>buy opinel sharpening stone
>try to sharpen out some nicks in my leatherman
>fail
Well, how do I git gud?
(I did soak the stone in water before using it before you ask)
>>750996
Just gotta get the right angle. But I normally can't get the blades super sharp with those stones, they aren't fine enough. Try the bottom of a ceramic mug after the stone.
If youre trying to get out nicks, start out with a lower grit and move up. Dont expect good results with just one stone, especially a small one.
Buying multiple stones is a good idea but it would get expensive (and wasteful if you dont know what youre doing)
For a good start, buy some sandpaper for a few dollars and lay it down on a perfectly flat surfave. I personally go from 120>240>600>1500
>>751004
Wrong pic
>>751004
why does that have the hole and thumb studs? gay
>>751023
>>751041
>tfw he's right and Spydershill is just a meme
I would seriously consider buying one if it weren't for the giant hole in the blade.
>>750996
Theres grinding, theres sharpening and theres honing. If you need to take care of nicks, use a grinding stone, you need to remove quite a bit of material. Then resharpen and hone to a fine edge.
Technically it is not that complicated, but you need to know how steel behaves and act accordingly, most people fail to get a really good edge because they either overdo one side or because they do not know how to remove the burr.
My advice, get an ok tier industrial combi stone ( no need to overpay for jap waterstones for starters), take a cheap knife with an ok carbon steel blade, watch a good video tutorial and then practice a bit.
>protip, some high hardness ss steels are a real bitch to sharpen, expensive folders often fall into this category
>source, gramps was an old school carpenter
>>750996
stainless I\m guessing? sandpaper tends to do a better job with stainless
>>750996
>soak the stone in water
that's an oil stone, son
(I prefer oil)
however, it is good to use those kind of stones for the rough work, and practicing holding it steady
>>751239
Opinels are waterstones.
>>751045
I have a caly 3 i got for 90 bucks and i like it a lot but i cant wrap my head around having the hole if youre just gonna put thumb studs right next to it, thats gay.
>>751483
hmm
the site says to use water but the only person who reviewed it said it worked better with oil
>>751513
doesnt make a whole lot of sense, the stone is pretty small and intended for ad hoc use, water is king here.
Oil is good for stationary use, like in your workshop and such. Also, once you use oil on a stone, you cannot use it with water ever again.
>>751210
The leatherman? probably, but I also have a opinel carbon blade.
I'll go buy me some sandpaper for now.
>>751619
If you cannot get a opi carbone sharp wit a simple stone, then sandpaper wont help you either, because it is definitely not the tools that are the problem, but it is you.
>opi carbone is about the most simple thing to get really sharp.
>>751633
Turns out I just did it and you're a faggot.
Used 120>300>600>1500 on the leatherman
and 600>1500 on the opi.
>>751776
sandpaper anon here again. for a good final edge I've also found a pull across rough glass works well for both carbon and stainless. I usually use a glass but I think the rougher bottom part of a jar would work. You can also use the top of a car window. Basically you lay the edge on the glass and pull it across like you're cutting something sideways, switching sides a couple of times.
>>750996
Try the bottom of a ceramic cup, than strop it on some leather. Do it on my knives for just a quick sharp, it easily gets it shaving sharp.
>>751007
holy fuck that... bevel? lol.. it makes me jelly though..
>>750996
For removing visible nicks from an edge you will want to use quite a coarse grit that can remove material rapidly.
I would probably start with a ~100-250 grit stone for that kind of a job.
In general, I usually recommend that people who are new to sharpening to initially use a burr based approach to sharpening as it is the easiest way to learn to actually reach an apex.
Start using a fairly coarse stone (~250-400 grit) and sharpen one side of the edge (without alternating sides) until you develop an obvious burr along the whole length of the edge (it will be on the opposite side from the side you are sharpening).
Once you have a burr along the whole length of the edge, flip the blade over and sharpen it on the other side (again, without alternating sides) until you develop a burr along the whole length of the edge.
Once you have done that, you can be sure that you have shaped two edge bevels that meet at an apex. This is the critical first step in sharpening.
Now you can use a series of finer stones to raise the polish of the edge bevel to the desired final grit. There is no need to attempt to raise a burr on following stones, and in fact you should alternate sides frequently to minimize burr formation.
Use each higher grit stone until the scratch pattern of that stone has completely replaced the scratch pattern of the stone before it.
Finally, once you have reached the final grit you want to finish at, you should make one very VERY VERY light alternating pass per side onto the finishing stone at about 45 degrees to cut off any burr that remains, and then make a final 10 very light alternating passes per side at the angle you were using before (this removes the tiny microbevel you put on the edge when you cut off the burr).
This is the most basic way to achieve a sharp edge.
