One Hand Waterstone Sharpening

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stevessf

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Not by choice, I now have to sharpen my knives with only my right hand, and sadly the results are mediocre at best. I use a Norton 1000/3000 waterstone. Most of my kitchen knives are Japanese made with an array of different steels: Shirogami, Aogami, S2, VG10, and a few German knives. I would appreciate any advice regarding how to compensate and provide a decent edge. Thanks.
 
Angle guide you can lean/put pressure on. Rest should be re-training muscle memory.

You could probably step the primary edge process using a good sharpener gadget and just strop the edge with the finer side of your combo when in a hurry or other reasons we can understand very well.

I feel for you. Is it temporary, if I may enquire?
 
I always sharpen pocketknives, and often sharpen kitchen knives, holding the stone in my left hand, and holding the knife with my right. Presumably that's not option, but I can imagine having the stone propped/secured on something that approximates that same sort of position, and getting decent results.
 
ModRQC said:
Angle guide you can lean/put pressure on. Rest should be re-training muscle memory.

You could probably step the primary edge process using a good sharpener gadget and just strop the edge with the finer side of your combo when in a hurry or other reasons we can understand very well.

I feel for you. Is it temporary, if I may enquire?
Click to expand...
Thanks for your response. To answer your question – Unfortunately, a stroke took out the left side of my body so I'm doing what I can to adjust, relearn, and compensate. And I'm determined to continue to sharpen my own knives.
 
stevessf said:
Thanks. I've looked into the guide systems but I find it difficult to tell the effective from the junk.
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If you have to do it one handed I think the guide systems would be difficult, as the Edge Pro requires 2 hands, and the clamping systems ones need 2 hands to set up the knife.
I think you will eventually figure out how to do it one handed on the stones.
 
stevessf said:
Thanks. I've looked into the guide systems but I find it difficult to tell the effective from the junk.
Click to expand...

I've had a KME for years and it is excellent quality as are the Edge Pro systems. What I'm not sure about is your ability to get the blade clamped (KME) or if you can hold it on the magnet (Edge Pro)?
 
I think this was asked and addressed before. We had a forum user who lost his arm and had to sharpen with one hand only.

Let’s try to dig that thread out for you.
 
I am sorry to hear this and I wholeheartedly wish you a full recovery.

As I know it is a long and hard road, but with a strong will and patience it is possible! Even if your progress stagnates, don't give up and keep working on it!

Here is a link to a video by Jason Knight. The technique must of course be adapted, but it should also work if the stone lies on a table. Maybe you can adapt something of Jason's technique and find a way for yourself that only works with the right.



I hope it helps you, good luck and all the best!
 
I dug through the archives and wasn't able to find much useful information on one handed sharpening. This guy on youtube has some good ideas even if his technique is a little lacking. If it was me I would do what he does in the video with the block to hold the honing steel. I would get two ceramic rod hones. One coarse (500 grit) and one fine (2k+). Make a block or figure out some way to hold the rods in a vertical position. Swipe the coarse a couple of times and then swipe the fine a couple of times. This would work for a long time for apex maintenance. I am at a loss of what you can do for thinning and polishing so buy really thin hard knives and don't beat them up too much.

 
I can do an ok job with edge leading full length strokes one handed on a stone, sort of like in the Jason Knight vid. You could try that for touchups. Scrubbing is harder.... maybe mount the knife in a vice and find a smaller stone that you can use in hand?
 
stringer said:
I dug through the archives and wasn't able to find much useful information on one handed sharpening. This guy on youtube has some good ideas even if his technique is a little lacking. If it was me I would do what he does in the video with the block to hold the honing steel. I would get two ceramic rod hones. One coarse (500 grit) and one fine (2k+). Make a block or figure out some way to hold the rods in a vertical position. Swipe the coarse a couple of times and then swipe the fine a couple of times. This would work for a long time for apex maintenance. I am at a loss of what you can do for thinning and polishing so buy really thin hard knives and don't beat them up too much.

Click to expand...

Thanks for your help. I can really empathize with the video guy. But you NEVER give up and he sure hasn't. But some aspects are best left to experts I think, like thinning and polishing.
 
KingShapton said:
I am sorry to hear this and I wholeheartedly wish you a full recovery.

