Greetings, DIYers!
Today I want to show you how you can use the materials that are (or at least should be) in almost every workshop to make an excellent tool for sharpening knives evenly.
Initially, the master wanted to buy a ready-made knife sharpener in China (namely, in the Aliexpress online store), but he thought why not try to make such a sharpener himself with his own hands. Moreover, the prices for this product from Chinese friends are rather big.
For self-production, you will need the following materials and tools:
1. Ordinary board;
2. Sandpaper;
3. Screwdriver;
4. Hammer;
5. Thick electrode 1 pc;
6. Electric jigsaw;
7. A piece of laminate;
8. Bolts and nuts;
9. Wooden handle;
10. Hex key;
11. Fluoroplastic or textolite (glass fiber).
Let's get down to actually making the sharpener.
To begin with, take an ordinary board and cut a piece out of it. Then it is necessary to process the resulting wooden blank, namely, to grind it with sandpaper.
It will serve as the basis of our homemade grinding tool.
In terms of size, it turns out that we have 26 cm in length, the width of the blank turned out to be 6.5 cm, and the height of the wooden base is 2 cm.
Also in this board you need to make holes. In total, this part of the future product will have 6 through holes. We drill 2 holes for the rack itself (more on that later). Next, we drill another hole of a smaller diameter, and also drill 3 more holes on the other side of the board, which will serve to fasten the pressure plate.
We insert nuts into the holes made.
In the future, these nuts can be put on glue so that they do not fall out, but so far everything seems to be quite tight anyway.
Then we will be engaged in the manufacture of the guide rack itself. Her master made from an ordinary thick electrode. It needs to be folded in half. Further, with the help of a hammer, the author beat off the entire upper part from the welding electrode and polished it. By the way, you can grind with an ordinary screwdriver. To do this, simply insert the electrode into the chuck of the screwdriver and, holding the sandpaper in your hand, grind the product.
At this stage, the workpiece obtained from the electrode (guide post) is inserted into these two holes.
We insert not at a right angle, but at a slight slope. The guide angle is anywhere from 65 to 70 degrees.
Everything sits down quite tightly, but also for greater reliability of our design, in the future it will be possible to put the guide post on epoxy glue, or on some other glue, or on something else.
But perhaps the master is mistaken and this is not fluoroplast. Fluoroplast is most often white and some kind of slippery. Most likely it is textolite or fiberglass. But in fact, it's not that important. The main thing is that this material is quite hard and does not wear off.
From this piece (fluoroplast or not fluoroplast), the author sawed out a kind of pressure plate. He made holes in it, as well as small holes, so that the hats went a little deeper into the plate.
Then we put this plate on the previously made wooden base. Fasten with screws.
The author took the screws with a hex key. The craftsman also made a small hole in the base of the future knife sharpener so that this key would always be in this sharpener.
The whole thing is clamped and they (the screws) are actually not visible on the plate.
But here, the master did not do the secret, since the sharpening part of the tool will not touch this screw.
Further, the author made such a plate from the same fluoroplast.
In this plate, I made 2 holes for the same hex screw.
Further, the whole thing is put here and pressed with the help of a lamb.
Then the master made just such a guide for grinding stones.
The length of the guide is 57 cm. Its author made it from an ordinary steel bar. Also cleaned it up. And on one of the ends I put just such a handle (it seems to be from an old Soviet file).
You can also strengthen this connection by putting a wooden handle from a file on the glue, but here it itself is quite tight, nothing falls out.
Regarding the attachment of the sharpening stones themselves. The author took a small piece of the clamp, cut it off and made holes. As a result, we got these corners, two of the same.
And here I put a nut with threaded threads and a clamping screw.
The master also put a spring on the guide so that you can change the grinding stones without unscrewing the nut with the clamping screw.
The sharpening stones themselves, or rather the base for these stones, were made by the author from an ordinary piece of laminate. Just cut it into strips.
The width of the strips is 2.5 cm, and the length is about 20 cm.
