I can't remember the last time I had a pill bottle stuffed with cotton filler. I have used it as a plastic clam shell packaging opener and it worked really well for that too.Maybe the Wiki entry needs to be renamed "Odd-shaped Tool for Cutting Things"?
I like that description, though being from the south, I just call it the "Cotton-Pickin' blade".
I think many good advices have been given, and to quickly sum it up--I personally would rate the pull thru sharpener as the lowest, since it does pull away a far amount of metal and I only would reserve that for trashy knives that I don't care and if I don't have anything else to repair/sharpen the knife with.Free hand sharpening stone is king, without a doubt. Given enough practice and skill, you could virtually sharpening any sharps you want. I tend to use free hand sharpening stone only for those knives that I love and needs extra attention.For most other knives, so as long the sharpening angle is between 15-20 deg per side, I would try to use my Spyderco Sharpmaker. It really is the best compromise between money spent, practice time and result. Unlike free hand shaprening which you need constantly a fair amount of practice to yield good result, with just the minimum practice, you could get pretty stunning result from Sharpmaker. The only complain I have about this unit is even with CBN/diamond rods, the unit is meant to "keep sharp", especially on harder steel like S30V or S90V. If the edge on a supersteel is too dull, it will take a looong time to get it sharp on the sharpmaker.Long sharpening session will fatigue anyone, and hard to keep the angle constant. But as stated above, I do think Sharpmaker is probably the best compromise there is.Keep the blade perpendicular to base at all time, yes. But it is a common misconception and mistake to hold the handle level while doing the sharpening.(Yes, even Sal gets it wrong on his instructional video) If the knife you are sharpening is not a wharncliffe, then as you approach the upswept of the blade on the rods, you should always lift the end of the handle up respectively, so the tiny segment of the blade touching the rod is always perpendicular to the rods. That is the only way to keep the bevel even and consistent from body to tip, otherwise, the bevel would widen a lot at the tip if you are not careful.The same logic would apply to sharpening on a motorized belt(such as work sharp). The earlier infomercial/advertising was pretty poorly done and quite misleading, as if you could just pull the knife straight thru and you are done:They must have received a healthy amount of (angry) inquires about ruined bevel, and instructional 2 years later is a lot more accurate:
Hi Comis, just caught up on the challenge and found your post about sharpening. I admit I only have Vic's rod dual sharpener and am rubbish at sharpening (you would certainly faint if you ever saw any of the bevels of the knives I tried to sharpen); still, I found your post very instructive I even investigated the Spyderco Sharpener as a consequence but decided I am too cheap to get it. But who knows, maybe the sharpening bug will hit me eventually
The Lansky Turnbox is basically the Sharpmaker on a budget
After listening to you guys go on for a month about the 74mm SAKs, I had to get one. My used Executive arrived today.It won't replace my modded Mini Champ Plus, but it's a cool size. My first 74mm.
If interested there is an Executive challenge scheduled for December. Perfect opportunity for putting your Executive to the test.
Thanks for the advice; I just put in my order
Thanks, Sos24.Is there a thread about this challenge you can point me to? I did a quick search for "Executive challenge" and didn't find anything other than some posts about a Chuck Yeager Challenge.
Gotta get one first, I guess.¯\_(ツ)_/¯
They are nice, but are getting harder to find.
Aaaand, the order is in!Aaaand, I'm in the bid for another.Aaaand, the Boss Lady don't like it not one bit, especially since we had to have our shower replaced, at the tidy sum of nearly $1,400.I'll be in the doghouse real soon.
Donations
Community Links
