5 reasons why you need to sharpen your knife!

psy-ops

psy-ops

Joined
Sep 27, 1999
Messages
3,164
1. Manytimes, when someone else sharpens your knife, they think they know how to sharpen. They remove way more steel than is necessary. This has happened to me 3 times. One time was on a Busse and it really messed the knife up.

2. You may be in a situation which requires a sharp knife, With no one else is around. There you are with your dull knife feeling stupid unable to perform.

3. It creates more time to feel and handle your knife. I believe it makes you a better user as well.

4. Cooks will cook more often for you when you put a razor edge on their knives.

5. It is my meditation. Very relaxing. Reserch shows that meditation is one of the most powerful tools to deal with a variety of illnesses. What better kind of meditation than that of sharpening a knife?
 
1) A dull knife doesn't cut well

2) Dull knives are more dangerous to use as it takes more force to cut

3) Sharp knives make nice clean cuts without damaging the material being cut

4) Sharp knives are easier to use than a dull knife.

5) Sharp knives are a pleasure to use, and it is nice to know that it is sharp and ready for the next task.
 
chrisaloia said:
5. It is my meditation. Very relaxing. Reserch shows that meditation is one of the most powerful tools to deal with a variety of illnesses. What better kind of meditation than that of sharpening a knife?
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:thumbup: same here
 
Only me sharpens my knives.
Never have and never will let another person touch that edge.
I read the threads about all this sharpening stuff, kits and gizmo's and such, and it's interesting,
but then I pull out my little 3" long by 1" wide, two sided stone
and put it in the palm of one hand and go to sharpening.
Works for me. :)
 
Learning to sharpen knives to hair popping level takes practice, practice, practice.

That is one reason I like having some of my blades of low grade steel: they need to be sharpened more often.
 
sasu, That is why I love AUS6&8. I get to sharpen my knives once a week. Keeps me tuned up.

I love stones. I hate sharpening gadgets. Hell by the time you set one of those up I am shaving hair off my arm.
 
I like sharpening more than I like the knives I'm sharpening. I look at it as another skill that's fun to constantly improve. I love trying to get the most perfectly aligned edge I can, achieving a sharper, more consistent edge. I also like experimenting with different steels and edge angles.

I don't understand why all the sharpening gizmos are so popular either. Even if they did better than my own sharpening, it would take all enjoyment out of it for me.
 
Hand sharpening a knife is not difficult. They did it for hundreds of years.
And they didn't have Sharpmakers.
 
Then I am some kind of retard, since getting a hair popping edge does not come naturally for me. I read the theory and I practice, but still it is a bit of hit and miss. Getting that final edge consistently is hard for me. I enjoy the challenge, though, and my life does not depend on that ultimate edge.
 
I am also know by the same name over on the Spyderco.com Forum. Over there my signature plainly says " There are few tools that are as useful as a sharp knife but on the other hand there are few tools that are as totally useless as a dull knife"

And I practice what I preach in that arena. I have said it so many times on at least 6 Forums that I belong to that it is essential and totally necessary to learn knife sharpening skills. No one cares about your knife as much as you do. You are the one that made the monetary investment and you are the one that depends on and relies on the use of your knife. To me sharpening skills are so important that I would highly recommend to anyone who buys their first premium knife to also buy a Spyderco 204 Sharpmaker to go with it.

If you are not interested in attaining sharpening skills then you will NEVER get the full benefit from knife ownership.
 
JD-A Sharpmaker requires no skill. Hand sharpening requires a "little" skill.
 
Sasu,

I find alot of people think they can't sharpen when really they don't do enough passes. Sometimes you just have to keep doing passes until you get it. It is a thing about modern time. If it ain't done in a minute something is wrong. certain harder steels take more passes.
 
sasu said:
Then I am some kind of retard, since getting a hair popping edge does not come naturally for me. I read the theory and I practice, but still it is a bit of hit and miss. Getting that final edge consistently is hard for me. I enjoy the challenge, though, and my life does not depend on that ultimate edge.
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I hear you.:D

I rarely ever need an edge super sharp, so I just go for a usable edge.
 
1whitefoot said:
Only me sharpens my knives.
Never have and never will let another person touch that edge.
I read the threads about all this sharpening stuff, kits and gizmo's and such, and it's interesting,
but then I pull out my little 3" long by 1" wide, two sided stone
and put it in the palm of one hand and go to sharpening.
Works for me. :)
Click to expand...
try that with a knife that has a nine inch blade. and also compare your edge to a professional hollow grind system then on steels and tell me if you can bone out 20-30 tons of beef running into bones and decapitating dozens of cows without sharpening again, do you think your knife does that? i know it wouldn't.stick with what you like but don't be ignorant to try something that may blow your mind. no offense meant.
 
JD Spydo said:
I am also know by the same name over on the Spyderco.com Forum. Over there my signature plainly says " There are few tools that are as useful as a sharp knife but on the other hand there are few tools that are as totally useless as a dull knife"

And I practice what I preach in that arena. I have said it so many times on at least 6 Forums that I belong to that it is essential and totally necessary to learn knife sharpening skills. No one cares about your knife as much as you do. You are the one that made the monetary investment and you are the one that depends on and relies on the use of your knife. To me sharpening skills are so important that I would highly recommend to anyone who buys their first premium knife to also buy a Spyderco 204 Sharpmaker to go with it.

If you are not interested in attaining sharpening skills then you will NEVER get the full benefit from knife ownership.
Click to expand...

i agree it's like having a car with no gas, a gun without bullets,or a plate without food. if you aren't going to learn how to sharpen then maybe you shouldn't have a knife. people borrow my knives on a daily basis and they know without quetion that any one of my knives shave, they always bring me their dull butterknife like blades and broken blades and want me to sharpen them and fix them. i gain some pleasure from this though, i like feeling needed. and i am useful to them, on the other hand it gets anoying at times because they think they can do anything with them and repeatedly bring them back to resharpen. you don't use them for screwdrivers,prybars,rock cutters, what ever these idiots do with their knives. have respect for you knife,don't use it for stupid stuff unless you are really in a bind then if you screw it up you can fix it because you know how to sharpen.:cool:
 
littleriddick said:
try that with a knife that has a nine inch blade. and also compare your edge to a professional hollow grind system then on steels and tell me if you can bone out 20-30 tons of beef running into bones and decapitating dozens of cows without sharpening again, do you think your knife does that? i know it wouldn't.stick with what you like but don't be ignorant to try something that may blow your mind. no offense meant.
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I said that I like to use a handheld stone,
what the hell does that got to do with decapitating cows :eek: or boning 30 tons of beef :confused:
I ain't no professional butcher and I don't need to compare my edges with anybody.

No offense taken.:)
 
littleriddick said:
try that with a knife that has a nine inch blade.
Click to expand...
I have, just takes a little longer.

and also compare your edge to a professional hollow grind system then on steels and tell me if you can bone out 20-30 tons of beef running into bones and decapitating dozens of cows without sharpening again, do you think your knife does that? i know it wouldn't.stick with what you like but don't be ignorant to try something that may blow your mind. no offense meant.
Click to expand...

Bet? I haven't had to touch my main beefcarver to a stone in about a year, just a lick on steels when I use it.
 
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