It’s way easier than people make it out to be, unless you’re chasing very specific things. Like, if you want to literally split a hair in two, expect to spend time refining your techniques.
Otherwise? You’re rubbing metal on a rock. You can sharpen a knife on a brick and get a damn sharp edge on it in five to ten minutes, no bullshit, no hyperbole.
There’s two things that matter: burrs and removing burrs.
What’s a burr?
When you rub a knife against a rock long enough, the very tippy edge is going to roll over a tiny bit. That’s a burr.
Once you get one all along the edge, flip that sucker and do it on the other side until a new burr forms. Boom! First thing done.
Now you have to remove that burr and finish up the edge. Use real gentle pressure and alternate sides on the same stone you just used. Lift the back of the knife a teeny bit higher than when you were grinding it before.
Do this maybe five times each side, then check the edge. Most types of steel, you should be able to make a clean slice in a piece of paper. If it can’t, give it a few more passes and try again.
If you raised a burr in the first place, you’ll get rid of it fairly quick, so if you’ve hit maybe twenty passes trying to remove it, chances are you didn’t raise a burr, you just thought you did. No biggie, they can be hard to see or feel sometimes. Particularly with really hard steels. Might have to go back and try again.
However, there’s a nice little trick to help. Get a sharpie and mark that edge. When you’re grinding, if you’ve got an angle close to what’s already there, you’ll remove the ink and know youre on track. If there’s a band of ink left at the edge, you’re too shallow. Ink left towards the back, too deep.
Truth is, for a useable edge, it doesn’t matter what the angle actually is, only that it’s fairly consistent along any straight sections. Yeah, the more acute the angle, the better it’s going to work for some tasks, but a morr obtuse one has benefits too. So don’t worry about nailing some arbitrary angle. That’s for later, once it becomes a hobby as much as a tool maintenance task.
Legit, while you can get fiddly with sharpening and fine tune a given knife to be better at specific tasks, that’s optional. You can take a crappy knife, run it over a crappy stone and cut things. That’s what matters; that it works. And the learning curve to get to where it works isn’t huge.
Watch videos and read some articles about it. There are different edge angles for different use cases, but you’ll generally aim for 20-25°. For things like razors and kitchen knives you’ll want a straight grind/edge and for more heavy use knives a slightly beveled edge is okay. Low grit is for large corrections like burrs and blunt spots. Those kinds of corrections will take a lot of time and you’ll want to look for uniformity before moving to higher grits for a sharper edge and eventually polish. Highly recommend starting with an angle tool and going slowly with a knife you don’t really care about. Work on keeping your angle and pressure consistent and don’t press down very hard. If you apply too much pressure you’ll damage both the edge and stone, especially for softer (higher grit) stones. Check your work regularly to make sure the edge is consistent, you’ll see it pretty clearly under a light. It takes practice. I’ve been freehand sharpening for about 20 years and I still mess up sometimes.
My biggest tip is regular maintenance! I clean and do a few passes on 3000 grit with my kitchen knife every time I use it and it’s been my sharpest knife for 10 years. And clean your stone! Residual steel will build up, making the stone less effective and also risking damage to the edge.
Check out Kneeves Knives on YouTube, he has a ton of videos about sharpening with various different sharpening systems.
If you’re just getting started with sharpening, I’d recommend picking up a fixed angle system. It’s very hard to screw up, and helps you keep a consistent angle (which I’d say is probably the biggest challenge with freehand sharpening).
You are going to find all the info you want on YouTube, but one thing most people don’t mention is that make sure the ergonomics of your working station are good. The worst part about sharpening knives is the shoulder and back pain from bending over on a kitchen counter.
See if you can use a table and chair to sharpen instead. To avoid making a mess, put your Whetstone on a large baking tray.
Despite the name there’s really no outdoor content. It’s him in his garage sharpening knives and reviewing stones and systems.
I will say that despite how he shows it is easy, I’ve never achieved the skill to do it effectively. I 3d printed a guide to hold the angle and can now sharpen my kitchen knives
Whetstones are fine but keeping the blade at the right angle for so long takes practice and it’s not worth the results. Get a knife sharpener and let it hold the knife for you while sharpening. I picked up an electric sharpener and never looked back. It’s loud but quick, exactly what I would expect from an angle grinder on rails.
I just bought a whetstone for my knives, any advice? I’m gonna try sharpening in a few weeks
It’s way easier than people make it out to be, unless you’re chasing very specific things. Like, if you want to literally split a hair in two, expect to spend time refining your techniques.
