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The BladeForums.com 2024 Traditional Knife is ready to order! See this thread for details: https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/bladeforums-2024-traditional-knife.2003187/
Price is$300$250 ea (shipped within CONUS). If you live outside the US, I will contact you after your order for extra shipping charges.
Order here: https://www.bladeforums.com/help/2024-traditional/ - Order as many as you like, we have plenty.
Ever been nervous to sharpen a knife?
- Thread starter Omega Leather Works
- Start date
- Joined
- Nov 22, 2009
- Messages
- 11,601
I was offered a one-off competition blade to review/play with. The maker (who will remain anonymous here) made one of them and quit making knives (after a long and successful knife making career). I'm not sure what the owner paid for the knife (perhaps 1000) but considering its rarity/collectibility it is probably worth far more.
Anyway, I was doing some cut testing and a decent sized chip went flying out of the edge....
I was mortified, luckily the owner was cool and asked me to fix it. I did and everyone was happy.
Anyway, I was doing some cut testing and a decent sized chip went flying out of the edge....
I was mortified, luckily the owner was cool and asked me to fix it. I did and everyone was happy.
- Joined
- Nov 1, 2011
- Messages
- 2,908
As is consistent with my username here, I tend to 'obsess' over some re-profiling jobs for a long while, before actually diving in and doing it. I think that's a good thing, because by the time I finally get around to it, I always have a very clear idea of how I'm going to get it done. If I'm not clear on it, I've learned to hold off until I am. I really do believe the 'mojo' needs to be right, before I undertake some of these tasks. It always pays off when I'm patient and focused.
^^^ this, If you are nervous , you might shake, and that's not good. If I'm not 100% confident I can sharpen a knife I will wait til I am cool and calm, I too visualize what I want done and how I''m going to do it, and will not do it unless I'm calm cool headed and focused, If you aren't ready don't do it, 2 things I won't do without 100% confidence and with a cool and calm head, #1 is handle firearms,#2 is sharpen knives, If I think It's too much for me to handle, I'll just call Richard J and let him handle it, Best thing IMO is to use the finest grit stone you have at first on some sort of guided system and just try to get the edge to pop again, I have done this over and over again on my higher end knives, before working up the courage to go to the lower grits and change the blade geometry.
I have been nervous to sharpen expensive knives.
I've bought lots of folders in the past for EDC and never worried much about harming them with my sharpening. I was using a Sharpmaker and there isn't much chance of serious damage if you are reasonably careful.
Since that time I've been buying more expensive folders and I've been more concerned about maintaining their resale value because I thought I might be buying more knives than I could use and if some of them didn't work out for me I would like to recoup my investment. I also noticed that it seems to be a big deal on the sales forums to say that the knife has the factory edge. One of my favorite EDC's in my collection is my Benchmade 913 that I bought used. It came very sharp but there are also some nasty scratch marks just behind the edge. It was a used knife, and a user knife, so in some regards the scratches don't mean anything, but they still bother me a little bit. I have bought a lot of factory knives with steep angles in the factory edge. I can understand that if you buy a used knife that was sharpened incorrectly and has steep angles it might require a lot of effort to fix it so I can understand why a person would be wary of buying a re-sharpened used knife. So I was wary of sharpening a $150+ knife, which to me is an expensive knife.
I recently got a guided system with diamond stones so I could fix my various knives with steep angles. I picked a used knife from my EDC rotation, a Benchmade 760, for my first trial. This one has some wear on the coating so it isn't a collector grade knife. I was careful with it and ended up with a good even edge with proper angles and no stray scratches. Since then I've sharpened my Bradley Alias I (another user grade knife) and my Benchmade 581. I feel confident that I could get a good edge now without risking damage to the knife. I would be hesitant to try to sharpen a very expensive knife, although sharpening an expensive knife means someone intends to use it and it risks more damage in use than due to my sharpening.
