first knife sharpened - carbon steel Forgecraft slicer

https://onedrive.live.com/redir?res...authkey=!AEs6sgke53QPKXw&v=3&ithint=photo,jpg

This is a pic of a Forgecraft knife my dad has loaned me, as he no longer u ses it. It's the first knife I have really sharpened freehand in decades. I used a 3 dollar Chinese stone and a 9 dollar diamond hone I bought from Harbor Freight. It is sharpened only to 600 grit but it will chop ginger easily, though I suspect it is better suited to slicing meat.

 

Nice!!

If you're on a huge budget, run down to your nearest auto parts store and pick up some wet/dry sandpaper. You should be able to get the edge up to 1200 or so that way...which is a HUGE improvement over a 600 diamond hone from Harbor Freight, lol.

Welcome to the forum by the way!

 

NICE!

 

I have a King 1000 stone too... I just haven't bothered with it yet. I really need to get hold of a way to lap the stones. I used two Chinese stones together to lap each other but I wouldn't do that with a good stone. I'm looking into maybe buying a tile from Lowes, or perhaps a glass cutting board.

I also have a few pieces of leather and lapidary pastes. I've been using the green paste to touch up the Forgecraft butcher's knife... but I also ordered some finer red paste to try because I think the green is a little too aggressive for regular stropping.

Getting the tips right is hard. I've been using a Kiwi vegetable cleaver with the strop and it has no tip, so I haven't had a lot of practice working with tips.

 

These helped me

http://www.kitchenknifefora.com/posts/29239/

 

I think the knife could stand to be sharper- the edge is slightly rounded, like an axe's edge . I believe I should have soaked the stones longer and established a better bevel. But I don't read Chinese and I assumed the stones were splash and go. Best results seem to be when the stone has soaked for half an hour.

 

Hello Aaron,

You can use your cheap diamond hones to help flatten your stones. It's not as good as a truly flat high quality diamond plate, but they''ll work just fine.

On the leather and lapidary pastes...they won't really do much to help you until you establish a proper edge. Often they actually 'round' the very edge, taking you back a few steps. Of the two compounds the green is the one most people use, and is more than fine enough.

On the tip...you're right lol...it takes some practice for sure. Keep at it and you'll have it down in no time though.

 

the strops are for my other knives. I use a kiwi vegetable cleaver a lot, and once in a while I strop it on plain leather ,but I have thought about trying some paste.

 

A loaded strop doesn't take many strokes.