Otherwise? You’re rubbing metal on a rock. You can sharpen a knife on a brick and get a damn sharp edge on it in five to ten minutes, no bullshit, no hyperbole.
There’s two things that matter: burrs and removing burrs.
What’s a burr?
When you rub a knife against a rock long enough, the very tippy edge is going to roll over a tiny bit. That’s a burr.
Once you get one all along the edge, flip that sucker and do it on the other side until a new burr forms. Boom! First thing done.
Now you have to remove that burr and finish up the edge. Use real gentle pressure and alternate sides on the same stone you just used. Lift the back of the knife a teeny bit higher than when you were grinding it before.
Do this maybe five times each side, then check the edge. Most types of steel, you should be able to make a clean slice in a piece of paper. If it can’t, give it a few more passes and try again.
If you raised a burr in the first place, you’ll get rid of it fairly quick, so if you’ve hit maybe twenty passes trying to remove it, chances are you didn’t raise a burr, you just thought you did. No biggie, they can be hard to see or feel sometimes. Particularly with really hard steels. Might have to go back and try again.
However, there’s a nice little trick to help. Get a sharpie and mark that edge. When you’re grinding, if you’ve got an angle close to what’s already there, you’ll remove the ink and know youre on track. If there’s a band of ink left at the edge, you’re too shallow. Ink left towards the back, too deep.
Truth is, for a useable edge, it doesn’t matter what the angle actually is, only that it’s fairly consistent along any straight sections. Yeah, the more acute the angle, the better it’s going to work for some tasks, but a morr obtuse one has benefits too. So don’t worry about nailing some arbitrary angle. That’s for later, once it becomes a hobby as much as a tool maintenance task.
Legit, while you can get fiddly with sharpening and fine tune a given knife to be better at specific tasks, that’s optional. You can take a crappy knife, run it over a crappy stone and cut things. That’s what matters; that it works. And the learning curve to get to where it works isn’t huge.
Watch videos and read some articles about it. There are different edge angles for different use cases, but you’ll generally aim for 20-25°. For things like razors and kitchen knives you’ll want a straight grind/edge and for more heavy use knives a slightly beveled edge is okay. Low grit is for large corrections like burrs and blunt spots. Those kinds of corrections will take a lot of time and you’ll want to look for uniformity before moving to higher grits for a sharper edge and eventually polish. Highly recommend starting with an angle tool and going slowly with a knife you don’t really care about. Work on keeping your angle and pressure consistent and don’t press down very hard. If you apply too much pressure you’ll damage both the edge and stone, especially for softer (higher grit) stones. Check your work regularly to make sure the edge is consistent, you’ll see it pretty clearly under a light. It takes practice. I’ve been freehand sharpening for about 20 years and I still mess up sometimes.
My biggest tip is regular maintenance! I clean and do a few passes on 3000 grit with my kitchen knife every time I use it and it’s been my sharpest knife for 10 years. And clean your stone! Residual steel will build up, making the stone less effective and also risking damage to the edge.
I’m sure someone more experienced will say this is awful, but I found this video to be pretty handy to watch.
Hope it helps!
thank!
Check out Kneeves Knives on YouTube, he has a ton of videos about sharpening with various different sharpening systems.
If you’re just getting started with sharpening, I’d recommend picking up a fixed angle system. It’s very hard to screw up, and helps you keep a consistent angle (which I’d say is probably the biggest challenge with freehand sharpening).
You are going to find all the info you want on YouTube, but one thing most people don’t mention is that make sure the ergonomics of your working station are good. The worst part about sharpening knives is the shoulder and back pain from bending over on a kitchen counter. See if you can use a table and chair to sharpen instead. To avoid making a mess, put your Whetstone on a large baking tray.
nope. never used one
I watch outdoors55. https://youtu.be/uwlWVmUEsH8
Despite the name there’s really no outdoor content. It’s him in his garage sharpening knives and reviewing stones and systems.
I will say that despite how he shows it is easy, I’ve never achieved the skill to do it effectively. I 3d printed a guide to hold the angle and can now sharpen my kitchen knives
It’s also worth noting that he doesn’t randomly break into nazi adjacent rants like seemingly every other knife YouTuber
it sounds like freehand takes a lot of practice!
Whetstones are fine but keeping the blade at the right angle for so long takes practice and it’s not worth the results. Get a knife sharpener and let it hold the knife for you while sharpening. I picked up an electric sharpener and never looked back. It’s loud but quick, exactly what I would expect from an angle grinder on rails.