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Knife Sharpening Tricks

by TimAnderson on June 24, 2006

Table of Contents

intro: Knife Sharpening Tricks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Video . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Video . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

step 1: Look at the Edge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

step 2: Thumbnail test the edge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

step 3: Flatten the Stone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

step 4: Flatten Away . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

step 5: Thin the Edge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

step 6: The Sharpening Finally Begins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

step 7: Gilding the Lily . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

step 8: Cut Your Leg Off . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

step 9: Don Montague Tests the Edge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

step 10: Improvised Sharpening Stones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Related Instructables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

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Comments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

http://www.instructables.com/id/Knife-Sharpening-Tricks/
intro: Knife Sharpening Tricks
There are many ways to sharpen a knife. This method produces a good general purpose edge.

Safety note: As my Granddad used to say: "Don't cut toward yourself, and you'll never get cut."

Excellent photos by Christy Canida the whale butcher.

See what she does with these knives at Skinning and Filleting Catfish

People have always cared about sharp tools. Some "Bog Man" remains from thousands of years ago have been found with sharpening stones worn as a pendant.

This first video shows how to make your own Bog Man stone from a regular sharpening stone, or any soft abrasive stone you happen to find.

First we will make a drill bit from a nail, drill a hole in the stone, saw the stone in half, and flatten it. Just like an ancient bog man would have if he had the battery drill we
fixed last week.

Video

This second video shows how to sharpen a knife for butchering and how to sharpen it for carving wood. I bought the knife in the video from a husband-and-wife team of
blacksmiths in China. Blacksmithing seems to be a job for couples in many parts of the world.

Video

Links to the ipod formated videos are at the bottom of this page.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Knife-Sharpening-Tricks/
step 1: Look at the Edge
Get under a bright light such as the sun, and hold up the edge. You'll see reflections on flat spots and nicks.
On this blade the inch near the tip is pretty bad.

step 2: Thumbnail test the edge

Touch it to your thumbnail and see if it slides around or if it catches.
If it slides that means it's dull, as in not sharp, at least in this area.
Safety note: Don't chop your fricking thumb off.

step 3: Flatten the Stone

Buy yourself a sharpening stone for a dollar in Chinatown. If your city doesn't have a Chinatown, get one or move somewhere civilized.

This is a "water stone" which means you put water on it while using it to float the sharpening dust off it. Some prefer an "oil stone" which means you put oil on it. Some
stones are born oily. Once the oil is in there water doesn't work well anymore.

This particular stone has had some use so it's dished out in the middle. That makes it hard to hold the knife at the right angle. So we'll need to flatten it.
Actually it doesn't really matter for knives, but when you start sharpening plane blades you'll make a religion of flattening your stone.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Knife-Sharpening-Tricks/
step 4: Flatten Away
Splash some water on the sidewalk and rub the stone on it til the stone is flat. Use plenty of pressure.
Listen to "The Great War for Civilization" by Robert Fisk while you work to understand what went wrong in the Middle East.

step 5: Thin the Edge

Rub the knife on the coarse side of the stone at a 5 degree angle as shown. It doesn't matter what stroke you use or what direction.
You're just thinning the area around the edge a bit to save you some labor later on.
In each of the following sharpening steps, you'll raise the angle just a bit.
That way you're always shaving the stone with fresh metal.

Commentators to this howto are rightly pointing out the merits of a 20 degree knife edge, (knife held at a 10 degree angle to the sharpening stone) or a 17.5 degree
wedge. I think my homemade plane blade sharpening fixture is set at 27.5 or something nerdy like that.
Use your own numbers, not mine, and by all means get carried away with your own refinements.
The numbers I picked aren't too important, just that you raise them with each step.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Knife-Sharpening-Tricks/
step 6: The Sharpening Finally Begins
Flip the stone over and stroke the blade edge forward at a 6 degree angle. First one side of the knife, then the other. You are cutting toward the stone.

step 7: Gilding the Lily

You've already endangered your friends by putting on an edge on a knife they're expecting to be dull.
Now it's going to get even sharper. Get a piece of 600 grit emery paper and put it on a piece of glass.
Any other really flat thing will do, but glass is most popular. I've seen Klingit and Mayan woodcarvers use this method.
Stroke forward at a 7 degree angle, alternating sides. A couple of strokes is plenty, because you're taking off a miniscule amount of metal. If you're silly or special you
could get finer grits up to 1200 and repeat.

