Knife sharpener with your own hands: an effective device

Knife sharpener with your own hands: how to make an effective device

Even the best knife requires sharpening from time to time to restore sharpness. If the device is not sharpened, it will cease to perform its function and may cause injury, because the blunt blade easily jumps off the surface. Instead of giving the device to the master for sharpening, you can do it yourself. A knife sharpener with your own hands is not too difficult to perform. Even improvised materials are enough for its manufacture.

If desired, anyone can make a sharpener for kitchen knives

Why use a knife sharpener: the main reasons for blunting the tip

The procedure of sharpening knives with your own hands is a painstaking process, the result of which is the restoration of the cutting abilities of the knife blade. One should not think that a base that is too sharp is more dangerous than a blunted one. A well-sharpened knife is easier to enter even into a soft cut surface, unlike a blunt blade, which can slip off at any moment.

Improper maintenance and care can cause rapid blunting of knives

Useful advice! The frequency of sharpening depends on the quality of the blade, on the characteristics and frequency of use of the device. At the same time, you need to understand that working with a blunt point is not only dangerous, but also requires more effort when working in the kitchen. The hands suffer the most from excessive loads.

Of course, you can refer the product to the master of sharpening, but in this case there is no guarantee that he will handle the device carefully and make a high-quality restoration. It should also be borne in mind that in order to carry out sharpening not at home, you will need to spend not only money, but also your free time. If you make a homemade device for sharpening knives, you will not have to go anywhere and it is easy to bring the knife into working condition in a short time.

Whatever the quality of the blade, it will still blunt sooner or later. Even when working with a soft material, the blade steel loses its cutting abilities, and microscopic pieces of steel are removed from the blade, as a result of which not only sharpness is lost, but also the shape of the cutting surface changes. Deformation of the base also occurs due to the fact that during the cutting process, the blade almost always deviates in one of the sides, it depends on the force of pressing and on which hand the cutting is carried out. Other causes of blunting of the tip:

First of all, the frequency of sharpening depends on the quality of the knife and the frequency of its use

How to sharpen a knife: the main stages and the principle of operation

In order to properly perform everything for sharpening knives, you should adhere to a certain algorithm for performing actions. To get a perfectly smooth and sharp blade, you will need to go through several stages of work, each of which involves the use of different tools:

The process of sharpening knives includes several successive stages

Useful information! Separately from all the stages, the editing process can be carried out, which consists in restoring the position of the side surfaces of the edge wrapped in the sides. When performing this kind of work, the steel is practically not removed from the surface of the knife.

How to choose the right stone to sharpen a knife with your own hands

The simplest homemade knife sharpener is a stone block. The main thing here is to correctly determine the type of abrasive, especially since from a properly selected set of stones you can make a device for sharpening planer knives and other carpentry or kitchen tools with your own hands. Before you make a knife sharpening machine, you need to know the main types of grain used for work:

The stone for sharpening can have a grain size in the range of 200-6000 Grit

When choosing a stone for a grinding device with your own hands, you should also pay attention to its color: the darker the shade of the surface, the more abrasive it will have. The light shade indicates the fine grain of the stone.

The easiest way to sharpen a knife is by hand with a special bar

Important! The choice of the right abrasive should be approached especially carefully, because it is on this that the performance of a homemade knife sharpening machine will depend.

In general, the following types of stones are chosen for the grinding tool:

Stones for sharpening knives are natural, oil, artificial and water

Some outlets offer to use even rubber stones for sharpening, but it should be borne in mind that it is extremely difficult and inconvenient to work with them. The most useful and convenient is the use of ceramic abrasive, which combines a large number of positive qualities.

The basic rules that are recommended to follow when sharpening knives

To properly prepare the tip of the knife for work, you should start sharpening with the use of a bar of medium or coarse grain, and the choice will depend on the initial condition of the blade and the degree of its damage. For easier use of a homemade knife sharpener made with your own hands from a bar, it should be securely fastened. Next, you need to determine the correct angle of sharpening the blade.

Table of standard values of the blade sharpening angle:

It’s interesting! If you look at the drawings of hunting knives, you can pay attention to the fact that they all differ in shape, length and width of the blade. Despite this, the sharpening angle, regardless of the model, varies from 30 to 40 °.

