Diy knife sharpener dimensions. Homemade and hand-made machines and devices for sharpening knives

Every man, and sometimes a woman, is regularly faced with the need to sharpen a knife. Every knife, regardless of quality, can become dull over time, so it needs careful maintenance. There is a large selection of sharpeners and sharpening stones on store shelves, so making a choice is not difficult.

Varieties of sharpening stones

There are several types of stones that are used to sharpen knives:

  1. Oil - such stones imply the use of oil on the surface, which saves material consumption.
  2. Water stones - have the same principle of operation, but water is used in working with them.
  3. Natural stones are natural materials that have undergone industrial processing.
  4. Artificial stones, respectively, are made from a non-natural component.
  5. Rubber stones, such a material is rare, since it is not convenient to work with them.

Some features of knife sharpening

Each knife has its own sharpening feature.

For example, a Japanese knife, for self-sharpening, requires the attention of an experienced craftsman, since Japanese steel is very fragile. Manufacturers recommend using several types of Japanese water stones for sharpening, with different grain sizes.

For housewives, it is easier and more convenient to use a special sharpener to sharpen a kitchen knife. However, the use of several stones will keep the knife sharp for a longer time, which is especially appreciated. Although it will take more time and effort, it will extend the life of the tool.

Conditions for the correct sharpening of knives

To properly sharpen the knife, it is necessary to create conditions under which the knife will be sharp for several months. For this sharpening, choosing the right angle will help. There is a rule that determines the correct principle of operation - a smaller angle for sharpening the knife will create less strength of the cutting edge. That is, it should be remembered that the sharper the knife is immediately sharpened, the sooner the time will come for re-sharpening, and the more difficult it will be to bring the knife to its original working condition.

What is sharpening for?

The main point of sharpening knives is to restore the sharpness of the blade itself. For which it is necessary to observe the correct angle when sharpening. Or rather, the restoration of the previously set angle, which must comply with technological standards. To check the sharpness of the knife, it is necessary to cut the material for which it is intended, if the knife cuts it without problems, then the technique is followed correctly.

Problems that may arise when sharpening

Without a doubt, in order to find the appropriate angle, experience is required, without which it is rather difficult to cope with this task. Moreover, without the necessary device, since, holding the knife with your hands, it is difficult to sharpen it evenly on both sides. To fix the problem, it is recommended to build a homemade knife sharpening machine that is easy to make at home. Indeed, the already existing devices are quite simple in design and do not differ in their complexity.

How can you sharpen a knife at home?

There are situations when you need to sharpen a knife very quickly at home, for such purposes you can use the following materials at hand:

  • wooden block;
  • hacksaw;
  • sandpaper;
  • file;
  • ceramic plate;
  • chisel and some others.

Particularly sophisticated village peasants can generally sharpen a knife on a foundation made of a solution of cement and sand. Still, it is not recommended to follow this example, but to use in practice the most proven methods that are suitable for quick sharpening.

The best way would be to make a homemade device, as it is effective and very convenient, and besides, it will not differ much from the factory one.

What are drawings for?

Of course, buying a ready-made knife sharpener is much easier, and they are not so expensive. Nevertheless, most homely owners prefer to do everything with their own hands, this is both pleasant and you can be sure of the quality of workmanship. After all, only natural materials are used. To make the manufacturing process pleasant and simple, you need to prepare a plan and follow it.

  1. To begin with, a ready-made drawing for the clamping jaws is made or purchased. When making a drawing, it is necessary to pay special attention to the smallest details and to think over and draw the entire structure.
  2. The next step is to draw the drawing of the right and left stops, for the strength of the assembled structure.
  3. Make a drawing for a guide, which has its own subtleties.

