In order to obtain a razor sharp edge that lasts, you will need a knife with a Rockwell Hardness (HRC) between 58 and 62. – Sharpening Stone. But it's an easy enough process. eval(ez_write_tag([[728,90],'carvingisfun_com-large-mobile-banner-1','ezslot_11',134,'0','0'])); However, if you have a knife with a secondary bevel, like a Swiss Army Knife or Old Timer knife, you may have to tilt your blade up a little to ensure the cutting surface is making contact with the sharpening surface. Some places will say they don't do serrated knives, but plenty of places will. This site also participates in other affiliate programs and is compensated for referring traffic and business to these companieseval(ez_write_tag([[250,250],'carvingisfun_com-banner-2','ezslot_6',120,'0','0']));report this ad, link to Carving Wood With Just A Pocket Knife, link to Whittling - Everything You Need to Know, https://carvingisfun.com/whittling-knife-hardness/, How to Sharpen Your Whittling and Wood Carving Knives (Stones, Leather Strops, and Sandpaper) (https://youtu.be/FF6SiW-QjMY), Don’t Whittle With DULL KNIVES! For instance, if you are using a 10-inch chef's knife, your knife steel should be no shorter than 10 inches as well. Take it to a professional knife sharpener. Full Flat. I personally like to use the 3M wet/dry automotive sand paper as I can easily pick it up at a nearby hardware store and automotive stores. You'll usually be able to identify these knives as much by their price tags as by the flimsy feel of the blades: they feel like you could bend them in half with your hands. Switch side and repeat the procedure until you feel the burr on the first side. Danilo Alfaro has published more than 800 recipes and tutorials focused on making complicated culinary techniques approachable to home cooks. If you have a wood carving knife with a Scandinavian Grind, like a sloyd knife, an edge grind between 22 degrees to 23 degrees is normal as these knives are designed to be a little more ridged and excel at removing large sections of wood. Sharpening the Knife. Set the tapered diamond sharpener in a serration so that you fill the indentation. The Spruce Eats uses cookies to provide you with a great user experience. Carefully remove the dirt, oil, and grime from your blade. However, because the sharp edges of a serrated knife are recessed, they don't actually touch the cutting board. Check your manufacturer's warranty. What is a scandi grind? Make and Use a Leather Strop! There are a lot of sharpening stones on the market, but if you want a nice stone sharpening kit with both 400 grit and 1000 grit sides, look no further than the Sharp Pebble 400/1000 grit Whetstone on Amazon. You don’t want to lead with the cutting edge as you can cut directly into the soft leather or sandpaper, damaging your sharpening tool. My first foray into carving was similar to most other boys; picking up a stick and cutting shapes into it with my trusty pocket knife!I am always learning new skills, finding cool tools, and trying my hand at new challenging projects. A scandi grind is basically one of the easiest way of turning a piece of steel into a knife. This is because the steeper cutting edge angle won’t slice through the wood as easily when compared to that of a thinner cutting edge. If you look closely at the edge of a serrated knife, you'll see that it consists of a series of individual curved serrations. The High Flat and Scandi grinds are ideal for whittling or woodworking. If you're familiar with how to sharpen an ordinary chef's knife, you know that it involves applying a series of long strokes on a sharpening stone, then reversing it and doing the same to the other side of the blade. Getting into whittling and woodcarving is much simpler than most people expect. It helps then if you have at least a fundamental understanding of blade grin… This stone comes with exactly the right grits you need and comes with a non-slip base. When first learning how to sharpen on a benchstone, I suggest starting with a Scandinavian ground knife also know as a Sabre grind or as I call it in this post, a Scandi grind. It could also cause irreparable damage to the edge. If you are trying to make a new cutting edge, you will want to target a cutting edge with an angle of 12 to 20 degrees (inclusive). WARNING: If you sharpen your hollow ground knife on a sharpening stone, it will create a flat grind blade if done incorrectly. Finally, wash and dry the knife as usual and you're all done! Ideally, you want to hold your knife edge flat to the sharpening surface to maintain the edge you are trying to hone. Which means a quality serrated knife can stay sharp for a very long time—as in years. Evidently, this simple type of grind removes a lot of metal, making it a lot of work, but also quite sharp in the end. It's called a sharpening rod. But some other knives may have to be modified with a sharpening stone for best results. Every time you slice something on a cutting board, the edge of a knife blade is going to