How to sharpen a knife?

Question

2.5" (c.65mm) titanium-steel blade

Answer 1

Titanium is not so fun to sharpen and typically, the cheap sharpening kits you can find in and around Walmart type stores are not ideal. I'm not sure if you are asking about the process, or what to use - so here is a brief answer for both.

Assuming you have a wet stone;

apply a thin layer of Oil to the stone, Vegetable oil works fine and holding it with your left hand, DRAG the blade down the stone with your right hand, at a 30 degree angle from the stone. Try to get long strokes out of it, because when you are eyeballing 30 degree angles with this method you are never bang on accurate every time, and every time you drag the blade you are possibly ruining the edge that you made with the last pass. Long, nice and slow pass with little pressure will get you a real fine edge, and 30 degrees should put you somewhere in and around razor sharp (though with a Titanium blade, it's going to be hard to get there).

I recommend you go to a sporting store, Cabela's etc. and get yourself a real decent sharpening kit. These come with a stand that you lock your knife into and use a grinding wand at whichever angle you set it for to make your edge. It's quick, it's accurate, and it works like a charm. I can sharpen Xacto knife blades with the set I got, which ran about $30.00.

It's the angle that makes it sharp, not how many times you run it down a stone.