How often to you sharpen...

D

DanR1

Joined
Jan 9, 2017
Messages
51
Your EDC folder?

I know that a lot of this may depend on which steel your blade is as some hold an edge longer than others, but I'm just curious how often you find yourself sharpening you EDC knife?

I wish I could tell you how often I do, but I haven't been EDCing for long, my blade is still sharp enough to meet my needs.

By the way, I've been carrying a Spyderco Persistence.

So maybe state which kind of steel along with how often you sharpen?


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I am leaning more towards inexpensive softer steels (not the new super steels because sharpening takes to long). Also, with a softer steel it stay razor sharp after just a few licks. Touchups on the supersteels takes to long for me and makes me afraid to USE them.

I came to this conclusion after many years of owning knives and buying superteels (since ATS-34 back in the 80's) and have owned about every type of high end knife there is.
 
I normally carry a different knife each week, and basically just check the edge of what's going in my pocket for the week and touch it up if needed.
The steel ranges from Victorinox Steel ( don't remember what it is and don't care ) , or Buck's 420hc , to imperial carbon steel ( again not sure and don't really care ) to my sog seal pup in aus8a.
 
I touch up my knife everyday or every other day depending on how often i use it. My feeling are that i want to maintain the existing edge and I would like to refrain from it getting dull to the point i need to drag out the apex sharpener if i dont have to. I use a ceramic on factory edges and a four sided strop for polished edges.
 
My edc gets dull pretty quick in my line of work. Id say I touched it up 15-20 times in the last year or about every 3 weeks. Steel is CTS-XHP.
 
I mostly EDC higher end steels on my more modern knives, (D2, Elmax, S35VN, ATS34, BG42, VG10) these hold an edge longer than the more common steels used and I will tweak (maintain) the edge with a ceramic hone and leather strop before it needs to be sharpened. Now this is done as soon as I notice it doesn't perform up to my normal standard which is minimally able to slice printer paper without catching the paper.

One of the reasons I carry more than 1 EDC is so that my edge doesn't get that dull that it needs to be more aggressively sharpened/reprofiled. Now the biggest determining factor is what you use your knife for and how often you use it. See, there's too many variables to just give you a pat answer. Hopefully this helps some, if you answer those questions and the brand/model/pattern of your knife I can give you a better answer.

One thing I'd like to add is that most people who sharpen their own EDC tend to over sharpen.
 
Been sharpening alot lately on some cheaper AUS-8A steel knives. Doing it for the practice and also to see how sharp I can get them. Depending on what you are using them for, most decent knives should hold an edge for while. Just do a quick paper cut test and see if it needs sharpening or not.
 
Probably far more than is really necessary to maintain a working edge. I find the practice rather therapeutic and cathartic.

Plus all the knife guys in the family that aren't necessarily knife nuts are always impressed by the edge. And my main tool is just a two sided diamond grit stone.
 
I'd say I touch up my knives about every other day, but it's just a quick swipe or two. Usually done after cutting glass fiber reinforced packing tape.
 
I think it s easier to maintain a very sharp edge if you don t let it get too dull. I lke some of the newer steels, but the best edge resistance steels, like s110v, I don t like. That steel is just too hard for me to sharpen.
 
I have 15-20 knives in my edc rotation so when ever I start running out of sharp knives!!:D John
 
DanR1 said:
Your EDC folder?

I know that a lot of this may depend on which steel your blade is as some hold an edge longer than others, but I'm just curious how often you find yourself sharpening you EDC knife?

I wish I could tell you how often I do, but I haven't been EDCing for long, my blade is still sharp enough to meet my needs.

By the way, I've been carrying a Spyderco Persistence.

So maybe state which kind of steel along with how often you sharpen?


Sent from my SM-G930P using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Just don't let it get dull, you save more steel by honing often which is counterintuitive.
 
I probably sharpen my work knife once a month or so, it get abused as well as neglected.


Sent via telegraph with the same fingers I use to sip whiskey.
 
I touch mine up:
daily when carrying my sebenza (s35vn, new ht protocol) or San mai Becker BK11 (White #2 @ 59-60hrc)
Or
Every two days when carrying my ZT0770cfM4. Love that alloy...

I usually just take a few passes on a ceramic rod, then a few passes on my strop. I try not to let it get to where it needs a full on sharpening.

In fact, I have owned my Sebenza for almost two years, and it hasn't needed more than two or three "sharpenings" since I took possession of it, only touch ups. Blade is chipped near the heel, but it will eventually get worked out.
 
These days I typically EDC a CRK large Insingo and an Alox Vic. I touch them up once a week on my Spyderco Sharpmaker about once a week. Both have a micro-bevel so it does not take much to maintain a shaving sharp edge as long as I do not let them get too dull.
 
I also use older steels that are easier to sharpen. S30V is about the most modern of my everyday users. I also carry 1095 in a slipjoint, but most often it's Spyderco's S30V or Protech's 154CM. I'm retired these days so I sharpen when I've used my knife enough to need a touchup on strops or a Sharpmaker and F or UF rods.

When I was working in a warehouse I used my knife daily. I still used the same steels but I touched up with strops almost daily. I only really sharpened when my strops weren't doing enough.
 
I touch up the edge on my cheaper knives on a daily basis (Moras, Opinels, SAKs and so on) and the edge on my higher end stuff every few days if I notice it's not shaving sharp.

I do very little actual sharpening, my leather strop is both the cheapest and the most used piece of sharpening kit I own.
 
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