I finally heard of a novel way to sharpen a knife.

S

Squashfan

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Jun 6, 2012
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Well, it is novel to me. Maybe you guys have heard of it. Sharpening by computer controlled laser. I kid you not. I heard this story from an acquaintance of mine who is a fellow knife nut. I am pretty sure he was carrying a switchblade when my parents were in diapers. He is old school and a real nice guy. He had a family member, IIRC it was his brother-in-law, who had access to, what my acquaintance called, a CNC laser. It was computer controlled as I said before. He said that the laser got knives really, really sharp and they would stay sharp for a long time. First thought that crossed my mind was: "Wouldn't that burn the heat treat?". He knew what I was talking about and said no, it wouldn't. Unfortunately, I believe this happened some few years ago. Otherwise, I would be here with a first hand report. Ah! but the speculation is endless.

As a side note, he talked about his father sharpening knives on a leather razor hone and getting them sharp enough to shave with. Good times.
 
In order for the lazer to get hot enough to melt /remove steel from the edge it would most certainly damage the heat treatment 😊 you have to do more research than just accepting his word on this issue. I wouldn't let a lazer touch my blades EVER
 
When I was a student at a Karate school in the mid 90s, a student's father supposedly sharpened several swords for my instructor using a "laser setup in his garage". The laser operator was said to be a physicist or scientist of some sort. I had ZERO first hand knowledge of this, but that's what they were talking about at the time.

Maybe multiple passes that removed a tiny amount of metal each pass wouldn't do damage? I'm just spitballing...

Brian.
 
razor-edge-knives said:
In order for the lazer to get hot enough to melt /remove steel from the edge it would most certainly damage the heat treatment 😊 you have to do more research than just accepting his word on this issue. I wouldn't let a lazer touch my blades EVER
Click to expand...

I just thought it was an interesting story. You don't have to believe it. The only thing I left out of the story is that my acquaintance's contact worked at a lab. Like I said, if I could get one of my knives done, I would have a first hand report. Alas, the person in question is probably retired/dead. [snark]But at least I can spell laser correctly. :p[snark]

bgentry, you guys know as much as I do but I had thought of something roughly similar. I imagine that this guy has done more challenging things with a laser than sharpen a knife without burning a heat treat.
 
I don't remember if it was Gillette or Schick (could have been someone else too), BUT, I think I remember one of them talking about sharpening their blades in the razors with a laser.

Can't find any info on the Google for the life of me tonight.
 
In the jewelry repair trade some shops have invested in a high tech laser to repair broken parts of a ring around heat sensitive stones such as emeralds. Previously the stones would HAVE to be removed before soldering or welding could be attempted, and that itself was a risk to both potentially damage the stones OR break off the prongs holding said stones in place. (complicating resetting the stones after the main repair)

The heat concentration is SO focused in a jewelry piece that it really doesn't travel beyond the point of repair, and it's a weld. (I believe even on the much higher melting temps of platinum). But a big difference on a knife edge is that the actual edge is supposed to be kept HARD, but seems to me the lazer melting the edge into sharpness can't help but to soften the final "user" edge, since they're one and the same.

However, the hardened steel just beyond the final edge I would expect to retain it's original hardness, since the heat could not be traveling as it's SO quick and concentrated, and the thicker steel above the edge acts as an effective heat sink.


In the end, what a laser might be really effective at and save a lot of time,...is repairing a chipped edge to a nice even shape........

........and then hand sharpen as usual the final working edge to get back into the hard stuff! :D
 
I Googled "Laser Sharpening." Lots of people advertise sharpening with a grindstone and some type of laser alignment device that supposedly helps align the blade. I can believe that.

Laser welding and cutting does minimize the "heat affected zone" relative to torch welding and torch cutting, but the metal that is actually removed does get hot enough to melt/burn away. It is hard to believe an edge that was formed by a laser stays hard.

One possibility - if the heat affected zone is just the very edge then maybe conduction into the much colder blade essentially quenches the apex? Try to anneal a needle, you cannot - it air cools so fast that it stays hard. But hardening an edge via conduction into the blade would be a very uncontrolled process and dependent on the thickness and width of the blade.

Since I cannot find anyone advertising this on the internet I am skeptical.
 
I do not know....BUT I do know a doctor repaired a detached retina in my eyeball without generating any discernible heat. Just saying....I do not know...Herb
 
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