Hats off to the commentators for true facts about edge angles. Unless you're into artillery in a big way, most of us will overestimate small angles. Your 7 will be more like
12 in reality. The important thing is to look at the edge, test it, and raise the angle til you're shaving just a little abrasive off with each step. Thick blades will naturally
sharpen at the higher angles they were intended for. You'll never really thin a thick blade out that much.

Some things like plane irons and chisels benefit from a straight bevel. For that make a jig to set the angle. Plane irons seem to inspire the greatest nerdiness in people.

step 8: Cut Your Leg Off

Not.
This step is a totally unnecessary way to show off. You can impress people this way, especially if you rip your leg open, blood gushes everywhere, and they have to take
you to the hospital.

Smear your leg with the abrasive paste you made by flattening your stone.
Then stroke the knife over this paste, sharp edge trailing.
This is called "Stropping". It takes the microscopic hairs off the edge to make it strong and extra sharp.
This is how you sharpen a razor, except sane people use a piece of leather called a "strop" rubbed with red garnet abrasive dust.

My Granddad used to beat his kids with his strop when they misbehaved. His son, my uncle "Bird Dog" tried to shave without proper instruction and cut a big gash in the
strop. In the ensuing punishment the new sharp corner cut him, he started bleeding all over, and my Grandmother Nana came flying out of the house with strong new
theories about corporal punishment. She was half my Granddad's size and twice as powerful. The kids were able to eat dinner sitting down for a while after that.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Knife-Sharpening-Tricks/
 step 9: Don Montague Tests the Edge
His style of fingernail testing involves resting the edge on his nail to see if it slides off or catches.

step 10: Improvised Sharpening Stones

There you are in your friend's kitchen trying to cut a tomato with a blunt knife.
You're mashing it and smearing the skin around and not feeling sexy at all.
You ransack the utensil drawer and find not an abrasive.
You get the urge to criticize your pal for being the wrong kind of tool-using ape.
Halt.
Use an improvised stone instead. Here's a short list of what can work:

The underside of the toilet tank lid.

The rough unglazed ring on the bottom of a plate or other ceramic item.
an emery board used for manicures
A brick.
A flowerpot.
Any aluminum item. It's covered with a layer of aluminum oxide, a good abrasive. This method is only good for final sharpening.

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Comments
50 comments Add Comment view all 142 comments

AustralLord says: Jul 10, 2008. 5:41 PM REPLY

I do it prependiculr to my thumbnail, is that ok?

jkehrtzll says: Mar 18, 2009. 2:09 PM REPLY

stupid....dont do that, take a piece a paper, hold it vertically and see if it cuts or rips the paper.......if it rips its dull. my buddy used his thumb nail and it
went rite thru

AustralLord says: Mar 18, 2009. 7:06 PM REPLY

your friend must be malnutritioned

ravebot says: Dec 31, 2008. 9:15 PM REPLY

i've got a diamond sharpener, all my knives are sharp enough to cut holes in time and space.

kinghack says: Jan 4, 2009. 4:49 AM REPLY

lol im too cheap to buy that but funny joke

ravebot says: Jan 9, 2009. 3:32 PM REPLY

no really i can it's way better than riding the bus

ninjaimasta says: Jan 17, 2009. 5:04 PM REPLY

lol, epic.

woody558 says: Jan 15, 2009. 5:13 PM REPLY

this doesn't work. it just scratches up my stone...

xsamusaranx says: Dec 31, 2008. 9:13 PM REPLY

Thanks, never tried it this way I bought one of those three stone kits but I'll see if this works better. I test mine by cutting my arm hairs, I'd hate to destroy my
fingernails.

craz meanman says: Mar 29, 2008. 9:54 AM REPLY

dremels work really well. just get that tungstun carbide grinding bit and sharpen away.

pineapplenewton says: Dec 31, 2008. 12:54 PM REPLY

you could grind away the whole edge that way.

craz meanman says: Dec 31, 2008. 1:25 PM REPLY

really? worked O.K. for me... made for a really good halfway serrated edge. lol

dunnos says: May 16, 2008. 6:42 AM REPLY

the pink one?

craz meanman says: May 17, 2008. 1:37 PM REPLY

...i meant the greenish one.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Knife-Sharpening-Tricks/
 dunnos says: May 18, 2008. 1:41 AM REPLY
i dont have that one :/

dunnos says: Jan 1, 2009. 2:00 AM REPLY

oh goodie i just got the dremel stylus including the bit yay

craz meanman says: Jan 2, 2009. 3:19 PM REPLY

cool. be careful now.