It should be borne in mind that the angle of inclination on each side is half of the required value. Movements when working with the blade should be smooth and without strong jerks. The first movement is carried out from itself, and the base must pass along the stone with the entire length. Maintain the same angle of inclination should be throughout the entire period of sharpening, otherwise it will not be possible to achieve an ideal result.

To maintain the desired angle, when reaching the point of rounding, the knife should be rotated slightly. It is important to make sure that when sharpening the blade does not completely come off the bar, otherwise the side face of the blade can be damaged or deformed. Subsequent movements are performed in the opposite direction.

Before working, it is important to correctly determine the angle of sharpening the knife

The sharpening work should be carried out until a bending plane appears on the base. To check the sharpness, you do not need to swipe the blade with the pad of your finger, so as not to get hurt. If the work was done correctly, the edge of the blade will have the same width along the entire length. Having achieved the perfect result on one side, you need to turn the device over and repeat all the steps on the reverse side.

If there are any irregularities or scratches, you need to take a bar with a finer grain and continue to smoothly move the cutting surface along the bar in the direction away from yourself, gradually reducing the degree of pressure. To achieve shine, GOI paste or leather fabric is used as standard.

Knife sharpener with your own hands: the most common types of designs

There are many schemes and drawings of devices for sharpening knives with their own hands, which differ in different designs and manufacturing methods. You should not choose the simplest versions of models, because with them it will be possible to perform only one of the stages of work qualitatively. Despite the fact that the production of a more complex design will take more materials and tools, the process of sharpening the blade itself will take less time, and the result will be noticeably better.

The sharpener in the form of a rack-holder is able to change the angle of inclination and the position of the knife

Before you make a device for sharpening knives, first of all you need to determine the amount of work that will be performed using the design. This is due to the fact that in a situation where it is required to put several kitchen knives in order once a week, it is absolutely not necessary to bother with complex drawings of knife sharpeners with your own hands and make a professional machine. If a person is fond of collecting knives, hunting or constantly uses knives in work, it is better to try once.

The simplest, self-made knife is considered to be a whetstone clamped between two stops, which is sometimes quite enough for use in ordinary everyday conditions. To perform the design, you will need to cut out two wooden triangles and fasten them together with metal screws. The stone used is clamped between two supports.

A feature of such a device for sharpening knives with your own hands is the fact that the triangles are fixed only in one position, but the angle of inclination of the grindstone can be changed. For a more accurate setting of the correct angle, it is recommended to use a conventional protractor.

Another small-sized knife sharpener with your own hands with an adjustable sharpening angle is a movable rack-holder equipped with two bars that can change not only the position, but also the angle of inclination. A distinctive feature of the machine is the need for additional fixation on the table with the help of a holder, the simplest and most reliable option in this case is a clamp. The disadvantages of using the design also include the difficulty of maintaining the correct turning angle throughout the entire period of work.

Before choosing the type of machine for sharpening, it is necessary to determine the scale of work that the sharpener will perform

Interesting information! Very often, drawings of devices for sharpening knives with your own hands can be found on the Internet. So, among the masters, sharpeners made by the example of the famous company “Lansky” are very popular, characterized by good performance and ease of execution.

How to make a device for sharpening knives with your own hands: video of the process

A fairly simple type of knife sharpening with your own hands is a rectangular wooden block, the upper part of which is given a shape resembling a gable roof. The edges differ in the standard angle of inclination of 20-25 °, optimally suitable for sharpening kitchen knives. To obtain a more convenient device in the manufacture, you can use templates of knives that are planned to be sharpened frequently.

Related article:

Knife sharpening tools: a simple and quick way to make the blade sharp

Types and characteristics of devices. What materials are used to make sharpeners. How to sharpen different knives correctly.

For sharpening, the blade is applied close to the ridge, after which an abrasive wheel or a grindstone with emery is taken and horizontal movements are made along the sharpening line of the blade. In this case, it turns out to provide a constant angle and uniform sharpening of the cutting base.

