How much steel do you lose when sharpening?

F

FMJ Hunter

Joined
Dec 27, 2010
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Will a knife (specifically a Becker BK2) lose enough steel when you get it professionally sharpened at Chris Reeves, or use a pocket sharpener, that the blade will become visibly smaller? If so, how long does it take for this to happen?
 
it depends on how much you use it, what you cut and how dull it gets when you use it. i sharpen a lot of knives and i try to take off as little as possible to get the knife sharp. it could take a long time to see a change or it could happen rather quickly.
 
Will a blade get smaller as the result of sharpening?

Yes, sharpening is the removal of metal...

Will this loss of steel be noticeable after a single sharpening?

Generally no. However... If there are large chips that need to be ground out, or if the bevel needs to be set to a different angle, then cosmetic changes may be noticeable.

If you never want the blade of your knife to get smaller, don't sharpen it. If you want a sharp knife, you are going to have to accept some amount of "shrinkage."
 
It takes a very, very long time to visibly decrease the size of a knife using pocket / manual sharpener. I had to sharpen a cheapo kitchen knife with a chip about half a milimeter deep, and after two hours with DMT XX coarse I still couldn't remove enough steel to get the edge completely straight again.

Professionals use belt sanders, so the process is much faster for them. A belt sander can remove a lot of metal in a hurry, but a professional knows what he's doing so the knife doesn't get visibly smaller just by one sharpening.
 
The key to not 'shrinking' your blade too much, when sharpening, is to make sure you keep up with the minimal touch-ups, when needed. If you really pay attention to the edge, more often than not a decent stropping will keep it sharp, and won't remove much steel at all from the edge. And then, if the strop doesn't quite do it, take very gentle 'baby steps' down in grit, until you find it's just enough to get the job done. It's all about giving the edge only what is exactly needed, and nothing more.

Blades lose a lot of steel when they've been neglected and/or abused for an excessively long time, requiring complete reshaping of the bevel to make them sharp again. And, inexperienced sharpeners usually tend to grind off a LOT more steel than is necessary, each time they 'touch-up' a blade's edge. That'll shorten the life of a blade more than anything.
 
I know that vi have ground off way too much metal trying to get a knife sharp, and there was a visible difference, but only because it was a composite. If you use a knife so much that keeping it sharp makes it quite a bit shorter over a year or two, I think that you should invest in a knife with either better steel or a new knife. it is a valuable tool.
 
It's going to depend on the steel and how you use the knife.

If it's a steel that doesn't hold an edge that well and you use it a lot then it will need sharpening a lot so it will wear out faster.

If it's a steel that have very good edge retention and you use the knife a lot it will need sharpening less often so the wear over time will be less.
 
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