PocketKNIFE

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This is the place for talking about all things pocket knives, and knife adjacent things. Folders large and small, multi-tools, sharpeners, even fixed blade knives are welcome. Reviews! Advice! Show off your Knives!

Also home of the incredibly loquacious Weird Knife Wednesday feature.

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Skill of the Week: Sharpen a Pocket Knife | The Art of Manliness (www.artofmanliness.com)

submitted 3 months ago by faizalr@fedia.io to c/pocketknife@lemmy.world

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An important part of manhood has always been about having the competence to be effective in the world — having the breadth of skills, the savoir-faire, to handle any situation you find yourself in. With that in mind, each Sunday we’ll be republishing one of the illustrated guides from our archives, so you can hone your […]

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[–] Reverendender@sh.itjust.works 3 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Can you take a picture of what you mean with your sharpie suggestion? I’m very intrigued.

[–] dual_sport_dork@lemmy.world 6 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

It's pretty much exactly what it sounds like. Take any old permanent marker and just color in the edge of your knife on both sides.

As you sharpen or at least draw the edge against your stone (or whatever it is you're using) the marker will be quickly rubbed away wherever the edge is actually making contact. In this example, my attempted edge is shallower than the edge that's already on the knife, which you can tell by the only mark being removed being visible at the very top of the edge portion:

In this case it's intentional, because I'm deliberately regrinding the Penguin here into a 15° per side edge. If you wanted to keep your existing edge angle, in the above example you'd want to angle it up, i.e. try a slightly more obtuse angle. Here I'm getting closer, the removed mark is about halfway down the edge itself:

And by this point I've contacted the entire edge:

If you didn't want to change the edge angle, you'd want to get your edge situated so that one pass on the stone rubs off the entire width of the mark, all the way from the root of the edge to its apex.

Having the edge inked up is just a handy shortcut to see where you're actually removing material. If you're not hitting the very apex of the edge, you're not actually accomplishing any sharpening. Personally, I always check with magnification, using an illuminated loupe to make sure I've properly and consistently taken material off all the way to the apex.