If I bought one book on sharpening?

The Razor Edge Book of Sharpening by John Jurantich. It is pretty much considered the knife sharpening bible. Availible on Amazon.com. Around $20 in paperback.
 
That would depend upon your own personal needs and use of the book.
Do you want to just learn to sharpen, or do you want the full course of metalurgy, history, sharpener availability, etc., etc.,
If you would like a book to teach you how to sharpen a knife, I'd recommend Steve Bottorff's "Sharpening Made Easy." Nothing comes close to the simplicity yet thorough coverage of the basics of knife sharpening as well as a good introduction to ancillary information. Best $10 you can spend!
Steve's website, http://sharpeningmadeeasy.com/ is in itself a wealth of information.

The Razor Edge Book of Sharpening by John Jurantich is also an excellent reference book, although considerably more expensive. Where Bottorff's book tends to discuss a lot of different sharpening methods and devices, and a down-to-earth step-by-step instruction on how to get the best edge, Juantich spends more time on the more advanced ideas.



Stitchawl
 
Yes, I'd get John Jurantich's book, The Razor Edge book. It will take you to a good sharp edge with simple steps. Easy to follow instructions with lots of photos. DM
 
I like books; I'm old enough that I grew up with books as one of my primary ways of learning things. Before the Internet existed. For sharpening resources, I think online resources today are generally better than any single book. I own Juranich's book, and I respect it, but it didn't really help me very much at all. This may be a case of "the reader doesn't get it", but that was my experience.

Steve Bottorff's book above is good. Better than Juranich for me. I also really like Chad Ward's Knife Maintenance and Sharpening. It's not published in book form as far as I know, but you can read all of it here:

http://forums.egullet.org/topic/26036-knife-maintenance-and-sharpening/

That "book" was one of the breakthroughs for me. It's long and it takes a while to get to the mechanics of actually sharpening, but it's good IMHO.

Also note that you can read what seems to be Bottorff's whole book on his web site. Just scroll down and click on Chapter 1 and start reading.

Finally, this forum right here is probably the single largest and best sharpening resource on the Internet. You can learn a lot here by searching through previous threads and asking questions.

Brian.
 
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