Do y'all hone your knives?

[jim preston]

I hear so much talk about resharpening, yet I never here any talk about honing. Honing (on a butchers steel), say, once a week, will help your edge to last longer. I'm sure most of us do it for our kitchen knives, but I've never heard anybody talk about honing their pocket knives, outdoor knives, or mall-ninja werewolf killing combat knives.
It is a lot easier to do some proper edge management than to have to resharpen, in my experience.

 

[Cougar Allen]

Let’s see if we can find the right forum …

 

[Lucky Bob]

Let's see... a butcher's steel (grooved, I assume) does two things... realign a displaced edge, and remove a small amount of steel like a file (although if it's a smooth steel, the latter half is moot.) By moving the steel back into place, you further fatigue and weaken it. My opinion, and my understanding is that it's a common one around here, is that it's better to have a harder edge that will (on a small scale) flex instead of distorting, and avoiding a steel altogether.

That being said, yes, maintenance (in the form of a strop or similar exceedingly fine abrasive) is a better plan than waiting for the edge to get wrecked and then reforming it from more or less scratch, both in terms of time spent and metal removed.

 

[bozack]

I will use a fine ceramic stick to touch up the edge from time to time. Stropping is also apart of keeping the knife sharp.

 

[kindred_spirits]

For kitchen knives, yes I use a steel. For my folding knives, I'd rather touch them up on the Sharpmaker fine stones.

 

[Hard H2O]

I hone on the same strops that I use to finish and refine my edges with when sharpening.

 

[Vivi]

I hone on the same strops that I use to finish and refine my edges with when sharpening.

Same for me. Which means fine or ultrafine ceramic rods and a strop. I just give a few swipes per side on the microbevel and then strop.

 

[Zeasor]

Let's see... a butcher's steel (grooved, I assume) does two things... realign a displaced edge, and remove a small amount of steel like a file (although if it's a smooth steel, the latter half is moot.) By moving the steel back into place, you further fatigue and weaken it. My opinion, and my understanding is that it's a common one around here, is that it's better to have a harder edge that will (on a small scale) flex instead of distorting, and avoiding a steel altogether.

That being said, yes, maintenance (in the form of a strop or similar exceedingly fine abrasive) is a better plan than waiting for the edge to get wrecked and then reforming it from more or less scratch, both in terms of time spent and metal removed.

"... moving the steel back into place" (= realigning) with a smooth steel may??? "further fatigue and weaken it" but that does not necessarily mean the edge is too weak to do the job at hand. It is certainly better than cutting with a mis-aligned edge. Stropping will do the same as a steel unless you strop long enough with an abrasive compound to remove the possibly "fatigued" steel in which case you may be removing more steel than necessary for the job a hand. Those who shave with straight razors truly appreciate a sharp edge. They (the ones I know) strop their razors every day to realign the edge and continue to do so (sometimes for weeks) until the edge requires honing. If they were to subscribe to this "fatigue" theory, they would be honing their razors every day thereby shortening the lives of their razors drastically. For my knives, I prefer to gently use a smooth steel (just a couple of strokes) for as long at it yields the desired results, then I grind away some more steel. This saves blade steel and I continue to cut with very sharp knives.

 

[Hard H2O]

"... moving the steel back into place" (= realigning) with a smooth steel may??? "further fatigue and weaken it" but that does not necessarily mean the edge is too weak to do the job at hand. It is certainly better than cutting with a mis-aligned edge. Stropping will do the same as a steel unless you strop long enough with an abrasive compound to remove the possibly "fatigued" steel in which case you may be removing more steel than necessary for the job a hand.

I agree. What would you do with an edge that was rolled if you did not have a steel or a strop? You would either cut with the sub par edge or sharpen it. Sharpening will shorten blade life more than honing. Honing will lengthen the useful life of a sharpened edge. When honing is no longer effective then you sharpen and remove the weakened material.

 

[Lucky Bob]

Hrmm, seems you're onto something. I hadn't considered that a strop would cause the same types of fatigue that a steel would.

Looking back, I believe I was saying that it's better to use a harder blade, one that would chip out when used a normal steel, and a strop, in which case the chances of it deforming are lowered (different stress-strain curve, it'll flex more, break sooner, and only have a small, if any, window for taking the bend permanently.)