suffer. As you can see, if your knife has 30 or more serrations, this is going to take a little while. Using a sharpening stone is primarily for properly shape a brand new general purpose knife that needs to be sharpened for wood carving. All you need to do is cut and glue the sandpaper down on to a block of wood or any other hard surface.eval(ez_write_tag([[300,250],'carvingisfun_com-banner-1','ezslot_8',131,'0','0'])); Some of my favorite sandpapers to use are wet/dry automotive sand paper as they have a long life and can be used with water as a lubricant and to prevent the metal from sticking to the paper. eval(ez_write_tag([[250,250],'carvingisfun_com-leader-1','ezslot_14',133,'0','0']));Now that you have an idea about what tools you need to sharpen your knives, lets get into how to actually sharpen your knives. Place the knife bevel flat to the sharpening tool and work the entire blade. You just have to send it back to them. You may have to make twice the number of passes to sharpen when compared to a flat edge knife as you are only sharpening one section of the blade for a short section of a time per pass. If you've ever tried to use an ordinary chef's knife to do one of these things, you know how frustrating that can be. Keep the rod flush with the bevel and you'll have the right angle. With a traditional, flat sharpening stone, one must repeatedly and consistently follow the contour of a rounded, convex edge with the flat surface of a stone. Flat grinds are great for whittling and general use. This can be easily remedied by holding a finger along the side of the knife and holding it flat to the edge. When you're done, flip the knife over and give the flat side of the blade a few strokes on a regular sharpening stone, or even a piece of fine-grit sandpaper. When sharpening your whittling and wood carving knives, you will want to target an edge angle between 12 degrees and 20 degrees, inclusive. Sharpening stones are going to be the most basic sharpening tool you will use. To remove the burr, use the stone or tape you used to finish the bevel side. After that, slowly begin to move the entire cutting edge length across the whetstone while maintaining the same angle. If you are new to whittling and wood carving, check out my One Stop Whittling Resource to learn more! And the way that's normally done is using a sharpening stone. Finally, you will want to use a leather strop with polishing compound to further hone and smooth out your blades cutting edge. When you're done, flip the knife over and give the flat side of the blade a few strokes on a regular sharpening stone, or even a piece of fine-grit sandpaper. Many of these tools come with two sides with 400 to 600 grit stone on one side and 800 to 1000 grit on the other. In the process, bits of metal are actually shaved away. You'll need to do this for very dull knives only. And you won't be sharpening the flat side of the blade at all. After following the step by step guide below, you will have a razor sharp knife that can easily slice through wood so you can make clean and easy cuts in wood. This article will walk you through the basics of how to properly sharpen your whittling and wood carving knives so you can maintain a nice and sharp blade that slices right through wood.eval(ez_write_tag([[300,250],'carvingisfun_com-box-2','ezslot_2',124,'0','0'])); Before we start, I need to mention one of the key aspects to a quality wood carving knife, steel hardness. This itself may completely remove your honed and razor sharp cutting edge to the point that you will have to regrind the entire knife edge. Get daily tips and expert advice to help you take your cooking skills to the next level. Even so, you might eventually find that your serrated knife is not performing with the ease with which it once did. It provides cutting relief and it provides a much easier sharpening experience for a much longer time than flat or convex grinding! This allows you to apply even pressure along the knife edge and promote an even removal of metal. If you have a knife with a flat edge grind, like the Flexcut carving knives, you can easily hold the edge flat to the stone or leather. Sharpening a true hollow ground knife with a sharpening stone will produce a more durable flat grind at the edge. eval(ez_write_tag([[336,280],'carvingisfun_com-large-leaderboard-2','ezslot_5',132,'0','0'])); This is usually a cured piece of leather that is glued to a hard surface, like a block of wood, and has polishing compound rubbed into the leather. You have now established an edge. The prices, products and services are not altered by using the links. More information can be found here: https://carvingisfun.com/whittling-knife-hardness/. Many knife manufacturers will sharpen your knives, including serrated knives, for free. The main reason a 'flat' or 'Scandi' grind is used in bushcraft knives is for ease of field sharpening - You are dealing with a single bevel on each side. Starting off, you will have to learn how to hold your