What's your edge?

[stealth007s]

I'm just curious what everyone is doing as far as their preferred sharpening angle for knives. Mine is approximately 20°. I was watching a video on wikiHow that the guy said 45°. I've never heard of that myself but that seems kind of steep to me.

So............................ What's your edge?

[Sparky415]

I have been using my Lansky system to do my sharpening for a while now so;

I have one blade on my Spartan at 17 which doesn't last too long but is very very sharp along with a few kitchen knives inc my Sabatier

Other SAK blades are at 20

My K-Bar USMC is at 30 changing to around 35  between the belly and the tip

 

[AimlessWanderer]

I'm just curious what everyone is doing as far as their preferred sharpening angle for knives. Mine is approximately 20°. I was watching a video on wikiHow that the guy said 45°. I've never heard of that myself but that seems kind of steep to me.

So............................ What's your edge?

I've no idea, I sharpen freehand. Your 20 degree will be per side, whereas his 45 degree will probably be included angle (22.5 degrees per side) 

[AdmSlc]

I set my Spyderco Tri-Angle Sharpmaker to 20 degrees per side for everything I sharpen and have only gotten hair poppin results on everything I use it on.

[enki_ck]

Don't know abou the angle, I sharpen freehand and try to keep it close to the original angle.

[jzmtl]

Generally I reprofile a knife as soon as I get it, 30° inclusive (40° microbevel) for softer steel, 20° (30° microbevel) for harder steel unless the blade is thick. If I do it with belt sander then I have no idea, but microbevel still applies.

If you want to know why the choice of microbevels, it's because I have a sharpmaker and it's easy and quick to use lol.

[THE_LONGBOW]

I too sharpen freehand (Buck Diamond TriStone) then finish on my SharpMaker at 20*.

[stealth007s]

I've no idea, I sharpen freehand. Your 20 degree will be per side, whereas his 45 degree will probably be included angle (22.5 degrees per side) 

I sharpen freehand as well and try to hold it steady at 20°. The guy on the wikiHow video stated to hold the knife at a 45° angle.

[Steinar]

My default is 15° on each side (i.e. 30° inclusive), 20° (40° inclusive) for brittle steel to avoid microchipping. 45° inclusive is quite a lot, 45° on each side (90° inclusive) isn't a knife, that's a can opener.

[AimlessWanderer]

My default is 15° on each side (i.e. 30° inclusive), 20° (40° inclusive) for brittle steel to avoid microchipping. 45° inclusive is quite a lot, 45° on each side (90° inclusive) isn't a knife, that's a can opener.

That's not even a can opener - it's the same edge geometry as a housebrick 

[Steinar]

Good point! 

[Grathr]

 
Thats perfect if you like to have the the same edge geometry as you already have on the backside of the blade. 

[Heinz Doofenshmirtz]

I do all my sharpening free-hand as well.  I learned to sharpen from a chef at a restaurant I worked at before I started college; he had been professionally trained at the culinary school he went to.

I don't immediately reprofile every blade/knife I get though, it depends on the original grind and how well it holds up for me.  My Becker BK14 came out of the box very nicely sharp, but I soon found the stock grind to be too steep for my liking, so I reprofiled it with a shallower and slightly convex grind.  It works very well now for the kinds of things I use it for, though after getting my new Mora 2000 I realize I need to do a little more work on my BK14's edge...   

In general, I make the overall grind profile of my own edges fairly shallow, but tend to steepen up the leading edge of the grind itself to improve strength and edge retention.   I'd guesstimate that my overall edge angle is probably about 20º-25º inclusive, but at the cutting edge itself I probably go to about 30º-35º inclusive, and I try to make the transition between those angles as gradual as I can.

[Wootz]

Convexed all the way (have to pull out my homemade sharpening stuff and take some snapshots).

[Gareth]

Another free hander here as well.  I work somewhere around 20 deg myself but it does depend on which knife I am working on.