Reddit reviews Leather Honing Strop 3 Inch by 8 Inch with 2oz. Green White Compound

Borrow stones from someone. Or go to your local woodcraft and try out the sample sharpening tools there.

More seriously, the DMT diamond credit card set gets knives really sharp for $25 ( https://www.amazon.com/DMT-D3EFC-Dia-Sharp-Extra-Fine-Diamond/dp/B00006IIO3/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1546742876&sr=8-3&keywords=diamond+card+sharpener ). Pair that with some stropping on corrugated cardboard and you should have a pretty sharp knife. For an extra $9 you can get a real leather strop and polishing compound: https://www.amazon.com/Leather-Honing-Strop-Green-Compound/dp/B07214VMGB/

Get your girlfriend a petty knife. Shit I use one a lot when I'm at home. If I'm butterflying 2 chicken breasts, Peeling/deveining some shrimp, fast things, I'll reach for my 5'' petty knife or 6'' global. Small and agile, with better ergonomics than chopping with a pairing knife.


Duuuuuuuude. Don't think of spending ANYWHERE near that much on sharpening stuff as a novice. Sharpening is a difficult skill that takes thousands of hours to really master, lots of practice and frustrating moments. Start out with your whole set up costing ~$100 and see if you even like it. Its a full blown hobby as well as something handy to know. I as a professional chef, after sharpening knives for hundreds of hours probably, still take my knives to a professional once a year to really get them good and perfect. I'm proficient not perfect. I can maintain an edge that a professional set perfectly, to a point which can shave your face, but I can't take a knife thats been scraped on bricks and a 200 grit stone intentionally to destroy an edge, and put a perfect 14 degree angle. I'd recommend water stones because they don't require messy oil. just a soak in water and a spray bottle, or work near a sink.

You need a couple things to sharpen. Get a few cheap rags together, Get a bin you can soak water stones in get a sink mount and get a few stones

$16 Sink Mount

$149 Stone set this is the one I got and learned on. It's been great so far, its expensive right now but I found the same exact set for $99.00 when I bought it a few years back.
$12 Strop Not needed but it takes your knives to the next level

This all being said. Everyone has an opinion on whats best to start with. This is the path I took and I've never been upset with my purchases :)

You may.

My sharpening kit is dirt-cheap and delivers a shaving-sharp polished edge with a little time and effort. I use silicon carbide sandpaper (1000-3000 grit), some water, a glass block, some double-sided tape and a strop with white and green compound. Total cost for the whole setup was around $30 from Amazon. Added bonus is that you can just slap a rubber band around the whole thing and pack it up into a bundle about the size of a paperback book. Once you get the blade sharp, you mostly only use the strop and some compound every now and then to keep it sharp.

Even the cheapest knife can be made obscenely sharp - it'll just require more maintenance to keep it that sharp.

Stones are great for putting an edge back on, stropping helps maintain a good edge. Just a couple strokes infrequently helps a lot.

This is the kit I got, and it works pretty well. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07214VMGB/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I need to rig up a round one for the spoon gouge next.


Or you can go for the scary-sharp method and glue sandpaper to mdf - http://www.robin-wood.co.uk/wood-craft-blog/2015/02/09/sharpen-hook-knife-spooncarving/

Best of luck though. Carving is a great past time.

I have pocket knives which are very dull. ive tried traditional knife sharpening tools sold on Amazon, the ones that make a V and you pulled the knife back-and-forth to sharpen but they don't seem to be sharpening anything. Also bought a wetstone to try but I couldn't get it to work,maybe i bought the wrong type of wetstone or something but now I'm looking into buying a strop. Does anyone know if this is a good idea or what should i do? I'm a begginer to sharpening and i don't know the procedures. How do factories sharpen knives for restaurants? Whats the pro way? Is it using a strop?
Heres the amazon strop I'm looking at.
Leather Honing Strop 3 Inch by 8 Inch with 2oz. Green White Compound https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07214VMGB/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_BMtZDbPZA0MP0

Leather Honing Strop 3 Inch by 8 Inch with 2oz. Green White Compound https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07214VMGB/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_2SUACbR5RFD03

This is what I bought and have been using. Haven't used any fluid or anything though, just the compound