There are already ready-made grooves on the pieces of laminate, in fact, where the corners of the guide part of the device will become.
Then the author pasted the sandpaper on the pieces of laminate with double-sided tape and signed which one where. And, in fact, this is how it all happened:
The whole thing is set up quite easily. With the groove of the laminate, we get into one corner of the guide, and with the second corner, with the help of a spring, we press the grindstone.
All. Nothing falls out. Everything is flat and pretty tight.
Let's continue to collect further our device. We insert the guide with the grinding stone fixed on it into the hole prepared in advance for it, and you can safely begin the process of sharpening the knife.
The move is quite large due to the fact that here the author removed a small chamfer on both sides.
The simplest variation of sharpening is a home-made device made of wooden and abrasive bars. To make it, you will need two bars of each type - they must be strictly the same size. Wooden products must first be treated with sandpaper to remove all burrs from their surface.
The manufacturing procedure itself will not cause difficulties. First, mark the wooden blocks: taking into account the required angle of sharpening the knives, draw lines for future attachments of abrasive blanks. Then attach whetstones to the resulting lines and mark their width on the wood. The next step is cuts: according to the marking, make cuts of the required slope and depth of 1-1.5 cm on both wooden products. Insert abrasive bars into the recesses and fix them with bolts.
Advice. So that the resulting device does not slip on the surface during the maintenance of the knives, attach a rubber gasket to it from below - it will give the device the necessary stability.
Massive sharpener on a stand
A more complex variation of the knife sharpener is a stand with a separate support and a sharpening rod attachment. For its manufacture you will need:
- chipboard sheet;
- wood block 8 cm long and 2x4 cm in section;
- steel rod M6 or M8;
- plexiglass 6x12 cm;
- magnet with holes for fasteners;
- self-tapping screws, bolts, wing nuts;
- wooden clamps;
- rubber feet;
- saw and drill.
Sharpener construction scheme:
- Cut three blanks from a chipboard sheet: 7x8 cm, 8x30 cm and 12x37 cm.
- On the oblong side of the workpiece 8x30 cm, stepping back 6 cm from the edge, make a hole.
- In the corners of the workpiece 12x37 cm, drill holes for the legs.
- Drill two through perpendicular holes in a wooden block: the first - 3 cm from the edge, the second - 3 cm from the first. From the edge of the product to the first hole, cut out a recess 1 cm thick.
- Make a cut in the center of the plexiglass strip.
- On a workpiece 12x37 cm, stepping back 4 cm from the edge, fix the workpiece 7x8 cm perpendicularly with two screws. Fix the workpiece 8x30 cm from above with self-tapping screws.
- At the highest point of the installed workpiece 8x30 cm, drill a small recess and fix the magnet in it with self-tapping screws. Put plexiglass on the same workpiece - fasten the products with a bolt through the previously made hole and slot.
- On any edge of the workpiece 12x37 cm, drill a hole for a steel sharpening rod and fix it there with a wing nut.
- Put a bar on the rod, securing it with a bolt and nut.
- From the rod, nuts and two clips, assemble a knife holder.
- Screw the legs to the finished stand.
How to sharpen a knife?
For quality, it is not enough to build one of the above devices - you also need to master the rules of manual sharpening, and figure out the order of work.
First, the required sharpening angle of the tool is calculated - it must be maintained throughout the entire sharpening process. Then, with smooth movements, alternately “away from you” and “towards you”, begin to drive the blade along the grinding element - an abrasive or a rod. In one movement, it should go along the sharpener from edge to edge. In this case, the movements are performed perpendicular to the edge of the blade.
Important! At the end of each pass, the blade should remain on the sharpener, and not fall off it, otherwise you can not only dull the knife even more, but also deform its side surface.
Drive the blade along the sharpener with one side until a barb appears on its back side - then turn the knife over and start sharpening the second side of the blade in the same way. Continue sharpening with alternating sides until the burrs are completely gone. Gradually reduce the pressure of the knife.
How to determine the angle of sharpening?
