Define hARD TO sHARPEN

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canadian1

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i often see in posts "hard to sharpen" , "Pita to sharpen" for whatever knife/metal
please define!! Is it a case of "its not within my skill set at the moment to sharpen this knife" or " I really dont have the proper hone/stone/system for this knife/steel" or " it usually dosent take this long" or what have. you i am really interested to know.
 
I'm going with the "I can't get it sharp with my skills or equipment, so it's hard to sharpen." I think that would cover most of the times when people say it.

With a Work Sharp Knife and Tool sharpener, there's no such thing as a knife that's hard to sharpen. At least for me.
 
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Hard to Sharpen is either:

They don't have the proper tools...

Or

They don't have the skills.....
 
^ That.

Either that, or they don't realize that the steel they're working with is very abrasion resistant, and just needs more TIME on the stone than the others they're familiar with. Might be doing everything right with the right tools, but not giving it long enough to take proper effect.
 
can i ask if you think the skills remain the same ,its just maybe a different hone /stone /system thats needed?
 
canadian1 said:
can i ask if you think the skills remain the same ,its just maybe a different hone /stone /system thats needed?
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As wear resistance goes up better stones or system is needed to cut them efficiently.
 
canadian1 said:
can i ask if you think the skills remain the same ,its just maybe a different hone /stone /system thats needed?
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It's just a simple matter of physics. You can't sharpen ceramic with aluminum oxide waterstones because the ceramic is harder than the stone. And so as the steel is more wear resistant(mainly due to high volumes of carbides which are harder than the steel, and only slightly softer than the sharpening media), you'll need a harder abrasive to wear away the steel, like diamonds.
 
agreed ..thats why i find it odd to see those comments from amongst ,the knowledgeable people of this forum, i got a sneaky feeling people dont want to vary from their pet sharpening hones, stones,systems, and just label it "hard to Sharpen" its just so much easier that way isnt it...just as myself and probably all forum members can agree on there is no one knife that does it all, dosent the same apply for sharpening
 
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canadian1 said:
agreed ..thats why i find it odd to see those comments from amongst ,the knowledgeable people of this forum, i got a sneaky feeling people dont want to vary from their pet sharpening hones, stones,systems, and just label it "hard to Sharpen" its just so much easier that way isnt it
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Believe me you can really notice the difference in some of more wear resistant steels compared to steels like S30V even using the right tools.

Especially if you are reprofiling or repairing the edge.

Normal sharpening, not so much.
 
Personally, I call a knife "hard to sharpen" when it takes a long time. A badly damaged edge in a steel that grinds easily will take a long time to sharpen compared to ZDP-189 that just needs a light touch-up. I would call that soft steel "harder to sharpen."

Otherwise, if two knives exhibit the same level of wear, say VG-10 and ZDP-189, I'd call ZDP-189 "harder to sharpen" because it's going to take about 2-3x longer.

Sharpening is just about the same for any steel. It just might take more time with steels that are more wear-resistant.
 
don't agree with the last statement.

i've seen soft steels that were a pita to finish to crisp edge because the wire edge just didn't want to go. grinding isn't the only aspect of sharpening, and i honestly prefer an harder steel to grind that one that will feel "gummy" and won't deburr easily. this can be reeeaaally frustrating.

for those who wonder it happens quite often with european mass produced middle range knives in steels such as 12c27, 440 A or B etc like industrial not so good quality laguioles for exemple ... i find them more frustrating to sharpen (to my usual standards i mean, a quick passable edge is easy) than spyderco's ZDP, S90V or M4 for exemple.
 
This?

tom-brown-tracker2.jpg
 
pwet said:
don't agree with the last statement.

i've seen soft steels that were a pita to finish to crisp edge because the wire edge just didn't want to go. grinding isn't the only aspect of sharpening, and i honestly prefer an harder steel to grind that one that will feel "gummy" and won't deburr easily. this can be reeeaaally frustrating.

for those who wonder it happens quite often with european mass produced middle range knives in steels such as 12c27, 440 A or B etc like industrial not so good quality laguioles for exemple ... i find them more frustrating to sharpen (to my usual standards i mean, a quick passable edge is easy) than spyderco's ZDP, S90V or M4 for exemple.
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singularity35 said:
This?

tom-brown-tracker2.jpg
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Haha, good points.

Now that I think about it, AUS-8 is a more difficult steel to sharpen than ZDP-189. And ZDP-189 is easier to sharpen than VG-10.

AUS-8 would never lose its burr when I tried to sharpen it, and VG-10 doesn't let go of the burr as easily as ZDP-189. So in that case, ZDP-189 was "easier" to sharpen even though it took longer.

And certainly blades with more curvature are "harder" to sharpen than something with an edge closer to wharncliffe style.
 
This is one area where I agree with a guy that few people will admit to agreeing with;)

If you know how to sharpen correctly, everything is the same and there is no added difficulty.

As stated, having the correct tools for the jobs you are working on is mandatory.

Odd blade shapes certainly pose challenges, and really resistant steels will require more time to grind.

The only thing I find truly hard to sharpen is an idiot;)
 
yeah that hahaha , nice knife, its got a bit of a, holy crap factor to it, in a time consuming way
 
unit said:
Honestly, that does not look like much of a challenge. This would probably take me longer, but it still is not really all that difficult with the right tools:

C12G_M.jpg
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Oh yeh, but us lesser skilled sharpeners will find it a bit difficult. :D
 
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