Sharpening Procedures

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We can understand you might be a bit nervous about trusting your blades to us.

See the equipment we use, and sharpening procedures we follow for knives like yours - we illustrated our sharpening process for most types of blades.

We sharpen with jigs that adjust to blade thickness and set symmetric bevels, and maintain persistent edge angle, controlled with a laser protractor in the process of sharpening. You can specify any edge angle for your blade.

See to yourself, we withhold no information about our sharpening routines.

Carbon steels

Stainless mainstream (e.g. kitchen & butcher knife)

High-end and tool steels

Ceramic

Folding knife
Japanese single-bevel

Cleaver

Convex blade

Concave & Recurve blade

Straight edge, sheepsfoot

Serrated knife

Scissors >

Hatchet, tomahawk & axe

Scissors

Household, embroidery, fabric and tailor scissors etc.
Mount the support plate on the Universal Support.

Set the grinding angle using AngleMaster; a common angle is 60 degrees.

The Tormek scissors jig has two pieces: the support plate, and the blade clamp. The angle of the blade clamp wedge is 10 degrees.

If sharpening at 60, set AngleMaster to 70 degrees, and set the grinding angle directly to the support plate (not between the two clamps as in their manual).

Now clamp your scissors bevelled side down in the scissors jig, aligning the blade parallel.

As you grind watch the other blade to remain clear of the side of the stone.

Sharpen on coarse grit 220, either on Aluminium Oxide wheel SG-250, or Silicon Carbide SB-250, until you get a burr along the entire length of the blade.

Grind the other blade the same way.

Dismount the scissors from the jig.
Finish off the sharpening process by holding the scissor blades apart by the tips and closing them so that the cutting edges don't come into contact, then opening them normally to remove the burr and burnish the area where they rub. Do this a few times before closing them in a normal way, this step is critical.
Check for the burr on the bevelled side, and smooth away on a Spyderco ultrafine ceramic bench stone if any.

Test sharpness.

(Do not hone scissors, unhoned they cut better.)

Recommended videos made by famous Tormek sharpeners:

By Jeff Farris >>

By Steve Bottorff >>

Smaller scissors, like those in multitools, are sharpened with the Spyderco Sharpmaker, first profiling with their diamond-impregnated triangle, and then sharpening with the medium-grit triangle stone.

(Spyderco diamond triangles are 220 grit, and the medium ceramic grit is equivalent to JIS #1000.)

Mount the support plate on the Universal Support. Set the grinding angle using AngleMaster; a common angle is 60 degrees. The Tormek scissors jig has two pieces: the support plate, and the blade clamp. The angle of the blade clamp wedge is 10 degrees. If sharpening at 60, set AngleMaster to 70 degrees, and set the grinding angle directly to the support plate (not between the two clamps as in their manual).
Now clamp your scissors beveled side down in the scissors jig, aligning the blade parallel. As you grind watch the other blade to remain clear of the side of the stone. Sharpen on coarse grit 220, either on Aluminium Oxide wheel SG-250, or Silicon Carbide SB-250, until you get a burr along the entire length of the blade.
Grind the other blade the same way.
Dismount the scissors from the jig. Finish off the sharpening process by holding the scissor blades apart by the tips and closing them so that the cutting edges don't come into contact, then opening them normally to remove the burr and burnish the area where they rub. Do this a few times before closing them in a normal way, this step is critical. Check for the burr on the bevelled side, and smooth away on a Spyderco ultrafine ceramic bench stone if any. Test sharpness.
Smaller scissors are sharpened with the Spyderco Sharpmaker, first profiling with their diamond-impregnated triangle, and then sharpening with the medium-grit stone. (Spyderco diamond triangles are 220 grit, and the medium ceramic grit is equivalent to JIS #1000.)