The most important parameter for sharpening a knife is the required angle of inclination of the blades. It depends on the scope of a particular tool and the range of tasks that are assigned to it:
- Razor of any type - an angle of 10-15 degrees.
- Fillet knife - 15 degrees.
- Knife for fruits, bread and vegetables - 15-20 degrees.
- Multifunctional tools for cutting food - 20-25 degrees.
- Hunting knives - 25 degrees. Such blades are designed for cutting not only soft products, but also wood, bones, and tissues.
- Utility knives for general use - 25-30 degrees.
- Tourist and camping knives - 30-35 degrees.
- Knives for cutting hard materials - 30-50 degrees. The larger the sharpening angle, the worse such a knife cuts food, but the better it copes with wood, trunks, and plastic.
Please note that there are also combined knives: they are divided into several zones with different sharpening angles. The advantage of such tools is versatility, the disadvantage is the complexity of maintenance.
So, assembling a knife sharpener with your own hands is an excellent way out of a situation where there is no desire to buy a professional device or regularly contact the craftsmen for tool maintenance. Here are two options for making sharpeners of different levels of complexity - choose which one is within your power and use it strictly according to the indicated rules, so that sharpening is not only of high quality, but also safe.
DIY knife sharpener: video
materials
1. Plywood or plastic plate 10mm thick.
2. Screws, wing screws, washers and rod (0.5 m) with M6 or M8 thread.
3. Magnets from a used computer hard drive
4. Bearing from an old coffee grinder.
5. Emery (abrasive skins) sheets and bars of different grain sizes: 120, 320, 600, 1500.
Manufacturing
1. The fixed part of the machine is made of plywood (plastic). Strips with a length of 30 cm and 5 cm and a width of (10 ... 12) cm are fastened with the letter G from below with an aluminum corner. In the upper part we install 1 or 2 magnets (we fill them with epoxy). We drill a hole in the lower opposite part and install a threaded rod (height 12 ... 15 cm) with a bearing vertically.
On the surface (to stop the sharpened knife) we install a prepared aluminum (or stainless steel) plate with a slot in the middle (up to 2 mm thick.) With a wing clamp.
2. Movable part two options:
Option A. For sharpening with bars.
Option B. For sharpening with abrasive skins.
The aluminum profile has 4 sides with a width of 25 mm.
A strip of abrasive skin of different grain sizes is glued on each side: 120, 320, 600, 1500. For the sticker, I use stationery glue stick. After the used strip of the skin is easily removed with a knife and a new strip is glued on.
Sharpening process
1. Install the knife to be sharpened as in the photo.
The knife is clearly fixed due to the magnet and there is no need to fix it mechanically.
With the help of a movable stop, we set the knife up to the required position and fix the stop with a wing screw.
We put the moving part of the machine on the knife.
Now we set the sharpening angle by lowering down or raising the bearing with the screws.
For the first sharpening, turn the side with the minimum grit number 120 (the coarsest) to the knife blade.
sharpen until a continuous strip is obtained on the edge of the blade (width 0.5 ... 1 mm.)
Flip the knife over and repeat.
We continue the process with sandpaper 320, 600, 1500.
Now you can shave with a knife.
The same order of sharpening with sharpening bars. But in this case, there are several disadvantages:
1. The middle part of the bar develops over time, then the sharpening angle "floats", which is not the case in the first version.
2. Bars with different granularity must be changed, and in the first variant, to change the granularity, it is only necessary to rotate the edge. The bar is removed by pressing the spring with two fingers.
Now all knives are sharpened by a full cycle. If some of the knives become dull during use. I only dress these knives with 600 or 1500 grit, two to three strokes on each side of the knife.
Thank you for your attention!
"Useful homemade products" from Gamir Khamitov.
It is quite difficult to sharpen a knife by hand. It will take some time to develop the habit of maintaining a constant sharpening angle, which is not at all easy. A tool for sharpening knives can make the task easier. There are factory options. But for good copies you have to fork off a couple of hundred dollars, and this is clearly a lot. The good news is that these devices are easy to make with your own hands. Moreover, many home-made knife sharpeners are no worse in functionality than those from eminent manufacturers, but they are many times cheaper.