Guide drawing

All that is needed for a guide that will fit perfectly is the following:

  1. A bobbin with M6 thread, which must be sawed off using a hacksaw for metal, so that it turns out to be 16 cm long. The main thing is to make sure that there are no burrs so that they do not slow down the sharpening process itself.
  2. Also, electrodes with a soft and elastic cylinder can be useful in work, they must be bent with the letter "g" using pliers. The main thing during the work period is not to forget, periodically look at the product drawing.
  3. Metal scraps come in handy when using clamps, they need to be sawn and holes installed using a drilling machine. A hand tap will help you in basing threads. And in order to reduce friction, use a drop of oil, which can be easily removed with soapy water.
  4. Finishing work with the guide, according to the drawing, you should twist all the parts, and for fixing, drip ordinary nail polish at the junction of the clamp and the stud.

There are two types of knife sharpening - double-sided and one-sided. The two are, of course, different in how they work. All that needs to be considered when working with knives is such criteria as:

  1. The abrasive stone used when working with knives should not be with very fine or, conversely, with very coarse grains, choose something in between these two criteria.
  2. If there is no necessary device for sharpening the knife, and the tool needs to be sharpened, you can use such an improvised tool as a ceramic mug. All you need to do is turn the spontaneous sharpening over and drag along its bottom with movements towards you. But it should be borne in mind that its bottom should have a rough surface.
  3. Remember that ceramic knives do not need sharpening. Their surface is covered with a special coating made of special alloys, which protects it from damage and wear.
  4. A serrated knife should not be sharpened without special equipment, there is a high probability that you will not sharpen it, but spoil it. A special laser is used for this kind of knives.
  5. In order to keep the knives sharpened longer, they should be rinsed in cold water.

Knife sharpening errors

Features of sharpening planer knives

Only an experienced craftsman with certain skills and knowledge can handle this kind of knives. Since it is a very complex process, sharpening equipment is difficult to find in a regular store. However, many people use conventional equipment to sharpen planing knives. But it must be remembered that this requires a modern, low-speed, water-cooled tool. And you should also use a new stone, with a flat surface, a stone that has a water principle of operation is better suited. If you are not a specialist and do not have the necessary equipment, you can sharpen a planer knife for a fee at car workshops where there is such a sharpener.

Video

The process of sharpening a knife or any tool does not require any outstanding skill or knowledge of special movements. In most cases, the sharpening of a knife, even the most original and expensive, can be done with ordinary abrasive stones or sharpening devices. But on one condition - it is necessary to try to follow the recommendations of specialists engaged in sharpening tools in an industrial environment.

How to sharpen a knife

There can be several answers to the question of how to sharpen a knife:

  • You can restore the tool using a sharpening bar or a set of triangular files with a fine notch;
  • Use a knife sharpener. The main difference between this method and the previous version is that the lodgement for the blade allows you to maintain a stable edge sharpening angle;
  • Use a knife sharpener.

For your information! Whatever hand-sharpening enthusiasts may say, a properly tuned machine or miniature machine will do much better than a hand-held bar to shape the edge angle.

For ordinary people, sharpening knife edges is a daily matter, and if there is a choice, to use a machine for sharpening knives with your own hands or to sharpen a blade with manual adjustment of the cutting edge for several hours, then, apparently, common sense will choose a sharpening machine.

How to get a sharp edge of a kitchen knife correctly


The movement and inclination of the blade relative to the bar is not as obvious as it might seem at first glance. To correctly understand the sharpening technique, you can use the video about sharpening knives:

For your information! Modern knives are made from a wide variety of carbon and alloy steels. Hardened forged steel must be sharpened with an abrasive block, and relatively tough stainless steel only with a triangular file.

Blades made of soft and tough steels with a low chromium and carbon content can be filed while clogging the surface of the abrasive bar very quickly. Flexible forged blades must be fixed with a stop and sharpened with a bar, sliding movements. Regular use of a kitchen knife sharpener leads to a greasy surface, which must be restored by roughing.

The old device for sharpening forged knives was made in the form of two wedge-shaped bog oak bars. The bars were laid on both sides of the blade so that the cutting edge remained free, the "sandwich" was tightened with a string and was sharpened with an ordinary sharpening stone to the sharpness of a razor. The hardwood wedges allowed the block to be guided correctly and to obtain the desired sharpening angle.

