Coffee mug for sharpening?

D

dcpopo

Joined
Aug 20, 2004
Messages
144
Hi All,

Has anyone tried to use the underside of a coffee mug to sharpen their knife? The unglazed rim.... or is this type of ceramic too soft?

Best -Coop
 
I've never "sharpened" a knife on the bottom of a ceramic mug or bowl but I have "steeled" them to put a quick edge on a hopeless knife at friends' houses. I'm not quite sure if it is removing steel (sharpening) or just straightening or honing the existing edge (steeling).
 
I had a hunting buddy sharpen a master hunter with the under side of a mug once. it turned out ok....
 
As long as the mug surface is smooth, it will work fine. Don't count on the mug to remove a lot of metal, but for touching up an edge it works as well as any other ceramic.
Bill
 
Clay waterstones are just the red clay used for making flower pots, mixed with abrasive and baked into bricks.

Porcelain is a finer kaolinite clay (hydrated aluminum silicate) baked at higher temperatures and so becomes a much harder ceramic... mainly another aluminum silicate called mullite (mohs hardness about 7), possibly with some aluminum oxide and quartz, depending on whether they added feldspar or other materials to the clay. So, yes, coffee mugs are quite hard enough to act as sharpening stones, as is the lid off your toilet! The grit rating would be a bit hard to pin down, but probably almost as fine as a crock-stick sharpener, depending on the quality of the mug.
 
I've touched up really bad edges at friend's homes like Mycroftt. One blade was so dull that I used the side walk just to get somewhat of an edge, then got it somewhat sharp on the bottom of a ceramic bowl.

Years ago, an electrician showed me a old ceramic insulator that he used to sharpen his knives. It was a piece of white round ceramic about 3.5 inches long.
 
I have been in the kitchens of other family members and friends who use really dull kitchen knives. Either I cannot find the sharpener or they do not have one. In these cases I run the blades along the bottom edge of a large dinner plate. The larger the plate the better. It gives me a better working edge, but in some cases when their knives are just too dull for the plate, then I simply use one of my EDCs to prepare the food.
 
Years ago I found some MAC kitchen knives at a garage sale. I was amazed to find them all sharp. The woman who had them had maintained them by honing on the bottom of a plate. This kept them sharp for something like 15 years. The MAC salesman had insisted that they should only be sharpened on the bottom of a plate. She almost wouldn't sell them to me when I suggested that I might use an Arkansas stone on them.
 
Jeff Clark said:
Years ago I found some MAC kitchen knives at a garage sale. I was amazed to find them all sharp. The woman who had them had maintained them by honing on the bottom of a plate. This kept them sharp for something like 15 years. The MAC salesman had insisted that they should only be sharpened on the bottom of a plate. She almost wouldn't sell them to me when I suggested that I might use an Arkansas stone on them.
Click to expand...

My mother had a couple of MAC knives and she also received the instruction to use the unglazed bottom of a plate or cup to keep them sharp. It always worked for her.
 
I have used mugs, they work quite well with a light touch. However the fact that I can be certain I will run into dull edges with regularity is why I always carry sharpening stones with me.
 
Yes, I have heard that old ceramic electrical insulators are a good sharpening material, Just make sure they are taken out of service, alot of people still have the old knob and tube inservice..say in a crawl space or an attic..where electric load is rather light.
My mother use to rub her paring knife over the edge of a dark brown ceramic bowl. and that would bring the edge back enough to peel spuds or vegatables.
bill
 
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