I've sharpened "junk knifes" for people in the past, but nowadays I tend to avoid it. I have more respect or my time and talent than to squander it on stupid jobs. If someone asks, I'll tell them to show me the knife, and I'll let them know. If the knife doesn't inspire me, I'll tell them.
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Helping friends with their kitchen knives
- Thread starter Gary W. Graley
- Start date
I've sharpened "junk knifes" for people in the past, but nowadays I tend to avoid it. I have more respect or my time and talent than to squander it on stupid jobs. If someone asks, I'll tell them to show me the knife, and I'll let them know. If the knife doesn't inspire me, I'll tell them.
Knives and sharpening are not a religion. We shouldn't take them (or ourselves) too seriously. We are not saving lives or fighting disease over here.
To put that in perspective, there are psychotic people with chainsaws out there. So a cheap, dull knife probably shouldn't take on any more significance than that.
I do everybody's knives. A cheap and badly mishandled knife gets freehanded on diamond plates and it only takes a few minutes. It's not a three-act morality play, it is not dramatic or even very important. I don't think the world needs me to go around educating everybody about knives or rules that we don't need. It's okay for people to be different, it would be very boring if we were all the same.
"Here are your knives, they are a lot sharper than they were so be careful you don't cut yourself to death! Now go home and cook me something good, because if you don't I won't sharpen your knives any more!"
To put that in perspective, there are psychotic people with chainsaws out there. So a cheap, dull knife probably shouldn't take on any more significance than that.
I do everybody's knives. A cheap and badly mishandled knife gets freehanded on diamond plates and it only takes a few minutes. It's not a three-act morality play, it is not dramatic or even very important. I don't think the world needs me to go around educating everybody about knives or rules that we don't need. It's okay for people to be different, it would be very boring if we were all the same.
"Here are your knives, they are a lot sharper than they were so be careful you don't cut yourself to death! Now go home and cook me something good, because if you don't I won't sharpen your knives any more!"
Gary W. Graley
“Imagination is more important than knowledge"
Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
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I'll most likely lessen my availability to sharpen friends/neighbors kitchen knives, I guess at the bottom of this is not wanting to offend them with the fact that their knives are subpar, so you don't do that, BUT, when their knives lose their edge fairly quickly, they might just figure it was a bad sharpening job, and that might end up working out altogether 
but I really don't want to offend nor come off as Mr Know it all, some knives do surprise you, but the majority that I've seen or been given to sharpen don't.
G2
but I really don't want to offend nor come off as Mr Know it all, some knives do surprise you, but the majority that I've seen or been given to sharpen don't.G2
My wife has a million friends, and they all have cheap, dull knives and no money. They don't care about or respect knives, but that doesn't matter to me.
People with dull knives matter, and they need our help more than anyone. Plus, I like to sharpen things and I don't get enough of it with just my own users.
Why did The Creator give us diamond stones, anyway? To sharpen other people's cheap stainless knives, right?
People with dull knives matter, and they need our help more than anyone. Plus, I like to sharpen things and I don't get enough of it with just my own users.
Why did The Creator give us diamond stones, anyway? To sharpen other people's cheap stainless knives, right?
Lots of views expressed here. I'd think maybe sharpen their cheap junk knives once but then send them home with a link to some video that shows them which knives are worth owning at reasonable prices. It is really not worth the time and effort to sharpen some of the poor kitchen knives out there. I'd rather give them a few I've picked up over the years and never liked or used. They are at least better than much of what is sold today. Really, just go into a thrift store and odds are you may find some old discarded knives from decades ago that are much better quality mixed in with alot of junk.
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Lots of reviews on cooking/kitchen sites recommend Victorinox as the best inexpensive kitchen knives. That's why we have at least a dozen of them; also, my wife likes the colors.
But Pete at Cedric & Ada reports only 40 to 90 rope cuts for Victorinox knives. In my own tests, Victorinox paring knives will mushroom from cutting 2 quesadillas on plates, or 3 quesadillas for Victorinox plain-edge steak knives. (Of course, almost any serrated knife will cut nicely for much longer.) So non-knife people who try to be responsible in buying decent kitchen knives are nevertheless likely to get knives that need sharpening quite often.
