55 experts share their best knife sharpening recommendations

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stef1

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Oct 16, 2014
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Hello,
I've spent the last 3 weeks getting in touch with professional knife sharpeners and experts, and eventually published an article containing 55 different experts' tips to beginner knife sharpeners. I think you guys might be interested in reading it.

I'm new to the forum and I don't know if I can post an external link. Just delete it if it's against the rules!
http://www.knifeplanet.net/55-experts-share-knife-sharpening-tips/

Thanks,
Robert
 
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I'm not a moderator but as long as you aren't selling anything you should not be out of bounds posting the link.
 
There's a sprinkling of good advice there, but it's not coherent. Meaning, it's from so many sources that you can't really use it as any kind of a road map for how to do the process, or even how to improve your process. Interesting idea, but I would like to have seen more information from fewer sources.

...and of course I have my own ideas of what the important parts of sharpening are.... and only a few of the things I think are important were highlighted.

Brian.
 
+1, a couple I thought were kinda funny. "Wear goggles" being one of them, I practice pretty good PPE usage but for knife sharpening it's a little over kill.
 
Hi, thanks for your opinions.

@bgentry, of course, if you have your own ideas & technique it means you already know how to sharpen your knives. This article is for beginners and it's not a "step by step guide to sharpen your knives correctly", but a list of quick recommendations. A newbie reading might be like "okay, I should stop and learn the different angles first" or "alright, I might try to use a marker". At least that's what I thought before getting in touch with all these people :).
Anyway, I have a question for you. I'll have the opportunity to talk with some professional knife sharpeners, and would be able to interview them. what do you think I could ask them? I'd like to know what you, as a more advanced knife sharpener, would like to see or find useful.
 
Some of the points could be whole chapters in a book. For example, #12 match the angle of sharpening to the knife and its use. What are the possible uses of a knife and the corresponding appropriate angle?

# 16 Keep a consistent angle. Well, how do you do that?

I'm not criticizing. Just stating the obvious that the article is good start to a book.
 
Very good suggestions for beginners. If you can progress through this list you've probably learned enough to advance from 'beginner sharpening'.

One little nitpick. One recommendation is to practise on a cheap knife, but then in the list it says that 'a cheap knife will not give proper feedback on how you're progressing.' Perhaps that should be something like 'poor steel will not give you proper feedback...' And add 'practise on a cheap knife of good quality.'

I think it's an excellent source for beginners.
 
Rey HRH said:
Some of the points could be whole chapters in a book. For example, #12 match the angle of sharpening to the knife and its use. What are the possible uses of a knife and the corresponding appropriate angle?

# 16 Keep a consistent angle. Well, how do you do that?

I'm not criticizing. Just stating the obvious that the article is good start to a book.
Click to expand...

Yes! I totally agree with you.
This article is by no means a complete/comprehensive guide. Not even a guide.
It's a list of tips, hints, recommendations. Nothing more, nothing less. It's like asking somebody for a quick recommendation.
"You should color the bevels with a marker" - That, by itself, means nothing. But if you dig deeper you will find plenty of resources on that subject, on forums, books...

Chignecto Woodsman said:
Very good suggestions for beginners. If you can progress through this list you've probably learned enough to advance from 'beginner sharpening'.

One little nitpick. One recommendation is to practise on a cheap knife, but then in the list it says that 'a cheap knife will not give proper feedback on how you're progressing.' Perhaps that should be something like 'poor steel will not give you proper feedback...' And add 'practise on a cheap knife of good quality.'

I think it's an excellent source for beginners.
Click to expand...
Thanks :)
I know, but here's the thing. I thought it would have been nice to keep all the opinions unchanged. I believe there's no 1 right way to do things, especially in sharpening knives. Every knife sharpener has their very own methods. Just to quote a knife sharpener I interviewed:
"A good compilation. I disagree with a couple of points but that is why each sharpener has his own method. What works for me may not work for you. "
 
stef1 said:
Anyway, I have a question for you. I'll have the opportunity to talk with some professional knife sharpeners, and would be able to interview them. what do you think I could ask them? I'd like to know what you, as a more advanced knife sharpener, would like to see or find useful.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure what I'm interested in would be interesting to your target audience or not. I think I could have some pretty involved discussions with some pros, but I'll limit myself to just a couple of questions:

1. What grit level do you stop at for the majority of blades and what kind of abrasive do you use? I.E. aluminum oxide belt, ceramic belt, diamond of some sort, etc.
2. How much, if any, thinning to you do to customer's blades? Meaning removing metal higher up on the blade that doesn't form part of the cutting edge.
3. What cut test, if any, do you use on a blade when you're finished?

Thanks,

Brian.
 
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