What to use to sharpen knives

[MarkL]

Originally posted by model 70
So what's the best angle to sharpen your knives with the Lansky system? I just bought one and don't know which hole to use.

The safest thing to do is to match the bevel angle the knife already has. Use a course stone to establish a flat bevel all the way to the cutting edge, then use a medium stone to polish out the scratches from the course stone. Then increase the angle by one increment and use a fine stone to polish the cutting edge.

Take a black felt marker (e.g. a Sharpie) and blacken the bevel where the stone engages. Make a couple of strokes with your stone, then look closely to see where ink/metal has been removed. This will help you judge whether the angle is right, and whether your stone is engaging the entire width of the bevel or not.

In some cases, it might take a lot of grinding with a course stone (diamond is best) to establish a flat bevel at a given angle. After that, it should be relatively easy to resharpen as long as you use the same angle.