12-28-2019, 10:45 PM
I can only share my own experience. What’s right for me may not be same as what’s right for you.
There certainly is a plethora of powered sharpening options and no shortage of opinions on which is best. I know from personal experience how difficult, time consuming and costly deciding on one can be. I’ve purchased and used paper wheels, hand stones, bench grinder, Tormek, manual guided contraptions, diamond plates, the small version of the Work Sharp belt sharpener and the Kally 1SM. All of these will sharpen and all have pros and cons.
For knife sharpening I now only use the Kally. For me at least it is by far the most versatile and quickest way to sharpen and deburr a knife. 1x42 is an ideal size for sharpening. Belts are inexpensive and of course there is a cornucopia of grits and abrasive types. The Kally’s relatively slow belt speed never has a problem of overheating when sharpening so variable speed has just not been an issue.
Both edge leading and edge trailing sharpening will create burr. Edge leading is far more aggressive. I prefer edge trailing with a light touch for sharpening. For easy burr removal with either leading or trailing sharpening, the trick is the keep the burr as small as possible. A bigger than necessary burr accomplishes nothing and makes its removal more difficult.
After a couple of passes I look at the blade for burr. With a good light in front, hold the blade with the edge towards you, the spine towards the light, look at the blade from above and tilt it around a bit. Even the smallest burr will be visible. What happens is that burr starts to form on small segments along the edge. Those segments are done. Additional grinding over those segments will only increase burr size and make it more difficult to remove. Then focus on segments with no burr until a tiny and even burr is formed along the entire edge. Flip the blade over, do the same on the other side and you’re done grinding.
This sounds like a time consuming process but it’s not. Unless the blade is super dull we’re only talking about a few passes each side. With a bit of practice it’s quick and easy.
I deburr with a well worn extra fine Scotch-Brite belt and then finish with the rough side (no compound) of a leather belt to clean things up a bit. Blades generally end up between 100 – 130 sharpness. Obviously I don't need to say this here but I will anyway. NEVER edge lead with either a leather or surface conditioning (Scotch-Brite) belt. Doing so will instantly destroy the belt and possibly even ruin your day with epidermal leakage. I just hate it when that happens.
I should add that I’m only concerned about getting general purpose knives and cutlery very sharp quickly. I’m not chasing ultimate sharpness, nor am I concerned about things like 15° vs 15.3° bevel angle.
After many years of experimenting and a lot of $$$ spent, Kally is the way to go for me. It’s affordable and produces extremely sharp edges very quickly with minimal effort. Of course, YMMV.
Hope that helps.
There certainly is a plethora of powered sharpening options and no shortage of opinions on which is best. I know from personal experience how difficult, time consuming and costly deciding on one can be. I’ve purchased and used paper wheels, hand stones, bench grinder, Tormek, manual guided contraptions, diamond plates, the small version of the Work Sharp belt sharpener and the Kally 1SM. All of these will sharpen and all have pros and cons.
For knife sharpening I now only use the Kally. For me at least it is by far the most versatile and quickest way to sharpen and deburr a knife. 1x42 is an ideal size for sharpening. Belts are inexpensive and of course there is a cornucopia of grits and abrasive types. The Kally’s relatively slow belt speed never has a problem of overheating when sharpening so variable speed has just not been an issue.
Both edge leading and edge trailing sharpening will create burr. Edge leading is far more aggressive. I prefer edge trailing with a light touch for sharpening. For easy burr removal with either leading or trailing sharpening, the trick is the keep the burr as small as possible. A bigger than necessary burr accomplishes nothing and makes its removal more difficult.
After a couple of passes I look at the blade for burr. With a good light in front, hold the blade with the edge towards you, the spine towards the light, look at the blade from above and tilt it around a bit. Even the smallest burr will be visible. What happens is that burr starts to form on small segments along the edge. Those segments are done. Additional grinding over those segments will only increase burr size and make it more difficult to remove. Then focus on segments with no burr until a tiny and even burr is formed along the entire edge. Flip the blade over, do the same on the other side and you’re done grinding.
This sounds like a time consuming process but it’s not. Unless the blade is super dull we’re only talking about a few passes each side. With a bit of practice it’s quick and easy.
I deburr with a well worn extra fine Scotch-Brite belt and then finish with the rough side (no compound) of a leather belt to clean things up a bit. Blades generally end up between 100 – 130 sharpness. Obviously I don't need to say this here but I will anyway. NEVER edge lead with either a leather or surface conditioning (Scotch-Brite) belt. Doing so will instantly destroy the belt and possibly even ruin your day with epidermal leakage. I just hate it when that happens.
I should add that I’m only concerned about getting general purpose knives and cutlery very sharp quickly. I’m not chasing ultimate sharpness, nor am I concerned about things like 15° vs 15.3° bevel angle.
After many years of experimenting and a lot of $$$ spent, Kally is the way to go for me. It’s affordable and produces extremely sharp edges very quickly with minimal effort. Of course, YMMV.
Hope that helps.