A Little Help From Those With Edged Weapon Experience.

[Joe Chartreuse]

As some of you know, I have been an edged weapon specialist with guns coming later. I have always sharpened by hand, but I have run into some problems that way. Can shoot and still throw just fine, but continual usage ( hand sharpening) leaves me hurting a bit. Looking for recommendations for electric sharpeners. I can tell you that I have already tried and discarded Worksharp machines. Does anyone have another recommendation? Thanks in advance- Joe C.

 

[GoBow]

Not electric, but love my Apex Edge Pro.

 

[Kevin]

What are you currently using to sharpen your knives? You must have quite a few to sharpen in order to cause your hands to hurt.

I’ve tried all sorts of different sharpening tools. I know you said not to recommend the WorkSharp electric. Interestingly enough I just found one of those tools at the thrift store for $6. I’m glad I got to try it, because I don’t think I would recommend that to anyone.

Good luck. Have you thought about sending them out to be sharpened?

 

[Hvymax]

Most any of the belt options would be best Fast and Easy. You can do concave and convex edges and any number of finishes.

 

[GunnyGene]

Tormek. Not cheap but take a look.

https://tormek.com/en

 

[contender]

I can say that it takes an experienced hand when trying to use any type of electric sharpening system. My oldest used to work for MicroTech knives,, and he learned a lot there.
And while you asked for electric options, of which I'm no help,, may I suggest something else?
Politely,, have you studied the Wicked Edge sharpening system?

 

[Hvymax]

A wet wheel is great for hollow grinds. Any 8" grinder with a Scotch Brite Wheel and a buffing wheel will give a scalpel sharp blade in seconds.

 

[kickingandscreaming]

A wet wheel is great for hollow grinds. Any 8" grinder with a Scotch Brite Wheel and a buffing wheel will give a scalpel sharp blade in seconds.

Cheater….

 

[Hvymax]

Almost any beltsander will put a convex utility edge on heavy use tools in seconds.

 

[Kevin]

Definitely one NOT to buy, the Chef’s Choice Trizor. It took off a lot of metal and didn’t really sharpen the knives.

 

[Joe Chartreuse]

What are you currently using to sharpen your knives? You must have quite a few to sharpen in order to cause your hands to hurt.

I’ve tried all sorts of different sharpening tools. I know you said not to recommend the WorkSharp electric. Interestingly enough I just found one of those tools at the thrift store for $6. I’m glad I got to try it, because I don’t think I would recommend that to anyone.

Good luck. Have you thought about sending them out to be sharpened?

Yes, I have quite a few. Throwers, hunters, fitets, skinners, hatchets, scimitar, cane swords, bayonets, etc. I do send out a couple of my belt knives, but all of them can start to add up.

 

[Joe Chartreuse]

I can say that it takes an experienced hand when trying to use any type of electric sharpening system. My oldest used to work for MicroTech knives,, and he learned a lot there.
And while you asked for electric options, of which I'm no help,, may I suggest something else?
Politely,, have you studied the Wicked Edge sharpening system?

I have tried someone else's some time ago and liked it. Two problems now are my hands and they have a hefty price tag.

 

[Joe Chartreuse]

Definitely one NOT to buy, the Chef’s Choice Trizor. It took off a lot of metal and didn’t really sharpen the knives.

Thank you. I am also told that the wheels don't last too long either.

 

[Dave P.]

Had a Tormek that I bought at an auction, it only had a few of the many accessories with it. As mentioned you can do essentially
the same thing with a slow turning grinding wheel and some creativity with setup. Kept the Tormek for a few years but didn't
really use it much, by the time I got it out and setup I could have sharpened something and been done.
If you've got the room to leave everything set up or are going to sharpen several knives at a time it might be more useful.
I only paid about $125 at the auction and sold it for $300 a few years later to somebody who was going to start a sharpening
service.
It worked well but the only thing "special" was the jigs and repeatability of the setup.

 

[Kevin]

Had a Tormek that I bought at an auction, it only had a few of the many accessories with it. As mentioned you can do essentially
the same thing with a slow turning grinding wheel and some creativity with setup. Kept the Tormek for a few years but didn't
really use it much, by the time I got it out and setup I could have sharpened something and been done.
If you've got the room to leave everything set up or are going to sharpen several knives at a time it might be more useful.
I only paid about $125 at the auction and sold it for $300 a few years later to somebody who was going to start a sharpening
service.
It worked well but the only thing "special" was the jigs and repeatability of the setup.

I certainly don’t want to hijack this thread, but I went to the Tormek website and how is any different from a regular old grinder? I see they are made in Sweden, but what’s the attraction with this brand? I’ve not heard of them before.

