Repeating a thread at General

hank_rearden

hank_rearden

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"Is sharpening overrated?" I thought this question was more relevant to traditional slip joints. Well, just in my case, I carry a slippie everyday (from a rotation) and somehow find use for it; anything from puncturing shrink wrap to whittling something tough like bamboo. And I have NEVER sharpened any of my traditionals. My bigger problem is keeping them clean and hygenic for food preparation.
 
If you don't sharpen them and use them a lot they will lose their cutting edge.

As far as keeping them clean and hygienic I would keep eating utensils including knives separate from work utility knives. I wouldn't want to cut fruit with a knife that I just used for fishing or hunting that was never properly sanitized. That's a good way to get sick. I tend to assign knives to dedicated tasks. I'm not going to use the same knife I fillet fish and touch bait and dirt with to eat a steak and then go back and forth with. The knives that stay in the kitchen are for food prep and food. My work knives don't go into the kitchen.
 
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hank_rearden said:
"Is sharpening overrated?" I thought this question was more relevant to traditional slip joints. Well, just in my case, I carry a slippie everyday (from a rotation) and somehow find use for it; anything from puncturing shrink wrap to whittling something tough like bamboo. And I have NEVER sharpened any of my traditionals. My bigger problem is keeping them clean and hygenic for food preparation.
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What brand and model are the "slippies" that you never sharpen??? :confused:

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It depends on how sharp you need your knife to be. A razor-sharp edge is relatively weak and will dull rapidly with use, while a more obtuse and therefore strong edge will last a lot longer without needing sharpening.
 
that actually brings a good question to mind, how often does one sharpen a traditional? or should? opinions? does any one keep their traditional hair popping sharp?
 
Throat poppin sharp is much more utilitarian that hair poppin sharp. Sharpen them as they need it is the way to go.
 
I used to be a hair popping sharp all day every day kind of guy. I would sharpen every second day or so at least. I finally realized that I was really causing undue wear on the blades. My favourite knives would last much longer if I sharpened them once a week and just stropped in between. Is a little rolled edge really going to kill me? Even my "dulled" knives are sharper than most knives other pepole in my life carry and they seem to get by just fine. I sure do love a hair popping edge but a slight roll in the edge for a couple days doesn't bother me and never has it hindered me.
 
Not to sound facetious, but you sharpen your knife when it gets dull. It's really that simple.

As to hair popping sharp, I think that has as much to do with your hair's characteristics as it does with the quality of your edge. For example I have very fine body hair. I have never been able to get any blade to shave it, and that includes my straight razors. My facial hair on the other hand is understandably more coarse. I have no problem shaving it with my slipjoints.

I like my knives book push cutting sharp.

 
It seems that most of my knife sharpening occurs when I first start using a new knife. Some need more effort, some very little. I usually try for a 20° bevel per side, relatively polished but not a mirror finish. My test medium for sharpness is a pad of post-it notes. I don't try to cut the whole pad, I just slice up individual sheets. I can tell by how it cuts whether there is still work to do on the edge.

Generally once I have the first-time sharpening done to my satisfaction, I just strop them every so often. I don't put my knives to particularly challenging use so I don't find myself actually resharpening (i.e. on stones) much at all. When I do, it's usually because I rounded off the edge when stropping more so than dulled it from cutting (oops).
 
Jeff_R said:
It depends on how sharp you need your knife to be. A razor-sharp edge is relatively weak and will dull rapidly with use, while a more obtuse and therefore strong edge will last a lot longer without needing sharpening.
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Modoc ED said:
Throat poppin sharp is much more utilitarian that hair poppin sharp. Sharpen them as they need it is the way to go.
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:thumbup:

I usually just use a knife if it's acceptably sharp and then touch it up as needed when needed.

As for keeping knives clean for food stuffs... It depends how dirty your knife gets doing work. Typically, the most dirty work a knife will do for me during the day is opening up a package or some letters. For that, a pen blade on a jack is enough and I can keep the main blade clean for cutting a sandwich in half (for example). If I'm going to be using a knife that will get dirtier than that, I will use a different, dedicated work knife and not worry about getting it clean for food.
 
I never knew what I was missing, in terms of what a truly sharp edge is capable of doing, until I decided to make more of an effort to make and keep my knives (all of them, including traditionals) as sharp as I could possibly manage. I think if one is asking the question, 'Is sharpening overrated or necessary?', then most likely that same individual isn't really putting any of their knives to the uses they're capable of, if they'd been kept truly 'sharp'.

My own parents have kept and used a block set of walnut-handled Chicago Cutlery kitchen knives for 30+ years, and I don't think they were effectively sharpened (if any attempt was made at all) in that entire time span, until I started 'tinkering' with them myself in the last ~5 years or so. Viewing the question from that perspective, I can see it IS possible for some knives to be minimally useful with virtually no maintenance of the edge. But also viewing from that perspective, I'm certain there likely was never any knife in their kitchen actually sharp enough to cleanly slice a tomato without mashing it. And probably not coincidentally, I don't think I've ever seen them use sliced tomatoes at all, on a sandwich or whatever, UNTIL I'd sharpened a frequently-used paring knife and started bringing tomatoes home for my own uses (and then my Dad started slicing some for his sandwiches, with the newly-sharpened paring knife). Until that happened, all of the kitchen 'cutting' chores have involved forcefully pushing dull blades through food, usually on the ceramic tile countertops. From that perspective, I think one's own knife-utilizing habits will eventually become very, very limited in effectiveness or usefulness, if the knives they're using never get sharpened at all.