Chard says: Aug 6, 2008. 8:42 AM REPLY

ive seen people sharpen knives with a window before. next time your in your car, wind down the window, the very edge of the glass is kind of frosted.
apparently this can be used to great effect to sharpen a knife

alternatively try this stunt

fallenspirit123 says: Dec 12, 2008. 3:04 PM REPLY

naw...I like this one more :)

hornbadoing says: Aug 8, 2008. 10:17 AM REPLY

it realy not that hard to do

http://www.instructables.com/id/Knife-Sharpening-Tricks/
 SimpleGenius! says: Oct 8, 2008. 5:42 PM REPLY
I just wanted to say thanks for the car window tip. I wanted my knife sharpened but I wasn't about to go to a store to buy a rock from someone. My wife had
the car at work but I happened to notice that the glass coasters I have on the table have frosted edges and it worked like a charm!

puffyfluff says: Aug 31, 2008. 10:49 PM REPLY

Ooh... sharp knives! Great companions.

jrsh92 says: Aug 19, 2008. 3:21 PM REPLY

I use a pretty average angle for my Opinel no. 8 knife, somewhere a touch over 17 degrees. I've seen a few people with these knives using a far shallower
angle, using the entire bevel of the blade to come to an edge, the only angle coming from the thickness of the blade-- about 5 degrees!
With the kind of work we do with them, these knives need resharpening very regularly no matter what angle is used, as we do things like scale fish, which
destroys the edge no matter what angle it's at. Having an edge that would normally only last 2 or 3 days is irrelevant if you're just going to do something like
that and resharpen after a day at maximum.
Certainly I like a 20 degree angle because it's a good compromise, but people should consider that if you're going to be sharpening it pretty often as part of
your routine, using a shallower angle will allow a sharper edge quicker when sharpening, and in that case you can live with the fact that it doesn't last as long
as a steeper angle.
Overall I'd suggest that people experiment, especially if you have an inexpensive knife like an Opinel, to find what works for them doing what they do with the
knife.

baneat says: Aug 24, 2008. 3:08 PM REPLY

I don't know why but whenever I buy one I lose it pretty quickly :(

jrsh92 says: Aug 19, 2008. 3:28 PM REPLY

I saw someone suggest using the rough top of a car window for sharpening in a pinch. It seems like it'd work but you'd have a small (and rounded) surface to
work on, unfortunately...

AustralLord says: Jul 10, 2008. 5:44 PM REPLY

my leather wallet works for fine sharpening

AustralLord says: Jul 10, 2008. 5:40 PM REPLY

For real steel (not stainless) knives, I just hone them with a strip of leather, a few strokes work.

AustralLord says: Jul 10, 2008. 5:33 PM REPLY

ya, my hunting knife is around 25-30 degrees and I hadn't had to sharpen it in a long time.

piper1234 says: Oct 30, 2007. 12:48 AM REPLY

after how long time u finished sharpening the pavement?

xD hahaha

ahm a workbench 'd be more comfortable

mwwdesign says: May 30, 2008. 10:27 AM REPLY

LOL!

eXeYed says: Aug 9, 2006. 4:57 PM REPLY

due to natural atrophy and potentially from concussive effects induced by absorbing the angular momentum of kinetic aluminum (struck in head with a well
swung softball bat - twice that i can recall), certain mental faculties aren't what they once were.

my ability to cognitively dissect observations, thoughts and even familiar situations has degraded. perspicatious breviloquence has become impertinent,
recapitulated, repetitous, repeating, reiterating, tautological redundancies of pointless, imponderable and unrelated irrelevance. once affable, friendly, and
socially obliging now unsympathetically blunt and impenetrably dull.

after reading your instructions several times (before it occurred to me that i don't have a knife), i began contemplating, thinking and pensively wondering if
you have similar techniques that could acuminate my insight, hone my character and/or sharpen my wit?

pacey_waring says: May 16, 2008. 9:32 PM REPLY

what did you sound like BEFORE the person hit you in the head with the bat?

I can't imagine why anybody would want to do that to you, of all people.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Knife-Sharpening-Tricks/
 gbosbiker says: Mar 19, 2008. 6:18 PM REPLY
you pretty much used big words to sound cool and it had absoulutey nothing to do with the instructable....the average person (no offense to the average
person....) would not be able to understand what you just said. im not saying im smart either but i had trouble with it. not fun. just say after you got hit with
the bat you became dumber. much simpler.

