Sharpening Grafting Knives

[FrankP999]

What do you folks use for sharpening your grafting knives? Do you use diamond or waterstones? What grit do you sharpen up to (1000, 3000, etc) ?

Do you use a jig or something to hold the knife angle constant or do you freehand?

I am a grafting novice and want to have super sharp knives. Suggestions and tips are always welcome. Thanks

Frank

 

[Adair M]

Frank,

Boon has sharpened mine, he does it free hand on stones. I have no idea what level of grit they are.

His father was a butcher, so he learned to sharpen knives at a young age.

When I bought my Mamsakuni grafting knife, it was sharp when I bought it.

 

[Poink88]

I sharpen with a diamond "stone". It was 400 grit (I believe) but over the years it leveled some and probably equivalent to 800 grit now. I sometimes strop after but not always, I also just strop at times w/o sharpening.

I do it free hand and do not use a jig. Just make sure the bevel is flat with the stone and you are removing steel from the entire plane/surface (front to back). it is that easy.

Well let me qualify that...it depends on how the bevel on your knife is. Mine have full front to back bevel but some have partial and does not stretch all the way back.

Depending on how the cutting edge condition is, it may only need a minor "tune up" or can be a major "over haul". Only you can decide where it is but most of the time...it should be minor tune up...maybe just some stropping.

Good luck!

 

[fore]

Frank, I've been using wetstones, 800 for removing knicks if present, and a 1200 for a finer edge. I use this to hold the stone: http://www.amazon.com/Steelex-D1091...d=1409238015&sr=8-1&keywords=whetstone+holder

Here's a trick I learned from M. Hagedorn. Get two cinder blocks, wet, rub together to smooth out a side. Then, again keeping wet, you slide the stone up and down the cinder block using your slurry, and this flattens the stone out like new.

However, I must admit only using it for chisels so far...it is hard to get the correct angle.

 

[sikadelic]

I am a bit of a knife nut. I invested in a Lansky sharpening system that keeps the stones at a proper angle. Grafting knives don't have much of a bevel at all so the angle is pretty extreme. A good bit of advice would be to color the edge with a sharpie. As you begin to sharpen it, examine the edge and make sure that you are removing the sharpie line that you made. That will let you know that you are on the right angle.

 

[Judge]

I use the bottom of my coffee cup don't know what grit that is but its ceramic and does a great job.

 

[Poink88]

I use the bottom of my coffee cup don't know what grit that is but its ceramic and does a great job.

I used to use that on kitchen knives too but I won't recommend it on a grafting knife.

 

[M. Frary]

I roll down the window of my car and use the top edge to sharpen all edged weapons from pocket knives to axes.

 

[FrankP999]

What angle?

At what angle do you sharpen your knives? 15 degrees? 10? Thanks

 

[Paulkellum]

Im with Adair when I got my masakuni knife you could shaved with it but mine got dull after a few uses. Boon wants it sharpened each time you pull it out for grafting that day I agree with that.

I know most guys use wet sones for the best edge. I have set Sharpton (Japanese made) best thing about them is you can just spry them lightly with water you don't have to soak them. There pro series is about 65ea and you need 3 as a base 300 or 400 then get a 1000 then a 4000 or 5000. You can also go up to 10,000 grit but its mostly for polishing metal. You will need a good leather pad as well to hone down any burs. your angle is yours the steeper the angle the sharper the knife but the faster it dulls so if you do a few grafts a year go for 10degree and get sugar sharp clean cuts. but a 10 degree angle you with have to hit it on lester after a few cuts to re align the edge on the blade. If thats to much work go for 15 degree angle so edge holds longer without honing.

 

[Paulkellum]

I use the bottom of my coffee cup don't know what grit that is but its ceramic and does a great job.

ceramic in a coffee cup has some particles in it if they are really ruff them you might get something but mostly what your getting is re honing the edge like a ceramic steel does. It does return it to a sharper edge but can create a new edge.

 

[Paulkellum]

I am a bit of a knife nut. I invested in a Lansky sharpening system that keeps the stones at a proper angle. Grafting knives don't have much of a bevel at all so the angle is pretty extreme. A good bit of advice would be to color the edge with a sharpie. As you begin to sharpen it, examine the edge and make sure that you are removing the sharpie line that you made. That will let you know that you are on the right angle.

These are ok for some kitchen knives. I had one my first year of culinary school until It made it to much work and then I didn't sharpen my knives enough. I would suggest always by hand and to repeat the angle on your current knife is impossible. you want to make it a similar angle but if you try to match current angle it will frustrate you and it won't be sharp. once you make the angle your angle sharpening anything is a 60sec process. remember a grafting knife is a single edge blade so those in chef world know they sharpen because of the flat edge and you hone them on flat edge as well.

Only the bevel side of the knife is sharpened on coarse and medium grit stones. Turn the blade over and sharpen the bevel side. Hold the blade at your angle to the length of the stone. Rub up and down the stone while at the same time moving the blade across the width of the stone. With long blades, it will be necessary to sharpen a section at a time. Be sure to keep the bevel flat on the stone while sharpening. Continue in this manner until a wire edge is detected along the full length of the blade. Now transfer the blade to the next finest grit and remove the scratches from the previous grit.