How do you sharpen big, thick, heavy, long bladed knives?

[possum]

My lanksy works good for all of my folders, and several of my fixed blades however i plan to get some bigger blades in the near future, and since i like to "do it myself". i would like to know the best way to go about it. there is no way that some of these knives are gonna work in my lansky clamp system. for example, blades with big recurves, also blades that are around the 7-9" blades, 1/4 thick, 1.5-3 wide form spine to blade, and overall lenghts from 10-13.5"

is there a bench grinder, and or a dremel tool that would work for this. i have been looking and haven't found much. also is there anything(an attachment) that allows you to get exact angles or do you have to eye ball it? i am more of a precision guy, if there isn't an attachment is there some kinda jig that i can get and or make to get the angles that i want?

thanks in advance.

 

[bikerdoc]

Short Of using a pricey Edge Pro I think your gonna have to do it by hand.

 

[highorder]

I use a 1" wide 220 grit slack belt sander.

It's an eyeball thing that takes practice.

See my post#18 here to see a hard to sharpen knife I made.

 

[Isaac's Grandpa]

Woodcraft sells a set of wheels made from the same stuff cereal boxes are made of. 1"x8", one wheel is coated with grit, the other buffing compound. The grit is coated with beeswax to keep the blade cool. When the grit wears out, dress down the wheel, coat with wood glue and apply more grit. It comes with enough grit to last years. I have had mine for 15 years and still have some grit left. I mounted it on an 8" low speed grinder with the motor reversed on the base so it runs backwards. It is an eyeball system but the angle seems to come naturally.

 

[Boats]

I think you'd best be advised to move yourself into freehand sharpening and get some bench stones.

Presuming a non buggered edge that doesn't require reprofiling, the most time and cost effective thing to buy might be something like an EZE Lap fine/medium 3" x 8" double sided bench stone. Due to it being a diamond impregnated product, it wouldn't take long at all to sharpen up a 9" blade.

 

[possum]

everyone, thanks to all teh insight and wisdom, and it looks like i am gonna have to do it by hand, i have before but definetly on blades this big, and i know how to do it, and i assume the principles are the same little knife or big. thanks again.

 

[rcmodel]

I use a 12" fine diamond coated butchers steel and free hand it.

Works great on machetes, Bowie's, big fighters, etc., assuming they have a proper edge taper to start with.

rc

 

[7X57chilmau]

I've sharpened everything from swords to pen blades on an 8" bench stone. When the blade is very large, it helps to fasten the stone to the bench and hold the blade 2 handed... Tape with masking tape on the blade sides, about 1/2" from the edge, to prevent accidentally scuffing the flats.

Work in ovals/circles, working about 4-6" of blade at a time, one whole side, then the other.

Do all stoning with a coarse (220 is fine) stone until the burr forms. the finer grits will go quickly.

J

 

[Ed Ames]

Huh... I have a GATCO (very similar to Lanksy) and have sharpened 11" long fairly deep (2" range) blades with what I considered very good (shave arm hair) results. It takes care but is not that hard.

 

[Hizzie]

DMT Duo-Fold or EZE-Lap oval. Coarse then fine should do the trick. You shouldn't need too fine an edge given your knife's purpose. The coarser edge will be "toothy" and not smooth. This allows it "bite" into the target.

 

[possum]

more great info, thanks guys i appreciate it.

 

[HoosierQ]

Freehand is the only way to go with big knives. The funny thing is, with me any way, I got better working on little knives...ones a Lansky works well on.

The breakthrough for me was the tip, learned here on THR, to stay on one side of the blade until you raise a burr the full length of the edge before flipping over. One is tempted to do go back and forth from one side of the blade to the other...avoid that temptation.

This does two thing for you. 1) Gets a good burr that you reduce finer and finer with finer grit. 2) By staying on one side for many strokes, you sort of lock in your arm and hand at a consistent angle. Concentrate on keeping the position of your arm and hand and wrist and move the whole arm in exactly the same way for each stroke. The trick that remains is to get both sides the same angle.

The nice thing about free handing is that, while taking a lot of practice, once you're good at it, you can sharpen a knife a lot faster than with the various gadgets. Can't speak to a belt...never done that.

I sharpen my machetes and axes with a file.

 

[james_bond]

Belt sander is easiest and a big stone works great too. the Spyderco sharpmaker will most likely be the best for recurves and the dremel is a no no.