Knife sharpening Angles.

[Paul]

Just in case you want to hone your knife or machete, here's a couple of notes for you.

18° degrees. Think Razors or scalpels. Extremely sharp but delicate edge.
No good on kitchen knives or hunting knives though BUT at the hilt of a decent kukri it lets you carry out fine work.

20° degrees. Mora blades love this angle as does most quality steel knifes. When sharpening chef knives though, a steel is better than a stone or ceramic sharpener as most chef knives are designed for constant resharpening which would destroy a good clasp knife. Same angle, just you'll generally find the steel softer.

25° degrees. Ka Bar Angle. durable, sharp edge. Ideal for hunting and outdoor knives. Takes a knock or two and still keeps a useable edge.

30° degrees. Machete time or general purpose hacking. For Heavy duty use. This I use on the 'meaty' part of my kukri.

Kukri note:- Gurkha kukri's come with two small "knives" in the scabbard.
A karda. Tiny little blade. Good for skinning with.
And a chakmak which has no edge, looks like a flint striker and is used as such. Also used to 'burnish' the main blade i.e. takes out little nicks and keeps the blade clean and bright. Don't sharpen this one!

Notes on Sharpeners and lubricants.
Lube= light mineral oil or specialist honing oil.

Files / Kitchen Steels. No lube, No water BUT keep a wire brush handy to keep the steel clean on a file.

WhetStones. No lube, No water

Formed stones i.e. Carborundum or Aluminium carbide.
Lube only, No water

Japanese stone. No lube, Water ONLY

Diamond Plate. No lube, No water But don't overheat it i.e. easy on the pressure.
Note:- Diamond plate sharpeners can be used to take the 'grooves' out of a whet or formed stone sharpener. Do not use them on Ceramics.

Ceramic. No lube, No water.

Leather Strops / Belts. No lube, but some barbers use squaline oil very sparingly. No water.

Hope this is useful.