I like a sharp knife as much as anyone. Being a knife knut, probably more than most people. But can we obsess to the point of no return?
I used to go hog wild sharpening my knife. Going from a washita arkansas to a hard arkansas, to a super hard arkansas. Strop on leather rubbed down with jeweler rouge. I thought nothing of spending an hour fooling around sharpening my knife. Try to whittle hair. I used to take great pride in having the sharpest knife around, and enjoying the envy of my fellow army personel, or later my co-workers. But then life moved on, and I got older. Perspectives and views changed.
I remember one day at work, I was in my 30's, and there was this old guy, Andy. He was watching me touch up my knife, and I guess I was really getting nit picky, and he askes me 'Kid, what the heck are you doing?"
Now I'd seen Andy touch up his knife, and working in a machine shop cutting grimy tape off bundles of round stock, a knife gets dull quick. But while I was spending time with fine, very fine hones then stropping, Andy would just give it a few swipes on a brown Norton India, and go on about his job. The boss made it clear he didn't really like me spending time sharpening my knife either. His point was, if the other guys could do it in a few minutes, why can't I. Of course the answer was, "I'm a knife knut, and I obsess over this." The boss told me to un-obsess, and get to work.
Next time my knife needed to be sharpened, and I just couldn't wait till after work, I did the Andy routine. I took a small India stone out of my tool box drawer, gave it a few swipes, and it felt better. Much to my surprise, it cut stuff very well. I cut round stock loose to go on the lathe, I cut off the burr from some delrin parts I did on the mill, cut open grimy carbard boxes of parts to be modified. I started taking a new look at sharpening phillosophy. I decied to spend less time sharpening.
These days I'm an old retired senior citizen, and I am using my knife more than ever. Theres fishing with the grandkids, fishing with my better half of almost 40 wonderful years. There's camping, canoeing, sailing on the bay, and woods rambling with our binoculars for hours. My pocket knives have been used in any given week in those activities. Retirement is a busy time, not too mention that since I only have so many heartbeats left, I don't want to spend any of the time I have left doing anything but fun.
These days, I find myself limiting my sharpening to 5 minutes. Thats it. If I feel my knife getting a little dull, I take out the little Eze-lap hone in my wallet, and take a few minutes to resharpen. I'm not going to obsess over micro bevels, angles, microns of grit, or any other horse hocky exept 'will it cut?" If my knife cuts the plastic clam packs open, cuts open the fish belly for cleaning, cuts the cotton jute twine to tie up a sagging tomato plant, and open my mail, then it's sharp enough. If somebody wants to get in a contest whittling hair, he's gonna have to go someplace else 'cause I'm not bothering.
I gave up obsessing over that "Is it sharp enough?" many years ago now, and I'm glad I did. It's a liberation to get to the point where you realize it really does not matter the degree of super sharpness you get past a servicable point. I've made the discovery that in the real world, it gets ridiculous real fast.
For most of my life, I've been the only real knife knut I've known. Most of my friends when I was a kid, thought I was nuts. Most of my fellow service members thought I was nuts. Most of my co-workers thought I was nuts. Looking back on it now, I have to agree with them, I was nuts. I was obsessed. Somehow they all got the exact some things done with a knife that I did, on camping trips, fishing trips, at work, with what I thought in my youthfull arrogance was dull knives. They had cheap pocket knives scraped across the grey dished in carborundum stones that thier grandfather used. I felt superior wth my setup of multiple grit stones, and I was sure that I had the better edge. But watching Andy give that beat up Buck cadet a few scrapes across an old carborunum stone, and then field dress a nice buck neat as can be, made me think. His little knife went through hide and meat just fine. A light went on over my head, like in the cartoons. Enlightenment.
If you just like to sharpen knives, and enjoy fooling with all the stuff as a hobby, okay, thats fine. Have at it. Be my guest. But if you just want to use your knives, and have a fast effective sharpening to get them back in service easy, then why bother with all the stuff the sharpening manufactors want to sell you? It's just not needed. For many years now the only tool Ive used to sharpen my knife is the old Eze-lap model L I keep in my wallet. I cut off most of the red plastic handle so it will fit in the zipper compartment of my wallet. Sometimes I'll really do it up big; I'll take off the Dickies work belt I wear, and give it some stropping. Wow!
I don't own any sharpmakers, edge pros, gizmo's or gadjets of any kind. And I refuse to take more than 5 minutes to fool with my knife edge. I just touch it up for a few minutes with whats on my person, and fold it up and put it back in my pocket. I couldn't begin to tell you what angle it is, I have no idea and just go by feel. Life is too short at this stage of the game, and there's too many fish I have to catch, hot dog sticks to whittle with the grandkids, lots of can's to plink with the .22 with the grandkids, and woods to walk with that special lady I've shared a life with. No way I want to spend an hour fooling with my knife. I rather be using it doing something I love.
Yet somehow with all this fast and crude sharpening, my knife will still shave a few hairs off my arm, open panfish bellies for cleaning, and cut that jute twine for the tomato plants we have in pots on the back deck.
