You and I have almost exactly the same set of sharpening supplies (at least for the field). One issue I have with the Spyderco ceramic stone is that mine is not flat. Would be nice if they took greater care to provide a nice, flat stone.
Very cool! Great minds think alike, I suppose, or at least that's what they say. I'm sorry to hear you've had issues with yours. Mine seems to be pretty flat. I imagine, as with everything, there is a variance in quality control.
@@americanwoodloreandforestcraft For sure. I could also be placing too much weight on flatness. I am going to try to lap it down over time with some sandpaper and a plate of glass. I’ll let you know if it works!
I wouldn't understate your preference for flatness. It's certainly ideal when the surface is flat. Yeah, please do! You may also try it with a coarse diamond plate. I have a jasper whetstone pendant that I've dressed a couple of times with a diamond sharpener, and it worked pretty well.
@@americanwoodloreandforestcraft I just got a Sharpal diamond plate from Amazon. Hoping it will be as good as one from DMT, but half the price. Still spendy at $100. 😬
1) How often do you add new compound to your strop? 2) Do you add new compound or clean and replace it on the strop? I still need lots of practice and I'm probably not enough of a knife enthusiast to push my way through getting bored with the process. I did recently buy a fine DMT sharpener and like it a lot, but it's a table top model rather than your more packable, hand-held units. Nice. Initially, I used far more force than necessary with the DMT -- there can be a learning curve and it definitely "cuts" faster than my Arkansas Stone! Thanks, Jake ... and I love your "backyard" if that's what it is. Very nice.
I don't have a set length of time to add fresh compound. I usually just redo it once it gets really black or doesn't polish the bevel very much. When I decide to redo it, I just scrape it off as well as I can and rub more on it. I've found the spine on an Opinel works really well for scraping off the old compound, with the blade closed, of course. Practice certainly makes perfect! Or maybe I should say better than before as I wouldn't consider my sharpening perfect. I do take pride in the edges I can put on blades, though, but I do it a lot because I find it very enjoyable. The table top models are great, and I do have a few of them, but I use these smaller ones way more. I tend to use a bit more force than necessary myself, but they do cut well just laying the blade on and letting its weight do the work. And quite true! Thanks for the comment, and yep, that's the yard outside my little abode.
@@americanwoodloreandforestcraft I hadn't thought of using the spine of a knife to scrape - I've drawn a razor blade backwards to do it, but you really have to be careful with that. I'll bet the spine of my Mora or even the Corona saw would work well too. Great suggestion.
Very good video, thanks. Subscribed.
Regards from the Czech Republic. :)
Thanks for watching! And for commenting and subscribing as well, it's always cool to hear from people in other countries.
You and I have almost exactly the same set of sharpening supplies (at least for the field). One issue I have with the Spyderco ceramic stone is that mine is not flat. Would be nice if they took greater care to provide a nice, flat stone.
Very cool! Great minds think alike, I suppose, or at least that's what they say. I'm sorry to hear you've had issues with yours. Mine seems to be pretty flat. I imagine, as with everything, there is a variance in quality control.
@@americanwoodloreandforestcraft For sure. I could also be placing too much weight on flatness. I am going to try to lap it down over time with some sandpaper and a plate of glass. I’ll let you know if it works!
I wouldn't understate your preference for flatness. It's certainly ideal when the surface is flat. Yeah, please do! You may also try it with a coarse diamond plate. I have a jasper whetstone pendant that I've dressed a couple of times with a diamond sharpener, and it worked pretty well.
@@americanwoodloreandforestcraft I just got a Sharpal diamond plate from Amazon. Hoping it will be as good as one from DMT, but half the price. Still spendy at $100. 😬
Best of luck with it!
1) How often do you add new compound to your strop?
2) Do you add new compound or clean and replace it on the strop?
I still need lots of practice and I'm probably not enough of a knife enthusiast to push my way through getting bored with the process. I did recently buy a fine DMT sharpener and like it a lot, but it's a table top model rather than your more packable, hand-held units. Nice. Initially, I used far more force than necessary with the DMT -- there can be a learning curve and it definitely "cuts" faster than my Arkansas Stone!
Thanks, Jake ... and I love your "backyard" if that's what it is. Very nice.
I don't have a set length of time to add fresh compound. I usually just redo it once it gets really black or doesn't polish the bevel very much. When I decide to redo it, I just scrape it off as well as I can and rub more on it. I've found the spine on an Opinel works really well for scraping off the old compound, with the blade closed, of course.
Practice certainly makes perfect! Or maybe I should say better than before as I wouldn't consider my sharpening perfect. I do take pride in the edges I can put on blades, though, but I do it a lot because I find it very enjoyable. The table top models are great, and I do have a few of them, but I use these smaller ones way more. I tend to use a bit more force than necessary myself, but they do cut well just laying the blade on and letting its weight do the work. And quite true!
Thanks for the comment, and yep, that's the yard outside my little abode.
@@americanwoodloreandforestcraft I hadn't thought of using the spine of a knife to scrape - I've drawn a razor blade backwards to do it, but you really have to be careful with that. I'll bet the spine of my Mora or even the Corona saw would work well too. Great suggestion.