Flourescent Light for Knife Sharpening?

S

Slidetechnik

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Jul 16, 2009
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I was talking to somebody recently who said thy put a shaving sharp edge on their knives using an old flourescent light bulb. Is this a common practice and does it actually work?

At first I thought he was yanking my chain but he was dead serious...
 
BTSOOM. I've used the bottom of coffee cups, never a light bulb.
 
Sounds like someone forgot to tell him they make these things called sharpening stoness :)

You could use the glass like a steel but that's about it AFAIK
 
the use of smooth glass probably could polish an edge but working with thin glass is certainly a recipe for injury.
 
neeman said:
I use a flourescent light bulb to sharpen,
when it is dark outside......
Click to expand...

:)

I thought that's what he meant at first.

There actually are borosilicate (a kind of glass) sharpening rods that some people swear by - never used them myself but apparently they find them useful after the 20,000 grit waterstone didn't get the edge fine enough.

Fluorolights usually use soda glass, which is softer than borosilicate, so don't know how well that will work. My issue is that the thin walls are very fragile - and the contents contain mercury, which is toxic - I'll stick to using them for illumination only
 
antonio_luiz said:
:)

I thought that's what he meant at first.

There actually are borosilicate (a kind of glass) sharpening rods that some people swear by - never used them myself but apparently they find them useful after the 20,000 grit waterstone didn't get the edge fine enough.

Fluorolights usually use soda glass, which is softer than borosilicate, so don't know how well that will work. My issue is that the thin walls are very fragile - and the contents contain mercury, which is toxic - I'll stick to using them for illumination only
Click to expand...

would plate glass laid along the stones of a sharpmaker work?
 
you can also just roll down your car window partway and use the edge of the glass to sharpen/steel your knife.
 
I use Fluorescent Lights all the time when sharpening my knives..... :D

They are overhead giving me enough light so I can see. ;)
 
uncouth said:
you can also just roll down your car window partway and use the edge of the glass to sharpen/steel your knife.
Click to expand...

I've heard of that before, even had good results with case cv using that method.

florescent tubes is just begging to get you cut up though
 
antonio_luiz said:
:)

I thought that's what he meant at first.

There actually are borosilicate (a kind of glass) sharpening rods that some people swear by - never used them myself but apparently they find them useful after the 20,000 grit waterstone didn't get the edge fine enough.
Click to expand...

not sure the old HA boro rod refine anything at all. imho all it does is realigning the edge if it rolled, even the finely grooved part won't remove much material if any.
 
I don't feel any resistance when I pass a blade's edge over a florescent tube. (yeah I just tried it) Can't see how you'd remove any steel. It felt silky smooth unlike even fine rods, with which I can feel some cutting going on when used.
 
jill jackson said:
I don't feel any resistance when I pass a blade's edge over a florescent tube. (yeah I just tried it) Can't see how you'd remove any steel. It felt silky smooth unlike even fine rods, with which I can feel some cutting going on when used.
Click to expand...

I think they mean it's more like stropping the blade.

Kinda like using a glass rod, very smooth for a very fine touch up.

IMO the knife would have to be very sharp already to maybe see a difference.
 
It would not be removing metal it would be burnishing it.
 
I think trying to use a fluorescent lamp to sharpen is a misunderstanding. Sircanteloupe probably got it right - arc lamps (mercury, sodium, metal halide) have some ceramic insulators in them that would be a good sharpener.

antonio_luiz said:
My issue is that the thin walls are very fragile - and the contents contain mercury, which is toxic - I'll stick to using them for illumination only
Click to expand...

The toxicity from mercury in these lamps is an overblown concern. Don't sniff all the powder and you'll be fine. There's maybe 2 milligrams of mercury in your average fluorescent lamp, versus over 500 in your average old thermometer.

Approximately 0.1% of mercury released into the environment is from these lamps, yet the gevernment targeted them first when it wanted to reduce mercury emissions into the environment, really a "slap yourself on the back and try to get people to think you are actually doing something" type of government move. If you used all fluorescent lamps, then went outside and busted every one after it was burnt out, you would release less mercury into the environment than if you used all incandescent lamps (because the majority of mercury released into the environment is from coal fired power generation).

so if we really wanted to reduce mercury emissions, we'd be building some nuclear power plants, or turning off our air conditioning (I'll take the nuke plant). Heavy metals and the other "old school" pollutants continue to do great damage, but seem to have been forgotten since non-toxic CO2 became the worst pollutant...
 
I use a glass rod every evening to 'steel' my kitchen knives. It's a borocilicate rod I had made for me at a chemical supply house, but you can use any "Pyrex" brand glass dish in your kitchen. You can also use the heating element rods in an electric quartz heater.

Just remember though... You aren't sharpening. You are 'steeling' an already sharpened edge.


Stitchawl
 
I've used old this method before and it works great!!! We had old overhead shop lights that I broke open and removed the ceramic rods.....made one glorious edge!!!

The dude was indeed serious as it does work!
 
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