According to the recommendations given, manual sharpening of planer knives is performed. A fine-grained emery cloth is glued to thick glass, but it is installed with the beveled part of the cutting edge on the abrasive surface and sharpened in a circular motion.

Sharpening of a ceramic knife turns out to be more difficult, the cutting edge can be manually corrected with a diamond-coated file, or a special grinding paste can be used.

Home options for sharpening a knife

The simplest tool for sharpening knives is shown in the diagram. To make it, you will need a hardwood bar, the upper plane of which is sharpened at the angle of formation of the cutting edge. This solution helps to maintain the correct bevel angle. To sharpen the blade more conveniently, to fix the blade in the plane of the bar, you can wrap a pair of self-tapping screws.

To sharpen planing knives, you can make your own sharpener attachment, shown in the photo. This solution simplifies the process and allows you to sharpen the blade as sharply as possible, but the lack of mechanization requires a certain skill and dexterity from the master.

Devices and machines for dressing and sharpening knives

Sharpening knives is definitely a creative activity that requires a lot of patience and skill. But is it worth spending time and effort on solving a problem that a specially designed machine or knife sharpening device can successfully cope with? If for knives, household tools, for example, planers, kitchen or cutting blades, you can try to restore the cutting edge of the blade with your own hands, then even sharpening devices will not help for industrial volumes. You will need a powerful and productive machine.

Cutting knife sharpening machines

The highest form of a sharp knife blade are non-rarity models with chrome-plated blades and handles made of rare wood species. These are rather museum pieces or their cheap imitation. The example of the sharpness of the blade is considered to be a cutting or rock cutter, which is used to cut raw meat and skins for 12 hours a day. It is in such conditions that the edge of a forged knife made of high-quality steel dulls unusually quickly.

For small amounts of chopping work, knife blades can be sharpened on simple machines with automatic control of the cutting edge angle.

The professional equipment KNECHT USK 160 is most often used for cutting sections of meat processing enterprises. The machine has a high degree of versatility, which allows sharpening the entire range of cutting tools, from fillet blades to cutting shears.

Machine tools for sharpening cutting elements of carpentry tools

Sharpening knives for woodworking machines requires the mandatory use of specialized machine tools. If you can sharpen a relatively short blade of a household knife or a hand planer manually using a simple device, then long and sharp blades of jointers and planers must be sharpened using a mechanical drive for the sharpening tool.

If you try to sharpen the tool with your own hands on a sharpening cup without support and guide rails, areas with different sharpening angles are formed on the cutting edge. When processing wood, this leads to the formation of an uneven wavy surface of the board or solid wood.

Small flat knife blades can be sharpened on a simple vertical machine.

Circular saws are usually sharpened on machines equipped with a divider and a rotary table.

Universal sharpening machines

In the work of small carpentry shops, woodworking sites, repair offices, universal sharpening machines are used, capable of sharpening a very large range of cutting tools, including sharpening guillotine knives.

An example is the desktop model of the VZ-319 machine. Thanks to the rigid base and correctly selected gear ratios of the mechanical drive, the unit can sharpen almost any tool, from planer blades to cylindrical cutters.

Conclusion

Sharpening knives has long gone beyond the scope of handicraft skills into the category of a common mechanical operation. A large number of all kinds of machines and devices, table-top machines and automatic machines are capable of performing difficult work within a few minutes. A high-quality sharpener bought once in a lifetime can last for several decades, eliminating the problems of sharpening knife blades.

Almost every DIYer has cutting tools available. Over time, the cutting edges lose their former sharpness, and work with such a product becomes unbearable. There are two options for solving this problem: to give a tool for sharpening and pay a lot of money, or to assemble a device for sharpening knives yourself and sharpen the products with your own hands.

Blade blunt reasons

The bluntness of the blade can be explained as follows. During cutting, the blade is exposed to the smallest abrasive particles, be it fruits or vegetables. The cutting edge of the blade gradually wears away and the knife becomes dull. Another reason is to hold the blade at a certain angle when cutting.

On some areas of the blade, the load increases, and increased wear occurs.

