Let me start by saying that I am by no means an expert, so I invite correction or civil disagreement by those of you who know more about this than I. With that out of the way, in my quest to re-learn how to freehand sharpen a knife, I've made some mistakes. Fortunately, I haven't made any real expensive ones. Yet. Nonetheless, I thought I'd post some of the lessons I've learned for the benefit of any who come along later and want to learn to sharpen knives freehand. Anyone who has gone through the process of learning to sharpen a knife that way is welcome to add to add to this thread.
First of all, let's define the terms. When I say "freehand," I'm talking about sharpening a knife without the benefit of a guided system, like Lansky, Gatco, KME, Edge Pro, Wicked Edge, or Hapstone. If you google any of those, you'll see what I'm talking about. They use some kind of jig or framework to ensure that the bevel is very consistent. Don't misunderstand. They have their place and can be a very useful tool. But freehand is exactly what it sounds like. You hold the knife in your hand, and guide it over a stone until it gets sharp.
So, without further ado, here are the mistakes I made, and lessons I learned, on the Road to Freehand.
1. Don't buy a bunch of butter knives at thrift stores, thinking you're going to put a razor edge on them. Ask me how I know . . . . I went to Goodwill, hoping to find some beat-up knives to sharpen. At the GW here, they don't sell the knives that are fit to sharpen. About 90% of the knives they had were butter knives. I probably could have ground at one for days and come up with an edge, but the reality is that the steel used to make them really isn't suited to sharp edges.
2. As an alternative to butter knives at thrift stores, head to the garage sales. We got some great deals on actual, useful kitchen knives. I scratched up a few blades along the way, but my wife and I ended up with a few very serviceable, and decently sharp kitchen knives at a pretty low cost.
3. Older steels are your friend. You don't have to learn to hand sharpen on the latest, greatest "supersteel." Those steels are pretty fascinating, in a technical sort of sense. But with that said, the new supersteels are very hard, hold an edge a very long time, and can be hard to sharpen. That's not conducive to learning to freehand. A few older knives in high carbon steel can go a long way in boosting your skills. They sharpen pretty easily, which also means you can dull them again (making them suitable for re-sharpening) pretty quickly.
4. You don't need exorbitantly expensive gear. Yes, a good set of diamond plates will serve you well, and put an edge on almost anything. Same thing for a good set of Arkansas stones. In terms of price, the sky is the limit. That said, one of my favorite stones as of this writing is a water stone that cost me less than $30 on Amazon, and I can put a good edge on a knife with it.
5. Learn a little bit about knife steels. I'm no metallurgist, but I think I've benefited from some internet reading on steels. I can feel the difference on the stones between 154CM and S30V. Once I figured out where those fell on the Rockwell Hardness scale, it let me kind of pick out a few other knives (on sale) that were in the range that I enjoy sharpening. I don't know of anyone that is less willing to practice something, if they enjoy it.
6. Know why you're sharpening a given knife. If all you want is a reasonably sharp edge for kitchen work, there's nothing in the world wrong with that. But I have discovered that The Perfect is the Enemy of the Good. By that I mean, I've had at least a half dozen events where a knife was sharp coming off the medium grit stone, but I bungled it on the the fine grit stone and had to start all over. If I just wanted a good working edge, I should have stopped after the medium stone.
7. Buy some Sharpies. Marking the edge with a Sharpie makes a big difference in being able to see what's going on in the bevel of your knife. I use hot pink, as it contrasts with the silver of a blade more than black, but use any color that works for you.
8. Let the stones do the work. When I want to really reset a bevel, my first impulse is to press hard, and get it done quickly. I get much better results with light passes, letting the stones do the work. Patience is key.
Anyone else care to weigh in?
First of all, let's define the terms. When I say "freehand," I'm talking about sharpening a knife without the benefit of a guided system, like Lansky, Gatco, KME, Edge Pro, Wicked Edge, or Hapstone. If you google any of those, you'll see what I'm talking about. They use some kind of jig or framework to ensure that the bevel is very consistent. Don't misunderstand. They have their place and can be a very useful tool. But freehand is exactly what it sounds like. You hold the knife in your hand, and guide it over a stone until it gets sharp.
So, without further ado, here are the mistakes I made, and lessons I learned, on the Road to Freehand.
1. Don't buy a bunch of butter knives at thrift stores, thinking you're going to put a razor edge on them. Ask me how I know . . . . I went to Goodwill, hoping to find some beat-up knives to sharpen. At the GW here, they don't sell the knives that are fit to sharpen. About 90% of the knives they had were butter knives. I probably could have ground at one for days and come up with an edge, but the reality is that the steel used to make them really isn't suited to sharp edges.
2. As an alternative to butter knives at thrift stores, head to the garage sales. We got some great deals on actual, useful kitchen knives. I scratched up a few blades along the way, but my wife and I ended up with a few very serviceable, and decently sharp kitchen knives at a pretty low cost.
3. Older steels are your friend. You don't have to learn to hand sharpen on the latest, greatest "supersteel." Those steels are pretty fascinating, in a technical sort of sense. But with that said, the new supersteels are very hard, hold an edge a very long time, and can be hard to sharpen. That's not conducive to learning to freehand. A few older knives in high carbon steel can go a long way in boosting your skills. They sharpen pretty easily, which also means you can dull them again (making them suitable for re-sharpening) pretty quickly.
4. You don't need exorbitantly expensive gear. Yes, a good set of diamond plates will serve you well, and put an edge on almost anything. Same thing for a good set of Arkansas stones. In terms of price, the sky is the limit. That said, one of my favorite stones as of this writing is a water stone that cost me less than $30 on Amazon, and I can put a good edge on a knife with it.
5. Learn a little bit about knife steels. I'm no metallurgist, but I think I've benefited from some internet reading on steels. I can feel the difference on the stones between 154CM and S30V. Once I figured out where those fell on the Rockwell Hardness scale, it let me kind of pick out a few other knives (on sale) that were in the range that I enjoy sharpening. I don't know of anyone that is less willing to practice something, if they enjoy it.
6. Know why you're sharpening a given knife. If all you want is a reasonably sharp edge for kitchen work, there's nothing in the world wrong with that. But I have discovered that The Perfect is the Enemy of the Good. By that I mean, I've had at least a half dozen events where a knife was sharp coming off the medium grit stone, but I bungled it on the the fine grit stone and had to start all over. If I just wanted a good working edge, I should have stopped after the medium stone.
7. Buy some Sharpies. Marking the edge with a Sharpie makes a big difference in being able to see what's going on in the bevel of your knife. I use hot pink, as it contrasts with the silver of a blade more than black, but use any color that works for you.
8. Let the stones do the work. When I want to really reset a bevel, my first impulse is to press hard, and get it done quickly. I get much better results with light passes, letting the stones do the work. Patience is key.
Anyone else care to weigh in?
