Real men sharpen their knives using their teeth. I like to freehand sharpen using various Spyderco triangles.

In all seriousness, yes I do sharpen my knives with my teeth. Just that I paste on Sheffield compounds EC6418, 308 and 312 first.

Hi Arda,

A lot of the guys here have been sharpening for so long that perhaps they forget how scary the prospect is of cocking up a knife. I had this re-affirmed for me when I started to use a belt sander not too long ago. The reality is with a belt sander you can [censored] up a knife if you take too much metal off but with the Lansky system it is more of a case that unless you have the right stones for the job the slowness of the task will make you think you are doing it wrong.

I got a DMDC for a Dog in Cz and he had a Lansky and I did some photo's for him as to how to re-profile the edge. I don't mind going through it again if it helps. The more confident you are the first time you do something like this the better.

The tips so far about the marker pen and finding an angle hole closest to the present edge will be the quickest way to get a sharp edge. Re-profiling the edge takes more time but pays off in the long run if you want to get the best out of the small blade for cutting.

Lets start with the pictures - hopefully they are worth a thousand words.



From the picture you will see I have put some cloth tape on the inside of the jaws - it helps not to mark a satin or mirror finish and the holder for the clamp simply makes the job easier...free holding the clamp stops you getting some purchase on the stones....improvise a holder if you can...it does help.

You can see the marker pen placed on the edge and you can see the length along the blade from the edge by the choil. As others have said you need to move the clamp so that the angle remains constant on long blades but with the YK you only need to move it when doing the section from the belly curve to the tip.

This is because when "profiling" a blade this section should be more obtuse than the flat which can take a shallower angle. This preserves the strength and "meat" in the edge by the tip so it is sharp but not too thin where it could snap.

You will also see a slight mark in the marker line....this comes from working out the angle desired for the flat section and seeing how much metal needed to be removed. Here are some photo's to assist.





Measure the length from the edge to the steel hole upright and then the height of the holes from the centre of the gap where the blade sits. Simple maths then has you divide the height of the hole section by the length to the edge "opposite over adjacent" to work out the tangent of the angle the rod will make with the blade edge. The figures on the holes given by Lansky are way off usually...the steel SR77 is given to rolling on the edge sometimes from reports here...but I suspect that is from putting too shallow an angle on the flat...personally on my YK I would go for 23 degrees on the flat and 28 degrees on the belly to the tip. This equates with 4.5 cm high and 10.5cm long for 23 degrees and 4.5cm and 9.5cm for the belly to the tip for 25 degrees.

Try and use the extra coarse diamond stone for metal removal (otherwise it takes more time than you might expect)....follow instructions for attaching the rod to the stone....and use the marker for showing when the stone has gotten to the edge pinnacle. Here is a photo to assist in showing when the edge pinnacle is reached.



Your looking to check that no ink remains at the edge pinnacle.....and don't be shy on your strokes....personally I use a jewellers loop to check the edge and hold it against a light so that I can check for a glare line on the edge...when there is no glare it is perfect.

Remember that it is only then that you go to the medium and fine and extra fine stones. No matter how obtuse the edge....even if it is 30 degrees....but no more obtuse than this....it is by polishing the edge that you get a true razor sharpness...hence the benefit from using the finer stones.

Here is an edge I got on a Skinny Ash which I stripped and convexed and then leather honed until it was perhaps the sharpest edge I had put on a knife.



When you get the chance I firmly recommend getting a Leather paddle and the sharpening compounds from BRK&T to keep the edge you have created. Knives Ship Free is a good place and where I got mine. The instructions are good too. Using this means you never need to re-profile or sharpen again and it keeps the edges lovely and razor sharp. HD gave me this tip and he was right. It also gradually will convex the edge...over time...and this is then even better.

Finally on your concern as to the bevel edges seeming more steep on one side than the other....this does happen and is due to the original flat grinds being done to shape the blade at slightly different angles. Using your Lansky system shows this up. Don't worry about it though....if it is bad the only solution is to strip the blade and convex the whole blade with a belt grinder or maybe send it to SYKCO....but in my experience it makes no "real" difference on performance. My Skinny Ash was like this and hence I did the convexing job...but it was a long labour of love....not to be recommended until a few years of using and sharpening have been done. Even then it is scary.

Let us know how you got on.

Good post Steel Fan! And now you get two of these <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbup.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbup.gif" alt="" />

Here are two more for good measure <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbup.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbup.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> .