There are types of knives that cannot be sharpened on their own due to the embossed blades. Also, knives made of ceramics cannot be sharpened. But, as a rule, the quality of steel in such products is high, and they rarely become blunt. There are some inferior quality knives and they have to be sharpened very often. As practice shows, if the steel is of poor quality, then sharpening will solve the problem for a while, and then the blade will become dull again.

You will need abrasive wheels to sharpen the knives. If it is not possible to purchase ready-made circles, then you can make them yourself using wooden blocks and sandpaper of different grain sizes.

The standard sharpening angle is 20 - 30 degrees. It is quite difficult to maintain the angle during sharpening, and therefore it is necessary to make a simple knife sharpener, in which it is not necessary to maintain the optimal angle. The basic rule in this process is to maintain a precisely defined constant angle. Power is not required here. The main thing is that the bar and the blade meet at a certain angle. This is the basic rule of sharpening technique.

Major mistakes

As it may seem at first glance, sharpening is simple, but if you delve into the process itself, you will notice a fairly large number of different nuances. Most people make trivial mistakes when sharpening knives, which leads to uneven sharpening or damage to the knife. Common mistakes when sharpening:

  • The cutting edge has not been finished... As a result, small burrs form on the sides, which temporarily sharpen the blade, and after a short time with the knife, the blade becomes dull again. To prevent this problem, you should carefully sharpen both edges, and then, as you sharpen, use sandpaper or a wheel of different grain sizes.
  • The presence of paint, oil, dirt on the tip... The bottom line is that when turning, grease, dirt, oil and other components are mixed with grinding abrasives and lead to scratches and micro-chips of the blade. After such turning, the blade quickly dulls.
  • Pressure plays an important role... It is necessary to remember one simple rule: sharpness does not depend on the applied force, but on the duration of sharpening. Excessive pressure leads to chipping of microparticles from the blade and to poor-quality sharpening.
  • Incorrect angle selection... The angle can vary - depending on the steel grade and the purpose of the tool. For home kitchen knives, it is 20 - 25 degrees. For other types of blades, which have to withstand heavy loads and work with hard materials, the angle will be 40 degrees.

Guided by simple, but at the same time appropriate rules for sharpening, you can not only save time, but also not spoil the product.

Sharpener "House"

Not a bad tool for sharpening knives. Despite its simple design, the sharpener does its job well. This structure consists of a rectangular bar, the upper edge of which is made in the form of a gable roof. The angle of inclination of one face is 20 - 25 degrees, which is optimal. The product must be installed with a blade end-to-end against one of the roof ridges, then take an abrasive wheel or a block with emery and move along a horizontal line. This ensures a constant angle of inclination, which leads to an even sharpening of the blade.

There are also complex designs of a homemade grinding machine. For manufacturing, you will need the following materials:

  • A piece of board measuring 500x150x20 mm.
  • A threaded metal stud that will guide the bar.
  • M8 bolts and nuts and wood screws.
  • Retaining nuts or wing nuts.
  • Ordinary textolite or plexiglass, which will serve as a substrate for a knife and a kind of movable bed.
  • To attach the knife, you should take a neodymium magnet. A regular one will not work, since its downforce is quite small.

The board must be cleaned, processed, and then made into a rectangle. Another board should be made in a rectangular shape, which will serve as a stand or support. Its height should be such that the slope of the main board is 20 degrees. You can fasten them together with self-tapping screws for wood. Then attach the resulting structure to the workbench or cut out the countertop in advance, to which one of the studs will be attached. After securely attaching the pin to the table top, you need to take a 200x100 block and make two holes in it: one for the main pin, on which the movable carriage with a sharpener will be attached, and the other for the pin, which is attached to the table top.

Now you can start assembling the carriage with the sharpener holder. On the hairpin that will hold the carriage, you need to make two clips of wood, plexiglass or metal. Drill holes in the clamps, put on the stud and fix on both sides with nuts. The carriage will rotate freely along its axis.

