[James Masters]

I have a GI sharpening stone, the one in the picture attached.

main problem is i don't know if this stone needs water or oil or what. it is the only stone i have and im new to the whole sharpening thing. i have a few short blades that i want to sharpen, so i got this little stone. i know its a tad small to be overly practical i will get a larger one eventually.

anyways straying off a tad. if anyone can tell me what needs to be done to sharpen a small blade up with this it would be massively appreciated.

Thanks in advance,
Nekroze

[Hadrian Coffin]

Hello,
Oil works well, pretty much any oil (motor oil, gun oil, olive oil...). You can use water, or just sharpen dry. It doesn't really matter. Sharpening can be a tad tricky, once you get the hang of it however it becomes second nature...like riding a bicycle. With that little stone though, it is going to be very tricky. If you have blades of any value I would advise NOT sharpening until you've had a bit of practice. I often refurbish and buy used knives, the most common problem I get is messed up edge geometry from amateur sharpening (this destroys value). The worst is when people that have no experience use electric grinding wheels! What I would advise doing, is going into a Walmart and buying a ton of $0.99 knives and practicing...try using various oils and honing solutions, water, plain stones, etc.
Cheers,
Hadrian

[Dan P]

It takes practice to become good at free-hand sharpening. If your milage is like mine, you'll probably ruin the first and maybe the second knife you try it on. I've gotten pretty good at putting edges on small knives, but all my knives are "working" so I don't care if they get a little scratched up.

One thing I always heard was that if you use oil or water on a particular stone, you want to continue using that medium on the stone the next time you sharpen. Not sure this is true or not though.

So the way I learned to sharpen was to use a cheap knife and a permanent marker. Use the marker to color over the edge bevel of the knife, and then use the stone to sharpen off the marker. This'll let you spot places where you're being uneven on the stone and where you're holding the blade at the wrong angle. Don't force the knife into the stone- just let it rest and "find its own angle", so to speak. I guess there are better guides out there on the internet but this is my tips.

[James Masters]

Thanks guys, gotta get some oil now.

will return if i have another question, thanks again.

[Lin Robinson]

Also get a good leather strop to remove the wire edge you are going to get when sharpening any knife. I don't personally use a strop, opting instead for a leather scrap, but then I like to do things the hard way.

Practice, practice, practice, preferably with something inexpensive to start off.

[Jean Thibodeau]

[Hadrian Coffin]

Hello again,
I was browsing a website when I came upon this article (http://www.ebladestore.com/sharpening_tips.shtml), I thought it had a well described approach and reminded me of this topic. I do hope this comes of some use to you.
Cheers,
Hadrian