Getting such a microscope was one of the best 35 bucks I have spent in years....thx for the advice....Had a cable bound one years ago n IT sucked...never looked into Them again BUT this WiFi ones....AMAZING thx for Sharing all your little Secrets n ideas n stuff ....really appreciate Them....n I am in the knife Game for 15+ years...kudos 👍😁

Great tip on the sharpie on the honing wheel. Thank you for what you do

Great explanations. I have a lot of questions but will watch more of your content to pick up what I can. Thank you for taking the time to put these videos together they are a great help

Fantastic video! Always great information. Thank you!

Thank you for yours very helpful videos.

This is a great video. Thank you!

I suggest the “knife deburring” book by knife grinders. Great pdf with lots of practical info. Pretty cheap too

I'm 57, and I was taught by my grandfather almost 50 years ago to hand sharpen knives. I got really good, but wanted to make it easier (on me). Let's face it, setting an initial angle by hand on a new or abused knife by hand is difficult and VERY time consuming, especially when working free-hand. About a week ago, I bought a Harbor Freight 1 X 30 sander/grinder and have been practicing (free hand) until the custom angle guides I designed are fabricated. For NEVER having used a machine before, your videos have been extremely helpful and informative. Free-hand, I've had about 50% success, where most of the knives have been sharpened and stropped to an insane level of sharpness, the others, not so much. Not yet having an angle guide, my most difficult knives are smaller, pocket knives or knives that are less than 1.5 inches wide. It seems that my biggest issue is wanting to over strop the blades and get that "mirror finish" AND a razor edge. While some of my issues are a direct result of not using a guide (and so not keeping an exact angle during the stages - especially when stropping edge-trailing), but I've simplified my process, only doing 2 stages: At the moment, I start with a 120 grit belt, until I get a proper burr (both sides - THANK YOU for teaching me that), then going straight to a leather strop - I've gotten my sharpest results (to date) doing it this way. I was curious about the difference between using quality felt belts VS leather belts. I won't ask "Which is better?" because it's an impossible question, so my question is what are the differences in the two? Is one more forgiving, easier for a machine novice? Thanks

Great stuff to keep in mind.

Thanks for the education. I'll have to watch your other videos.

Thank you Paul

Hello Paul, been watching your videos out of curisiosity, I am a free hand sharpener hobbyist. Nice to see that either using machines that improve productivity or whetstones the basic principles and factors to consider when sharpening are the same. One thing I would like to ask if you please. Since you have used the Bess tester before can you tell me what to expect out of a whetstone in terms of grits as far as the Bess test goes if you are getting it right? Thank you

I use a x60 jewerly loupe to check the tip of the knife. It really helps to check if it's properly pointy. Just be very careful, it's quite easy to round the tip at that magnification.

My ryobi propane heater is awesome for heating the garage.

Thank you for the well detailed lessons on knife sharpening. Can you also tell me what kind of machine you use for this, where i can find it andpossibly a price indication. Thank you in advance, Bart

I am totally NEW to knife sharpening, I’m watching many you tube videos..but nothing so far talks about “Scores”..wow are the scores made?

wunnerful

Thank you for your "Police Service"

Just got a Toolcker and am getting everything set up, but I'm finding that using the angle guide scratches the knives. There always seems to be metal shavings that get on the guide and make a mess of the blade. I'm using blue tape on the guide, but i can't imagine that's the problem. I've watched all of your videos and Cliff's and I'm not sure how you guys don't have the same problem. Would like to get your thoughts. Solutions I'm considering: tape the knife blades before sharpening, vacuum or compressed air to clean off the guide after every stroke, wipe the guide with a rag after every stroke. All of the options are time consuming though. Thank you

I’m curious about the heat generation from the belts, you’ve clearly been doing this a long time, and it’s only relatively recently been studied in depth by great metallurgical minds like Dr Larrin Thomas (regarding different effects on the heat treated microstructure of the cutting edge etc.), but I read somewhere that even relatively low increases in temperature can effect the heat treated hardness and edge retention of high carbon blade steels… so I’ve been mucking around with different methods of sharpening without raising the edge temp, I’ve landed on some incredible edges (for me) from hand sharpening with diamond stones and then honing with buffing wheel or leather stropping/honing belt using super fine grit diamond compound. I’ve only been using diamond stones because so far D2 is the softest I’ve been working on, through to S35VN, and now M390 and 20CV, all EDC knives; (not professionally, just my own knives). So I’m curious if you’ve done any edge hardness testing after different methods on hardened steels? It looks like kitchen knives are your bread and butter (which I think are usually medium carbon?), but presumably you do other knives too. I’ve got some belt grinders for knife making including 1x30” and I’ve bought some trizact and cubitron belts but I’m nervous to use them because of the heat generation, I bought a rip off Tormek a couple of years ago (before I knew what a Tormek was), but I haven’t gotten around to even taking it out of the box yet because it seems like a lot of work… Any knowledge or insight would be appreciated, particularly if you’ve tested edge hardness after the belts… Excuse the long windedness, it’s an OCD cross ADHD thing 😂 cheers!

Do you have any videos on belt types, grit, and progression?

Those bess sharpness testers are just for the measurebators that have too much time on their hands. For kitchen knives, as long as it easily slices a fresh ripe tomato, then all is good. As mentioned, those really low bess scores likely have very poor edge retention characteristics.