knife to the sharpening tool. This site is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. ; After using the sharpening steel, rinse and carefully wipe the blade dry with a towel so that any tiny metal filings on the knife's edge don't end up in the food you're about to work with. So the best grind preference will vary between individual users depending on their prefered sharpening method. Make sure your sharpening steel is at least as long as the blade you are honing. They breeze through tricky tasks like slicing tomatoes, crusty breads, and tender cakes without squashing, smushing or otherwise destroying them. This is to smooth out the burr that you've raised on the edge of the knife. This is a quality made strop and comes with green polishing compound, which is the only compound you will need. Knives like this are really not worth the trouble of sharpening, certainly not one bevel at a time. This is to smooth out the burr that you've raised on the edge of the knife. The 3 most common sharpening tools you can use to sharpen your whittling and wood carving knives are a sharpening stone, sand paper, and a leather strop with polishing compound. Finally, wash and dry the knife as usual and you're all done! It's advisable to lightly draw the opposite (straight) side of the edge across the hone occasionally, to remove any burr that may develop during sharpening. The best way I have found to sharpen these knives is to rotate the blade on the sharpening surface so that the entire cutting edge from handle to tip make contact with the sharpening surface in one pass. compound) and chisel grinds, use a flat surfaced primary grind to reduce the sides of a knife blade from its full thickness to a cutting edge. Set the PIVOT to the factory angle on the bevel side of the knife. In the end, and in the long run, hollow grinding is almost always superior to flat grinding except for very specific purposes! Not an easy task. No, what that claim really means is that the knife is so cheap that when it goes dull, you should just throw it away. You hold the knife at a fixed angle and move the knife, in the same angle, alongside, for instance, a sharpening stone. A micro bevel will still make those edges last longer, and only require one or two passes on each side with the back/spine raised a little. Work one side until you can feel a slight burr on the opposite side. Join me as I continue to have fun carving new and interesting sculptures! The type of grind on your knife has a considerable influence on how successful it will perform a certain task. If you are sharpening a kitchen knife with the indentations on the sides, we also recommend a sharpening stone or a good sharpening system. But if that weren't enough to qualify serrated knives as one of the great wonders of the culinary world, consider that they rarely—if ever—need sharpening. You’ll of course need to go through several grits to bring the knife back up to sharp. Lets go over each one of these tools so you have a better idea of when you need to use them and where to find them.eval(ez_write_tag([[250,250],'carvingisfun_com-medrectangle-4','ezslot_3',137,'0','0']));eval(ez_write_tag([[250,250],'carvingisfun_com-medrectangle-4','ezslot_4',137,'0','1'])); eval(ez_write_tag([[250,250],'carvingisfun_com-box-4','ezslot_10',129,'0','0']));Sharpening stones are going to be the most basic sharpening tool you will use. Serrated knives are a kitchen marvel. It can also be picked up on Amazon for a really good price by clicking here – https://amzn.to/39mYq6z. When grinding and honing a knife with a flat cutting edge, all you need to do is hold the entirety of the knife edge flat against the sharpening surface.eval(ez_write_tag([[300,250],'carvingisfun_com-medrectangle-1','ezslot_7',136,'0','0']));report this ad. You'll also notice that one side of the blade is beveled (meaning it has indentations in it) whereas the other side is flat. You will eventually develop your own methods, but below are the basics of what you need to do and what to look out for. Flat grinding was used because it was cheaper! With the section of rod fitted to the serrations, simply drag the rod across those serrations. The easiest grind to sharpen in the field is the one you are already best at sharpening. When Sharpening, there are some mistakes you don’t want to make or you may end up with an uneven knife edge or just completely damage the sharpness of the blade in general.eval(ez_write_tag([[250,250],'carvingisfun_com-large-mobile-banner-2','ezslot_12',140,'0','0'])); One of the worst things you can do when sharpening your wood carving knife is hold your knife at a 45 degree or larger angle. How to sharpen it: Sharpen a chisel grind as you would any other V-bevel (including by using a guided system), except that only one side of the blade is honed. Flat ground blades have the advantage of being very sharp and extremely easy to sharpen on a flat stone and in the field. But ultimately, as with most kitchen tools, a high quality serrated