Does this kind of sharpener even WORK?!

[wongKI]

What device do you use to sharpen your brick?


Stitchawl

I meant brick as opposed to scraper I've at least gotten a knife to shave off a brick, albeit not for long (poor steel and nasty wire edge).

Not going to approach anything that you or Knifenut do obviously but IMO, a flat abrasive surface can produce a good edge.

 

[cziv]

You guys ran poor chriscov021 off permanently - 1 post and holding

I meant brick as opposed to scraper I've at least gotten a knife to shave off a brick, albeit not for long (poor steel and nasty wire edge)

Blame it on the blade steel eh wongKI?

 

[hkpokes_you]

Richard J and his paper wheels. Hands down. Best value, turnaround time, factory consistent edges, I have gotten from a sharpener. He's also creative and will help you out with oddball projects.

I'm going to team up with him at some point for my next batch of kitchen knives. Chisel ground 52100 - I am lapping the back flat with a bucket of diamond slurry, and he is doing the bevel with his death-wheel. I just need to find the time...

 

[Nathan the Machinist]

As far as putting the correct edge on a knife for a particular use, my money would be on Richard. He's been doing it a long time.

 

[singularity35]

My money would be on the veterans who will prove knowledge/wisdom beats gadgetry.

Agreed!

 

[me2]

As far as putting the correct edge on a knife for a particular use, my money would be on Richard. He's been doing it a long time.

Got one headed that way soon. I have to see what these wheels can do, though I'm certain it will be better than the carbide pull through stuff.

 

[singularity35]

Now it would be something if crisco came back with a video of him pushcutting wet TP.

 

[cziv]

Now it would be something if crisco came back with a video of him pushcutting wet TP.

That's right: "back off before you try one!" Whatever that meant. I suppose to shut up and use it first since he can get better edges with his BM field sharpener than anyone skilled with an EdgePro, stones and strops.

 

[shecky]

I am not saying pull through sharpeners are junk though. There are WAY too many people that satisfy their needs with them to call them junk!

This. I've defended carbide sharpeners before because they just work, and are perfectly satisfactory for most folks. My Mom, for example. She doesn't care about shaving letters off newsprint, or diamond grits, or paper wheels, or looking at the edges of her knives with a microscope. All she knows is that when her knives don't cut like they used to, she runs them through one of these carbide gizmos a few times, and the knifes are magically sharper than they were. She doesn't know how they work. She doesn't care. All she cares about is that they work. And for her, they do.

I'll go even further, and make a challenge. If you, as a knife nut, can't sharpen a knife with a carbide sharpener, then you really don't know how to sharpen a knife. Sure, you may know "hold at this angle", and "use xxx grit", and "wheel this or that", but what you really know amounts to a magical incantation if you don't understand why you get good results with those formulae.

 

[THG]

This. I've defended carbide sharpeners before because they just work, and are perfectly satisfactory for most folks. My Mom, for example. She doesn't care about shaving letters off newsprint, or diamond grits, or paper wheels, or looking at the edges of her knives with a microscope. All she knows is that when her knives don't cut like they used to, she runs them through one of these carbide gizmos a few times, and the knifes are magically sharper than they were. She doesn't know how they work. She doesn't care. All she cares about is that they work. And for her, they do.

It's not about "not getting the perfect edge" or anything like that. It's about what the carbide sharpeners do to your knife: tear up the edge and bevels.

 

[cziv]

All she knows is that when her knives don't cut like they used to, she runs them through one of these carbide gizmos a few times, and the knifes are magically sharper

Watch what yer posting or Granny will slice-n-dice you!! :thumbup:

 

[shecky]

It's not about "not getting the perfect edge" or anything like that. It's about what the carbide sharpeners do to your knife: tear up the edge and bevels.

Which is exactly what happens whenever you sharpen a blade. It's likely the method knife nuts use just make it look prettier.

A carbide cutter is simply a single tooth file. If I were to take a file and use it to sharpen, say a machete, nobody here would blink an eye. But if I took a carbine cutter and did the same thing, OMG HORROR! Even if the result if functionally the same.

 

[KennyB]

Which is exactly what happens whenever you sharpen a blade. It's likely the method knife nuts use just make it look prettier.

A carbide cutter is simply a single tooth file. If I were to take a file and use it to sharpen, say a machete, nobody here would blink an eye. But if I took a carbine cutter and did the same thing, OMG HORROR! Even if the result if functionally the same.

