Knife sharpening - place to discuss sharpening, sharpeners, and sharpening accessories. Probably not legal in Europe.

[Ultrapenguin]

I have a hand axe with a chipped blade and a garden hoe that is completely dull. Is a whetstone a waste of time for these?

I'm not a sharpening expert, but if you're dealing with a blade that's really fucked up you might be best off setting a profile with a metal file or grinding wheel then moving on to stone for the actual sharpening.
Like for the axe, put it in a clamp blade side up then go along running a file upwards on each side until you've got the general form you want.

I'm not sure how chipped or how dull you're talking, but trying to use a stone to take off appreciable amounts of material can take a while.

 

[Frostnipped Todger]

I have a hand axe with a chipped blade and a garden hoe that is completely dull. Is a whetstone a waste of time for these?

Yep. Pretty much.

I'm not a sharpening expert, but if you're dealing with a blade that's really fucked up you might be best off setting a profile with a metal file or grinding wheel then moving on to stone for the actual sharpening.
Like for the axe, put it in a clamp blade side up then go along running a file upwards on each side until you've got the general form you want.

I'm not sure how chipped or how dull you're talking, but trying to use a stone to take off appreciable amounts of material can take a while.

This is the right idea, get a Bastard Cut file and get the edge to 95% where you want it. Maybe even 99%. Unless you've been cutting bricks, you should have enough tempered steel to work with. Then touch it up with a stone.

I seriously doubt that your hoe has a hardened edge, so the stone would be kind of useless. Keep it in reasonable shape with the file.

 

[YHWH's Strongest Soldier]

I mainly stick to whetstones for my kitchen knives with Morihei #6000 being my favorite. It's virtually perfect grit for carpaccio, sashimi and carving of fruits/veggies. Other than that, I use a shitty #1000 to prepare knives for the #6000 that I probably picked up at Ikea. Not being a professional cook, this is more than enough for my needs.

 

[femboy fart huffer]

Got a new whetstone a few days ago. Took a bit of getting used to but shits pretty good. Goes through sponges without any pressure, same with paper, easily goes through an old rolled up towel the thickness of my thumb in one clean motion, pops hairs off faster and easier than my actual electric shaver. Can't really look too closely but under one of those monocle magnifying glasses watch repair people use it looks absolutely flawless. Anyway completely unrelated, but hypothetically if say you're going on holiday somewhere warm in like a couple days; what's the best excuse for having half of one of your legs bald? Idk I think maybe saying yea had to get an xray for you know xray reasons is maybe better than saying oh yea I got locked in my kitchen and got bored so decided to try become a model before giving up after 5 seconds.

 

[Adolf Hulkler]

Anyway completely unrelated, but hypothetically if say you're going on holiday somewhere warm in like a couple days; what's the best excuse for having half of one of your legs bald?

Just out yourself as a knife autist.
Ive actually had to answer that question multiple times because my legs and arms always miss a few patches of hair from testing.
Protip, get yourself some bone or antler, after sharpening test on hair, then dig the blade into the bone and carve out small pieces of it, then try on hair again.
This is dumb to do with kitchen knives, as they arent meant to deal with shaving wood and they have a very "sharp" sharpening angle(really thin edge).
But its good for anything meant for out doors.

Oh and a very very good tool for sharpening finishing is the following:

Youl need a bench motor for it tho, it will fold and detach that burr you get from sharpening.
Itl work even better if you use sharpening/polishing wax.
Leather wheels and those superfine abrasive rubber wheels are even better, but leather wheel needs a low RPM tool to spin which basic bench motors arent(cheap ones) and the rubber wheels are very expensive, 8-10 times the cost of cloth wheels. They last half a life time tho´when you use them properly.(i once allowed someone else to use mine, and he basically used 50% of the wheels lifetime to sharpen two splitting maul type axes)

Leather strops are also good for finishing and maintenance, but dont buy them. Make one yourself, all you need is a piece of wood, leather and glue.

 

[femboy fart huffer]

Just out yourself as a knife autist.

Nah I just shaved everything off instead, looked like a fucking giant baby. Then remembered that actually Ireland kinda cold and didn't really need to do that at all oops. Honestly I never bother with whetstones on garden tools, just stick them on a grindstone and call it a day. No point trying to sharpen them when half of them are from my grandad who just bought things without understanding steels and what is and isn't a good steel so half the kitchen knives are fucking 304ss and the garden tools are like wrought iron or some shit.

 

[Adolf Hulkler]

Nah I just shaved everything off instead, looked like a fucking giant baby. Then remembered that actually Ireland kinda cold and didn't really need to do that at all oops. Honestly I never bother with whetstones on garden tools, just stick them on a grindstone and call it a day. No point trying to sharpen them when half of them are from my grandad who just bought things without understanding steels and what is and isn't a good steel so half the kitchen knives are fucking 304ss and the garden tools are like wrought iron or some shit.

Garden tools eh?

If you have one of those rotary tools, its fast, just touch up to 500 grit. I do it with axes, 120grit grinder flap disk, then i hit it with a 500 sanding disk.

 

[WhatInTheActualFuck]

Just out yourself as a knife autist.
Ive actually had to answer that question multiple times because my legs and arms always miss a few patches of hair from testing.
Protip, get yourself some bone or antler, after sharpening test on hair, then dig the blade into the bone and carve out small pieces of it, then try on hair again.
This is dumb to do with kitchen knives, as they arent meant to deal with shaving wood and they have a very "sharp" sharpening angle(really thin edge).
But its good for anything meant for out doors.

Oh and a very very good tool for sharpening finishing is the following:
View attachment 7614090
Youl need a bench motor for it tho, it will fold and detach that burr you get from sharpening.
Itl work even better if you use sharpening/polishing wax.
Leather wheels and those superfine abrasive rubber wheels are even better, but leather wheel needs a low RPM tool to spin which basic bench motors arent(cheap ones) and the rubber wheels are very expensive, 8-10 times the cost of cloth wheels. They last half a life time tho´when you use them properly.(i once allowed someone else to use mine, and he basically used 50% of the wheels lifetime to sharpen two splitting maul type axes)

Leather strops are also good for finishing and maintenance, but dont buy them. Make one yourself, all you need is a piece of wood, leather and glue.

The bit about making your own strop is great advice. Just get a chunk of vegetable tanned leather (Hobby Lobby has suitably sized pieces for cheap) and bond the finished/smooth surface to some wood with contact cement. Hit the raw side with your compound of choice and you're golden. I also like to add some rubber feet to the wood so I'd doesn't slide on your countertop too.

 

[Adolf Hulkler]

The bit about making your own strop is great advice. Just get a chunk of vegetable tanned leather (Hobby Lobby has suitably sized pieces for cheap) and bond the finished/smooth surface to some wood with contact cement. Hit the raw side with your compound of choice and you're golden. I also like to add some rubber feet to the wood so I'd doesn't slide on your countertop too.

Ive made few paddle strops.
If i need to really strop something, il use my bench motor with the same abrasive waxes i use in the paddle strop.
edit
Huh, i just checked the price on those solid leather honing wheels, they are about as pricey as the abrasive rubber wheels....