knife will last longer and serve you better. It doesn't matter which way you drag the rod, but for safety's sake, drag it away from the blade, so that you won't accidentally slip and cut yourself. The reason I suggest starting with a Scandi ground blade is because of the large, flat bevel that you can lay flat on a stone, without guessing the angle. Finally, if you already own a properly sharpened wood carving tool or just got done sharpening your knife with 800 to 1000 grit tools, you will further hone your blade with a leather strop to remove any burs and further enhance the blades edge. I'm Brian, and I have enjoyed whittling, wood carving, and stone carving ever since I was a kid. But not because the blades are so invincible that they literally stay sharp forever, which if you think about it is a physical impossibility. If the cutting edge is less than 12 degrees, you run the risk of the edge being too narrow and rolling. Turn the bench grinder on and place the blade on the tool rest to start grinding. So when sharpening a serrated knife, you need to sharpen each one of these beveled serrations separately, one at a time. Using a sharpening stone is primarily for properly shape a brand new general purpose knife that needs to be sharpened for wood carving. Attempting a specific job with the wrong grind on your blade will make that job much more difficult. However, the sharpening aspect of this grind sometimes leads to questions. Basically, blade grind refers to how the cross-section of the blade is shaped to produce the cutting edge. There have been some studies done where people believe that sharpening your knife with a stone with the cutting edge leading produces fewer burs and results in a better edge for honing. FlexCut Knife Strop (https://youtu.be/8LQ4-dZo99g). When sharpening your knife, you may need to start from a lower grit stone or sand paper, and work your way up to finer grits, finally transitioning to a leather strop to hone your blade to a razor sharp edge. All you really need to get started is a single tool that you probably already have, a pocket knife. A flat piece of 2-3 mm thick steel only has one slight curve towards the edge. Sharpening a convex edge can be a real pain in the keister. Then, apply light downward pressure while pushing the edge forward to sharpen a knife with a straight blade.Turn the knife over, holding the blade flat against the wheel, brushing it across the surface to remove rough edges. To begin sharpening your blade, grasp the knife by the handle and place the edge against the whetstone at a 10 to 30-degree angle, depending on the primary bevel’s thickness. (This assumes ordinary use—not the kinds of abuse that so many kitchen knives are known to endure, like being sent through the dishwasher, tossed into a drawer, or used for opening cans.). If it is lower than 58 the edge will dull quickly, but if it is harder than 62 it increases the chance the edge may chip. This type of grind… If your dull knives are no longer getting the job done or you're worried you'll cut yourself, you should sharpen your knives with a stone. Since the bevel on scandi grind knives is so large and flat it is pretty easy to get the right angle for sharpening. First, it can be knocked out of true: the sharp edge is still there, but it's been bent over backwards. Initially, it doesn’t matter what kind of motion you apply, so long as the bevel stays flat. Pick one up for yourself on Amazon by clicking here – https://amzn.to/3q5ZsKp. If you already sharpen your knife yearly and hone it regularly, you can go straight to the fine-grind side. don't mind the … Hold the sharpener at the angle that matches the original edge angle. the flat) side of the knife a single pass on a regular sharpening stone, then wash and wipe it dry. The flat grind is the simplest grind … Full Flat Grind – The blade is ground all the way from the cutting edge to the spine in one long bevel, thus forming a “V” shape (insert pop up picture of guy with v shape lats). The Hollow Grind has been a historically popular type of grind, especially in the hunting community. Most experienced wood carvers will already have a knife that has been sharpened properly and won’t have to use anything other than a leather strop to maintain that razor sharp edge. Not only will it make for … Sharpening is the practice of aggressively polishing a knife to reform its edge. If you can’t afford a sharpening stone, sandpaper is the next best thing. If this is a knife you are only going to make for yourselves to use, put on the grind that you are already good at sharpening. Four of these, including the flat, sabre/scandi, double (a.k.a. Give each serration four or five strokes before moving on to the next one. In this case, you need to grind away a bit of metal to reshape that dull edge back into a sharp one. But in a pinch (as in, as a last resort before throwing it away) you can give the back (i.e. My method to sharpen convex grinds is to take something flat with a little give, such