Sharpening Stones | Put a Fine Edge on Your Tools

Grinders work great for some tools, but others require the age old art of using sharpening stones. A trusty knife or a cherished oval skew in my case demand nothing less than the careful stroking along a smooth Arkansas sharpening stone. Aside from the therapeutic value, a sharpening session with a stone can achieve levels of sharpness equal to precision wet grinding jigs.

For me, the Arkansas medium and fine get no better results on flat blades. See the sharpening tools page for info on how the grinder can be your best friend in terms of quickly sharpening some of your tools. But there is no substitute for a fine Arkansas sharpening stone to get that fine razor edge. Here is a good option at a reasonable price.

A word about the Japanese and water stones – I do find advantages in the 3000 grit range for tools that require a bit of coarse sharpening on my skews and carving tools. Keeping the stones clean is important and I recommend you lightly coat these sharpening stones with a light oil even if you plan to use water as the sharpening lubricant.

Technique | Doin' the Stroke

A steady stroke at a constant angle is precisely what is required for sharpening tools. For flat tools with a well defined bevel, like my skew, its a simple matter to loosely hold the handle in one hand and use the other to gently keep the cutting surface flush. Slow easy strokes on a lightly oiled stone can within a few short minutes produce impressive results. The sharpening stone should be held in place either with a friction surface or a jig. The area around should be free of obstruction and provide you with a comfortable position.

The stroke doesn't necessarily need to be straight back and forth. I use a slightly oval pattern but the only real requirement is to keep the bevel flush on the sharpening stone. An angle approach can be used with jigs to sharpen knives or other tools with long cutting edges.

For tools that have not been sharpened or are extremely dull you will need to start on a coarse stone, then up to medium and then fine. Just to give you an idea of amount.I usually do about 5 sets of 20 strokes per side, starting on a medium sharpening stone and moving up to fine. The actual number of strokes and whether you need the course sharpening stone depends on how dull the blade is. You will find the more often you sharpen the less amount of strokes it takes to put that edge back on.

Of course if you really want that hair-splitting razor edge, a leather strop is hard to beat. If you want to speed that up this Power Strop is good idea to speed things up a bit.

These same techniques can be simplified with the use of a few simple jigs. Depending on what it is you want to sharpen, its just a matter or rigging something to hold the blade at a certain angle and allow for the stroke. Sharpening stones are less expensive than a grinder and only your ingenuity limits a sharpening jig. These simple jigs and techniques will help you keep your tools sharper, longer using simple sharpening stones.