As I know it is a long and hard road, but with a strong will and patience it is possible! Even if your progress stagnates, don't give up and keep working on it!

Here is a link to a video by Jason Knight. The technique must of course be adapted, but it should also work if the stone lies on a table. Maybe you can adapt something of Jason's technique and find a way for yourself that only works with the right.



I hope it helps you, good luck and all the best!
Click to expand...

Great video. Thanks. And thanks for your encouragement.
 
ian said:
I can do an ok job with edge leading full length strokes one handed on a stone, sort of like in the Jason Knight vid. You could try that for touchups. Scrubbing is harder.... maybe mount the knife in a vice and find a smaller stone that you can use in hand?
Click to expand...
I like the idea of securing in a vice and sharpening with a smaller stone. I'll give it a shot.
 
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I tried this for the first time this evening, and it went alright. I used a very blunt knife on a small piece of slate, and got the knife pretty good in not much time, using basically normal sharpening technique. Couple of observations though...

It was a 165mm, it's going to get much trickier on longer knives.

Applying even pressure is difficult, particularly toward the tip. I used my index finger on the blade of the knife, but your index finger is only so long. So rather than attempting to apply the same pressure all the way along the edge I found that spending more time/passes near the tip, but at lighter pressure worked for me.

Crappy vid: https://drive.google.com/file/d/11uFKSz1ECS-93zWNqwkzzo5peoqJifiW/view?usp=sharing
 
Hello stevessf,
it seems like the knife industry hasn't done much for free hand sharpening with one hand.

For precision, I've always felt the hand on the blade is the important one, not the hand holding the handle.
I am sorry if it sounds ridiculous.
What is stopping us from not holding the handle?

This is rustic and only with what I have here.
If you can clamp the blade to a handle that is above the edge, you're good.





This may not be the most convenient sharpening set up for you.
In the other hand ;) it should be cheap, you can use the stones you already have and your sharpening sessions will be close to those you were used to have.
 
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I just noticed a recent reply to my original question regarding one-hand sharpening and found a number of more recent responses. Thanks all for your time and interest, it kind of restores my faith in people, or at least in knife people, anyway. I have worked on my new sharpening techniques and I'm glad to report my sharpening results have improved substantially. I mean, I'll never make a living at it, but at least I'm creating a decent edge. So thanks for all the encouragement and thoughtful comments. You guys are great.
 
nutmeg said:
Hello stevessf,
it seems like the knife industry hasn't done much for free hand sharpening with one hand.

For precision, I've always felt the hand on the blade is the important one, not the hand holding the handle.
I am sorry if it sounds ridiculous.
What is stopping us from not holding the handle?

This is rustic and only with what I have here.
If you can clamp the blade to a handle that is above the edge, you're good.





This may not be the most convenient sharpening set up for you.
In the other hand ;) it should be cheap, you can use the stones you already have and your sharpening sessions will be close to those you were used to have.
Click to expand...
Ingenious and really cool. I'll get my son to help with the setup and check it out.
 
Cliff Stamp had at least one Youtube video where he's sitting at a table, holding the knife with his right hand only, and just whipping that knife across the stone like nobody's business. I'll try to find the video and post it here.
 
You might take a look at the Worksharp Ken Onion as you can sharpen a kitchen knife with one hand. It is the way I do it. I am not sure there is a way to use 2 hands.
 
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Just a few ideas. Because of artritis in hands, shoulders and back I had to experiment a lot to find a still more or less comfortable way. Be prepared to abandon old habbits and explore different techniques. Chamfer the edge of your stones if you didn't already, make sure the stone is fixed somehow, accept to work with much reduced pressure, start with coarser stones than you were used to. After some time you will get used to feel and hear whether the edge has a full contact with the stone. The first time you work with little pressure you probably will need the marker trick and a loupe a lot. Eventually you will get excellent edges, if not more stable with the reduced pressure, but it will take some time. Severe thinning will remain a problem, I guess.
 
Desert Rat said:
It's really not that much of a handicap if full length edge leading strokes are used. I do it pretty regular.
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True. Very well possible as one and only technique. Checked with an admittedly well maintained knife. Only thing I had to skip: I'm used to wipe the slurry from the bevels with a maximum of pressure on a half linen towel. Leaves a good looking area behind the the edge and reduces the deburring.
 
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