[daddymatty82]

ok i got one of these

http://www.gooutdoors.co.uk/leatherman-skeletool-cx-equipment-p135272

and i got a gerber steel something simular to this

http://www.gooutdoors.co.uk/silva-diamond-knife-sharpener-equipment-knife-sharpener-p95365

whats the best way best tool to get a nice edge as its sharp but i want to start making sure its tip top and i dont want to mess it up and make it blunt so any advice would be great cheers matty

[Mickyork]

Hi Matty, I sharpen all my tools & knifes on a butchers steel. It's a diamond edged one same as your sharpening tool but larger. I managed to get a Global one for £35 which was pretty cheap for the quality. I even sharpen my axe with it. Was a guy who worked in an abattoir who recommended it to me 

[Norfolk Newby]

I use a diamond coated steel sharpening 'stone' from these people:

http://www.eze-lap.com/index.html

It produces a very sharp edge very quickly.

A couple of tips:-

If you sharpen a knife with a rolling action, the edge will be curved (in section) so that the sides will be a narrow taper but the edge will be a wide taper. Am I making sense?

The trick is to hold the blade at an angle to the stone which is constant as you slide it over the stone.

If you have a general purpose knife, hold the blade so that it is at about 15 - 20 degrees to the top surface of the stone. If you want a very sharp blade, make the angle smaller (say 10 degrees) but the edge will blunt or chip much more easily and won't last as long. Softer steel blunts more easily and it isn't worth grinding a very fine edge as the steel will wear away very quickly in use. I have a Japanese carving knife (like a Samurai sword!) and it has a very hard steel blade which is sharpened to a very sharp edge but has to be used carefully or the blade chips like fine glass.

If you get a diamond coated stone, only use it to give the final cutting edge. Use an old fashioned oil stone to grind the blade edge to the angle you want, then transfer to the diamond one to produce the sharp edge.

Remember to grind both sides of the blade evenly so that the knife cuts straight. If the angles on each side are different , it will tend to cut off at an angle instead of straight down.

Also, as you sharpen the knife on one side you will get a burr formed on the opposite side of the blade. This can be removed using a piece of hide to polish the burr off. However, if the final sharpening strokes are done gently and on both sides of the blade, the burr will be very smal and more easily removed.

The diamond stone can be used to sharpen chisels and plane blades as well as knives. I wouldn't use it to sharpen an axe though!

NN

[Mickyork]

It's great for sharpening my axe. The axe has a narrow blade & is only used for kindling. It's honed on a stone first as needed