sharpening by hand

[chichi]

I can sharpen a blade so it will cut hair but I use electrical tools such as flat belt sander, grinder, buffer etc.
I can do the same by hand but that takes a long time. I used a hand cranked stone today and that was fun but to go from forged blade to hair shaving edge took almost an hour by hand.
Does anyone havea consistent hand method of sharpening that does not take a lot of time.
Thanks,
Bob

[golgotha forge & anvil]

I've got one of Ed Fowler's videos and he uses an India stone to hand sharpen..he also uses kerosene on the stone instead of honing oil. I figure he knows exactly what he's doing but I don't know for sure how long it takes!

Gene

[Playinwitmetal]

You can also Use a file... It may Shave some time...

[Glenn]

a file... may Shave some time...

Pun intended?

[bhanna]

I definitely second the file. Only knife I've managed to get shaving sharp so far was using a fine file. It certainly shaved some time (and a large swath of arm hair, much to my wife's dismay).

[HWooldridge]

I am not a knife maker but do quite a bit of butchering at home so I need sharp cutlery. We also regularly entertain groups from church and the ladies always marvel at how sharp my knives are. In fact, one couple had me sharpen about 20 of her knives in barter exchange for a nice steak dinner at a local upscale restaurant. I did that entire group in about an hour and some were in really bad shape.

I use a red India stone with WD40 as lubricant; start on the medium side and move to the fine side after a few licks then finish on a good quality kitchen steel. If I was starting with a forged blade, I'd use files for most of the work until the blade was close enough to stone.

[Ken Nelson]

When sharpening by hand I use diamond stones, if a blade is badly worn or damaged, I use a flat chainsaw file to do the rough work, often draw filing to set up the edge.

[pip]

first a hack saw to get the fine bevel then a cross tooth file then a single hash file. then diamond steel finally a water stone. hack saw takes 5 min cross tooth file 10 min single hash file 5 min diamond steel 5min water stone 10 min it should be shaving sharp by then if its not you did something wrong. hope that helps. i generally keep the bevel from 25 to 30 degrees.

[Dick L.]

first a hack saw to get the fine bevel then a cross tooth file then a single hash file. then diamond steel finally a water stone. hack saw takes 5 min cross tooth file 10 min single hash file 5 min diamond steel 5min water stone 10 min it should be shaving sharp by then if its not you did something wrong. hope that helps. i generally keep the bevel from 25 to 30 degrees.

How is the hacksaw used ? Are you dragging it in a draw filing motion ? I've never heard of anyone using a hacksaw in steps toward sharpening so very interested in the correct procedure.
Thanks,
Dick

[golgotha forge & anvil]

I'm curious about using the hacksaw also..never heard of that before...thanks..

Gene