How to Use Knife Sharpeners like a Pro

If you are not familiar with the world of knife sharpeners, there are A LOT of different types.  There is electric, manual, wetstone, oil stone, portable, the list seems to go on forever! In this post we are going to go over how to use each type and the advantages and disadvantages of each one. We hope you find this information use, let’s get it on!

 The first thing that we should point out is that if you are looking for an in depth review of which one you should buy, we would suggest checking out our friends website for the best knife sharpener info at TheSharpestEdge.Com. It is a GREAT guide. They talk about a lot of sharpeners and you will know exactly which one you should get.

How to use a wetstone sharpner

This video below sums it pretty good. It shows a master Japanese chief using two different types of wetstones. Both of which you have to keep submerged for a period of time.

 Let’s see how it works:




Now that you know how to use this type of sharpener, let’s talk about the good and the bad.

The Good: Your knives will be sharpener than ever, sharpener than any other type of sharpener can possibly offer. With a bit of practice, all of your chef friends will be jealous of your blades.
The Bad: Time consuming and you can look forward to messing up the knives you first learn on. It also makes a horrible scratching sound, similar to nails on a chalk board.  Make sure you practice with your cheaper knives; you do not want to risk your better stuff!

Onto Electric Sharpeners…

This video below does a great job of showing you how to use this type of sharpener. Most come with 3 different stages, the first really grinding it out, the second helping you get a finer blade, and finally buffering your knife. These are amazing; I can’t get enough of using them.Onto the video tape!



Positive: Gets your knives very sharp and easy to use. You do not have to be a brain surgeon to figure out how to use it. Chances are you can figure it out on your own.
The not so good: Very expensive. The cheap ones are… cheap, don’t buy them. They are not worth the cost and will likely mess up your better knives. Only get a lower end model if you have cheap knives.

How about those Manuel knife sharpeners?

These are also pretty good and are similar to their electric counter parts.   They get the job done and many are very affordable. Let’s see what this video has to say:

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Pros: As you can see they are pretty easy to use. They are also very affordable, most only costing around $50 for a good one.
 Cons: You might want to keep your upper end knives away from these. They also won’t work as well as electric.

The portable knife sharpeners:

 

 

 

 These are pretty good and work really well. They are really made for hunters and folks who consider themselves “sportsmen.” Although they will certainly work in the kitchen. Let’s roll the video:



Why you should get it:  As you can see they work great and are easy to use. They will get the job done no matter where you are. Even if you just shot a large deer and need to get him/her ready for dinner. A good one is also very cheap, they only cost around $20.

Why should shouldn’t get it:  If you plan to use it for your kitchen knives, it might be a little weird.  It also takes a bit of training to learn how to use.

That’s all folks!I think that wraps up this news update

My only thing left over to say is that if you plan to get just one, go electric. They are easy to use and really get your knives sharp.What do you think? Which one do you have?

Are weddings going Camo?

What type of wedding do you want to have? Is it going to be something just you will remember? Will it be something your husband will want to remember? 

The biggest question that we get nowadays is how to keep things interesting. Let’s break down this wedding problem.

The problem

Lots of weddings are just too big and expensive.  Most folks will put so much effort and spend a lot of money that is “typical,” very white bread, something most people have been to a hundred times.  The question is, how can you change it up? Well, lots of folks are achieving this by having themed weddings. Some will have a Viking wedding, others will have a Japanese wedding, anything too keep things new and interesting.

What is the most popular theme?

Believe it or not, it is a camo wedding theme. As you may of guest, for the most part these types of weddings take place in the southern parts of the United States.   Still, for the people throwing them they are a lot of fun. They typically will take place out doors and the market is very well served.  A site called Your Camo Wedding even has camo wedding rings for men, camo themed suits, wedding dresses, brides made dresses for this type of event.

Why is this better than other themes?

Well for the most part this is the most affordable. If your friends are going to be buying a number of new cloths for this special event, it is very likely they do not want to spend $200+ on a Viking outfit you will never use again.

Where do camo weddings usually take place?

For the most part they will take place outside. Most the people that threw these types of events are hunters themselves.  This will allow them to have a blast in these types of outdoor environments and further save a few bucks.

Yea but is this for everyone?

Probably not. If you want to be a bride in a nice white dress, this most certainly is not for you. However, if you have to have more than one wedding, this is a good way to save a few bucks and/or mix things up. For example a blogger I know who threw this type of event got married in the UK. For here to ship her wedding dress to her husband’s parents house would cost more than buying a new “camo dress.” Worst yet, if the dress was damaged in shipping, it would be a treasure lost forever.

All that aside, she did not want to have the same wedding experience twice! After the first time, who wants to do the same exact thing.

Another example is yet another blogger, who was once divorced. She did not want to go though the huge expense of a “traditional wedding.”  In the end she decided this was the better way to go.  She saved a bunch of money and had a great story to blog about. 

What Speargun do you use in Virginia?

Do you live in Virginia? Are you looking to start a new hobby? One sport that is really taking off is Spearfishing. It is something like an international sensation, thousands of people are showing up for Spearfishing competitions, and even more are getting into the sport. 

As many of you already know, we got some serious cost line in VA.  The fishing is great, you can surf here, why can’t you also Spearfish in the area?   Well, you can, you can catch some HUGE fish.

Don’t belive us? Below is a video of a bunch of guys spearfishing off an oil rig.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5V0jEfBqFA

Here is how you get started and the Speargun you will need:

For inshore hunting we do not have the clearest waters. It is hard to see and you will often not be able to see much. Do not get us wrong, there are days when you can see 100 feet or more, but you still want to be ready for those days where you cannot see all that much.

For days where the water visibility is somewhat limited, you’ll want a shorter gun, one that is around 100cm long, which is around 2 feet. For whatever reason the spearfishing community likes to use cm as opposed to feet.  This is probably because most of the major equipment brands come from Europe.

This way if you only have 5 feet of visibility, you will have some room to shoot your fish. For example if you have a gun that is 6 feet long and you only have 5 feet of visibility, it would making shooting game very weird and awkward.

What about when you are offshore?

When you are offshore the water visibility should be very clear and you can see a lot. On days when you head out to see you can use the bigger gear and really catch some big game.  

Just keep in mind if you want to catch fish that are 100+ pounds, you will likely need a multi band speargun.   Similar to a cross bow, the more bands your speargun has, the more powerful it will be. If you use a single band speargun on larger fish, your risk bending your equipment.

What brand should you get?

We recommend get shopping for the best Omer spearguns for sale. They have really high quality stuff and it is what we personally use.  The model that we really like using the Caymen ET, which stands for enclosed track. This gun comes with double bands and it being enclosed track makes it very accurate.

Hope you found this quick article helpful. See you next time!!

Got Spearfishing?

Hey everyone, I wanted to kick off my blog and show off a few spearfishing videos.





This guy above clearly knows what he is talking about. He made his OWN speargun out of wood. Totally cool and I cannot get enough of it.