BTW, that paring knife didn't get sharpened until my Dad had watched me slice tomatoes with my own traditional pocketknife (often a stainless Sod Buster Jr.). He finally 'hinted' he could appreciate a sharp edge on the paring knife, if I was 'interested' in making it so. I didn't think he'd ever ask me outright, so I pounced at the opportunity. :)


David
 
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When I get a new knife I use it "as is" (as long as it has a decent edge) unless it's not sharp enough. This gives me a chance to see if I like the knife and want to use it. If I decide to use it I'll spend some time getting it the way I like it, usually hair popping sharp. Then I maintain that edge with a leather hone charged with Chromium Oxide. I get months of use without having to resharpen.

I'd say sharpen it when it gets too dull for your purposes.
 
I love shaving sharp knives, maybe too much. I have a diamond loaded strop that I use for day to day maintenance, and a ceramic 2"x8" stone that I touch up the micro bevel with when needed. The first thing I do with a knife when I get it is cut with it, then put my own edge on it. That's half the fun of it. I hate a knife that's not as sharp as it could be.
 
Peregrin said:
When I get a new knife I use it "as is" (as long as it has a decent edge) unless it's not sharp enough. This gives me a chance to see if I like the knife and want to use it. If I decide to use it I'll spend some time getting it the way I like it, usually hair popping sharp. Then I maintain that edge with a leather hone charged with Chromium Oxide. I get months of use without having to resharpen.

I'd say sharpen it when it gets too dull for your purposes.
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I use this same method as well. If it's too blunt or obtuse I will repofile but if it's an alright edge a good stropping is all I need until I really need to sharpen once again. You can get a long while of use with simply a strop and rotating your daily carry.
 
Peregrin said:
When I get a new knife I use it "as is" (as long as it has a decent edge) unless it's not sharp enough. This gives me a chance to see if I like the knife and want to use it. If I decide to use it I'll spend some time getting it the way I like it, usually hair popping sharp. Then I maintain that edge with a leather hone charged with Chromium Oxide. I get months of use without having to resharpen.

I'd say sharpen it when it gets too dull for your purposes.
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Whoa, that's exactly what I do. If a new blade has a good edge, I want to get the most use possible without taking off metal. Then when needed, I'll put my own signature edge on (which varies depending on the knife). And with a little stropping between uses, I can get a considerable amount of life out of the edge until sharpening is needed.

But to never sharpen....ug, I've used dull knives, and used sharp knives. No question what works best. There is a reason new knives "usually" come sharpened, and not with a blunted edge.

I have many family members that have never had a kitchen knife sharpened....ever. They use them like primitive tools until when? Until the handles look bad of all things, then they go out and buy a new set. Usually once every 10-20 years. Yikes. I absolutely hate helping in their kitchens on family gatherings, and now ALWAYS bring my own to all family parties....just in case.
 
I generally freehand sharpen on stones. Strop occasionally. I often start with a fine Norton and then move to DMT fine and extra-fine. I like them sharp, but I don't need to shave with them, so I am not obsessive about it.

I use a new knife the way if came unless it is dull. Sharpen as needed.
 
I usually carry a Buck of some sort as my main edc and usually just touch it up before deer season. I can usually get through 2 deer before I touch it up again. I usually don't have to sharpen again all year and after hunting season, it's mainly used to open stuff(feed, toys, haystring, boxes)camping and fishing the rest of the year and I'll sharpen it again before the next deer season..........now and then I might give it a few swipes on the bottom of a coffee mug.
I have been carrying a Case stockman in addition the last 2 months( a gift) in the much criticized SS and I have found it to not be as bad as I have been led to believe. So far I've used it for cutting things out of a garden and opening things and I haven't had to sharpen it yet.
 
yeah the only knife ive really ever sharpened is my opinel and thats cause its the daily user to open packages and what not. couple of swipes on the lansky crocksticks for me will do. i dont know too much about sharpening. i take it one has to be more careful sharpening a traditional? not exactly a ton of extra blade stock for mistake there. then and again, shouldnt really need too much. all my traditionals usually came very sharp. even the tiny blade on my SAK pocket pal and that cut cause I had my finger in the wrong spot
 
I'm curious to know how many people have actually hand-sharpened a somewhat modern knife (10-15 years old) too much so it is now reached the end of it's life? This seems like something you'd have to do on purpose. Using a grinder doesn't count.
 
If I can't shave with it, I can't carve/whittle with it. If I can't whittle with it, I won't carry it. To me, any knife that isn't shaving sharp is dull, and dull knives are pointless. There are exceptions, but almost every knife task is better with a really sharp knife.

I was helping a friend skin a moose one day. He was struggling with his half, using a very well used Mora, I was using my LB7 - Uncle Henry Bear Paw. I finally asked to see his knife which proved to have a pathetically dull edge. "Use mine" I said, and when he did he began to smile, and the struggling was over. I did my half with a Swiss Army Tinker, which worked pretty well.

Shaving sharp knives work well for moose disassembly - not so sharp knives - not so much.

These days I often teach sharpening classes, and people are amazed that with a little instruction, they too can produce absurdly sharp edges. They are very grateful too. It is very satisfying and fun to see "the lights go on."
 
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