Knife Sharpening | Knife Safety

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CLEANING:
After using your knife, it is a good practice to clean and dry your knife (the entire knife, not just the blade). Even though our blades are made with corrosion-resistant stainless steel, prolonged exposure to the elements can cause the steel's surface to oxidize. Folding knives should be kept clean of debris, particularly the locking device on lock-blade style knives.

Chemical solvents such as Acetone, nail polish remover, MEK, alcohol or paint thinner may be used to clean your blade. However use care with these solvents, as some, such as acetone, nail polish remover, white gas, or brake fluid may damage some handles. Avoid harsh detergents that contain Chlorine (mostly powders, including some for washing dishes and clothes), which can accelerate corrosion of the blade steel. Avoid prolonged immersion in liquids (water, solvents, etc.). This can have a detrimental effect on not only the metal parts, but handles made of wood or other porous materials as well. Before using your knife on food items, wipe clean with alcohol, or wash with hot soapy water and rinse clean. Remember to re-clean and lubricate your knife after the food job is done.

LUBRICATING:
Periodically, and always after cleaning, apply a small amount of lubricant to the working parts of the knife, particularly the pivot points of a folding knife. Then apply a thin film of lubricant to the entire surface of the blade. This will help prevent surface oxidation and corrosion from moisture.

KNIFE USE:
Knives are designed for cutting. Using them for other purposes, such as throwing, pounding, prying, chopping or other purposes may create an unsafe condition and may void your warranty. Strong impacts or twisting forces may damage the knife or lock mechanism, and may result in the blade folding or otherwise failing during use. Any such use could result in severe injury. On lock blade models, always check to assure the locking mechanism is engaged prior to use. Keeping your blade sharp will also reduce risk of injury, as a sharp blade is safer than using a dull blade.

REPAIR:
If your knife requires repair, check the Manufacturer's web site for instructions as what to do. Unless you are a knife maker do not attempt the repairs yourself as this may void any warranties associated with your knife.

Legal Notice to Customers:
By purchasing product(s) on this website, you agree that you have read, understood and complied with the following:

Due to the complex and changing nature of knife laws, it is your responsibility, not HIGH CALIBER KNIVES', to investigate and comply with international, federal, state and local laws relating to the purchase, possession, use, transport and resale of knives. Consult applicable laws if you are in doubt. By placing an order, you represent that the product(s) will be used in a lawful manner and you are of legal age. Absolutely no sales will be made to minors. You agree to hold HIGH CALIBER KNIVES harmless from failure to comply with these terms and conditions of sale.

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Every knife needs sharpening from time to time. The concepts of grinding and maintaining sharp knife edges are simple to understand and simple to implement with a little practice and good sharpening equipment. With the following instructions, you will be using the safest and most effective method of sharpening your knife.

WHAT NOT TO DO:
Never sharpen your knife on a power-driven grinding wheel. This can burn the temper from your knife blade, which will make the knife edge brittle and possibly chip or crack. Sharpening your knife in this manner will void the warranty.

THE BEVEL:
Most knife edges are shaped like a V. Some of them are shaped like a ½ V and are referred to as chisel ground because the knife blade profile is similar to that of a chisel with one flat side and one angled side. The angle of the V is called the bevel or bevel angle. We'll also take a look at edges with compound angles and we'll refer to the first and more acute angle as the back bevel and the second and more obtuse angle as the micro bevel. We'll also define sharp as an edge in which the sides of the bevel or micro bevel are straight and equal and come to a point. The condition of that point can vary as we will see. Razors need a different kind of edge, as an example, than Chef's knives.

The biggest mistake you can make at this point is to have rounded sides to the bevel. The sides must be straight and that's done by maintaining a consistent angle between the knife blade and the hone. If the sides of the bevel are rounded, the angle of the edge will be wrong and the knife will cut poorly.

THE EDGE:
Once the bevel is ground to the desired condition above, you simply need to polish out the scratches using progressively finer hones until you reach the level of sharpness you want. With every hone, the test is the same. Feel for the bead with your fingernail. The bead will get finer with each finer hone you use. Judge the sharpness of a knife by using your fingernail.

Kitchen knives should have a fairly coarse edge. Generally never hone them past medium which is about where a sharpening steel would put it. You want an aggressive, almost saw-like edge on a kitchen knife. Razors are stropped with leather to remove the bead completely and to polish the edge to a shine. Most knives are somewhere in between. You can generally stop at fine with fixed knife blades and go to the finest hone you have for pocket knives.

Use a hone until it has removed the scratches from the previous hone and until a light swipe on each side moves the bead to the opposite side of the knife blade. Test this with your fingernail.