 

[GunnyGene]

I certainly don’t want to hijack this thread, but I went to the Tormek website and how is any different from a regular old grinder? I see they are made in Sweden, but what’s the attraction with this brand? I’ve not heard of them before.

They are a low speed water grinder. Avoids overheating the blade, which will kill the edge temper in many cases. Popular with woodworkers because of the jigs and adaptability to handle nearly every cutting tool in a woodshop, from ordinary handplane irons and chisels to gouges and other complex shapes. There's still a few tools that require hand sharpening: handsaw teeth, router bits, scrapers, forstner bits, etc.

Meat cutting blades generally have only a couple of specific edge angles that often sacrifice durability for extreme sharpness. Wood working requires a variety of different cutting angles for different purposes, and to take account of wood species/grain and direction of cut to avoid tear out and other nasties.

 

[Dave P.]

I think they also have high quality bearings and spindles in the grinders, and the wheels they source are very good also.
They ought to be for the prices they charge.

 

[TestEngineer]

Meat cutting blades generally have only a couple of specific edge angles that often sacrifice durability for extreme sharpness.

It's the edge angle and blade material that dictate the durability of a blade. A wider angle and a harder metal will give the most durability, but it's the hardest to get the fine edge on. A thinner angle and a softer metal is the easiest blade to make sharp, but it will get dull much faster.

Frankly, I think most people are way too fast to reach for sharpeners. Dullness occurs when the blade edge isn't straight. All that's usually needed is a few strokes on a strop or a steel. These straighten the edge without removing metal.

I worked in a meat packing plant for several years after high school. You were issued 2 knives and a steel. No way you were going keep up with a dull knife, and they weren't going to slow down the line so you could "sharpen" your knife. You had to learn how to keep your knife sharp by using the steel. I was fortunate enough to be taught by an "old timer" early on.

Now it's typically years between times I break out a sharpener. A steel keeps all my knives razor sharp. About the only blade that regularly needs more is the hand axe I use to split pelvises. Steels can't fix chips out of a blade edge. They only straighten bent or curled over edges.

 

[Mobuck]

I'm surprised that anyone uses their 'edged weapons' enough that re-sharpening is a chore. Maybe I missed the point .

 

[Bigbore5]

I train in Filipino martial arts. I've never found or heard of any machine sharpener meeting the requirements of sharp to a practitioner.
I use Japanese water stones to 8000 grit on the karambit and 3000 on swords and machetes. No machine goes that fine that I know of.

 

[Hvymax]

I train in Filipino martial arts. I've never found or heard of any machine sharpener meeting the requirements of sharp to a practitioner.
I use Japanese water stones to 8000 grit on the karambit and 3000 on swords and machetes. No machine goes that fine that I know of.

A buffer with fine compound will put the finest edge you can ask for.

 

[Bigbore5]

Part of my job is polishing metal to finishes down to 150 rms. I understand polishing metal. Most buffing polish (white rouge, etc) can only achieve around 86 rms. An 8000 water stone can do 124 rms. It takes skills and time, but that's extremely sharp.

Once sharp it's not hard to keep good steel that way.

 

[Dave P.]

I train in Filipino martial arts. I've never found or heard of any machine sharpener meeting the requirements of sharp to a practitioner.
I use Japanese water stones to 8000 grit on the karambit and 3000 on swords and machetes. No machine goes that fine that I know of.

Tormek has a water stone wheel listed with a 4000 grit

 

[Kevin]

Part of my job is polishing metal to finishes down to 150 rms. I understand polishing metal. Most buffing polish (white rouge, etc) can only achieve around 86 rms. An 8000 water stone can do 124 rms. It takes skills and time, but that's extremely sharp.

Once sharp it's not hard to keep good steel that way.

Had to look up rms. Just 150?

Thanks for the info.

 

[Dave P.]

Had to look up rms. Just 150?

Thanks for the info.

Yup, that's some shiny sh** !

 

[Dave P.]

Part of my job is polishing metal to finishes down to 150 rms. I understand polishing metal. Most buffing polish (white rouge, etc) can only achieve around 86 rms. An 8000 water stone can do 124 rms. It takes skills and time, but that's extremely sharp.

Once sharp it's not hard to keep good steel that way.

Did you mean 150 rms or 1.5 rms ?

 

[Bigbore5]

My apologies for omitting the decimal. It would be 0.150.

 

[Dave P.]

My apologies for omitting the decimal. It would be 0.150.

That sounds more better.

 

[Bigbore5]

Since everything we do at work is less than 1, we just call it 150 or 120. Force of habit.

 

[Hvymax]

Since everything we do at work is less than 1, we just call it 150 or 120. Force of habit.

Yeah where I used to work we referenced in thousandths.