Quote Originally Posted by DonDon View Post
What's the good and fairly cheap sharperner? When I had mine before, I was in the guard and we had a 12 inch long stone that had oil on it. All I got now is a 2 sided Sharpering stone.
Please allow me to share with you how I learned from a knife maker how to really sharpen a knife. This fellow actually starts from the beginning and can make any knife you desire. I watched him make a Damacus steel knife from scratch. Quite a complicated process and a lot of work but what a thing of beauty when he had finished it.

I believe I have tried almost all methods of sharpening a knive and at the risk of sounding like a braggard, I got real good at putting an edge on a knife using most of the mentioned methods. The process, if the knife was really bad, took quite a while to do. After I watched this fellow sharpen a knife I was absolutely amazed at the speed, the ease, and the end result.

Well enough of the suspense, here is how to do it.

First of all you will need a small belt sander that handles about a 1" wide belt. The first one I bought was from Harbor Freight for about 30 dollars. I have since found a Belsaw at a sale which is much better but the Harbor Freight worked fine. The Harbor Freight is not near the quality of Belsaw but it will work. Next you will need some belts of varying grit. I have an assortment of various grits that range from 80 to 400 grit. The one's that come with/from the sander at HF are not the quality you need. Throw them away or use them for something different. I get mine from here, Abrasives From Klingspor's Woodworking Shop, I use the gold sharpening belts.

To begin the learning process, at the recommendation of the knife builder, I got some used Sawsall blades that a contractor was going to throw away. I ground them on the grinding wheel, being careful not to let them get to hot, in the basic shape of a knife blade and then took them to the belt sander. On a really bad blade I start with an 80 grit and work my way up always ending up with a 400 grit belt. Another point is that you need to keep a bucket of water nearby so that you can dip the blade of the steel in after you make a pass across the belt with it so that you do not take the temper out of the steel.

This may sound a little complicated but I think if you try it you will be amazed at the end result. There is a little learning curve but it is worth the time.

If you want to give this a try I have a couple more pointers that I will share with you either here or you can PM me. I think it would be better to keep it on the board so that all can see but I will gladly answer your PM.Thumbs Up