Knife SHarpening

[He Man]

I bought a Cold Steel Recon 1 Tanto plain knife and im wondering whats a good sharpening stone to throw in a bag for in field sharpening, such as camping, on the road and also  whats a good sharpening stone for using in home?

Cold Steel recommends Norton stones, and they are quite expensive.

I dont mind sharpening it often either.

I dont know much about knives i just really liked the recon 1 so i bought it.

[IZ]

What steel is that knife?  My Rajah III Cold Steel is AUS8. Seems like its pretty difficult to sharpen. Let me ask my knife guy when I stop in his store today though. Actually, you could shoot him an email.  His store is Mr. Knife Guy in Chandler, AZ. His name is Brent. He'll be happy to answer your questions. Tell him IZ referred ya!

[WarrenJ]

For field sharpening, I use a DMT diamond rod.  This is the model that stores in its own threaded brass handle.  A few licks with that and a couple strokes on a steel (or the back of another knife in a pinch)  and you are usually back in business.  At home I have a large DMT diamond "stone" - not the plastic type with the little circles of diamond abrasive but a solid steel block impregnated with diamond.  Works excellently, but I probably sharpen 20 knives on a slow week. 

AUS 8 is a pretty decent stainless steel - I like it better than most of the newer 154CM or 440 stainless steels out there.  Some of the earliest 154CM that came in from Japan was wonderful, but the later stuff doesn't seem as good. 

[Ddan]

+1 on the diamond stone.  As a bonus, they also work great for adjusting valve shims   

[WarrenJ]

Absolutely - way better than sandpaper. 

[IZ]

Just went over to Shooters Vault. They had a Benchmade diamond sharpener there for $20.

[WarrenJ]

I bought my commercial diamond stone from Smoky Mountain Knife Works.  When you guys ride in the Smokeys, go to Seiverville and stop at SMKW.  The place is huge - you have to search through a fair amount of junk, but there are some definite pearls to be found there a good prices.  Vast amount of sharpening stuff, commercial knives, cheap knives, custom knives, midtech knives and everything inbetween. 

[He Man]

it is AUS8 steel. I just got home now and ill try calling him in the morning.

I have a 600 grit sharpening stone, but it makes my edge duller. From the factory coldsteel apparently uses a 8000grit for final sharpening.

like a smartass i tried to see how sharp it was out of the box, and it was make the beast with two backsign SHARP. i punched a few 3 inch gashes through several old tires of mine. then the second i went to sharpen them, i messed it up. ( i routinely sharpen my sushi knife with it). the cold steel was much sharper out of the box so i am trying to maintain that level of surgical sharpeness.

It is a tanto, so the foward edge is still excellent.

[red baron]

Read this and do it and you'll never go back to a hard stone.

http://bill-hay.com/Convex/Convex.htm

[IZ]

Yes, those Cold Steel blades are sharp!  I found out the stupid way too.

[triangleforge]

Read this and do it and you'll never go back to a hard stone.

http://bill-hay.com/Convex/Convex.htm

I'll have to give that a try. 

Generally, at home I use one of the systems that clamps on the spine of the blade & holds the stone at a constant angle; I'm not particularly talented at keeping the blade at a very precise, steady angle, but with a little help I can get a nice, double-bevel edge that holds for a good long time. If you get the edge right in the comfort of your kitchen, you won't generally have to mess with it in the field. I do like the diamond rod like the one WarrenJ recommends for touching up the edge in the field, but the only time I've really needed it is when field dressing an elk. They're big, and the hide & hair are surprisingly abrasive. Deer are enough smaller that I've never found myself noticing the knife losing its edge until I'm almost finished.

One caveat, though -- those diamond hones can move a lot of metal surprisingly quickly; as you've discovered, it can be just as easy to make a knife dull with sharpening tools as to make it sharp, and if you significantly alter the bevel in the field, you're just going to have to fix it when you get home.

[il d00d]

Triangleforge, which one do you use? 

I have been looking at the Wicked Edge Pro and the Apex systems.  My inner cheapwad likes the Wicked Edge, because it is on sale for $200, but the Apex appears to be the more popular choice among kitchen knife nerds.  There are cheaper Apexes, but I could easily spend a lot more on basic stones.  The WE looks like it could give me a good edge out of the box, and it looks like the learning curve is not as steep.  At the end of the day, I just want a sharp knife.  I don't anticipate buying a microscope to check out the bevel at 300x.  I may live to regret saying that.

Anways, lemme know your FHE...

[triangleforge]

My inner cheapwad is also my outer cheapwad; I don't bother to hide it.  I use one from Gatco like this:

http://www.amazon.com/GATCO-10005-Stone-Sharpener-Gatco/dp/B001DB9CQS 

I picked it up at a sporting goods store in Salt Lake City years ago after I showed up at an event for which I was donating a hunting knife & hadn't had time to put an edge on the thing. It's served me well enough since.

I do wish it had a finer finishing stone than it's got, and the Diamond Hone versions that pop up at the top of the page would probably work faster & cut smoother. And I can do better on a serrated edge with a fine diameter rod than I can with the sharp V-angle stone that's in the Gatco kit, but generally it's been worth what I paid for it.  I've also heard good things about the Lansky system, which appears to be even cheaper. If you've got the money, though, I bet the Wicked Edge or Apex packages would be mighty nice to use.

Two other limitations worth noting with all of these types of sharpeners that use a guide that grabs the spine of the blade -- I've got a couple of knives with a bevel on the spine (not a cutting edge, just a little relief ground into the spine), and these kinds of grabbers don't grab well on those knives. Also, when I'm sharpening something like a big chef's knife I have to reposition the grabber a couple of times to get the whole blade; ergo, I usually don't bother with it and do the best I can freehand.

[He Man]

I just ordered this last night.

http://www.amazon.com/DMT-FWEEE-Double-Diafold-Sharpener/dp/B001EIE01W/ref=sr_1_3?s=miscellaneous&ie=UTF8&qid=1309398881&sr=1-3

will get it tomorrow.

I want something to go in the pack, and something for home as the road needs to be compact and lightweight.

[He Man]

got it. its great. though im not sure how long it will last. Took a little bit of work to get it back to its orgiinal shape. I should of bought the Fine and extra fine one just to help hone the edge that i messed up.

This on comes in Extra fine and Extra extra fine.

love it. but again, not sure how long these things lasts.