How can i sharpen a knife?

Question

Mine is so blunt.. And i need it sharper to cut ropes etc!!

Answer 1

Go nearest hardware or sporting goods store and buy a wet stone. Use oil when sharpening your knife as this works the best. If it is really dull, might want take it to a scissors and knife sharpening service the first time. Then follow up with the wet stone after to keep it sharp.

Answer 2

Stones are not the worst solution, but you can now get inexpensive surfaces made with man-made diamond grit. You can find them under 'diamond sharpening stones. These plates last a long time, and they cut much faster than the older stones. Get one coarse and one fine one.

That is the hardware. The trick to sharpening is to keep the angle between the blade and the stone very steady.

As soon as you bring the angle of the blade up too high, even once, you have cut off the thin edge, and you have to start over getting a thin edge again.

A good angle is about 30 degrees - well, 28, but 30 is close enough. Practice in front of a mirror for a while, until you feel confident that you can keep the angle quite constant.

Move the blade, at best across the stone, but moving down at least a bit. By down, I mean as if you were cutting the surface off  of the stone, and across would not be cutting anything. just sliding it. But of course, the abrasive of the sharpening surface IS grinding the edge.

It takes some time to get this skill, but once you have it, you will not forget it.  There was a time when I did a lot of visiting, and it gave me something I could do as a guest, that my hosts really appreciated, especially if they had good quality knives.