Knife sharpening basics
Knives have different uses, and there are several of them even in non-ordinary kitchens. There is for slicing bread, other soft foods, there is for cutting meat, chopping bones, and other hard objects. And that's just household items. But there are still those who take hunting and fishing. If you look closely, you will see that they all have a different sharpening angle (this is if they have not been sharpened at home already). It is the sharpening angle that is the most important characteristic, which is determined by the purpose of this blade.
At what angle
The sharpening angle is determined based on the main field of application of a particular blade:
These are general recommendations based on many years of experience. There are, however, options: some blades have several zones with different sharpening. This makes them more versatile, but the complexity of sharpening increases many times over.
It follows from the foregoing that the device for sharpening knives should be able to set the required sharpening angle. And this is the main difficulty in its design and manufacture.
How to sharpen
For sharpening knives, sharpening stones of various grain sizes are used. They are conditionally divided into coarse, medium and small. Why conditionally? Because different countries have their own designation of grit. The most convenient classification is according to the number of grains per unit area. It is expressed in numbers: 300, 600, 1000, etc. Some firms duplicate even English terms. Here is an example division:
In addition to grit, grindstones are also distinguished by origin: they are of natural origin (shale, corundum, etc.), there are ceramic and diamond ones. Which ones are better? It's hard to say - a matter of taste, but natural ones wear off faster and are rarely fine-grained.
Natural ones are soaked in water before use or simply moistened with it. They absorb water and, during sharpening, an abrasive paste is formed on the surface from water and separated abrasive particles, which increases the efficiency of sharpening. For the same purposes, you can use a special little (honing oil) or a mixture of water and soap (whatever you like). In general, with each of the grindstones, you need to try all these options and choose the best one.
The shape of the grindstone for sharpening knives is a bar, and it is desirable that its length be much longer than the length of the blade - it is easier to sharpen. Convenient bars with double grain - on the one hand larger, on the other - smaller. To sharpen knives for general use, it is enough to have two bars with a medium grain (different) and two small ones (one can be very fine).
Manual sharpening procedure
The device for sharpening knives only facilitates the process of pointing the edge, therefore, knowledge of manual sharpening techniques is necessary. Without them, it is impossible to sharpen the knife correctly.
The procedure for sharpening knives is as follows:
On this we can assume that the sharpening of the knife is completed. Some still bring the edge on the old belt. A piece of the belt can be fixed on a wooden block (glued, not nailed), rubbed with goyim paste. Then several times alternately hold one or the other side, but turning the cutting edge back. So the last grooves left by the abrasive are polished and the belt is not “cut” at the same time.
How to make a homemade knife sharpener
All homemade knife sharpeners solve the main problem - they allow you to accurately maintain a given angle of inclination of the bar to the blade, which is very important for obtaining a good cutting edge. There are very simple devices, there are a little more complicated, but they allow you to work with great comfort. Choose to your taste.
One of the options - from improvised means
Simple knife sharpener
In fact, this is a holder for whetstones. Everything is elementary: two triangles of wood, which are connected with studs with “lambs”. A bar is clamped between the corners at the required angle. You can set the angle using a protractor, a special program on your smartphone, or using the rules of trigonometry (right triangle).
Knife sharpener - abrasive holder
When sharpening on such a device, the knife must be kept directed strictly vertically at all times. It's much easier than holding it at a certain angle.
The same idea has a different embodiment: on a reliable basis, make movable holders into which bars are inserted and fixed in the desired position. Corporate prototype in the photo below.
Homemade tool for sharpening knives made of wooden bars. It turns out that it is light so that it does not move from its place, it must be fixed with something. In order not to hold by hand, you can use clamps.
Swivel holders allow you to set a given angle, and then fix it with the help of "lambs"
Such a device for sharpening knives, of course, facilitates the work, but it is still quite difficult to maintain the angle: you must constantly control the verticality of the blade. Such a habit develops over time, but it is difficult to start.
