Lansky sharpener or stone

[Headedthere]

Just ordered a Lansky Deluxe, looking forward to giving it a try!

 

[alucard0822]

All of my rods are straight. While I can't claim to have laid them flat and perfectly parallel on a table, I would take some care to make sure they were very close. It's possible that I may be using a bit too much pressure. I will take care to refine my technique and see if I see improved results. Thanks.




I usually clamp in the middle of the spine. Mine is just a folding blade, so I have been able to get the whole length of the blade without regard to exact clamping point. I'm using the three stones that came with it, though I usually only use the finer two stones unless I abused the knife in some fashion and have a visible nick or burr on the edge of the blade.

Getting a razor edge is all about the burr. First thing is to match the angle or profile the relief bevel, this is basically a Lansky/jig system guide. I use a marker on the edge, set the angle of the sharpener by eye, and take a light stroke with the first stone. If the sharpener angle is too steep, you take the mareker off the edge, if it's too shallow, you take it off of the top of the bevel. You want an angle that hits most of the width of the edge, over most of the length of the blade. You might hit most of the edge perfect, and be a little shallow near the tip, this is fine. Sharpen till all the marker is gone on both sides, then take a few strokes on each side to build a burr on the edge, there should be a noticeable bur along the entire edge with profiling stones from 180-300 grit.

Don't move to a finer stone till the edge has uniform grit marks and a burr is formed along the entire edge. Be careful to avoid rotating the stone and rounding the tip, hold the stone angle carefully as it glides past the tip. Once you get to your fine/honing grits 400-1500 the edge bevel should have a uniform finish with each step in grit, and the burr will get thinner and smaller, the large burr left by coarse stones may even come off in flakes with fine stones, which is OK. When you get down to your final stone, and have a uniform finish, you probably won't be able to see the burr, but usually feel it moving your finger carefully from the spine to the edge, it will grab your finger a little opposite the side you have been sharpening, and sometimes you can see a little ripple or light along the edge as the tiny burr is pushed around. Of course never run your finger along the edge or up the edge, only downward.

At this point you have a couple options to finish the edge and forming the burr, best is to use a leather strop with some polishing compound, and strop with the edge trailing till the burr is basically gone, the edge is cleaned up, and it will be razor sharp. You can also use a few stroke from a stone at a slightly steeper angle first to really thin out the burr fast, and leave a micro bevel, this is faster, and makes the edge a little more durable. Lansky's angle holes are too far apart to do this well (and why other systems are better), so i use my fingers to guide the rod about 1/2 way to the next steeper hole. This speeds up stropping greatly. In either case if the edge wears and isn't qutre as sharp, you can touch it up on the strop, it will be back to perfect, and you can usually do it a couple times before needing to resharpen on stones. Of course different steels, different blade designs, and different applications may all determine the "best" angle, how good of an edge they take, how long it lasts, and edge sharpening technique, but when in doubt match the factory edge and err on the side of removing less steel.