The next step is to install a neodymium magnet on a previously prepared plate. It is necessary to make a longitudinal groove in it so that the tripod can be moved up and down. Drill a hole in the middle of the bed and insert a bolt and nut, which, in turn, will press the plate. At the end of the plate, you can simply glue a neodymium magnet to hold the knife.

The homemade device is ready to use. It can be used to sharpen chisels and planers.

It should be noted that sharpening is carried out without water, so the abrasive paper or wheel will wear out a lot, but this option is quite suitable for sharpening knives and tools at home.

Home knife

If the farm has a sharpening machine, it will facilitate the process, but there is one circumstance. When sharpening on a machine, it is almost impossible to evenly press on the knife. Therefore, you can make a knife sharpener that will guide the blade and provide even pressure. The result is a simple but effective electric sharpener. For its manufacture, you will need the following components:

  • Bar.
  • Four bolts or four M8 threaded studs.
  • Four lambs.
  • Self-tapping screws for wood.

A guide is attached opposite the electric grinder, along which the slider will move. The guide itself can be attached to a workbench or a pre-made bed can be made. It must be mobile. To do this, you can cut a longitudinal groove in the bed and fix the tripod with two pins. Then take two bars, drill holes on the sides, insert the studs and tighten them with thumbs on both sides. The next step will be the mount on which the cutting product will lie. This can be done with small pieces of timber that should be attached to the sides of the moving carriage.

After that, you can start sharpening. Set the movable carriage to the required height and clamp it with the lambs. Move the tripod itself to the desired distance, securely fix and sharpen the product, moving the knife along the side guides.

LM sharpener

If in the future it is planned to engage in professional sharpening of tools in large quantities, then you can make a sharpener called: Lansky-Metabo. Fixture drawings for sharpening knives with your own hands are as follows:

If the product is clamped in the clamps with the root part, then the sharpening angle will be greatest. A knife with this angle can be used as a "cleaver" and for processing hard wood. You can also easily sharpen knives from a planer. Knife clamps can be made from a corner or wood. The disadvantages of this design are the complexity of assembly and the large number of parts.

If it is not possible to assemble a complex tool for sharpening knives, then you can do with improvised means and make manual knife sharpeners. A simple sharpener can be made from a corner frame with a whetstone mounted on it.


If the sharpener is supplemented with a sliding carriage, then you do not have to hold the knife at a certain angle, which, in turn, will have a good effect on sharpening the blade. To make a movable carriage, you will need a triangular bar and a magnet. It is best to use a neodymium magnet to pull the knife in and hold it securely. If there is no such magnet, then you can take the components from the HDD (hard disk).

Before you give a knife or other product for sharpening, you should familiarize yourself with the material that will help not only in making a sharpener with your own hands, but also save a certain amount. The main aspect is to gain additional experience, which will come in handy in the future.

If you thought there were self-sharpening knives, this is a myth invented by marketers to sell their products. Any knife will sooner or later become dull. This means that you will have to look for solutions to correct this situation. Today the editors of the site will tell you what methods and tools you need to use for this and, in general, what to do when your knife is dull.

Read in the article:

Types of devices for sharpening knives

Stone has existed since the earliest days of modern civilization. And almost the same amount of metal. That is why the whetstone became one of the first devices that came to the rescue of a Homo sapiens. A simple, and most importantly accessible tool has been successfully coping with its task for many millennia.


However, in the modern world, only a simple hunting knife can be sharpened with a grindstone. In other cases, the quality will be poor. In addition, only soft metals are sharpened with a stone, and if the cutting part of the blade has a hardness higher than 55 HRC, then you cannot sharpen it with improvised means.

Consider the types of devices for sharpening knives. If we talk about what kind of abrasive material is used, then the tools can be made in the form of bars or sharpening stones. By type of drive: manual or electric. Usually in home kitchens you can find a simple machine tool.


And it is this sharpening angle that must be maintained. However, not all household tools are capable of sharpening the knife correctly. And that is why in this article the editors of the site will tell you what options you can use in order to sharpen a knife for certain purposes.

Important! Each type of blade has its own edge angle, and during sharpening it must be held along the entire length of the processed surface of the product.

