I'm a complete noob to sharpening knives. i bought a whetstone a few weeks ago but no matter what i did the stone kept fricking sliding around
so as a solution i thought of laying the stone on my bed and tried sharpening my knife for like 5 minutes
to my surprise, it made a completely different sound and when i tried the sharpness, i was able to shave my arm and cut paper (i know it's not that hard but I was failing to get these results with my previous technique of laying the stone on the table)
i was skeptical at first and thought that maybe it was due to all the previous attempts of sharpening the knife had finally compounded and the sharpness gradually got increased through the weeks, so I grabbed an old ass knife i had laying around which was completely dull and tried the bed technique and it worked
have you ever done this? it feels like it works because when I used the table, I kept fricking up the angle of the knife and ended up hitting the edges of the stone with the blade, but setting the stone on the bed allowed it to rotate freely, completely adapting to my angle even if I was being moronic
if this is something that's very known among knife people i'm gonna be really embarassed
>TL:DR: if you're a moron like me and can't seem to get your sharpening stone to work, try setting it up on top of your bed and using it that way. the stone rotates freely and stabilizes automatically, compensating for your shitty technique
>if this is something that's very known
rubber/silicone mats, yeah
towels, sure
beds? new on me
but you independently discovered the principle
good on ya
On that day, OP discovered material layering.
i usually hold the stone in my left hand
many stones are designed to be held in the hand, so you might be on to something here
A lot of people swear by leather strops with green compound for exactly that reason. They conform to a good angle
No leather strop in romania
1. Get piece of tanned leather
2. Get piece of wood
3. Glue leather into wood
4. Rub around the green honing compound. Shit is cheap and lasts a long time.
Congratulations, you have created the first romani leather strop.
I use a strop extensively for woodcarving knives and it's crazy how good of an edge you can get with it, as long as you are constant... and with wood you pretty much have to be.
no green compound in romania
It's wax, Trollgay. Romania has wax. Also, for added grit, you can load a cardboard strop with any fine polishing compound — we've experimented with toothpaste, baking soda, and metal polishes, all of which got the job done surprisingly well.
no toothpaste in romania
not available in romania
you don't have belts?
no pants in romania
It works because you're fricking up, you're creating a convex edge. But as opposed to not doing anything before, now you are creating an edge, even if it's bad. The bed is definitely not compensating for uneven movement, it just makes you roll over the edge more, which forms the edge that you didn't have until now.
almost all stones NEED to be wetted to work, ALL OF THEM, sometimes you can use special OILS, but PLAIN WATER is the VERY LEAST of what you use
1)Get Sharpening STONE
2)Get rag/leather/whatever
3)drench/wet that STONE
4)put it on towel/leather
5)sharpen at some sort of angle(not 90 degrees, not 180 degrees, other angles better)
6)now you got sharp knife(adjust angle for thinner cuts BUT faster wear of knife or THICKER cuts BUT less wear of knife
7)do it again when it gets dull, use leather to restore edge before you have to use stone to make knife last even LONGER
(wet stone, sharpen knife with said stone/stones/different sides of same stone(many sharpening stones have 2 or more grits(you can FEEL it on your skin after getting it wet, one will feel grittier than the other side), finish than edge with leather by safely pulling knife with cutting edge always facing away from you to keep that edge tight AND oiling it with whatever oils are on said leather
8)rinse and dry knife, use leather strap to reapply oill/edge, afterwards, and repeat all the above stepsx2agj
This, its like most stones are made for polishing something that has an edge already. This is why Japs touch up their tools on every use. Because once you lose the edge its time consuming to get back. VS. buying something that is sharp and keeping it that way. If your stone is not working I find its most likely its not hogging away enough material in a timely manner. I'd take it to a pro that has a belt sander that can hog away material to restore the edge. The stone is more for touching up blades not hogging a edge out.
can't have shit in romania
no shit in romania
They take the Prop 65 warning very seriously in Romania.
I'm so fricking bad at using these and Idk why
i used to be like you
try doing what i mentioned in OP
it'll help you
I'm not doing it in bed
I pay someone to sharpen my tools. Im not a fricking idiot and my time is precious.
do you run butcher shop? do you butcher your own animals and slice up all your meats yourself?
unless you make 7 figure salary or some shit like that, knowing how to sharpen a steak knife and/or basic kitchen knife takes less than a minute, versus shopping for AND shipping for a presharpened knife and/or shipping all your knives out to get professionally sharpened
just admit you don't know basic skill, look it up via youtube or something, test it on cheapest dollar store knife, if you got it and you don't wear said knife down to nothing, repeat on all your other basic knives, leaving the really expensive ones alone(heirloom's)
time taken first time 10-15min first time because watching on phone/comp. takes time
NEXT time takes less than 5min and has started to become muscle memory
NEXT time takes less than 1min AND now you won't waste money(your time and shipping/pickup/carbon credit/wear/tear/insurance/covid tax write-off paycheck
>not knowing how to properly maintain your own blades
Or you could learn and stop being reliant on the sharpening israelite.
Just buy a ceramic knife, there's no need to sharpen anymore.
how do you sharpen a billhook type tool with these stones
i have to use a file
use the edge of the stone instead of the flat
scythe stones work ok for these irregular shapes
i 3d printed my own knife sharpening jig
it works pretty well