My reluctance on a sharpening tutorial.

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T

The Tourist

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One of my forum friends here asked me to do a sharpening tutorial, and I told him that I am reluctant. And there's a very good reason.

I have absolutely no credentials.

I am not a polisher, in fact, I am not even a sharpener in the traditional sense. I am what is known in the trades as an 'itinerant tinker.' That is, I travel (and work out of my home) sharpening and repairing kitchen tools. Usually in restaurants, but I did work as a consultant for our local Panera's Bread chain.

Nothing, absolutely nothing, that I do is accredited. Everything I use for sharpening comes from Edge Pro, Hand American, Sears and Amazon.com in total and it's listed on the internet.

About /-twenty years ago I began collecting high-end production knives, like the Microtech USSOCOM. I don't like stripped or boogered up screws, and I was reluctant to have a blade-butcher wreck a 400 dollar knife. All I could do was use crock-sticks. And I hated my 'adult job' in finance. I began to sharpen for friends and my church kitchen. Time passed.

Slowly I tried and trained with differing tools, like DMT diamonds and oil stones. One day I heard about Edge Pro and Ben Dale. Not only did he sell equipment, but he's a good honest man who also had a sharpening route and a business plan. I bought his fixture. And with those humble beginnings I took an unpaid consultant's job at the old Madison East-Side Gander Mountain and I worked for pocket change. At the end of four years I made anywhere from 100 to 500 bucks per day, and I went out on my own.

By that time I had my own ideas on equipment and waterstones. Ben Dale and I began to experiment with pastes, polishing papers, glass, brass, toothpaste, leather--you name it. I also bought 3x9 stones from Japan and a full range of products from Keith DiGrau at HandAmerican. I also started my study on Japanese cutlery, history and polishing.

Like most of my pursuits, I "cheat." Just because I am not a polisher doesn't mean that I cannot usurp their tools--and I do!:D

But as for teaching, I might take on an apprentice, and I have. But as for the professionals here who create an engraved knife using only a boxful of tinfoil gum wrappers and a bag of charcoal, I have little to provide in the way of cutlery insight.

Of course, I'll answer any question. But please remember there is not one shred of info I possess that cannot be obtained without a simple google search.
 
I moved this out of the Tutorial section into the Dog Run.

In your time here I'm sure you've noticed the general "feel" of the forum: helpful, supportive and educational. After reading about your all of your experience, it was just a matter of time before someone asked you to demonstrate one of the many ways you sharpen your knives.

Thank you,

BC
 
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Please keep in mind that many of the makers you reference began making knives following a very similar route as you in sharpening.

I'm sure that when you were asked to do a tutorial, it was just so that you could share some of the vast knowledge you have gained from your experiences which you have told us of.
 
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Okay--but you're going to laugh...

I have found that a perfectly formed bevel is one that is easy to sharpen and provides less drag.

The first thing I do is make the bevel uniform--that is, front to back, and then left to right. If you imagine a three-dimensional knife, that would mean the edge goes perfectly straight down the blade blank.

The rest you know. I use finer and finer gradations of waterstones to refine the edge and slowly remove all of the tool marks. To do this I use any fixture or stone or stone holder that gives me prescise control on keeping the blade-to-stone engagement in alignment.

If that means something sophisticated, hurray. If that means jamming my elbow into the corner of a counter-top, okay. If that means smearing an edge with gobs of magic marker to double check my muscle control, that too.

I do believe in polish. And by that I mean 'polish out every defect.'

I use an older type of glass called 'glaziers glass.' That might sound weird, because a glazier makes glass, ergo all glass is of a glazier. I am referring to a more Victorian type of pure glass probably made from our Civil War until 1901. You might not be able to find any--I have most of it.:D

If you go to a glass cutter who provides decorative glass--like for a heavy coffee table--find a thick piece of it. Carefully inspect a section for the absolute lack of impurities and dirt or grit. Finding that type of a section, use a micrometer or a Vernier Dial Caliper to make sure that portion is uniform. Covet it, buy it, marry the guy's daughter. It's part of the secret.

You will need some form of 'paper.' Some use Post-It note paper. Some use 3M self-sticking polish papers. Ben Dales sells pre-cut sections for the Edge Pro. Find the best, wash the glass in scalding hot soapy water and blow it dry with some form of compressed air. I have my cousin Bobbie tell me the story of his life...

Apply the 'paper' to the glass. If you see so much as one piece of grit, start over!

The rest is voodoo. It requires magic and a pure spirit. Many will try, almost all will fail. Only that true vibrant heart can carry the ultimate truth. There are enchanted secrets of lore handed down to me and only a precious few. It is a journey of harsh labor and absolute emptying of self. You must begin a quest for the 'magic elixir. If you are faint of heart, turn back now!

Go out and buy Mothers Billet paste at an automative store.
 
So this lump of broken concrete I've been using isn't the right tool for the job?!?


:D


I've definitely heard of glass used for a sharpening surface, but never thought of it for polishing, and didn't think much about the quality of the glass itself. There seems to be some fine print down there at the bottom but the Zen stuff made my head spin and I can't quite make it out...
 
There seems to be some fine print down there at the bottom but the Zen stuff made my head spin and I can't quite make it out...

I just told a few hundred professional cutlers to buy supplies at an automotive store as my tenure here comes to a grizzly end...:D

It is my belief that glaziers glass, the finest 3M or mylar paper you can find and Mothers Billet paste produce the sharpest edges I have ever seen--or felt by a caping knife jammed into the top of my foot.

I have seen the precise slices of sushi done with a yanagiba prepared in this fashion, and even the chefs are pleased--and that's rare.