Master sharpeners even conduct special master classes on sharpening knives using natural stone. Real natural whetstones cannot be bought in a regular store. Interestingly, before the processing, it is soaked in water, sometimes with soapy water, and dried after work.

Knife Sharpening Bars

Knife sharpening bars are one of the most affordable devices for any housewife. Usually they are special rectangular bars with a special abrasive coating. Such bars are useful for sharpening carpentry tools in the garage, as well as household utensils.


Sharpening stones, depending on the material, can be either natural or synthetic. Their wear resistance and grain type depend on this. This means the quality of sharpening. Let's consider the main types of materials that are used in the manufacture of whetstones:

  • natural stones, such as novaculite or Japanese water stone. It is not very easy to work with such a tool. They require certain skills and skill;
  • diamond-coated bars... Synthetic, have a high degree of wear resistance. They differ in an affordable price;
  • ceramic... Refers to a more modern type of sharpening bars. Combines the strength of the diamond coating with the hardness of natural stone;
  • artificial: aluminum oxide or carbide... Fast grinding abrasive, low quality and the same price.

On the other hand, artificial abrasives are much cheaper than natural ones. They are created by mixing diamond powders of different fractions, as well as electrocorundum and carbide.

Important! In this case, the material used for bonding the rock, as well as the percentage of all elements, is of great importance. The stronger and better the composition (this also applies to the particles themselves), the more resistant the grinding abrasive will be.


Ligament variations can be of soft type and hard type. In the first case, the crystals are glued strictly to the surface of their base, made of a nickel alloy. In fact, the crystals are located in a very thin layer on the bar. A soft bond is a chaotic arrangement of bonding and abrasive elements. The second type is less wear-resistant.

Sharpening stones for knives

As we noted earlier, natural stones are more effective means of sharpening knives. Their effectiveness has been proven at all stages of sharpening. Artificial counterparts, although they are durable and affordable, will not be able to boast of perfect sharpness. Natural whetstones require special care, because the most important rule of the master is a perfectly flat whetstone surface.


Expert opinion

Tool selection consultant VseInstrumenty.ru LLC

Ask a specialist

“To check the level of the stone's evenness, use a simple method. Moisten a piece of wood and place it on a piece of paper on a flat surface. The print will allow you to assess the degree of evenness of the stone ”.

Novaculites, or "Arkansas", "Turkish", "Belgian" stones - natural shale and chalcedony interspersed with the smallest particles of garnet and quartz. Today, both natural stones and their artificial substitutes are used.

Musat for sharpening knives

Musat looks like a file from the side. In any case, it is precisely such a comparison that comes at first glance. The peculiarity of the work of this tool is that its surface is magnetized, which means that metal flour will not fall on you.


Each type of musat is designed for sharpening a specific type of tool, and differs in different degrees of versatility. So, for example, a round musat weighs a little, but an oval one sharpens better, since its edges provide more complete contact with the work surface. Quadrangular - more versatile, here you can better refine the required sharpening angle.

Household manual knife sharpening machines

The variety of sharpening knife options allows you to choose the tool you need. These are both familiar household mini-sharpeners, known to almost everyone, and more specific devices with a polishing wheel. As with more professional, household systems, knife sharpeners can use a moving or stationary abrasive. The sharpening angle in this case depends on the position of the cutting tool. Hand tools of this type, despite their simplicity and relative cheapness, are laborious to operate.

Household Electric Knife Sharpeners

Electric grinders are more convenient. Working with them saves time. Most often, such driven machines have different operating modes, which are controlled by switches.


Inside the sharpener there is a grinding disc with an abrasive coating. When electricity is applied, the disc starts rotating. The grinding wheels are hidden inside the protective cover. Despite the presence of a disk, such machines are quite compact. And the sharpening angle is regulated by a special spring, which completely eliminates errors in sharpening.

Professional manual knife sharpeners

Professional hand tools are a bit like a carpentry vise. The object of sharpening, in fact, a knife, is clamped with special clamps.