What puzzles me is that these same cooking/kitchen sites will often say that, in home use, non-serrated kitchen knives need to be sharpened perhaps 1 to 3 times per year. I sharpen a few of my wife's kitchen knives about every 2 weeks.
I used to freehand my machetes, where I can see and feel the bevel. I cannot freehand Victorinox kitchen knives because I cannot see or feel the bevels. I used to use an old Work Sharp Precision Adjust, but that would take around 5 minutes per kitchen knife. Later I got a Work Sharp Ken Onion, which is much faster per knife if I save up 5 or 10 knives to sharpen in a batch. But my wife gets impatient, so I tried a Chef's Choice 1520 electric sharpener that usually takes 1 or 2 minutes for a single knife. We are both very happy with that.
I don't mind spending a minute to sharpen a friend's cheap kitchen knife to where it will catch on my thumbnail. They get warned that it will cut human skin.
BTW, Misen paring knives will do 6 quesadillas, but they do not come in colors as pretty as Victorinox.
But Pete at Cedric & Ada reports only 40 to 90 rope cuts for Victorinox knives. In my own tests, Victorinox paring knives will mushroom from cutting 2 quesadillas on plates, or 3 quesadillas for Victorinox plain-edge steak knives. (Of course, almost any serrated knife will cut nicely for much longer.) So non-knife people who try to be responsible in buying decent kitchen knives are nevertheless likely to get knives that need sharpening quite often.
What puzzles me is that these same cooking/kitchen sites will often say that, in home use, non-serrated kitchen knives need to be sharpened perhaps 1 to 3 times per year. I sharpen a few of my wife's kitchen knives about every 2 weeks.
I used to freehand my machetes, where I can see and feel the bevel. I cannot freehand Victorinox kitchen knives because I cannot see or feel the bevels. I used to use an old Work Sharp Precision Adjust, but that would take around 5 minutes per kitchen knife. Later I got a Work Sharp Ken Onion, which is much faster per knife if I save up 5 or 10 knives to sharpen in a batch. But my wife gets impatient, so I tried a Chef's Choice 1520 electric sharpener that usually takes 1 or 2 minutes for a single knife. We are both very happy with that.
I don't mind spending a minute to sharpen a friend's cheap kitchen knife to where it will catch on my thumbnail. They get warned that it will cut human skin.
BTW, Misen paring knives will do 6 quesadillas, but they do not come in colors as pretty as Victorinox.
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Gary, I have a similar problem. People know I am a "camera" guy. So I am asked, "Would you please make some pictures of - my family? -Our daughter's wedding? -Our son's graduation? -Our new baby?"
What people don't know is how much skill is involved (read years), how expensive our equipment is (mega $), or how much time it takes to photograph them and then process the photos (hours)! I, llike you, do not want to offend anyone. And while I am not thrilled at doing these tasks (for free), I use it as a ministry - a get to know them and they me. Many times I weave stories of my life and how God has been so good to me through it.
While this is not what I want to do with my life, I try to make the best of it. Who knows, I may need one of them one day. And, I may say something (and they are almost required to listen to me due to my work for them) that changes the course of one's life. That helps me through such difficult/awkward situations. I'm not trying to be a "goody two-shoes", I'm just trying to make lemonade out of lemons!
What people don't know is how much skill is involved (read years), how expensive our equipment is (mega $), or how much time it takes to photograph them and then process the photos (hours)! I, llike you, do not want to offend anyone. And while I am not thrilled at doing these tasks (for free), I use it as a ministry - a get to know them and they me. Many times I weave stories of my life and how God has been so good to me through it.
While this is not what I want to do with my life, I try to make the best of it. Who knows, I may need one of them one day. And, I may say something (and they are almost required to listen to me due to my work for them) that changes the course of one's life. That helps me through such difficult/awkward situations. I'm not trying to be a "goody two-shoes", I'm just trying to make lemonade out of lemons!
A large Bahco hand file is faster.
