How much sense does this make?

B

Belker

Joined
Aug 8, 2007
Messages
25
My skills at sharpening could definately use some improvement that I think could be made from practice. How much sense does it make to buy a couple of the $1-$3 knives available on ebay purely for the purpose of practicing sharpening them? One of my thoughts is that the steel may be so "cheap" or "soft" that I'll never get a good edge on them no matter how good my technique may be and thus won't be able to gauge my results. I've heard of practicing on hacksaw blades but that seems that it would be too far away from the feel of an actual knife. Has anybody bought "practice" knives and how did that work out? Any other ideas?
 
just buy a few cheap kitchen knifes. Hacksaw blades are not too far away from the real thing although setting the initial edge might be a bitch if you have a substandard systems such as a sharpmaker. its a cinch if you got a belt sander or a paper wheel system.
 
You are right to think the really cheap ones are no good. It's hard to know how you've done if the steel is terrible.
IMO, 420 & 440 stainless are easy to sharpen, & will show up a good or bad technique, so you can learn. So are the carbon steels.
Buy a style of knife you'll use. There is no point buying a kitchen knife if you don't do much in the kitchen. Using it is important, so you learn how long the edge lasts, how to do touch-ups etc.
 
I have purchased kitchen knives at the local Thrift Store for $0.27 each (including one Cutco Steak knife with a lifetime guarantee) to practice sharpening methods. I typically buy the ones that were made in Japan and they have taken good edges. I vary the sizes so I get practice at more than one blade length.
 
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i tell people to use hack saw blades to practice sharpening on the paper wheels. they work great and they can even be use blades.
 
Depends on which 'cheap' knives you buy, and even then, it's a toss-up. Some can be quite good, and others can be horrible. The very first tree-topping edge I ever put on a knife, was on an 'imported' Chicago Cutlery kitchen knife I bought at Walmart for about $8. You can look for old, worn knives of known and reputable brand, and get them pretty inexpensively, sometimes dirt-cheap. Lots of old US, German and Japanese-made brands of basic kitchen knives fit that bill, and most or all of them still had very good steel, some even excellent. Since you're using them for sharpening practice, things like cosmetic issues, missing/broken handle scales, etc. aren't necessarily important. The steel is the only thing that matters. You might look for old carbon steel (non-stainless) blades first. Carbon steel recipes have been pretty steady and reliable for a very long time. The same can't necessarily be said about older stainless blades.
 
Old carbon steel kitchen knives are your friend. Think Old Hickory/Ontario/Sharpleigh, should be able to find them pretty easily at flea markets, yard sales, etc. for a buck or two.
 
Get a cheap swiss army knife or an opinel or mora, cheap but can be made very sharp with good technique.
 
It's not a big deal unless your using powered equipment to sharpen. You're not going to mess up your knife hand sharpening, not unless you're a real dufus.
What do you use to sharpen?
 
I think I found my solution to finding knives to practice sharpening. I was at a friends house and asked "Hey, do you want me to sharpen that knife for you?" and he answered "Sure, If you want to." Now he is happy because he has a sharp knife (at least sharp enough to shave hair off my arm) and I'm happy because I got to practice on another blade. He has other knives he wants done. Nowadays I'm sure there are lots of people who never have a knife sharper than when it was brand new because they can't sharpen it themselves. A person could find an endless supply of dull knives if they are willing to ask around.

I guess the obvious answer was so simple I didn't think of it.
 
I got a lot of good practice with my Lansky & Gatco setups, early on, after showing some of my new edges to a good friend of mine. Didn't take long before he was handing me some of his knives, so I could do them to. He was very happy to have some new edges on his knives, and I was doubly happy, in getting the extra practice and also in knowing I did something good for him. It's a great feeling. :)
 
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