Further, the master, by a certain movement, begins sharpening, moving along the abrasive plate The grinding machine itself is set on the stop. It is very important to fix the machine correctly and to avoid slipping of the tool during sharpening.


Such hand-held grinders allow the use of different abrasives, there is a possibility of adjusting the sharpening angle in a wide range.

Professional electric knife sharpening machines

The professional tool has a large number of attachments and replaceable discs. The electrocorundum stone and the finishing leather disc rotate at a speed of 90 rpm, and the first is placed in a pan with water. The combination of low speed and constant cooling results in high-quality processing of products already at the stage of forming the incisal edge.


Professional machines are distinguished by their versatility. Usually this is an apparatus with a massive abrasive disc. Such tools allow you to sharpen not only knives, but also locksmith tools, for example, planers and chisels. And at the final stages of work, they provide the blade with a razor sharpness.

How to sharpen a knife correctly

However, before starting the blade sharpening process, it is important to understand the sharpening technology. And the basics.

Optimal sharpening angles and sharpness for kitchen knives

There are dozens of types of knives for different purposes: kitchen knives, knives for metalworking. In general, the sharpness of the blade depends on the shape of the blade. And it, in turn, must correlate with certain clear correspondences of the relationship between blade and blade. Let's consider the correct sharpening angles of different tools.

For your information! Some types of knives can be so sharp that they can cut through metal. The sharpest of them are blades with a sharpening angle of 50 ° - such versions, with a certain steel grade, can cut nails.

How to sharpen a knife at home with a bar

This process is simple, but rather painstaking. It is pointless to try this process without sharpening experience. Usually, craftsmen use two whetstones with different abrasive densities - coarse and fine.

Advice! Make sure the blade is wet. Special oils or sharpening lubricants can be used.

The next step is to choose a sharpening angle. Here we focus on the table above and take the range from and to. Remember, the smaller the sharpening angle, the faster the knife will dull. It will be difficult for a beginner to maintain the same angle. In order to successfully pass this stage, it is important to hold the knife with both hands.


Place the blade gently on the blade, lower the corner to the sharpening surface and start working. We start work on a coarse-grained bar, and then, when the edge grinding stage begins, we continue with a fine abrasive.

How to sharpen a knife with musat at home

Sharpening is carried out on weight. The blade is held along the entire length of the instrument, usually several such "passes" are enough.

The sharpening process with musat is quite simple. The tool is placed in one hand, the knife in the other.


How to sharpen a knife correctly on an electric grinder

The sharpening process practically does not differ from manual sharpening. The only difference is that in this case it is not the blade that is wetted, but the grinding disc itself. Most often, a special tray is used to cool the disk. And the whole process is automatic.

Typical mistakes when sharpening knives with your own hands

Everyone knows that it is better to prevent mistakes than to correct them later. That is why the editors of the site have prepared a list of the most common mistakes beginners make when sharpening knives:

  1. Incorrectly maintained level of sharpening angle.
  2. Re-sharpening the blade. It occurs when excessive pressure on the sharpener with the blade, because of which it can be damaged or even crack.
  3. Sharpening of an unprepared tool or a worn grinding wheel.
  4. Use of musat at all stages of work.
  5. As we remember, musat is used to refine the cutting edge. Use of a fine grit abrasive.

All these subtleties are important to take into account already at the stage of organizing work. For information on how to sharpen a knife with a bar correctly, see this video.

DIY knife sharpening machine

Buying a ready-made knife sharpening machine is not always necessary. For household needs, you can do it yourself. It doesn't matter whether you create a mechanical or electrical machine - be guided, as mentioned earlier, by already existing diagrams and drawings.


What tools are needed for making a knife with your own hands

For the manufacture of the simplest machine we need: an ordinary block of chipboard, you can use elements of old cabinet furniture. Prepare for work: a metal rod, a small piece of sheet steel 1 mm thick, several screws for fastening the structure, any abrasive material, a jigsaw and a screwdriver.

Do-it-yourself step-by-step instructions for making a grinding machine

Consider assembling the simplest knife with your own hands from scrap materials.