Besides, how much business do you think I would get if folks knew I sharpen knives with the same products I use to buff my motorcycle?
 
Shhhhh Jeff, if you take pictures, it will steal the soul! Ain't you ever seen a National Geographic documentary? :cool: :D
 
I won't tell 'em if you don't.

In a very real sense, that's the problem I had with discussing a tutorial. How do you detail a treatise? I'll bet I could walk through a cutler's workshop and find dozens of ideas I never thought about.

I will admit this, I find the topic of sharpening important, but important in a section more akin to knife maintenance. My job also includes blending a nick into a seamless repair--not for presentation at a show, but more for use in a kitchen.

Who knows, maybe these types of discussions will trigger innovation. That's the reason I came here, to look for solutions.
 
Sharpening certainly is important, both as a design feature and as the single-most important part of maintenance. If a knife ain't sharp, it ain't a knife. It's an under-sized splitting wedge at best.

Of course, there's sharp and then there's sharp.

What I mean is, the knife has be built with the user's needs in mind in the first place. Chopping down trees or filleting trout? Different bevels.

...not for presentation at a show, but more for use...

I am a long way from making anything for presentation. It's my humble belief that knives are made to cut things. When I get that figured out, perhaps I'll try to make them pretty as well. The people I admire can do both, and thank goodness many of them post tutorials and WIPs.

Nicks... I have often grumbled that I'd rather grind a blade from scratch, than sharpen/repair/rehandle one that was goofy to begin with and abused in the meantime.
 
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Credentials? Are you serious? So do I need to be credentialed to make a knife and sharpen it? Does everyone need to be a Master Smith? I think the Dogs here just want to see what your talking about.

So are you going to do a tutorial on sharpening?
-John
 
Credentials? Are you serious? So do I need to be credentialed to make a knife and sharpen it?

Your craft might not need credentials, but mine sure does. I'm not a polisher.

A polisher is a craftsman trained (usually in a guild apprentice system) to repair, refine and sharpen samurai swords. I do not have those credentials. I simply use those tools and techniques. In fact, I purchased an entry level katana, the kind a bushido student would use in learning to slice grass mats, and I'm going to attempt to polish it over the next year.

Now granted, we might find that distinction trifling. I can guaranty you that those involved in that sphere take these things very seriously! If you want to see pure unadulterated anger on the idea of credentials, go take a brief look at a forum called www.bullshido.com and tell me what you think.

A few months ago I "sharpened" a replacement yanagiba for my doctor's mother, a woman born in Japan. By some truly oddball family infighting, her heirloom kitchen knives were either 'lost' or stolen in shipment going back to Japan for servicing.

She liked the knife, and commented, "Your polisher must be Japanese."

For us, a humorous story. But there are scores of charlatans who fake antiques at trade shows. There are low-lifes who soak a modern blackpowder pistol in lemon juice and tea to create a false patina. I'm not going to be one of those guys.

I am not a polisher, I'm a tinker. What's wrong with being who you really are?
 
There are some excellent resources that can be easily found on the internet, that's where I started. I think Edge Pro and HandAmerican can provide you with any tool you need. I got this book from Amazon.

learn-1.jpg
 
Chico

I think most folks are looking for sharpening almost as much as polishing (at least in tutorial terms).

Sharpening is much easier to do, especially with something like an EdgePro.

I have my old one I wrote up on my simple website - How I Sharpen Things
Someday I need to update it with some EdgePro tips (primarily getting a small cookie sheet to set the EdgePro in (smooth surface to vacuum to + catches drips) and some rubberized shelf paper to put under the cookie sheet to hold it in place).
 
I think the point being missed here is the desire to see you write a tutorial on your techniques for sharpening knives not polishing a sword. As you have told us, you have been sharpening knives for various people to include several restaurants for sometime now. With that being said, you must have alot more experience in the task than many of us who only sharpen our own blades.
 
for sharpening knives not polishing a sword

And that's where it gets murky.

I sharpen knives with the same materials and theory as a polisher might. In fact, I use anything that produces a superior edge.

Many times I will repair a chipped edge with a crooked bevel and start the repairs with an Edge Pro. If the work goes well, I might just finish the job with the Edge Pro. i do that with my personal EDCs.

On other jobs I might have the Edge Pro set up, Keith's equipment to the left and a 12,000 grit Japanese waterstone to my right. If needed I'll add nagura and finish with two grades of motorcycle polishing paste.

In short, modern tools with a polisher's regimen.

But I must repeat--no secrets, no voodoo, no proprietary patented sauce or potions. I'm a biker with a lot of oddball tools and far too much free time.

Edit: This is the secret lair of Frankenstein sharpening...

testedge.jpg
 
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I don't see anything "murky" about Murph's post. I'm just worried that there would be enough space on the server for such a tutorial.
-John
 
I don't see anything "murky" about Murph's post.

LOL. I just got off of the telephone with Ben Dale to order a few things for my mobile motorcycle sharpening pack. I related the story of this thread to him. In truth, when I sharpened at Gander Mountain some people asked, "What's the secret to sharpening?"

No matter what I answered, I got a come-back like, "Yeah, that's what you tell some simple nimrod client, but what's the real secret?"

*sigh* For all of the modern gizmos, theories, advertisements, late night infomercials, con-artists, and pyramid schemes, the sharpest edges ever produced were crafted by a long deceased bent little peasant 800 years ago in Edo. Water. Stone. Polish. Patience.

Ben has offered to verify that I'm just a thug with a stone. Call him, 541-387-2222.
 
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