How sharp is "sharp" to the average end user?

Sep said:
Most people get by with kitchen knives that are not sharp enough to push cut paper. If they have pocket knives, those aren't typically sharper. My sister was content with such knives, until I volunteered to sharpen them. Because she cooks a lot, she quickly appreciates a proper sharp edge and now asks me to sharpen her knives at least once a month.
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Kitchen knives aren't really a good comparison because they are in general very thin and they will cut VERY well even when pretty dull because of this. They usually are so dull they are like butter knives before most people would notice.

Blade and edge geometry are big factors here.
 
Ankerson said:
Kitchen knives aren't really a good comparison because they are in general very thin and they will cut VERY well even when pretty dull because of this. They usually are so dull they are like butter knives before most people would notice.
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So you're saying a knife can be functional even if it's not 3 micron sharp? Some people here might consider that heresy ;) The obsession with "hard use" knives also make thin blades with superb cutting geometry fall out of favor.

I agree with you. If I didn't sharpen her knives, my sister could have easily lead the rest of her lives using blades we don't consider sharp.
 
Sep said:
So you're saying a knife can be functional even if it's not 3 micron sharp? Some people here might consider that heresy ;) The obsession with "hard use" knives also make thin blades with superb cutting geometry fall out of favor.

I agree with you. If I didn't sharpen her knives, my sister could have easily lead the rest of her lives using blades we don't consider sharp.
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Yeah that is pretty much it. :)

But if they ever get to use a really good kitchen knife that is sharp with excellent geometry it would amaze them.
 
Ankerson said:
Yeah that is pretty much it. :)

But if they ever get to use a really good kitchen knife that is sharp with excellent geometry it would amaze them.
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Sure. I know better than to get their knives hair splitting sharp and send them to the emergency room. For non-professional non-knife people, I make it just sharp enough to cleanly push cut paper. That level of sharpness is impressive enough for them.

My sister's mother in law is an even bigger cook, she used to do catering professionally and she still cooks for dozens of people regularly. She has an entire set of Cutco knives, and her idea of sharpening is sending them to the factory once a year. I resist offering to sharpen those, because I don't look forward to working on two dozen kitchen knives regularly, not the darned Cutco knives anyway.
 
Sep said:
Sure. I know better than to get their knives hair splitting sharp and send them to the emergency room. For non-professional non-knife people, I make it just sharp enough to cleanly push cut paper. That level of sharpness is impressive enough for them.

My sister's mother in law is an even bigger cook, she used to do catering professionally and she still cooks for dozens of people regularly. She has an entire set of Cutco knives, and her idea of sharpening is sending them to the factory once a year. I resist offering to sharpen those, because I don't look forward to working on two dozen kitchen knives regularly, not the darned Cutco knives anyway.
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I can understand that completely. :D

My main user in the kitchen is a S110V custom and lets just say it will be a very long time before I will have to touch that edge.
 
Sep said:
Sure. I know better than to get their knives hair splitting sharp and send them to the emergency room. For non-professional non-knife people, I make it just sharp enough to cleanly push cut paper. That level of sharpness is impressive enough for them.

My sister's mother in law is an even bigger cook, she used to do catering professionally and she still cooks for dozens of people regularly. She has an entire set of Cutco knives, and her idea of sharpening is sending them to the factory once a year. I resist offering to sharpen those, because I don't look forward to working on two dozen kitchen knives regularly, not the darned Cutco knives anyway.
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dont people use them to cut thru thick bone? Not too many blades can survive that unharmed...
 
Sep said:
And how many home cook regularly cut through thick bones and shear pennies?
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I know of at least 3 which do so regularly (at least thru thick bone, idk about pennies. pork and beef ribs, chicken bones, ect at least every other day if not daily! they like to do so with Chef and Santoku knifes instead of cleavers...). keeps me busy in resharpening knifes :). I don't mind though, teachs me how to sharpen thru pratice. pratice makes perfect!
 
i sharpen my buddys cutco knives for him now since he got them back from the factory and was not pleased with the edge. he was checking out a knife i made just before opening up the box they were in and compared my edge to theirs. he boxed them up, handed them to me and said "sharpen them" :D.
 
eccvets said:
I know of at least 3 which do so regularly (at least thru thick bone, idk about pennies. pork and beef ribs, chicken bones, ect at least every other day if not daily! they like to do so with Chef and Santoku knifes instead of cleavers...). keeps me busy in resharpening knifes :). I don't mind though, teachs me how to sharpen thru pratice. pratice makes perfect!
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Well, if you want to hack through thick bone with a Chef knife, a saber ground one with relatively softer steel from Cutco fits the role.

Just out of curiosity, has anybody tried cutting thick bone with their Henckels or Wusthof knives? How do they fare?
 
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