Knife Sharpening is perhaps one of the most popular knife conversations I have heard during knife talk. I have seen so many different sharpening techniques. One technique in particular has proven to be very efficient. This technique I observed while watching a master smith who had been passed down his smithy skills from generations before him. He was a Finnish Puukko knife smith who was responsible for hand-forging what were known as the sharpest knives in the world. Here is what I observed.
This method is using a stone. The actual method I derived this from was using a sharpening wheel. I assume most people don’t have a sharpening wheel so I have adapted it to using a wetstone instead. You should always wet the sharpening stone. You can use oil or water. I find that they both work very well. Water tends to be less messy.
A. First line up your edge. Lay the blade over a stone and roll it lightly to feel where the edge is. You want the edge(not the flat of the actual blade but the edge) to be perfectly aligned. Sometimes this is more gut feeling than actual feeling.
B. Here is the motion. Slide the knife back and forth at about 3 strokes (back and forth is 2 strokes) per second with even light pressure(backwards being edgward and forwards being opposite). At the same time you want to be moving the blade to and from at about half the speed.
C. Repeat on a lighter stone. Then you may remove the burl from the blade by sharpening on a leather strap. This will give you a razor sharp edge that you should be able to shave with if you did it right.
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