About the same time I retired, my wife could no longer work in the kitchen and now is bedridden. So, the first thing I did was go around to all the second hand shops rumaging through all the knife boxes and containers they had. Since they were charging next to nothing, I bought anything that was a known good old brand and still had a nice blade from the '50 thru '70s and soon had more than I knew what to do with. Many of these were given away to friends and family who needed better or more kitchen knives. Then I hit Ebay and looked for good buys and only bought them when the price was low on something I wanted. Many of these were also given away after I had more than I could use. One of my favorites was a Robinson 10" Carbon steel chef knife. That has got to be my best buy and most useful kitchen knife. The fellow I bought it from had put a good edge on it and was also someone who sharpened knives for a living and or pastime. Using a steel before each use, that edge lasted about a year in the kitchen before I had to touch it up. Beautiful rosewood slabs. Love how it will shave cabbage for cole slaw. I think when stainless steel became popular many of those old knife companies struggled to stay in business. This one along with a few others was up in NW NY state. They tried for a while to do stainless and utensils, but the glory days were gone. I have a few of their knives and they are all well done with nice tapering and beautiful rosewood.
So I bought a Work Sharp a while back. And honestly I can't tell if it's me doing something wrong or her junk knives but I spent hours and hours on the fiancés kitchen knives that she purchased before we met. I could never even get a burr to form. So I tried the kitchen knives I bought her. Still just a box store brand but I guess they're better because I could actually build a burr. But then, after working my way through the stones, the stupid thing wouldn't even cut paper. Tear? Sure! Cut? Nope. So I don't even trust myself to sharpen my own knives at this point. Don't even think about sharpening someone else's cheap knives. 
ANY knife will dull quickly if you are cutting on plates -- I don't care if the blade is Rex121. And I think that gets to the heart of why most people's kitchen knives are dull as pry bars; they cut on ceramic plates, metal pans, quartz or granite counter tops, etc. Conversely, even a crappy knife that's well sharpened will hold an edge a good while if it's just used to cut food on wood or plastic cutting boards. I don't know why it's so hard to convince people of that, but it is. My wife has three Ivy League degrees and it still took me 20 years to get her to *mostly* stop doing that.
Couldn't agree more.
A lot of people abuse their knives and wonder why it went dull really quickly. One story that goes a long way as to why I don't volunteer to sharpen certain peoples knives: I told my sister in law I would sharpen a couple of her knives a while back. She was pretty indifferent but said "sure". They weren't anything special, but I put a really nice edge(from very dull) on her chef knife and then a couple hours later after she made some home made pizza's (overcooked/burnt base) she pulled out the knife that I had just sharpened and then proceeded to forcefully cut up the pizza on the metal pizza tray through the blackened pizza base and made the knife duller than before I sharpened it. For anyone wondering, about 1/2 of the pizza was edible as well but we were all a bit drunk. I thought "never again"!
The thing about the cheaper(not complete rubbish) stainless steel knives that are around: it's all about burr removal. The myth that carbon steel knives take a sharper edge, or that such and such a stainless steel loses it's razor edge almost immediately I would suspect almost always that the burr wasn't removed completely. I hear people all the time saying "I deburred and it still doesn't hold an edge" or whatever but don't realize that just because you can't see or feel the burr easily doesn't mean it isn't there. Some stainless steels are just tricky to deburr, but can be surprisingly good at holding an edge if you don't abuse it especially in the kitchen where you are mostly cutting soft stuff.
That's I would think.
You haven't seen one of the latest Outdoors55 videos. He sharpened a $1.25 kitchen knife 51HRc hard and after 1/2 and hour cutting and whittling in 4x2 pine wood it still cut paper.
Exactly.
In those sharpening videos when a guy puts a scary sharp edge on the blade and then cut some printer paper I'm tempted to send him a comment like:
''Excellent edge. Now go whittle some wood and then try to cut news paper cross fibers.''
Hurrul
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All of my friends for whom I have sharpened dull kitchen knives for, regardless of the quality of the knife and any edge holding virtues, were grateful for simply sharper edges to use in the kitchen.