as a thick mouse pad, and put some sandpaper or an abrasive on it and use backward strokes (away from the edge) on the knife to give it a "micro" beveled edge. The pronounced bevel allows you to easily follow the edge in relation to the wood grain. Many of these tools come with two sides with 400 to 600 grit stone on one side and 800 to 1000 grit on the other. For this reason we gladly like to tell you how to sharpen a scandi grind. A modern scandi grind is a flat grind. Click here to pick one up for yourself – https://amzn.to/39pqF4A. If you already have a knife that is razor sharp and regularly gets honed, you wont need to use a stone again unless you heavily damage the blade by dropping or chipping the blade. Worse is when, after a long time of striking the cutting board, the sharp edge has been worn down, so that what once looked like a V now looks like a U. If you are using are using a regular pocket knife that hasn’t been properly shaped and sharpened yet, you will most likely start off using a 400 to 600 grit stone or sandpaper. Fortunately, there's a special tool designed to let you do just that. One sign of this is that it leaves crumbs on the cutting board when slicing bread, whereas it used to slice cleanly through. If you are sharpening a knife with a curved blade, you will notice that the entire edge of the knife will not make contact with your sharpening surface. This is easily remedied by a few strokes on a honing steel. But the... Of all the wood carving disciplines, whittling is the simplest and easiest to get into. This article contains affiliate links which are designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising products and services. Use a diamond tool or a wet stone for sharpening. As mentioned before, a convex edge has a curved blade. Note that some manufacturers claim that their serrated knives never need sharpening and in a sense, they're right. This is fine for a straight edged knife, but serrated knives are totally different and they need to be sharpened differently. Only sharpen the grind side of the blade. Sharpen to the stone or polish tape you are going to finish with. Re: Flat Grind? CarvingIsFun.com is compensated for referring traffic and business to amazon. Another thing some people will do is not hold their knife flat to the sharpening surface, resulting in an uneven grind and inconsistent edge sharpness. Knives don't get dull because of the foods they're cutting, but rather, the cutting board. Sharpening a flat grind, scandi grind or hollow grind is done the same way. This is helpful because the serrations on different knives are different widths and you want to apply the section of rod that best fits the serrations of your knife. T o sharpen the Scandi grind by hand, place the bevel flat to the sharpening stone and work on the whole edge. If you do not want to make any marks on the FLAT side of the blade, put a piece of painters tape on the FLAT side at the TOP of the blade. On the other hand, if you use a sharpening stone you can actually push and pull the knife edge in either direction if you wish. If your kitchen knife has indentations on both sides, called scallops, that release the vacuum formed when cutting food and allow it to slide off the blade easily. How to Sharpen a Knife With a Stone. By using The Spruce Eats, you accept our, 7 Types of Kitchen Knives: The Ones You Need and The Ones You Don't, How to Sharpen and Hone Kitchen Knives Like a Pro. Most pocket knives and general purpose knives will have a steep cutting edge angle in excess of 20° and this may make them less than ideal for whittling and wood carving. It's just not a full flat grind, it's about 1/4 height on most knives. Try them both and see what works for you I … If you are sharpening your knife on sandpaper or a leather strop, you will want to slide your blade along the sharpening surface with the cutting edge trailing. Clean Your Knife. Hold the knife with the edge away from you and the serrated side of the edge facing up. There are many different ways to sharpen your whittling knives, and just about every person will develop their own unique way of sharpening their knives over time. If the cutting edge angle is too large it will make the blade harder to push through the wood.eval(ez_write_tag([[336,280],'carvingisfun_com-leader-2','ezslot_13',141,'0','0'])); Many purpose made whittling and wood carving knives, like Flexcut, OCC Tools, and Helvie, will have this angle already applied to their knives. If you want a quality made leather strop with everything you will need, I highly recommend the BeaverCraft Leather Strop. Then you will work your way up to an 800 to 1000 grit stone or sandpaper to remove the rough scratches from the lower grit tools. Sharpening rods are available in steel, ceramic, and even diamond. A sharpening rod (like this one) is rather like a honing steel, except it's smaller and narrower, and it tapers to a point, which means it offers various thicknesses along the shaft of the rod. Conclusion.