daughter from tossing them around in the sink, or dishwasher, I can touch them up every few weeks.
This one I had posted had a chip and a couple microchips. Gave it a new edge with grit progression from 230, 320, 400, 600, 800 and finished at 1000. Took me around an hour? Well worth it. Sticky sharp edge, pops hairs off my arm just by touching them!
1 Thank
Please reread my post above I added quite a bit to itâŚ
Something like THIS could get you started . You can spend lots of money on sharpening equipment (I have)⌠but you donât have to in order to get a very nice edge on your knives.
1 Thank
That seriousests link is fantastic, and the amazon link below very useful! Thanks a lot!
I am really happy and thrilled about it. I have been using a manual tool where I had to drag the blade through some grinding material in a sort of V shaped grove of about 30°, but never liked the bits of metal falling off, very worrying. In fact, I kept dull this knife.
All the others they were only cheap kitchen knives, so I went for it.
âŚand thanks for this, noted!
Your guy was using waterstones. One of the easiest and cheapest ways to recreate the often expensive sharpening stones is to use double sided tape to stick strips of different grit sandpaper onto a flat surface. Thick glass like fridge or bathroom shelves is great, but anything will do as long as itâs flat.
Your grits ought to range from 120 (for reprofiling really blunt edges) 400, 600, 1000. You can go up from 1000 grit if you require razor sharp, but a slightly toothy edge works best for my knives.
There is also stropping to get a razor, mirror edge. Flat leather glued to a board, even a strip of a cereal packet works ok. Use a sharpening compound applied to the leather, itâs like a wax with particles in it. Draw the knife as you did with the stones but donât cut back into the leather. You can use your imagination for compounds, toothpaste works well, car scratch repair paste like T-Cut etc.
Start with an old knife to get the muscle memory. A black marker pen to colour the bevel will show you where youâre removing metal.
1 Thank
You can sharpenâŚonce you figure it out, on anything abrasive⌠an old flat stone will do it.
I have actually done this when out in the field.
But a decent set of stones and a decent strop is a great investment for someone learning. For most folks it is something that your kids will inherit and they will still work fine. The set I linked is under $40 and has most of the grits you listed and a rudimentary strop. They arenât the best, for sure, but should be more than adequate to get started. Probably cost less than buying the skate tape in the needed gritsâŚplus he will not aggravate anyone for the refrigerator shelves or bathroom mirrors disappearing 
Sure I have high grit Japanese water stones or the Shapton glass stones that sell in the hundreds of $ per. Most people (probably including me) donât need those. Technique is much more important⌠then you can start using rocksâŚ
1 Thank
I have had pretty good luck sharpening knives on the bottom edge of a ceramic coffee mug or bowl. The unfinished part. But not all ceramics are created equal.
There were a few years where that was the only thing I used for sharpening.
1 Thank
Oh well, I happen to have a pair of shelves from a fridge: I saved them because in the flat we were living before there wasnât much space and I used to use them to flat documents to âscanâ them with the phone, in the pure âbudgetâ spirit of this forum.
But I think that the filling up with water of the pores of the wet stones explained at your link will be missing with sand paper.
I know that there is wet sand paper, but it probably wonât be the same as a wet stone.
1 Thank
Have a bunch of cheap diamond stones, Spyderco fine ceramic stone then a home made strop with the green chrome stropping compound. This combo isnât terrible and was very cheap, however, I donât sharpen knives particularly often so find the development of muscle memory almost necessary to re-learn each time.
I picked up a Xarilk Gen 3 in Octoberish, along with 3rd party diamond stones and leather strop and diamond compound.
Itâs a bit fiddly to use, and certainly isnât perfect:
-
Smaller knives are a bit limited on lowest angle, because the clamp gets in the way of the stone
-
I need to find a solution to asymmetric bevels when sharpening full flat grinds as the clamps donât hold the edge perfectly perpendicular
Those two points aside, even a moron like me can achieve Instagram worthy polished edges with very little skill, so itâs now my go-to sharpener for kitchen knives (quality stainless) and pocket knives with modern super steels.
I can still get scalpel sharp edge on my victorinox âswiss army knivesâ using the pocket Fallkniven CC4 ceramic combo stone and some stropoing compound on the leather pouch⌠Which is good as itâs a bit small for the Xarilk even with the small blade holder.
1 Thank