If you have maintained a consistent angle throughout and have straight sides to your bevel, the knife will be as sharp as it can be.

SHARPENING TOOLS:
Here's a short rundown on the most common types of sharpening tools for knives. Bench stones are simply rectangular pieces of material that are harder than steel and will remove some steel to form an edge on a knife. They can be India stones made of a carbide material, Arkansas Washita stones are made literally of stone, water stones from Japan ceramic and even diamond. The India and Arkansas stones are lubricated with oil to keep them from fouling from steel particles. Water stones are lubricated with water and cut more quickly but don't last as long as the oil stones. Ceramic and diamond stones aren't lubricated at all. The bench stone will put as good an edge as is possible on a knife as long as the person using it has the skill and practice to maintain a consistent angle throughout. A good the bench stone is of the diamond-covered models such as those from DMT. Diamond stones cut faster than the other types and require no lubrication. A minimum of two stones, one coarse and one fine, will get the job done.

V sharpeners have two rods made of steel or ceramic inserted into a wooden or plastic base so that they are shaped like a 'V'. Some have steel rods covered with diamond dust. These are used by simply holding the knife perpendicular to the bottom of the 'V' and stroking each side of the knife blade against the corresponding side of the 'V'. 'V' sharpeners are excellent for touch ups and re-sharpening. They are very fast compared to most other types of manual sharpening gear. They aren't capable of grinding a new bevel, though, so you'll still need another tool if you choose the 'V' sharpener.

Clamping systems have a series of hones that are used in conjunction with a device that clamps to the knife blade and ensures maintenance of a consistent angle. An example would be the Lansky System which is available with different types of hones. These systems are slower because they require some setup to use. They are fool proof, however, since they keep the angle consistent. They have a set number of angles and you'll need to grind your bevel to one of those angles using the coarser stones. After that, they'll get your knives as sharp as they can be.

Butcher steels are the long steel rods used by chef's to maintain an edge on kitchen knives. Butcher's steels are also available with ceramic or diamond-coated rods. The steel will not grind a bevel so you'll need some other tool to do that. Most chefs use bench stones for grinding. Steels will allow you to keep the knife sharp between grindings. It is recommend you use one in your kitchen and give your knife blades a couple of swipes on each side every time you use them.

Strops are used for polishing razor edges and can be used for knives as well if you like for final polishing of the edge. You can make your own strops by gluing vegetable tanned leather (the kind that's used for leather tooling) rough side out to a piece of wood and then rubbing some polishing compound into it. Glue a 600 grit wet/dry carbide paper to the other side of the wood. Use this arrangement for the final polishing of chisels and chisel ground knife blades.

Diamond sharpening stones may be used dry or wet, but wet is recommended. When using them wet, use water, not oil, as a lubricant. Washita stones should always be used wet. You may choose to use your stand-alone Washita stone (not attached to the Tri-Stone system) with honing oil as a lubricant. Once you do this, water will no longer work well as a lubricant and you will need to use kerosene or honing oil to keep your stone clean.

SHARPENING PROCEDURES:

SHARPENING STRAIGHT KNIFE BLADES (non-serrated):

1. As mentioned above, start with the desired grit stone. A lot of sharpening stones feature a diamond sharpening surface for good, quick results.
2. Establish a correct angle of 13 to 16 degrees (approximately the thickness of the top of your knife blade).
3. Keep the knife blade on the surface and use an easy, clockwise motion with the edge facing right. It is ideal to achieve the original factory edge.
4. Turn the knife blade over. Use an easy, counter-clockwise motion with the edge facing left. Try to spend the same amount of time on each side.
5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 until the edge grind appears uniform along the entire length and is even from side to side, and there are no dull spots visible on the edge when held to the light.
6. Clean each stone after every use and continue with the next finer stone, repeating steps 2 through 5.
7. When finishing with the Washita stone, stroke each side of the knife blade only once from hilt to tip before switching sides. Repeat this last step several times to get any burr completely removed.
8. To place a final polish on your knife blade, you may want to use a strop.

SHARPENING ANGLE

ESTABLISHING SHARPENING ANGLE	CLOCKWISE MOVEMENT	COUNTERCLOCKWISE MOVEMENT

SHARPENING SMALL TOOLS:
Use the same sharpening techniques as above for sharpening straight knife blades, only on a smaller scale.