Whatnot says: Jan 1, 2009. 4:52 AM REPLY

He clearly used a dictionary to string words together in a an inappropriate context, it's like a google translation of american to british :)
If he was familiar with the words he would not use them in that fashion.

skok says: Jan 18, 2008. 1:05 AM REPLY

What about the comparing of freakmentations?

ursus57 says: Sep 23, 2007. 8:07 PM REPLY

People struck with blunt objects need love too....

James (pseudo-geek) says: Aug 9, 2007. 6:52 AM REPLY

if, as you say, your intellect has been lowered by physical trauma to your cranium, then I greatly desire to see how large an intellectual capacity you
retained before the trauma.

samurai1200 says: Aug 7, 2007. 4:28 AM REPLY

Please, stop.

abstract69 says: Aug 13, 2006. 11:53 AM REPLY

The only way to sharpen your wit would be to reverse the damage that was done to you when you were hit in the head.
You would have to be hit with a Louisville Slugger, a wooden bat.
If the person swinging the bat, when you were hit was right handed, you need to be hit by someone left handed, and vice versa.
Next you need to estimate the weight of the aluminum bat, and there is a conversion for aluminum versus wood I think you multiply the weight of the
aluminum bat by 2.75 to equal the necessary weight of the wood bat.
So a 20 ounce aluminum bat would equal a 55 ounce wood bat.
If you cannit find a 55 ounce bat, try two bats one 27 and one 28 onuces.
Next you need to remember how many years ago that you were hit, that is the amount of times you must be hit on the head to reverse the trauma that
was done to you so long ago. If you choose to wear a batting helmet, just double the time you are hit.

As far as honing your character is concerned, the first thing to do is determine what kind of CHARACTER you are.
Then I would look in the yellow pages under Indiana knife sharpeners, or "HOOSIER HONERS" they are the ones to call to HONE anything.

Punkguyta says: Aug 6, 2007. 2:17 PM REPLY

....Is this a joke?

pacey_waring says: May 16, 2008. 9:34 PM REPLY

everyone loves a troll!

James (pseudo-geek) says: Aug 9, 2007. 6:53 AM REPLY

I'm quite sure it was.....

Rishnai says: Apr 1, 2008. 11:09 PM REPLY

I always used the various grits of concrete found around my house. It seemed to work pretty well for my general-purpose knife. My crazy-sharp favorite knife
got this treatment here... until my friend lost it. He felt so guilty he bought me a new one and sharpened it back crazy-sharp for me.

CARBUNCLES says: Feb 28, 2008. 10:16 AM REPLY

I HAVE ANOTHER WAY TO KEEP A KNIFE SHARP AFTER YOU HAVE ALREADY RUN IT ACROSS THE STONES.TAKE AN OLD LEATHER
WALLET.RUN THE KNIFE OVER THE THICK FOLDED PART OF IT AT ABOUT THE SAME ANGLE YOU HAVE STONED IT.YOUR END RESULT IS A
VERY SHARP KNIFE.IT'S FAST AND EASY.

gbosbiker says: Mar 19, 2008. 6:13 PM REPLY

personally i would prefer it if you didnt use capitals. its tricky to read.

but nice. i wish i had a knife worth sharpening.....

http://www.instructables.com/id/Knife-Sharpening-Tricks/
 robstar says: Mar 14, 2008. 10:58 AM REPLY
awesome story .... it's been added to http://www.gearcult.com

xenobiologista says: Jan 17, 2008. 4:13 PM REPLY

This is reminding me of the bit in the Merchant of Venice during Antonio's trial where some guy makes a crack about sharpening a knife on his sole (pun on
"soul", but I don't remember the context exactly

pyroelectro says: Jan 23, 2008. 11:13 AM REPLY

wow!!

i just wrote about that remark in my english lit. exam yesterday! :)

mrtools says: Jun 24, 2006. 1:39 PM REPLY

i bet you cut your self more than any one i know

but good instuctable i didnt think of flattening the stone

also i would put a disclaimer if i were you

ve2vfd says: Sep 19, 2006. 10:54 PM REPLY

"i bet you cut your self more than any one i know"

Actually a dull knife is a LOT more dangerous than a sharp one. The sharp one will do it's job properly as expected, the dull one will require more work
and increase the chances things will go wrong (and you'll end up with stitches!) :)

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