Is anyone else's sharpening ability highly situational?

Comeuppance

Comeuppance

Fixed Blade EDC Emisssary
Joined
Jan 12, 2013
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There seem to be days I can sharpen all of my knives to a razor edge in minutes, and others where I can spend a half hour and still not seem to make any progress. It's really frustrating. Anyone else in the same boat?
 
I find I'm pretty consistent because of my deep understanding of how sharpening works and the forces at play, but I definitely agree that some days the knives just seem to take that edge with a bit less fight. It all comes down to nerves, a calm demeanor and steady hand make a huge difference. I find a nice adult beverage and some "herbal therapy" help exponentially...
 
Everybody either is or was. Be able to sharpen a knife is a set of things: Knowing what sharp actually is. Being consistent. Understanding exactly what you are trying to accomplish mechanically. Understanding exactly what roadblocks steel is going to throw in your way to accomplish those things.

  • Sharp. The two sides of a bevel meet along a line that follows the edge and do so with very little metal between the edge of the bevel.
  • What you are trying to accomplish. Apexing the edge...which is to say bring both sides of the bevel together cleanly.
  • Being consistent. This largely had to do with maintaining an angle.
  • Roadblocks. Burrs, wire edges, and wide apexes (wide apex is more from consistency than the steel).

Since you actually can get a knife sharp, you probably know exactly what you are trying to accomplish and what sharp really means technically. Therefore you are probably experiencing problems with the latter.
 
Some days I can get D2 to shaving if I so desire, while other days I'm struggling to make stainless back to factory sharp. When I was in the Californian desert it was much faster and less time consuming to sharpen my knives than here in Hawaii for whatever reason, making me wonder if climate has a direct effect on it?
 
mkjellgren said:
I find I'm pretty consistent because of my deep understanding of how sharpening works and the forces at play, but I definitely agree that some days the knives just seem to take that edge with a bit less fight. It all comes down to nerves, a calm demeanor and steady hand make a huge difference. I find a nice adult beverage and some "herbal therapy" help exponentially...
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Totally agree with this, I find sharpening much more enjoyable with some herbal therapy.

To the OP, yeah some days are better than others for me too. I can't really figure out why, maybe we're just on a bad biorhythm cycle when we can't sharpen to save our lives.
 
I.N.F.K said:
I have it down to where my body does it without even thinking.
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This right here is what you need to be aiming for. It takes a lot of time. You start to feel the stone and the edge through the knife. You start to hear the edge on the stone. And you start to make adjustments based on what your senses tell you. For me, this is beginning to happen more and more often. I am at a place now that I can get a knife sharp. If I do my part right, it will be sharp. I still go through the process and come out not sharp every once in a while. You have to deal with it and put the blade back down on the stone and do it right. More and more, this happens because I try to take a shortcut, skip a step, or make it easy.
 
HoosierQ said:
This right here is what you need to be aiming for. It takes a lot of time. You start to feel the stone and the edge through the knife. You start to hear the edge on the stone. And you start to make adjustments based on what your senses tell you. For me, this is beginning to happen more and more often. I am at a place now that I can get a knife sharp. If I do my part right, it will be sharp. I still go through the process and come out not sharp every once in a while. You have to deal with it and put the blade back down on the stone and do it right. More and more, this happens because I try to take a shortcut, skip a step, or make it easy.
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I hear that, man. I made pretty much every mistake possible doing my first full reprofile job a few weeks ago. I learned a lot from it though, most importantly what you were hinting at; there are no shortcuts when it comes to sharpening. Taking your time and doing it the right way is what it's all about.
 
Unless the Earth and the 3rd moon of Jupiter are aligned with Uranus,I don't even think about sharpening knives. Stropping,yes. Sharpening,not in a million years .....or the next alignment :D OK,back to being serious. Yes, I have good and bad days for sharpening. Sometimes it depends on how much coffee I had,too much and it is better for me to wait till another day.
 
Certainly, I usually only sharpen on Saturday and Sunday. It's the same way with flipping a balisong, if I'm not totally relaxed it never really flows well.
 