Fittings on wheels
An interesting variant of a manual knife sharpener with a fixed bar and a trolley on wheels, on which the knife is fixed. It is made on the basis of sharpeners for knives, chisels and planes. With a knife, such a device also works well, but you need to adapt to sharpening the rounded edge.
In this version, as in manual sharpening, the bar is stationary, and the blade of the knife, mounted on a movable cart, moves. The angle is set by the height of the bar relative to the platform on which the blade is attached. The peculiarity of this device is that the table must be level. It can be a countertop made of natural stone, you can put glass on a regular table.
In the embodiment presented above, the angle changes slightly, which is usually sufficient for sharpening the same type of kitchen knives, for example. If necessary, the design can be improved by adding holders (pictured below).
All this is implemented very simply, as it resembles an ordinary constructor: strips, there are holes in them, everything is assembled on bolts and screws.
To ensure the immobility of the bar, there is also a device.
The advantage of this whole design is that it is easy to unfold the knife while maintaining perpendicularity in the rounded area, and it is also very easy to process on the other side: you need to turn the trolley over. For this, four pairs of wheels are made.
Homemade manual knife sharpening machine
Slightly more complex and much more convenient home-made devices, which are made on the basis of well-known branded devices. They have an adjustable platform on which the knife is fixed. The site is set at a given angle. The bar is mounted on a movable bar attached to the rack.
Do-it-yourself devices somewhat repeat the design presented above, but there are some differences. There are many options. Let's bring some.
Option one: a fixed platform on which the blade is fixed
This fixture is made from the remnants of a laminate (can be used), two steel rods with a diameter of 8 mm and a movable mount.
This design has a fixed base, to which a platform with a knife lock is attached on ordinary hinges. The near edge of the platform can be raised at some angle convenient for work. But other than that, she's immobile.
On a vertically mounted steel bar, there is a movably mounted latch in which a loop is attached to the side. A rod is inserted into it, on which a bar is fixed. This loop is a simple, but not the best solution: there is no rigid fixation, which means that the corner will “walk”.
Particular attention should be paid to the latch of the bar. Emphasis is placed on the rod at some distance from the edge (about 30-35 cm). This will be the fixed anchor. The second is made movable, it is fixed after installing the bar with a screw and a thread cut into the body of the holder. The second option is to cut a thread on the rod and press the installed bar with a nut.
Knife holder - one or two steel plates fixed on a movable platform. They are fixed movably - with the help of screws and "lambs". After loosening the fasteners, insert the knife blade, clamp it. It is very difficult to move it. Then, having installed a hairpin with a fixed bar in the loop, its height is adjusted so that the required angle is set.
You can, as in the photo, make templates with the desired angles and achieve the coincidence of the planes. After the transverse bar is fixed, you can work - hold the bar in the right direction.
This tool for sharpening knives works well, but you can only move the abrasive along the blade when sharpening a kitchen knife. Classic sharpening - movement perpendicular to the cutting edge. On the straight part of the blade, this can be achieved. If the blade is short, it will be almost perpendicular, but on the rounded part on the fixed holder, this cannot be done. And all such devices "suffer" from this shortcoming. Once again, they are a great option for sharpening kitchen knives (below is another good option from the same series).
Option two: with a movable platform and a magnetic holder
In this version of a homemade knife sharpener, the problem of previous sharpening is solved. Here the frame remains motionless, which sets the angle of movement of the bar. The bar holder moves freely along the guide, set at the desired angle. The knife is mounted on a movable table. You can, as in the presented version, make a magnetic holder, you can - the usual one from a metal plate and “lambs”. Move the table so that the movement of the abrasive is perpendicular. Actually, everything is in the video.
One clarification: in this case it is very important that the surface on which the table with the fixed knife moves is horizontal and even. You can put glass or use a polymer countertop (marble will do too).
Any knife, even the best, requires careful care. If you neglect this, then over time it may stop cutting. Therefore, it is important to choose the right tool for sharpening knives. Currently, in stores you can find a huge number of stones and sharpeners.