SHARPENING SERRATED KNIFE BLADES:

1. Do not use a flat sharpening stone. Use the taper sharpener that was designed specifically for serrated knife blades.
2. Find the correct spot on the taper that matches the size of the serration.
3. Keeping the same angle as the factory edge, push the sharpener up against the steel, rotating as you go.
4. Sharpen only the “grind” side of the serration. Repeat this for all serrations.
5. The same technique can be used on gutting/skinning hook. Just use the smallest point on the sharpener in the corners, and slide across to the opposite side.

Sharpening fish hooks and other small pointed objects:
Many sharpeners have a “fish hook groove”. This is a straight line groove that runs the length of the sharpening stone.

1. Place the fish hook in the groove and run it out to the end of the stone (away from you). Repeat as necessary.
2. The fish hook groove can be used for other fine point objects, such as darts.

SHARPENING GUT HOOKS:

1. Unlike serrations, a gut hook is ground on both sides of the blade. Use the same taper sharpener as for serrations.
2. Do not try to fill the entire width of the gut hook with the wide end of the sharpener. This will enlarge the gut hook curve and distort the cutting edge.
3. Put the pointed, narrow end of the sharpener up against the open end of the gut hook. The narrow, pointed end of the sharpener should face in toward the thickness of the blade, away from the edge of the gut hook.
4. Hold the sharpener at the angle that matches the original gut hook edge angle. This will maintain the correct sharpening angle and prevent you from getting cut by the blade tip. Make sure to hold the same angle when sharpening each side of the gut hook.
5. In a forward and sideways motion, stroke the sharpener from one side of the gut hook to the other. Spin the sharpener as you go. As with sharpening a blade edge, the objective is to start at the edge and stroke away from the edge.
6. Alternate blade sides. Important: Do the same number of strokes on each side of the blade's gut hook. Keep the number of strokes to a minimum to avoid distorting the gut hook shape.
7. Check progress and continue until you feel desired sharpness (very slight burr).
8. Once a burr is detected, stroke alternating sides until the burr is removed (just like finishing a straight edge blade).

CLEANING YOUR SHARPENING STONE:

1. Always dry your sharpening stone after each use and before storing.
2. Occasionally clean your stone with soapy water and mild brush.

Remember: a sharp knife not only performs better, it's actually safer because it cuts easily without forced or awkward motions.

Legal Notice to Customers:
By purchasing product(s) on this website, you agree that you have read, understood and complied with the following:

Due to the complex and changing nature of knife laws, it is your responsibility, not HIGH CALIBER KNIVES', to investigate and comply with international, federal, state and local laws relating to the purchase, possession, use, transport and resale of knives. Consult applicable laws if you are in doubt. By placing an order, you represent that the product(s) will be used in a lawful manner and you are of legal age. Absolutely no sales will be made to minors. You agree to hold HIGH CALIBER KNIVES harmless from failure to comply with these terms and conditions of sale.

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Practicing safety will enhance your use and enjoyment of your knives as a valuable tool. Using a knife for purposes other than which it was intended invariably leads to the possibility of trouble or injury. At HIGH CALIBER KNIVES we encourage you to use your knife safely – you and those around you will be glad you did.

1. Always cut away from your body – not toward.
2. If you drop your knife, let it fall-don't attempt to catch it.
3. Never run with a knife.
4. Never throw a knife to anyone – hand it to them (handle first).
5. Never point it at anyone.
6. Do not use a locking folding knife if the blade does not lock open. (always check that the lock is operational prior to each use)
7. Keep your knife folded/sheathed when carrying or not using.
8. Do not sharpen on a power grinder. Use a sharpening stone. (using a power grinder will make the edge brittle and probably void any warranty)
9. Use the right tool for the job. Don't use a knife for prying. (using a knife for prying can cause the tip to break, fly off and possibly cause injury)
10. Use in a well-lit area so you can see what you are doing.
11. Never use a knife on “live” electrical items like appliances.
12. Keep your knife clean – particularly the locking mechanism.
13. Keep your knife oiled and sharp (safer than dull).
14. Never attempt self-repair it is dangerous and potentially voids warranty.
15. If you get cut, seek first aid immediately.

Legal Notice to Customers:
By purchasing product(s) on this website, you agree that you have read, understood and complied with the following:

Due to the complex and changing nature of knife laws, it is your responsibility, not HIGH CALIBER KNIVES', to investigate and comply with international, federal, state and local laws relating to the purchase, possession, use, transport and resale of knives. Consult applicable laws if you are in doubt. By placing an order, you represent that the product(s) will be used in a lawful manner and you are of legal age. Absolutely no sales will be made to minors. You agree to hold HIGH CALIBER KNIVES harmless from failure to comply with these terms and conditions of sale.

HIGH CALIBER KNIVES MAKE FOR GOOD HUNTING OR FISHING

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