Comeuppance said:
There seem to be days I can sharpen all of my knives to a razor edge in minutes, and others where I can spend a half hour and still not seem to make any progress. It's really frustrating. Anyone else in the same boat?
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Different steels at different RC hardness will sharpen differently. Also a heavy camp may be around a 25-30 degree angle while some Sashimi knives can be 11 degrees on only one side.

Are you taking these differences into your equation? Also there is the human factor.
 
I try to make sure I have a plan every time I begin, approach it like a job. "What is my purpose, in detail". Helps a lot to inspect the tool first per Murray Carter and catch any abnormalities that will cause trouble later, like a warped blade, uneven bevels, thick angle at the heel etc. Then, however long it takes to complete that phase with the abrasives I'm using is how long it takes, but it will get done properly and methodically. I've totally revamped my technique over the years to minimize problems with holding an angle, or having trouble with specific parts of the edge - belly, recurve, etc, or handling different sized blades. Lots of practice. I think I might do a better job when I'm tired and somewhat unmotivated, I tend to stay more focused. I won't even attempt to sharpen anything once I've had a couple drinks unless I'm camping with the fellas an someone makes a request - doesn't happen often.
 
Rhinoknives1 said:
Different steels at different RC hardness will sharpen differently. Also a heavy camp may be around a 25-30 degree angle while some Sashimi knives can be 11 degrees on only one side.

Are you taking these differences into your equation? Also there is the human factor.
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I can only assume it's primarily the human factor. As for edge angles, I hand sharpen with stones and strops, and carefully eye the angle of the edge against the abrasive surface. I find early mornings, when the light is diffused and there are no shadows, is when I seem to do best.
 
For me I just learn to relax and breathe correctly.

when starting out it took much practicing to figure out what I was doing wrong. What works for me is to shut up and think of nothing and just listen.
 
I have days where i am sharpening good and it is the most relaxing thing ever, then i have days where i just want to chuck my stone across the yard.
 
Comeuppance said:
Anyone else in the same boat?
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Definitely, but much less so than in the past. For some of us becoming consistent is just a slow, painful process. Kind of like one guy can pick up a guitar, play around with it for 5 minutes, and then start playing like Hendrix, while another guy will require years of boring and frustrating lessons just to get halfway as good as the first guy. Sharpening is kinda like that. :(:D
 
If a knife has work to do, I whip a working edge on it and do whatever has to be done. Otherwise, and this is the distillation of decades of hand sharpening experience, I don't start to sharpen a knife until I am absolutely bored and can think of nothing else to do. This way, I am not distracted by anything and, being bored, am delighted to be sharpening instead of staring out the window. Now, I'm focused and happy. Now, the sharp just seems to ooze out of the edge. This is the zen of knife sharpening everyone's talking about. It becomes a sensual experience, all sight and sound and muscle memory. But I'm no zen master; I can't summon up this experience on demand. I have to pick the right moment for me. This is why I'll always be an amateur. When my stuff's not clicking and I have to have a blade sharpened anyway, I approach the task as a learning experience and pretend I've never done this before. I recall the things I've been taught that have worked for me and I start over(relatively speaking).
I had a good laugh and recalled much of the '60's and '70's reading mkjellgren's post. I used to be able to conjure up the zen experience (I thought) back then. I hereby publicly apologize to the true sharpening masters for thinking that I invented the convex edge around 1976. It was just that rockin' motion...:o
 
Comeuppance said:
I can only assume it's primarily the human factor. As for edge angles, I hand sharpen with stones and strops, and carefully eye the angle of the edge against the abrasive surface. I find early mornings, when the light is diffused and there are no shadows, is when I seem to do best.
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We all have a "sweet spot" of time during the day or night when we work best. Some of my most productive knife making times are after a days work sharpening, dealing with customers, awnsering the phone etc.
I close the shop and go home and have dinner with my beautiful wife and then come back for a 8-10pm ish run of work with the door closed and no interruptions.

That is my sweet time when things seem to just fall right together. we have bio clocks so to speak, I have read studies about it, people for many different reasons all seem to have a time of best productivity, mental and physical, and it can be at very different times of the day or night for each person.
 
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