Knife sharpening options?

[Greg Portland]

I have been sharpening my kitchen and pocket knives by hand but am looking for a method to sharpen my serrated knives and a knife that curves inward prior to widening out toward the tip. All my methods use wide sharpening surfaces (3" waterstone, sandpaper on glass, large diamond stones, etc.). I'm not able to maintain my bevel angle while getting into the curve of the one blade. I'm assuming I need a narrow stone? Is it possible to use the edge of the wide waterstones with a lanskey-like rod guide? I'm thinking that building a jig would be fairly simple?

[Winton Applegate]

I have one of these and it does the job on general serrated kitchen knives like a bread knife.

[Winton Applegate]

You can also use one of these but they wear faster and are maybe more than you need for a kitchen knife. The slip is more for carving tools where you want a finer hone / polish.

[Greg Portland]

Thanks Winton, I like the cheap options . For wider serrations, do you just roll the tool as you push it through the serration?

[Winton Applegate]

Nah, I would just travel along the serration as I push the sharpening tool. Not that you couldn't roll the tool a bit before you go to the next serration.
Does that make sense ?

[David Weaver]

You can sharpen serrated knives like any other knife for a little while since only the points are doing any cutting. They'll be pretty sharp if you do that.

A side comment for serrated knives - if you keep a long thin knife that's SHARP with a thing rind and a small angle, you'll find that it cuts things just as well as a serrated knife does - things like bread.

Everywhere I used to use a serrated knife, I just use a japanese chef's knife instead, but it does have to be sharp. Cuts bread very well.

[Greg Portland]

I think we're both saying that the tool does not need to match the serration shape; just go tip-to-tip on each stroke. Right?

[Sam Murdoch]

I highly recommend the Spyderco SharpMaker as described here in a series of videos https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GB0r6GvESGg
Will sharpen a great range of knife shapes and edge profiles and make serrated knives very sharp with little effort.

There is lots more info on the web and discussions or videos by folks who have perfected techniques with the SharpMaker. Here is a good video with the added touch of using a leather strop (about 12:35 minutes into the video). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MHe_8wTHmg

Price is right, learning curve is easy, will sharpen lots of knives and other cutting edges to very sharp in short order.

[Andrew Pitonyak]

Most serrated knives have a flat side and you can sharpen that side on a stone. I like the work sharp knife sharpener for this.

A Pro sharpener me that she did the other side with a round file of she touched it. Usually, however, the flat side is all you need to do.

[Winton Applegate]

the tool does not need to match the serration shape; just go tip-to-tip on each stroke. Right?

..........
Yes.

[Winton Applegate]

since only the points are doing any cutting.

Side note: one of the funniest things I ever saw anyone do is cut up a big card board box with a serrated wannabe folding tactical knife.

You should have seen all the flailing and paper shavings flying around. Not a lot of actual box breakdown or dismemberment happening though.

Still makes me laugh when I happen to think about it or a serrated tactical knife is brought up in conversation. What is the imagined purpose of these things anyway ?

[Winton Applegate]

Sam,
It is good to see they got real and added coarse sticks. I have the white ceramic sticks from way back and they are completely useless if one USES the pocket knife and actually dulls it or nicks it and you need to take off some metal to get the bevel formed again.

Over twenty years and more I have tried to find a use for the white ceramic sticks and I never have.

[Curt Putnam]

A couple other thoughts:

A 1" belt grinder/sander will get your knives sharper faster than anything else. A 1 x 30 can be had for less than $100 at HF. I use a Delta 1 x 42 with a leather belt and LV green stuff. If I want a coarser edge or want to do actual grinding, a 3M Trizact belt gets it done right now.

For the general kitchen knives, regularly abused by my otherwise wonderful wife, a Chef's Choice 3 wheel sharpener does a usable job and does it quickly. At least she now uses plastic cutting boards and mostly doesn't put the knives in the dishwasher anymore. For me, it's a pragmatic choice - allows me the time to obsess over my chisels

[David Weaver]

Side note: one of the funniest things I ever saw anyone do is cut up a big card board box with a serrated wannabe folding tactical knife.

You should have seen all the flailing and paper shavings flying around. Not a lot of actual box breakdown or dismemberment happening though.

Still makes me laugh when I happen to think about it or a serrated tactical knife is brought up in conversation. What is the imagined purpose of these things anyway ?

Serrations and fish scalers and all of that nonsense have always been a 100% no item for me on any knife. I also don't like profiles that were obviously easy for the knife company to make, but are much less convenient in terms of sharpening with a bench stone.

For the rest of us, the first time you resharpen a utility knife, just with a quickie touch up on something like a washita stone, and then use it again...it's sort of a "wow". I have two utility knives, one in the shop and one elsewhere. I haven't changed a blade in them in 2 years (though they have been honed, of course) and the blades in them are the worst you can get - HF. They cut cardboard and other such similar stuff with such ease that I kind of like cutting boxes apart. they also sharpen *really easily* on the washitas because they're kind of soft and washitas have bite on metal that's below a real hard temper.

[Sam Murdoch]

Sam,
It is good to see they got real and added coarse sticks. I have the white ceramic sticks from way back and they are completely useless if one USES the pocket knife and actually dulls it or nicks it and you need to take off some metal to get the bevel formed again.

Over twenty years and more I have tried to find a use for the white ceramic sticks and I never have.

The newer version is actually called the Spyderco Tri-Angle Sharpmaker and it does indeed make sharp. It come with a set of fine and as set of medium grit ceramic triangle shaped stone rods that have proven to be more than adequate for me. As a routine my knives are kept sharp. The EDC of the day gets a few passes on the Sharpmaker and some strops on a treated leather pad and that constitutes sharp knife happiness. I like that this system can just sit on the bench readily useable without any water or oil or other fussiness. Means I use it. Sold my Wicked Edge after buying the Sharpmaker.

Admittedly for knives that are in more need than a simple touch up or require a reprofile or edge angle change, adding a pair of the 204D Diamond rods would be a very useful addition to the set.

There are lots of systems available and all have their fans and their detractors. I learned at at an early age to sharpen a knife on an oil stone and I encourage anyone starting out to learn the fundamentals of hand sharpening knives and tool edges. It's the best fall back plan. I now have a nice set of Arkansas oil stones, Sigma waterstones and a few other ceramic stones that woodworkers tend to collect. I will never compete with some of you guys for stone collecting, sharpening skill and depth of knowledge though .

Still, for the care of EDC knife edges I vote for the Tri-Angle Sharpmaker. Here is one good source among many. http://www.nationalknives.com/servle...r-204mf/Detail