If my work improves the edge and my friends are appreciative, than I am grateful to have helped their cutting needs.
I've given a some nicer quality kitchen knives to non-knife friends, but not because I hoped to see a change in anyone about quality kitchen cutlery. I know most of my friends are not interested in performance beyond what they have grown accustomed to and/or expect to do with a knife in the kitchen. If my gift sheds light on what a nicer knife can do, great.
For me, it would be a waste of my time to try to convince anyone who is not particular about knife performance, to see the topic from my perspective.
If my work improves the edge and my friends are appreciative, than I am grateful to have helped their cutting needs.
I've given a some nicer quality kitchen knives to non-knife friends, but not because I hoped to see a change in anyone about quality kitchen cutlery. I know most of my friends are not interested in performance beyond what they have grown accustomed to and/or expect to do with a knife in the kitchen. If my gift sheds light on what a nicer knife can do, great.
For me, it would be a waste of my time to try to convince anyone who is not particular about knife performance, to see the topic from my perspective.
Gary W. Graley
“Imagination is more important than knowledge"
Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
- Joined
- Mar 2, 1999
- Messages
- 27,441
Hurrul
I get that, and a fine idea as well, my trying to talk knives to a non knife person, you can see their eyes start to glaze over like a Christmas glazed ham and soon they will spot a squirrel and I know the conversation has ended.G Grizzly3 sorry to hear about your wife, I hope that she mends soon!
And P Piddling I greatly enjoy photography and people do try to talk me into doing their kids wedding. One couple from our church years ago asked me to take their wedding photos for a nominal fee, hard to tell them no so I said I would. During the photo session after the service her mother ghosted along side of me and took shot for shot everyone that I took. So when the day came and I got the prints back, the couple came over to the house to check them out and pay for them. I could tell something was amiss as she seemed out of sorts. She then said 'well, my mother took all the same shots that you took and they were not very good so..." but, when I opened the package up and they started going through the photos she was blown away, a night and day difference in about every aspect of my shots compare to her mother's. She was VERY thankful and extremely pleased, which I was also kinda happy with the outcome as well
just funny how she started in the beginning that she wasn't expecting anything different from the ones her mom took.But as much as I enjoy photography I do not like doing weddings, in it for the photography and not as a J O B kind of passion
About similar to knives I expect, I'm just glad that I got over my watch attraction before I got too far down that rabbit hole !
G2
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You got a bit lucky there.when I opened the package up and they started going through the photos she was blown away, a night and day difference in about every aspect of my shots compare to her mother's. She was VERY thankful and extremely pleased, which I was also kinda happy with the outcome as well
Just as many people cannot appreciate a good knife, many people cannot appreciate a good photo.Ben Dale of Edge Pro has a recommendation for this: grind a small flat on the edge of the knife. It keeps the apex from rolling, mushrooming or chipping in an uncontrolled way. Of course none of us would think of this as sharp but you have to think about who you are sharpening for.
BJE
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I would and do sharpen knives for people when they ask, sometimes I volunteer if I’m using one of their kitchen knives and it’s so dull you can’t which side the cutting edge is on.
They always appreciate it, and then commence to taking the edge to a ceramic plate, lol.
It’s only tiring for me when they have many they want sharpened and all are in bad shape. For those times I break out the Ken onion worksharp or take it to the belt sander, speeds up the process considerably when having to regrind an edge on several.
Some folks don’t even know what using a sharp knife if like and I like to illuminate them.
Quick and dirty is often the best for those types of users. They won’t appreciate a finely tuned edge, but will notice how much better a decently sharp blade cuts things.
They always appreciate it, and then commence to taking the edge to a ceramic plate, lol.
It’s only tiring for me when they have many they want sharpened and all are in bad shape. For those times I break out the Ken onion worksharp or take it to the belt sander, speeds up the process considerably when having to regrind an edge on several.
Some folks don’t even know what using a sharp knife if like and I like to illuminate them.
Quick and dirty is often the best for those types of users. They won’t appreciate a finely tuned edge, but will notice how much better a decently sharp blade cuts things.