Serration Stones

Hi,

I get a lot of serrated knives and not all of them are bread knives.  Many are folders with a small serrated section near the heel.

However, when I got a hunting knife with a gut hook, I had to figure something out so I used the pieces of Japanese Water Stones that I have and shaped them on sandpaper and the Atoma plate so that they would fit into various sized serrations.


The picture here will illustrate what I mean.

They work very well, the key of course is to raise a burr on the flat side of the knife and then remove that burr.
It is pretty simple actually and you don't need to have these water stones. As I have shown earlier, you could wrap some sandpaper around a wooden dowel to do the trick as well. I know most people don't just happen to have Chosera water stones lying around that they can cut up.

Serrated knives don't need to be sharpened too often, thankfully.

Peter
I appreciate you being here.

Knifeplanet ariticle for novice sharpeners

This is an article I wrote for Knifeplanet at their request. I think they did a nice job adding the pictures and putting it altogether for me. I just wrote it, they made it pretty.

Hope you like it.



http://www.knifeplanet.net/how-to-sharpen-knife-on-japanese-water-stone/

Convex Edge Sharpening

Howdy folks, thanks for being here.

Today I was faced with another challenge, sharpening a knife with a convex edge.

Now there are a few ways to do this, a few ways that I am aware of that is

1. A belt sander and use the slack in the belt;
2. Sandpaper on a mouse pad
3. Water Stones and free hand sharpening.

I ditched the idea of the belt sander, I don't like sharpening knives with one, I use one for repairs only but not sharpening.

I was always sceptical about the mouse pad thing, it sounds pretty gimmicky to me but I do happen to have some very nifty micro abrasives with adhesive backs in extremely high grits, so I had that in my back pocket. I went with the 3rd option of using my beloved water stones.

I watched a video by Murray Carter where he describes a rocking motion as you sharpen so I did this. I also paid extremely close attention to what I was doing, I did NOT want to change the grind on this knife, it is very special to the owner.  This is the most convex convex edge I have ever seen.

I practised on a big Buck hunting knife I was given and was very pleasantly surprised at the results Holy buck, the abrasives that you see in the picture put a beautiful polish on the bevel and the knife got sharp very quickly.

The abrasives that you see in the picture put a beautiful polish on the bevel and the knife got sharp very quickly.  Holy Buck.

So I went to work on the knife and used a combination of stones and abrasives on the pad, it turned out very well and is very sharp.


So if you want to sharpen a convex edged knife, it really isn't that hard and you don't really need the water stones, the Buck knife I did wasn't very sharp and the abrasives put a great edge on it.

Learn something every single day.

This is not a convex edge, I used the Edge Pro Professional on this one.


Thank you once again for being here.

Peter

Every now and then.

Every now and then a knife comes along that causes my nerves to rattle a little.

It is especially true when I know the individual has paid a lot of money for the knife and is handing it over to me to take care of, he doesn't know me, just found my website and trusted me with his treasure.

In this case it was a spring assisted folder, a Gerber which I could just was very important to the young man. It wasn't the fact that it was just a folder but it was Tanto blade with a damaged tip. The fella took a taxi to deliver it to me, I think it is his most prized possession.

I used a blend of technique, freehand and and Edge Pro Professional to complete the work.

The tip was crushed in a little and off centre so I repaired that by hand using a Shapton Glass 500. The original grind was imperfect as well so it took a long time to square things off so to speak.

After asking the young man what the knife was going to be used for I decided to go with a Naniwa Chosera 3,000 grit finish.

If he isn't happy I'm giving up :)

Novice Sharpening Exercise

Hi all,

I was thinking of the time I was learning and how important muscle memory is to help you stabilize your body as you do your best to hold an angle.

My setup at a local restaurant. Atoma 140 diamond plate for flattening.

Here is a good exercise for you, the purpose is to build up some muscle memory at an angle you choose, an angle that makes the knife sharp.

1. Paint the edge/bevel of one side of the knife and hold the knife at an angle that results in the removal of the sharpie when you run the edge of the knife over the stones, you can do this until all of the sharpie is gone.

Really focus on holding the angle from the tip the heel, you will need to concentrate and focus on consistency, it is really the crucial component of successful sharpening, consistency.

2. Once you have that done, repeat the process on the other side of the knife, so paint the edge/bevel and do the same.

Do this ten times per side:

- Apply Sharpie;
- Remove Sharpie;
- Flip knife, apply sharpie

Now if you just want to do the same side a few times to get the hang of it that is perfectly fine, in fact it may be even better for you, get that angle down, do it three times and then flip the knife.

You will be pleasantly surprised at the results.

Where I spend much of my day, every day.

Don't get hung up on the actual angle, i.e. the number, 19 degrees, 20 degrees. Instead, get hung up keeping the angle constant as you sharpen, on both sides. The sharpies visual clues will guide you and keep you on track.

As you do this exercise, just use minimum pressure, just enough to control the knife and you will find that the knife will become very sharp.

So grab a chef knife and a sharpie and get to work :)


Peter

I Learn Something Every Day

When I get a knife with significant damage like this, especially to the tip I always wonder and fear some collateral damage that extends into the steel, at the molecular level, stuff you can't see.

When I repaired the tip the first time I did the work from the primary edge, the cutting edge and hoped to preserve as much real estate as possible of what remained of the blade. However, as soon as I started to sharpen the knife another little piece of the tip broke off. Clearly there was internal damage from the impact.
I redid the work from the spine of the knife and re-profiled it just a little in an attempt to add some stability to that area of the knife.

This time I was able to sharpen it normally, with a good amount of pressure.

I learn something every single day.


ON another topic:

This is a seaman knife that I just did for an old shipmate, it really brought back a flood of good memories from my Naval Career. I started my sharpening on these knives many many years ago.

Just sharing, thanks for taking a look.

Peter Nowlan

Sharpening Tips by the Professionals

Knifeplanet asked me to provide ONE tip for beginner sharpeners and you will see mine in the list below (New Edge Sharpening)

However.....there is a ton of fantastic tips here, each one is important and if followed will enhance your sharpening prowess. Even if you know how to sharpen, I think you will learn something from the folks here. I sure did, it brought back a lot of memories as I was learning.




Professional Knife Sharpening Tips



I hope you enjoy them.

Naniwa Chosera
left to right:
400/1,000/2,000/3,000/5,000/10,000.

Just put this picture here because I know you all love Japanese Water Stones, this is one of my favourite brands for sure. The 1, 000 grit stone is my absolute favourite 1k stone.

Kudos to Knifeplanet for finding these sharpeners and asking the question.