No, because a file has thousands of little teeth that do the cutting, in an equal and distributed manner. As do sharpening stones with all the little abrasives. Sharpening an edge with a carbide edge is just shearing metal off, it's not actually grinding it away in a small and precise manner like a file or an abrasive would. As knifenut's picture pointed out earlier, it makes pieces of the edge tear off as the carbide edge shears across it.

You summarize the difference as "prettier", and when you get down to the bare bones of functionality that may be all it really is if you're not using a knife for much more than opening the odd packaging or cutting up the odd dinner, but when a really fine edge is actually needed one from a carbide sharpener is just a poor excuse.

Realistically speaking, all of these $30 pull-through gadgets could be easily and superiorly replaced with a $5 grooved kitchen steel.

There's an old trick where you can scrape the edges of two knives together to "sharpen" them. It's the same shearing effect, but with a softer material doing the shearing.

 

[richard j]

if you care anything about your knives, you dont use something that is going to waste steel and shorten the life of the knife. i bet anyone that uses one of thoes useless contraptions goes through a lot of knives and money.

 

[richard j]

me2. you might as well go get you a set of wheels. you will like the edge. you can get a knife sharper than you ever thought you could by hand and have plenty of time to go out and dull it up again before the sun sets.

 

[singularity35]

if you care anything about your knives, you dont use something that is going to waste steel and shorten the life of the knife. i bet anyone that uses one of thoes useless contraptions goes through a lot of knives and money.

Well said Richard J.:thumbup:

 

[pvicenzi]

I actually was given one of those sharpeners as a gift. I was just about to discard it, when I found out the body is a fairly fine ceramic that works for touchups. Just use the side as you would a small stone.

 

[unit]

if you care anything about your knives, you dont use something that is going to waste steel and shorten the life of the knife. i bet anyone that uses one of thoes useless contraptions goes through a lot of knives and money.

BINGO!!

Most people in this world (not on this forum) either do not know how to care for, or simply do not care about their knives.

Look at practically EVERY knife you have ever seen advertised on TV...the big attraction is that the "best ones" NEVER need to be sharpened! I think this is a window into what most people really want (to not have to ever care about their knives).

When you do not want to do nothing, you will seek the closest thing to "nothing" you can find. A pull through sharpener is about as close as you can get...and it is hard to argue that a really horrible knife in an utterly despicable state of negligence, will perform slightly better as a result of a few passes through this thing.

We need to keep in mind that for some users, this thing WILL actually improve the edge. I can post up some photos of knives people bring to me if you want examples of the levels of neglect I am talking about.

 

[berzerker]

I'll start by saying I don't use a pull through: I use any/all of the following; Sharpmaker, clamp-system (cherry-picked components from several kits), homemade convex system (adjustable for angle, grit, recurve/straight, etc.). I have no problem creating, keeping, or repairing edges. Also, I do not have any agenda, so please don't assign one to me.

OK, that being said, I have some questions on the assumptions that the scraping of carbide is worse than the abrasion of stone/ceramic/diamond.

1) Acknowledging that wood and steel have different composition and structure, why would "planing" the surface (carbide) be worse than sanding the surface (stone, ceramic, etc.)?

2) If one used a large single crystal (rather than myriad small crystals) to scrape the edge of a steel blade, would the single crystal damage the blade more? If not, how would that differ from carbide?

3) True believers in some of the most respected sharpening methods mentioned in these forums (paper wheels, Wicked Edge, Edgepro, Sharpmaker, clamp systems, freehand, mousepad convexing, etc.) all have stressed the importance of learning curves, technique, and developing a "feel" for the proper amount of force (i.e. almost none). Admittedly, a carbide draw-through is designed to be "idiot proof," but we all know nothing is that simple. If an idiot used the best methods described herein, the idiot would ruin the edge. If the carbide sharpener were used with the same finesse demanded of other systems, would the damage done still be to the same degree?

I'd love to hear some informed commentary backed by experiment.

 

[Obsessed with Edges]

When you do not want to do nothing, you will seek the closest thing to "nothing" you can find. A pull through sharpener is about as close as you can get...and it is hard to argue that a really horrible knife in an utterly despicable state of negligence, will perform slightly better as a result of a few passes through this thing.

That's as close to a perfect 'endorsement' as I've ever seen, for these sharpeners. Ought to be their advertising slogan.

Very good. :thumbup: