# Knife Sharpening on the cheap



## sal amander (Mar 26, 2009)

Yes, I know, the subject has been thoroughly covered, and by experts.  I just want to add something that might not have been covered in the past.  I'm new to the site so I apologize if this has already been mentioned.  Anyway, here's an idea for maintaining your knives with maybe about $10.  If you go to Lee Valley Tools, they sell micro abrasive sheets.  They come plain or adhesive backed.  The 15 micron sheet is roughly equal to a 1,000 grit stone.  The 5 micron sheet is about 2,500 grit, and the .5 micron sheet is about 9,000 grit.  Personally I use these as my convenient grab in the kitchen.  I have my sharpening supplies in my workshop (DMT diamond plates, water stones, etc.).  I took a piece of 1X2 pine about 15 inches long and made it into a paddle.  Using a jig saw, a rasp, and some sandpaper, I fashioned a handle at one end.  I cut a strip of the 5 micron sheet and put it on one side of the paddle, with a .5 micron strip on the other side.  So, when the knife is no longer restored from using a steel I reach in the drawer and pull out the paddle.  Obviously you use it as a strop rather than slicing into the micron sheet.  With this system I find that I'm only going to the stones about every 3 months.

BTW, I agree with the experts here that most steels are too coarse for knives that have been sharpened and polished up to 6,000 grit and above.  F. Dick sells a polished steel that is totally smooth.  I use it as well as a borosilicate rod.  I have no preference.  Also, I might add that when it comes to the advice against using a steel on a Japanese knife, I didn't know any better, so I steeled my carbon steel nakiri for over 20 years--never any chipping, never any problems.  Now I mostly use the borosilicate rod and/or the micron sheets on it.  

Cheers.

Sal


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## chefknivestogo (Mar 24, 2012)

I'm sure many of the old timers have seen this. Here is my buddy Curtis sharpening his knives on microfilm.


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## wobelix (Feb 18, 2013)

Thank you very much Sal & Mark !!

I found another little You Tube sharpening video.

It FEELS like a sincere man that has been thinking for years and came up with this system...

I love it.

But does it work ?


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## rdm magic (Apr 16, 2012)

Heres my two cents.

I have used this method of sharpening, and its.. doable. Thats about the biggest endorsement I can give it.

It has a few pretty big problems.

Firstly, the sandpaper wears out very fast. Almost fast enough to make it a false economy, when you consider you can get a King combi for peanuts.

Secondly, you are going to have a real hard time doing any kind of profiling on this. Its damn slow to do. Touching up an edge, probably okay.

Thirdly, and finally from my point of view, is that I got terrible wire edges using this method. I couldn't really tell before, because I was inexperienced. Maybe it was just a by product of being inexperienced and thats why I got the wires, who knows. They were bad though.

Not to mention the little problems of actually finding the right grits, cutting the stuff when you were sharpening by mistake, not truly knowing what you're sharpening on because as you wear the paper out, it effectively gets a finer grit to it etc.


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## twyst (Jan 22, 2012)

Wobelix said:


> Thank you very much Sal & Mark !!
> 
> I found another little You Tube sharpening video.
> 
> ...


Whoah. That guy made his own edgepro. Thats actually kind of cool.


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## wobelix (Feb 18, 2013)

Thanks RDM Magic, sounds quite right what you say !

Yet...


Twyst said:


> Whoah. That guy made his own edgepro. Thats actually kind of cool.


I fully agree, Twyst !!

Have a great weekend all,

Eric


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## boar_d_laze (Feb 13, 2008)

Sharpening on sand paper is sometimes called "Scary Sharp." It was popularized as a way of sharpening woodworking tools, and that popularity spilled over into pocket knives, then into kitchen knives.

Scary Sharp is a good method for woodworking tools, but doesn't work well for kitchen knives. RDM got some of the problems with it, but there are others as well. For instance, the tendency of sand paper to "load up" so quickly; which is made even more inconvenient by the impossibility of cleaning ordinary paper, and the expense and mess of using wet-dry paper.

When it comes to sharpening kitchen knives, ordinary, "inexpensive" bench type water stones, like King or are faster, better, more consistent, as easy to maintain, and, at the end of the day, less expensive than sand paper -- at least for most home and commercial sharpeners.

Not to take any props away from the guy who built his own DIY, sandpaper, "rod guide" tool and jig sharpener, but he's not the first; nor is his gag anything like the best. There are lots of rod guides out there using all sorts of sharpening materials; there are even a few, like the EZESharp Blade Sharpener from Australia which use "regular" sized bench water and/or oil stones.





  








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boar_d_laze


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Mar 17, 2013








Ken Schwartz's "Gizmo" was also designed for full-sized (water) stones. [I'm having trouble finding an online picture to post.] Like the Edge Pro, the Gizmo uses (used?) a "mast and jib" design. I'm not sure if the Gizmo is still commercially available or not, but if Ken built one, you can too. If you want to exercise your DIY skills, you'd be better served by cloning the Gizmo than the peg-board, sand paper fed sharpener in the YouTube video.

If you're not a DIYer, the Edge Pro Apex and Professional are the best choices for most people who want a _rod guide_ type tool and jig sharpener.

BDL


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## emmbai90 (Sep 13, 2012)

Lol this video is amazing, just use your car window xD


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