And that's good enough for me.
I used to go hog wild sharpening my knife. Going from a washita arkansas to a hard arkansas, to a super hard arkansas. Strop on leather rubbed down with jeweler rouge. I thought nothing of spending an hour fooling around sharpening my knife. Try to whittle hair. I used to take great pride in having the sharpest knife around, and enjoying the envy of my fellow army personel, or later my co-workers. But then life moved on, and I got older. Perspectives and views changed.
I remember one day at work, I was in my 30's, and there was this old guy, Andy. He was watching me touch up my knife, and I guess I was really getting nit picky, and he askes me 'Kid, what the heck are you doing?"
Now I'd seen Andy touch up his knife, and working in a machine shop cutting grimy tape off bundles of round stock, a knife gets dull quick. But while I was spending time with fine, very fine hones then stropping, Andy would just give it a few swipes on a brown Norton India, and go on about his job. The boss made it clear he didn't really like me spending time sharpening my knife either. His point was, if the other guys could do it in a few minutes, why can't I. Of course the answer was, "I'm a knife knut, and I obsess over this." The boss told me to un-obsess, and get to work.
Next time my knife needed to be sharpened, and I just couldn't wait till after work, I did the Andy routine. I took a small India stone out of my tool box drawer, gave it a few swipes, and it felt better. Much to my surprise, it cut stuff very well. I cut round stock loose to go on the lathe, I cut off the burr from some delrin parts I did on the mill, cut open grimy carbard boxes of parts to be modified. I started taking a new look at sharpening phillosophy. I decied to spend less time sharpening.
These days I'm an old retired senior citizen, and I am using my knife more than ever. Theres fishing with the grandkids, fishing with my better half of almost 40 wonderful years. There's camping, canoeing, sailing on the bay, and woods rambling with our binoculars for hours. My pocket knives have been used in any given week in those activities. Retirement is a busy time, not too mention that since I only have so many heartbeats left, I don't want to spend any of the time I have left doing anything but fun.
These days, I find myself limiting my sharpening to 5 minutes. Thats it. If I feel my knife getting a little dull, I take out the little Eze-lap hone in my wallet, and take a few minutes to resharpen. I'm not going to obsess over micro bevels, angles, microns of grit, or any other horse hocky exept 'will it cut?" If my knife cuts the plastic clam packs open, cuts open the fish belly for cleaning, cuts the cotton jute twine to tie up a sagging tomato plant, and open my mail, then it's sharp enough. If somebody wants to get in a contest whittling hair, he's gonna have to go someplace else 'cause I'm not bothering.
I gave up obsessing over that "Is it sharp enough?" many years ago now, and I'm glad I did. It's a liberation to get to the point where you realize it really does not matter the degree of super sharpness you get past a servicable point. I've made the discovery that in the real world, it gets ridiculous real fast.
For most of my life, I've been the only real knife knut I've known. Most of my friends when I was a kid, thought I was nuts. Most of my fellow service members thought I was nuts. Most of my co-workers thought I was nuts. Looking back on it now, I have to agree with them, I was nuts. I was obsessed. Somehow they all got the exact some things done with a knife that I did, on camping trips, fishing trips, at work, with what I thought in my youthfull arrogance was dull knives. They had cheap pocket knives scraped across the grey dished in carborundum stones that thier grandfather used. I felt superior wth my setup of multiple grit stones, and I was sure that I had the better edge. But watching Andy give that beat up Buck cadet a few scrapes across an old carborunum stone, and then field dress a nice buck neat as can be, made me think. His little knife went through hide and meat just fine. A light went on over my head, like in the cartoons. Enlightenment.
If you just like to sharpen knives, and enjoy fooling with all the stuff as a hobby, okay, thats fine. Have at it. Be my guest. But if you just want to use your knives, and have a fast effective sharpening to get them back in service easy, then why bother with all the stuff the sharpening manufactors want to sell you? It's just not needed. For many years now the only tool Ive used to sharpen my knife is the old Eze-lap model L I keep in my wallet. I cut off most of the red plastic handle so it will fit in the zipper compartment of my wallet. Sometimes I'll really do it up big; I'll take off the Dickies work belt I wear, and give it some stropping. Wow!
I don't own any sharpmakers, edge pros, gizmo's or gadjets of any kind. And I refuse to take more than 5 minutes to fool with my knife edge. I just touch it up for a few minutes with whats on my person, and fold it up and put it back in my pocket. I couldn't begin to tell you what angle it is, I have no idea and just go by feel. Life is too short at this stage of the game, and there's too many fish I have to catch, hot dog sticks to whittle with the grandkids, lots of can's to plink with the .22 with the grandkids, and woods to walk with that special lady I've shared a life with. No way I want to spend an hour fooling with my knife. I rather be using it doing something I love.
Yet somehow with all this fast and crude sharpening, my knife will still shave a few hairs off my arm, open panfish bellies for cleaning, and cut that jute twine for the tomato plants we have in pots on the back deck.
And that's good enough for me.
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