Types of stones for sharpening
Basically, there are three types of stones for sharpening:
Features of sharpening various knives
To sharpen Japanese knives yourself, you must have sufficient skills in this area. After all, Japanese steel is very fragile, so it requires special care. Manufacturers recommend sharpening such knives on Japanese water stones. It is advisable to use several stones with different degrees of graininess at the same time, which will maintain the sharpness of the knives for a long time. Of course, this process is not easy and requires patience.
But to sharpen a kitchen knife, everyone is used to using a special sharpener. With its help, you can quickly and conveniently sharpen any knife. Of course, no housewife wants to use several stones for sharpening. However, thanks to their use, the knife will cut much better.
Conditions for sharpening
Choosing and purchasing a tool for sharpening knives is only half the trouble. It is necessary to make sure that the knife remains sharp for several months. To do this, choose a favorable angle for sharpening. Some believe that the smaller the angle between the edges of the blade, the sharper the tool will be. But this is not entirely true, since such an action can lead to the fact that the knife will soon lose its cutting qualities again. That is, the sharper it is after sharpening, the faster it becomes dull. In this case, a pattern can be identified: the smaller the angle at which the knife was sharpened, the less strength the cutting edge of the blade will have.
Sharpening task
The main task of this operation is to restore the sharpness of the blade. At the same time, the correct sharpening angle must be maintained. Therefore, we can say that in its process, the angle that was set earlier is restored. This angle must fully comply with all technological standards. The task is considered completed if the knife can be used to cut the material for which it is intended.
What problems can arise in the course of work?
Of course, choosing the right angle for sharpening is difficult. Moreover, such a process is difficult if there is no special tool for sharpening knives. After all, if you hold the blade with your hands, it will be very difficult to achieve uniform sharpening with the right angles. To fix this problem, you can use a homemade knife sharpener. Moreover, making it at home is not difficult. And although there are currently a huge number of different sharpenings, their design is not characterized by increased complexity, so it will take little time to manufacture such a device.
How can you sharpen a knife at home?
One of the main tasks of every man around the house is sharpening knives. Do-it-yourself adaptation is not only convenient, but also effective. In this case, you can independently make a device that will resemble the factory one. And you can use some improvised means:
- Hacksaw.
- Wooden block.
- Chisel.
- Sandpaper.
- Plane.
- File and the like.
In some villages, sharpening knives on the foundation is also practiced. It is made of cement-sand mortar and has a granular surface. Of course, this method cannot be called an example to follow. But if you urgently need to sharpen the blade, and there is no tool for sharpening knives, then this is a relatively good option.
Why are drawings needed?
Knife sharpeners are inexpensive. Nevertheless, many owners want to make a device for sharpening knives with their own hands. Such a device will be better than a store-bought one, since only natural materials are used in the process of its creation. In order for the manufacture of the sharpener to be completed successfully, it is necessary to carry out the process according to the proposed plan:
- Purchase or make your own drawings for clamping jaws. It is very important to draw in detail the future design. In particular, attention should be paid to small details.
- Draw a drawing of the left and right stops, which is necessary so that the assembled structure does not fall apart.
- Prepare a drawing of the guide. There are several nuances here.
Guide drawing: features
To get the guide to the right size, you should:
As you know, there are two main types of knife sharpening: one-sided and two-sided. Naturally, the methods of work in both cases differ from each other. When working with knives, the following factors should be considered:
Sharpening planer knives
Sharpening planer knives is a rather complicated process. For its implementation it is necessary to master some knowledge and skills. It is difficult to find a device for sharpening planer knives on sale. Therefore, many improve their cutting qualities on conventional sharpeners. But for this it is necessary to acquire a modern low-speed grinder with water cooling. In order to sharpen a planer knife with ease, you should find a flat and ungreased stone used in this area. It is better to use a water stone. You can find a sharpener in car workshops, where any blade will be sharpened for an additional fee.
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