To make a more complex homemade knife sharpening machine with your own hands, you will need to prepare the following materials:

Drawing of a knife sharpener and other tools based on the engine

• the board is 50 cm wide, the length and thickness should be within 15×2 cm;
• a threaded metal stud that will serve as a guide for the grinding bar;
• bolts, nuts and screws needed to assemble the sharpener;
• nuts for strong fixation;
• the material for the substrate under the knife, you can use textolite or plexiglass;
• neodymium magnet, it is important to note that a conventional magnet is not suitable for this purpose due to the low downforce.

Useful advice! Not all designs require the creation of a preliminary drawing of a knife sharpener, in some cases it is enough to follow the step-by-step instructions to manufacture the device.

The first stage of the work is to prepare the foundation. To do this, you need to take a piece of chipboard or any other material that is convenient to work with. The board needs to be cleaned and treated well, so as not to get a splinter in the process. To create a convenient knife sharpener with your own hands, the size of the base board should approximately be 40×12 cm. Then an inclined table top is attached to it, differing in slightly smaller dimensions, for example, 30×10 cm.

A sharpener made with your own hands will allow you to constantly keep the knives in proper shape

To achieve the correct position of the countertop, it is fastened to the base with a small square piece of board, the recommended height of which is 7 cm, this will be enough to form a convenient angle of inclination of the countertop. For convenient fixation of the blade in the upper part of the base, a powerful magnet is fixed in a pre-cut cavity. Also, a knife holder plate is attached to the countertop using a self-tapping screw. In order to be able to change its position depending on the width of the blade, it is recommended to cut a groove that allows you to move the mount up / down.

In addition to the countertop, a stud is fixed on the base, which serves as a mount for a carriage with a grinding bar. The guide is made of a small bar, on one side of which a hole for the stud is drilled – 8 mm, and on the other side a cut is made and a clamp is installed that allows the guide to rotate freely on the stud.

The holder for the bar is also made of a stud, at one end of which a camber is fixed, and the total length of the part should not exceed 60 cm. The bar is fixed on the holder with the help of small elements that are fixed in the desired position by means of nuts. As a grinding device, either a stone or a wooden bar with sandpaper of the desired grain size fixed on it is used. To ensure a full-fledged sharpening cycle on a knife sharpening machine made with your own hands, you can prepare several bars of different grain sizes at once.

To work, the holder with a grindstone is inserted with a cambric into the hole on the guide, and the knife is mounted on a magnet and pressed by a plate, after which you can start sharpening.

How to make a homemade device for sharpening knives on sandpaper

A grinding machine or emery is considered universal. A self-made device is used for sharpening jointer knives, meat grinders, chisels and any other tool in need of sharpness. To create such a sharpener, you need to purchase a working small engine. For this purpose, a motor from an old washing machine, juicer or other household appliance is suitable. Another difficulty lies in the need for an adapter that perfectly matches the diameter of the motor shaft.

Sometimes, to make it, you will need to create a drawing of a knife sharpening machine and provide the dimensions to a turner who can make the necessary detail. Then the finished adapter is mounted on the shaft and secured with a bolt and washer with a nut.

Important! When creating an adapter, the thread on it and on the nut should be cut based on the direction of rotation of the motor shaft. When rotating clockwise, the left–hand thread is executed, if on the contrary – the right-hand one. In case of non-compliance with this rule, when sharpening, the nut will work for unwinding, and this is fraught with the fact that the stone will fly off.

The device on the emery allows you to sharpen not only knives, but also other tools

For the manufacture of emery, it is not necessary to purchase a powerful motor. 400 watts is considered the optimal indicator, but even a 100-200 Watt motor will be enough for domestic use. The number of revolutions is usually in the range of 1000-2000 revolutions per minute. To protect yourself from flying metal shavings, it is recommended to additionally make a casing.

As for emery circles, circles made of electrocorundum with the marking 25A are suitable for processing non-solid metals, from which most household appliances are made. In most cases, such circles are distinguished by white color. Due to the features of the material, the steel does not overheat, and the quality of sharpening remains excellent.

Self–sharpening a knife is not the easiest task, especially for a beginner, but over time, with constant practice, you can learn to perform the process no worse than any master. If desired, it is recommended to try to make a knife sharpening machine with your own hands, the drawings of which are easy to find in open sources. At the same time, it is not necessary to build complex structures, because even a simple but well-made sharpener will help keep the blades in perfect condition.