To anyone hesitant to sharpen an expensive knife I would suggest that they get some inexpensive knives to practice with. With practice you will improve your method and gain confidence.
I've bought lots of folders in the past for EDC and never worried much about harming them with my sharpening. I was using a Sharpmaker and there isn't much chance of serious damage if you are reasonably careful.
Since that time I've been buying more expensive folders and I've been more concerned about maintaining their resale value because I thought I might be buying more knives than I could use and if some of them didn't work out for me I would like to recoup my investment. I also noticed that it seems to be a big deal on the sales forums to say that the knife has the factory edge. One of my favorite EDC's in my collection is my Benchmade 913 that I bought used. It came very sharp but there are also some nasty scratch marks just behind the edge. It was a used knife, and a user knife, so in some regards the scratches don't mean anything, but they still bother me a little bit. I have bought a lot of factory knives with steep angles in the factory edge. I can understand that if you buy a used knife that was sharpened incorrectly and has steep angles it might require a lot of effort to fix it so I can understand why a person would be wary of buying a re-sharpened used knife. So I was wary of sharpening a $150+ knife, which to me is an expensive knife.
I recently got a guided system with diamond stones so I could fix my various knives with steep angles. I picked a used knife from my EDC rotation, a Benchmade 760, for my first trial. This one has some wear on the coating so it isn't a collector grade knife. I was careful with it and ended up with a good even edge with proper angles and no stray scratches. Since then I've sharpened my Bradley Alias I (another user grade knife) and my Benchmade 581. I feel confident that I could get a good edge now without risking damage to the knife. I would be hesitant to try to sharpen a very expensive knife, although sharpening an expensive knife means someone intends to use it and it risks more damage in use than due to my sharpening.
To anyone hesitant to sharpen an expensive knife I would suggest that they get some inexpensive knives to practice with. With practice you will improve your method and gain confidence.
- Joined
- Jul 13, 2011
- Messages
- 2,090
I've fearlessly sharpened a lot of sentimentally valuable knives... but I probably would turn down a request to sharpen a truly monetarily valuable piece (like, a custom piece worth over $500). One errant stroke too shallow that scratches the side (or even puts some tiny scratches a little too far up the shoulder), and whoops...
- Joined
- Jun 13, 2007
- Messages
- 7,743
Good stuff guys. I still haven't worked up the nerve. I think that there is a very small part of me that just doesn't want to lower the value of the knife. As much as I love it, if it were a $200 knife I'd already have done it, but that's just not the case. Going and looking at the shotguns that I've been wanting for years didn't help. Like at all. 
- Joined
- Jun 13, 2007
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- 7,743
Finally got her sharp. I didn't reprofile, after doing some research I'm just going to keep it at factory. If I need wicked sharp I'll grab my Contego, but nevertheless it's sharp!
These pics don't really show the edge, but I don't care. It's such a purdy knife, I'll post em anyway. Overcast out btw.
Thanks again for all the help guys. I truly appreciate it.
These pics don't really show the edge, but I don't care. It's such a purdy knife, I'll post em anyway. Overcast out btw.
Thanks again for all the help guys. I truly appreciate it.
I don't sharpen for anyone who's not a friend, and I make sure they are aware that there WILL be scratches. None of my knives are in the $1,000 range, and for me, scratches are beauty marks showing use. I didn't hesitate to scratch my Sebenza or any other knife. Mine are all for use, I'd pass on sharpening anything but a user.
- Joined
- Feb 24, 2011
- Messages
- 4,423
Nicely done Strig! Now that you've touched up the edge it'll be easy WHEN you get the urge again to do the full reprofile... 
It's well worth it for knives that aren't safe queens IMO. :thumbup: For me, it's not a matter of if I'm sharpening a knife, rather, when I'm going to end up reprofiling it lol...
It's well worth it for knives that aren't safe queens IMO. :thumbup: For me, it's not a matter of if I'm sharpening a knife, rather, when I'm going to end up reprofiling it lol...
