Sharpening vs. Honing

[aaronmichael]

Hello All,

First post on here. My dad bought me a Benchmade Griptilian a while back and I love the knife. I carry it around in my pocket for nothing in particular, just to use when I need it. A couple weeks ago I thought I had lost the knife and started looking into buying a new knife which led me to reading more about the various types of steel, sharpening methods, and what not. I ended up finding the knife after about a week. Unfortunately the blade is quite dull after lots of use. Everyone online says that you shouldn't really send knifes off to be sharpened. If you're going to own a knife, you should know how to properly sharpen it and maintain it. Which I completely agree with. I'm simply lost as to where to start with this process.

As I've discovered, there's a difference between sharpening and honing. Honing simply involves realigning the "curl" in the blade to make it sharp again. While sharpening means actually removing material. My question is, how do you know if you need to sharpen or hone? Or should these be done at the same time? Are these terms often used interchangeably? I looked up whetstones on Amazon and most of them say "sharpening stone" but from my understanding, whetstone and honing steels are used for honing, not sharpening. Can these two things be used for both honing and sharpening? I'd imagine that a lower grit whetstone would sharpen and a finer grit whetstone would hone? Any help with the terminology and materials used would be greatly appreciated. I was young when my dad bought me the knife but now that I'm in my 20's, I can appreciate more the quality of the knife and want to be able to take care of it. Thank you!

 

[Allen R.]

anything except a butchers steel is gonna remove some metal even stropping, Basically you go it it down "sharpening" to me is taking a knife and going from a course stone then going up in the grits, then when you get to around 600-1000 grit or higher your more of honing or polishing, your still removing metal just not as much, the higher grit stone you have the sharper you can get your knife, as far as how often to sharpen or hone, if you maintain it properly you shouldn't haft to take it to stones that often if you have a ceramic rod or strop, and you just maintain your edges after you use the knife. Me personally I never let any knife get dull, when I use it I strop it , If stropping won't bring my level of sharpness i want back ill go to ceramics , If that doesn't work I will go down until I find the right grit stone to get the knife back sharp again, then go all the way through the grits again, then finish off with a strop.

 

[9blades]

A steel is used to:

Honing is IMO just a term for a very very fine stone it just removes metal on a very small scale.

And I'd look here its very good info
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharpening_stone

Just my $0.02
Hope this helps.

 

[speesky]

Unfortunately the blade is quite dull after lots of use.

Sounds like it needs sharpening not honing !

...sharpen or hone? Or should these be done at the same time?

proper sharpening should include honing if by honing you mean 'straightening' the edge.

Are these terms often used interchangeably?

I think so, I've heard reference to honing as being what you describe by straightening the edge, but also sometimes used for refining the scratch pattern on your edge, as in starting your sharpening on your first rough stone is sharpening, and moving onto a finer stone is honing, as in, after the rough stone the knife is already sharp, then refining it is known as honing, I guess if when someone says honing they mean something different than just 'refined' sharpening then I guess they are drawing the line at metal removal, as in sharpening removes metal and honing doesn't it just helps reallign the edge like a honing steel does. Unlike the steels that have diamond abrasive on them or are made of ceramic, these would remove metal, so then I guess it depends on your definition of honing. (I don't know what the historical first use of the word was meant to entail but I'm just going off what I read in various media that mentions the word.)

I looked up whetstones on Amazon and most of them say "sharpening stone"

as far as i'm concerned 'whetstone' can be translated straight to 'sharpening' stone, whetstone and waterstone are not interchangeable, I guess you could say a waterstone is a type of whetstone in the same way you can say a waterstone is a type of sharpening stone. but a whetstone is not always a waterstone but both will remove metal and therefore both can be said to sharpen,

I'd imagine that a lower grit whetstone would sharpen and a finer grit whetstone would hone?

I guess if your definition of honing lets it include metal removal?

I may be wrong in that there is a solid definition on what 'honing' means but anyway I hope this helps !

 

[9blades]

anything except a butchers steel is gonna remove some metal even stropping, Basically you go it it down "sharpening" to me is taking a knife and going from a course stone then going up in the grits, then when you get to around 600-1000 grit or higher your more of honing or polishing, your still removing metal just not as much, the higher grit stone you have the sharper you can get your knife, as far as how often to sharpen or hone, if you maintain it properly you shouldn't haft to take it to stones that often if you have a ceramic rod or strop, and you just maintain your edges after you use the knife. Me personally I never let any knife get dull, when I use it I strop it , If stropping won't bring my level of sharpness i want back ill go to ceramics , If that doesn't work I will go down until I find the right grit stone to get the knife back sharp again, then go all the way through the grits again, then finish off with a strop.

You beat me to it......Sigh I need to type faster
But very good info.

 

[Obsessed with Edges]

I'll also agree with previous comments. 'Honing' is still 'sharpening' (both remove metal), but usually to a more refined degree.

Personally, I view 'aligning' or 'straightening' an edge as different from either honing or sharpening. It's possible to re-align or straighten a very fine, but curled, edge on materials that do almost zero abrading (honing) on hardened steel, such as highly polished glass, wood, paper or fabric. Or even on other steel/metal of lesser hardness. It's more about 'bending' the steel back into alignment, and less about actually re-shaping it by abrasion.

(from the Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (bold emphasis added by me) )

hone n., v., honed, hon·ing.
–n.
1. a whetstone of fine, compact texture for sharpening razors and other cutting tools.
2. a precision tool with a mechanically rotated abrasive tip, for enlarging holes to precise dimensions.
–v.t.
3. to sharpen on a hone: to hone a carving knife.
4. to enlarge or finish (a hole) with a hone.
5. to make more acute or effective; improve; perfect: to hone one's skills.

David

 

[aaronmichael]

Thanks for all the information. Given the specifics that I had given, what would everyone suggest starting out with? I suppose I'll try my hand at using a whetstone and see what that does to the blade. Just not sure of what grit I should purchase and if there is a brand in particular to look after. I saw that DMT had some very positive reviews on amazon but those aren't traditional whetstones, correct?