knife sharpening.

Jeff, it wouldn't hurt to give it a try, maybe first with a knife you don't care much about. I'm a sort of knife geek myself, and I hang out at Spyderco's factory showroom in Golden from time to time. Their advice is to sharpen at 40 degrees, which my kitchen Chef Choice won't do (they suggest an even sharper 30 degrees for fine kitchen knives like a Henkel). Most of my outdoor knives won't even fit into my Chef's Choice, so I've taken to doing all my knives by hand. I get a killer edge that way, and it gives me something to do while I'm trading stocks online. You might find a knife dealer locally, and ask them to demo their knife-sharpening technique on one of your knives. If it looks easy enough to you, you might just consider buying some cheap setup to do your own knives. Of course, once you get the hang of it, your girlfriend's mom will want you sharpen all her knives. Then your friends hear about your new talent, etc. etc.

Your GF's parents machine will sharpen your knife – if you don't mind a really lousy edge. The edge will not be at all polished, which means it will lose its sharpness relatively quickly. A knife sharpened on a stone by hand will keep its edge much longer, and be sharper as well.

As suggested, get someone who knows how to sharpen a knife to show you how. I know there's people in Sac who can sharpen knives – a friend of mine works there! ;-) If you want to send me a private message, I can put you in touch with him.

Learning to sharpen a knife is not hard, and once you get the hang of it, you can sharpen anything.

Here is a forum dedicated to knife sharpening, if you want a ton of advice!

http://www.knifeforums.com/forums/showforum.php?fid/48/

This will horrify the purists, but it is the smallest and lightest one that I have found so far and that I can use ( well a chimp could use one …)
About 3" long and 1 oz. My knives are sharper than before now, not necessarily "sharp".
Franco
As a kid I had a sharpening stone and could use it, maybe I need to practice that again…

The easiest way to get a consistently good edge o a knife, especially for a novice, is with the Spyderco Sharpmaker. It consists of a plastic base with two sharpening rods protruding vertically at the appropriate angle. All you do is draw the knife down and back, keeping the blade straight, alternating from stone to stone to get both edges of the blade.

Here is a YouTube video that shows it better than I can descrbe it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48UZT7uskqg&feature=related

(Still trying to figure out how to embed youtube and links. . .)

Drift…
Flix – you don’ have PM set up yet…

To embed a link look here.

….now back to sharpening.

At home, i would +1 the Spyderco or learn how to sharpen on stones, look up Japanese synthetic water stones.

On trail, for a cheap and light sharpener, take a index card sized piece of thin cardboard and glue 400 grit wet/dry sandpaper to one side and 600 on the other. Or you can get one of these:
Lansky Mini Crock

about an ounce and easy to use, the only drawback is it’s set to 45 degrees which is a bit obtuse.

"…the only drawback is it's set to 45 degrees which is a bit obtuse."

Matching the angle of a sharpener to the angle of your blade is keep to fast and efficient sharpening. Otherwise you are doing a lot of re-shaping each time you switch sharpeners.

This is why many scissors come with matching sharpeners.

A Lansky sharpener kit W/5 graduated grits, including a diamond hone, is the way to go. I've seen Japanese synthetic stones and the Lansky stones look the same in texture. The stones LAST and cut steel quickly.

You have a choice of the 30, 25, 20 and 17 degrees. The knife blade is clamped to the angle guide and the sharpening stone guide rod fits in the chosen angle guide hole.

Your knife will be sharpened at the chosen angle, period.

Eric

Greg – Thanks! Is it possible to embed YouTube videos as well?

Tohuru – I've thought about getting the mini Lansky for backcountry hunting trips. (For other hunting trips I keep the Sharpmaker with the game bags & such on the pack frame.) For regular backpacking trips I generally haven't had the need to sharpen before the trip was over. (Stropping on your belt can keep an edge in shape for a long time if you don't wait until the edge is already dulled.)

Thanks everyone. I'll probably try the knife sharpener for now and see how it works. Then look into something else in the future.