Can you sharpen while sitting down on the floor?

[josemartinlopez]

Stupid question, but does anyone here sharpen while sitting down on the floor? I usually sharpen with a polycarbonate tub and sink bridge on top of my kitchen counter, standing, but lately I've been wanting to do this beside a window, porch door or balcony. It's such a stress reliever and very meditative. Just wanted to know if this will strain your back or lead to bad technique because the stone is placed too low.

 

[M1k3]

Sure.

 

[josemartinlopez]

Sorry I watched that so Long ago I completely forgot about it!

 

[Carl Kotte]

Yes, I do it all the time. I don’t like it, but well, I do it anyway.

 

[Kawa]

You can sit however you want.

The trick is: get as consistent as possible.
You can find all kinds of basic techniques on how to possition while sharpening. All those techniques are tips to keep your body as steady as possible, without being totally uncomfartable. So it's the most easy way to keep consistent. A lot of people keep it that way forever, since they are used to that.

If you have made a lot of knives razer sharp while standing on your head, keep doing that! It's about you being able to repeat yourself in the most 'autistic' way.
How you do that, is up to you.

If you find your movements inconsistent, you could reflect on your bodyposition as a tip and try a different possition... Look for what works, just don't switch every other week out of impatience when the results aren't where you want them to be.
Give yourself time to adjust and get used to something new.

 

[esoo]

I would say two things are important:
- that you can hold the edge of the blade consistently at the same angle to the stone
- that you don't give yourself a repetitive strain injury due to bad "posture"

After that, your body position should be what works for you.

 

[lowercasebill]

In summer i sit in the breezeway on a pillow and sink bridge over busing tub.
Winter over the sink

 

[amithrain]

I find that having the stone around 2 inches lower than solar plexus height helps keep the most consistent angle because your arms rock in a circular manner if the stone is too low and it’s just uncomfortable to sharpen too high. If you can get the stone somewhere around there, sharpening on the floor won’t really make a difference.

 

[Kawa]

I sharpen sitting on a desk, sitting in a desk chair. That's the way I started years ago, never thought of changing it. My stone is on a semi-wet towel on the desk. If I need to get new water on my stone, I take the stone of and put it a little tray with water that's on the floor next to the desk. I like to sharpen with music on, I pick whatever I feel like listening to at that moment. I sharpen in the living room, my wife hates it when im doing coarse stones After years of flipping the knife (I always had more trouble with the side with has the edge towards your body), I recently (few months) switched to switching hands for the left and right side. Practised long enough untill it started to feel natural. yesterday I tried flipping again, just to try. I can't even do that anymore.
It is all wrong. It works for me.

Some time ago while in the best of my concentration (you know, when mind and body are one. When you forget about everything around you and are completely one with the sharpening) I catched myself on a new habit:
I lock my elbows and shoulders while having the arms and hands very loose and I move my upperbody to make the sharpening motion. I even turn, and raise this way. I find I'm having the best results lately and I like it. I can really feel what the knife is doing on my stone. The biggest improvement is the nice sharp/straigt edge I more often get around the belly of the knife, especially on Western style. The belly was always the most difficult for me (uneven sharpening), and when I raise and turn my upperbody to follow the knifes curvature, I get way more consistent results.

The wife says it looks kinda strange but she likes the knives Im providing her

 

[bahamaroot]

I can't sit in the floor anymore, to hard to get back up.

 

[ian]

After years of flipping the knife (I always had more trouble with the side with has the edge towards your body), I recently (few months) switched to switching hands for the left and right side. Practised long enough untill it started to feel natural. yesterday I tried flipping again, just to try. I can't even do that anymore.
It is all wrong. It works for me.

Same story here, except that I always sharpen with the edge toward me! Hah. For me, it’s easier because you can exert pressure (when helpful) with your left hand by pushing straight ahead instead of curling your fingers over the blade and pressing down. This is especially helpful when thinning, I find. And it helps you avoid having to turn your knife perpendicular to the stone when you get toward the handle. But on the other hand, I still flip when I do that last alternating stropping strokes to get rid of the remaining burr, and in that setting, I find that edge away from me is easier! So I guess whatever works is the right way.

 

[Kawa]

Same story here, except that I always sharpen with the edge toward me! Hah. For me, it’s easier because you can exert pressure (when helpful) with your left hand by pushing straight ahead instead of curling your fingers over the blade and pressing down. This is especially helpful when thinning, I find. And it helps you avoid having to turn your knife perpendicular to the stone when you get toward the handle. But on the other hand, I still flip when I do that last alternating stropping strokes to get rid of the remaining burr, and in that setting, I find that edge away from me is easier! So I guess whatever works is the right way.

Haha, I like to put pressure on the edge with my fingers and having my thumb on the spine for balance and a bit forward/backward guidance. (I'm right handend) With the edge towards me it was the other way around: the thumb of the left hand on the edge and the fingers around the spine for balance. I always tend to sharpen on a too low angle this way, not hitting the very apex.

 

[GeneH]

Sure.

This. Once I watched that quite awhile ago I started to go outside and sit in the grass with a 6x6 or larger block of wood popped up. Makes for a nice change. I'm 61 and plan on being able to sit anywhere when I'm 81.