Inexpensive pocket knife or fixed blade to learn how to sharpen on stone

[singlechange]

I am a newbie to the knife world. I already own AG Russell ceramic sharpening rod. I want to learn to use a sharpening stone. Found a 8 inch by 2 inch Pike & Co. old and used sharpening stone with a coarse and soft sides. AG Russell says it takes a lot of patience and practice to learn to sharpen on stone. I thought it would be fun. Can someone recommend a cheap used knife, either a fixed blade or folder, to buy to practice sharpening? I heard that a Buck 110 might be a candidate. What about a regular kitchen knife?

[OLDE CUTLER]

Any knife will work for that purpose.

[Steve Warden]

Hit up yard sales and flea markets for some cheap knives to practice on.

[Sharpcutsbest]

You'll need a blade that's hardened enough that a file will have difficulity cutting. This is because a soft edge won't take a keen edge. I spent weeks trying to get a keen edge on a cheap blade with no joy when I first started with a flat stone. My uncle told me to try a file and it cut the blade easily.
The only positive experience with that cheap knife was I had practiced the procedure of maintaining repetitive stroking with consistent angle that when I did it to a hardened blade it took little time for a hair popping edge.
Good luck on your sharpening education!

[Mumbleypeg]

Yard sales, flea markets, or on-line sellers like eBay will have old knives suitable for your learning experience. Find an old Imperial, Colonial, Camillus, Ulster, Utica, Case, Schrade or similar knife with carbon steel blades. All of those have good steel. Modern stainless steels (like the Buck 110) are generally harder and more difficult to sharpen, therefore more difficult for a beginner.

Once you’ve learned the free-hand technique you can “graduate” to harder steels. My experience with sharpening stainless steels is that diamond plates work best and will save you a lot of frustration. It’s common to see folks complaining they can’t learn free-hand sharpening. Typically they either have a stone that’s too small, too fine/too hard, or are trying to sharpen a blade having steel too hard for a conventional carborundum or natural/Arkansas “stone”.

There are numerous good tips in this firum, like holding a consistent sharpening angle, marking the edge somas to see where you are (or aren’t) removing metal, etc. Recommend you take some time and read through them.

Good luck! It’s a skill you can use for a lifetime and once learned, like riding a bicycle, you’ll not forget it.

Ken

[pitonyak]

I am a newbie to the knife world. I already own AG Russell ceramic sharpening rod. I want to learn to use a sharpening stone. Found a 8 inch by 2 inch Pike & Co. old and used sharpening stone with a coarse and soft sides. AG Russell says it takes a lot of patience and practice to learn to sharpen on stone. I thought it would be fun. Can someone recommend a cheap used knife, either a fixed blade or folder, to buy to practice sharpening? I heard that a Buck 110 might be a candidate. What about a regular kitchen knife?

While sharpening, especially on a stone, there is pressure where the blade meets the handle. On a folding knife, especially an older knife, that can be more of a problem than on a fixed blade knife. So, especially when I need to profile a blade, where many strokes are done and I am applying pressure to the blade, I need to be careful so that I do not damage things by placing too much pressure where the blade is pinned in place. I have not had significant problems with this, but I have observed this a few times.

The next question then becomes, are you looking to learn to hold a specific angle along a straight edge? if so, a completely straight edge that is shorter than the stone is wide makes that very easy.

Make sure that the blade is not concave, that is more difficult to deal with on a stone.

One person suggested that a Morakniv blade was an easy learning knife on a stone because there is a large flat single angle bevel that will easily rest on the stone (assuming that your stone is flat).

After applying black marker along the bevel you can check to see where you are removing metal.

If you want to learn to hold at a specific angle, you can either use something like a Wedgek Angle Wedge (not that expensive) and use that as a reference angle (there are some drawbacks to this when the blade itself has an angle but I might post in a separate thread about that). Another solution that I used when I did not have these reference angles was to use a coin at the spine to set the reference angle.

best of luck. If you lived near Columbus Ohio we could just try a few things with my stones!

[cody6268]

When I was just beginning to learn to sharpen, a member here sent me an antique carborundum stone (looked like it was from the '30s--tongue and groove on the wooden box) and a shell-handle Imperial Barlow. I now have about six of those, plus 2-3 each more of about a half-dozen patterns. Imperials are really good "practice sharpening" knives, as they are super-cheap in used condition, have quality carbon steel (and the stainless models aren't half bad, either), thin blades, and they usually sharpen up pretty easily and hold that edge. Thus, they are my go-to, along with Colonials. \

As others have said, part of what I found that was holding me back was small stones. I mostly owned tiny hard Arkanas stones, as well as a mix of pocket-size Carborundum stones, plus a cheap Harbor Freight bench stone.


I've also been using old carbon steel kitchen knives. Hardest to sharpen are the ones my great-granddad made from some old saw blade, and an old Gerber, which could be High Speed Steel.

[singlechange]

A big thank you to all the replies. I purchased a small vintage Parker Edwards fixed blade with leather sheath for less than what it costs to fill up half a tank of gas for my 2001 Mercedes-Benz ML55 AMG S.U.V. Wish me luck practicing on my sharpening stone.

[Dinadan]

Can someone recommend a cheap used knife, either a fixed blade or folder, to buy to practice sharpening? I heard that a Buck 110 might be a candidate. What about a regular kitchen knife?

I would go with a cheap old Imperial or Ulster or similar knife with carbon steel blades. Mainly, I suggest not trying to learn on a stainless steel blade. Some of the old stainless blades (Queen for example) were really hard to sharpen. And some of the stainless blades out of Pakistan were impossible to sharpen.

[TripleF]

I recommend old Imperial/ Hammer Brand knives bc when you get it right, they'll be wicked sharp!!