IllustrationAction Description

As we can see, the base here is quite simple - an ordinary 65 × 25 mm chipboard board

Block for fixing the base. Don't forget to sand it.

We mark the places of fastenings.

We fix the bent pin at a certain angle. Guide angle from 65 to 70 °

We cut out the pressure plate from fiberglass. We mark the attachment points for the countersunk bolts.

We fix the plate on the base. Press with a hex wrench.

We grind a plate from the same material to fix the guide.

We press the structure using a regular lamb.

We grind an ordinary steel bar, attach a handle from an old file to it. Length 57 cm.

From the plumbing clamp we take angle fasteners for the grindstone. We also use a bunny with a clamping screw for its further fixation.

Sharpening stones can be made from a regular piece of laminate. We cut it into strips 2.5 cm wide, 20 cm long. Then we glue the sandpaper on the double-sided tape and you can work!

So, our grinder is ready to go. We hope that our story will be useful to you. You can use them to make the simplest sharpening knives.

Almost every person in life is faced with the question of sharpening knives. After all, any knife, regardless of its quality, sooner or later becomes dull. Therefore, the blade must be carefully looked after.

In stores today, you can choose any sharpener among a huge variety.

What are the stones for sharpening

In general, there are several basic types of such devices. Namely:

Oil, on the surface of which there is oil, especially to save material.

Aquatic, similar to the previous one, but water is used here.

Natural, industrially processed.

Artificial, made from non-natural materials.

Rubber, which are extremely rare. Completely inconvenient to operate.

Sharpening nuances

There are moments in sharpening each knife.

For example, the Japanese independent type of sharpening requires special attention from a rather experienced specialist, since the Japanese type has become quite fragile. To sharpen them, manufacturers recommend using different water stones, endowed with a variety of grain sizes.

Housewives use sharpeners purchased in a store for sharpening. When using multiple knives, their sharpness lasts longer.

But this is very important, even though it takes a lot of time and effort.

How to sharpen knives correctly?

For this it is necessary to create special conditions. Thanks to them, the knife will remain sharp for a very long time.

Therefore, it is important to choose the right angle at which you will sharpen your knives. According to the basic rule in this matter, the smaller the angle at which the knife is sharpened, the stronger the cutting edge will be.

It is important not to forget that the next sharpening depends on the maximum sharpness. The sharper the knife is, the faster you will have to sharpen it. At the same time, it will be much more difficult to make it “workable” again.

Why sharpen knives?

The point of sharpening is to restore the sharpness of the blade. To do this, take care of the correct sharpening angle. That is, it is necessary to restore the previously set angle corresponding to the norms from the technological point of view.

To check how well the sharpening is done, cut the material that is cut with the blade of this particular knife. If the material is cut in an elementary way, you will do everything quite right.

Possible problems during the sharpening process

In order to choose the right angle, it is important to have some experience, without which it is quite difficult to cope with this issue. And even more so if there is no special equipment for this.

After all, if you hold the knife with your hands during sharpening, it is quite difficult to achieve its ideal "sharpness" as a result.

How do you sharpen knives at home?

Sometimes it also happens that the knife needs to be quickly made sharp. A block of wood, a hacksaw, sandpaper, a ceramic plate, a chisel, etc. can come in handy here.

And there are also those who can sharpen the foundation of cement and sand. But, this method is not recommended at all. After all, there are many others and more proven ones!

Best of all is making a homemade gadget. It is not only convenient, but also hardly distinguishable from the factory one.

How to sharpen a planer knife

An experienced professional master who has not only knowledge, but also skills in this matter can handle knives of such a plan. The process is actually quite complicated.

At the same time, it is rather difficult to find equipment for sharpening such a knife in a simple store. You should know that a modern instrument will help here, in which you can set low speed with water cooling.

You need to use a new stone on which a flat surface. It will be the best water type of stone.

In addition, if you do not have a certain experience and skills in sharpening planing knives, you can also contact a service station, where you probably have such equipment as a sharpener.