Is sharpening overrated?

D

drebs

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Dec 6, 2014
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I came across this article, and it made me think.. It seems the process seems to be everytime your knife it's "dull" re sharpen it. This article the man is starring he only sharpens his knife 2 per year but is constantly honing and stroping to get it razor sharp. Mostly I've seen people do this on kitchen knives but I just realized i haven't heard it on edc and pocket knives.

http://www.homestead.org/DougSmith/Sharpening/Razor'sEdge.htm

What's the thought process on this?
 
If you prefer dull knives, it's all good. Some prefer sharp, and a few prefer extremely sharp.
I'm in the sharp group, extreme sharp dulls very fast and is mostly useful for bragging, unless you perform surgical tasks with your pocket knife.
 
Honing and stropping an EDC is quite common ... among those so enlightened.

For years, I rarely even sharpened my pocket knife and only then when it got so dull it wouldn't cut.
Today, my EDCs get a few quick strokes after use and haven't needed to be 'sharpened' in nearly a year.
 
Don't confuse "sharpening" and having re bevel or re profile a knife.
 
Also, how hard the knife is used makes a really big difference. If you are cutting drywall daily, no strop will keep your from a stone for very long. If you are cutting paper and plastic, strops can keep a knife sharp for a very long time. And rycen is dead on. Is sharpening a few strokes on a stone or grinding away for 30 minutes. Most people wont need to use a stone very often (briefly once a month) if they have a good strop and know how to prevent rounding off the edge
 
I sharpen my knives when they are too dull for a strop to return them to their hair shaving sharpness. How often that is depends on how fast or slow they dull enough to require a sharpening.
By sharpening I mean on my Lansky system going through the hones until the edge is restored to my desired level of edge. Then I strop to finish it off.
My work knife...I use it all day every day cutting through paper and light cardboard in a paper mill...gets stropped every night to restore its' edge. It takes only a few minutes and I find it relaxing.
My EDC generally gets a light stropping once a week or so and a full sharpening generally once every couple of months as it does not see the hard use like my work knife sees.

I keep my knives as sharp as they need to be. My hunting fixed blade does not require or need the hair popping edge I like to keep on my EDC. Neither does my work knife...I sharpen to the need or my desire. But I do keep all my knives very sharp...better a sharp knife that is not needed than a dull knife that is needed and fails...
 
Ya that makes sense i've seen some chefs who use their knifes all day daily who say they only sharpen a handful of times in a year but i guess they are cutting soft things all the time.. and have quality knives. It just seems there is a train of thought out there that once it wont shave take it to the sharpmaker when all it might need is a hone and strop up
 
Honed_Edge said:
Also, how hard the knife is used makes a really big difference. If you are cutting drywall daily, no strop will keep your from a stone for very long. If you are cutting paper and plastic, strops can keep a knife sharp for a very long time. And rycen is dead on. Is sharpening a few strokes on a stone or grinding away for 30 minutes. Most people wont need to use a stone very often (briefly once a month) if they have a good strop and know how to prevent rounding off the edge
Click to expand...

Exactly this ^^^^

It just depends what your edge needs, or more to the point, what state it's in......

If you are cutting softer materials, and you just need to straighten out or de-burr your edge to get it to cut crisp and clean again, then a strop will do that job.

If you are really folding it over, or micro-chipping it, then those types of issues are for stones.

I think constantly hitting the stones because you can't slice your arm hair in half is overrated, but to each their own....
 
Sharpening is WAYYYY over talked here in this Forum. Guys just don't get it. It must be a TV/ Video generation thing. As they have to see it and still have trouble getting a sharp edge. Plus, with several here the new members think they must be able to whittle hair before the edge is considered sharp. I'm glad that guys are interested in learning but it's not complicated. I'm sure the art of freehand is being lost. Plus, much here fosters purchasing several zillion grit stones to enhance your journey into this lovely land of sharpening. Whereas all you really need is a coarse and fine stone around 300 grit. With that alone you can put an edge on a blade that will shave every hair it touches. Then the coarse stone for rebeveling, thinning an edge, ect.. DM
 
Its all a process of learning a task. No matter what it is experience is the biggest part of the education. You learn from your mistakes and move on. Is the process, tools and media overthought? Absolutely. Obsession for the perfect edge however its described is a goal you can set. Is it that important? Not really. Once you get to the point of knowing how an item with a specific steel along with the task at hand should be sharpened is when you have learned something. Then maintaining that item with the least amount of waste, wear and tear should be the goal.
 
there is a big difference between sharpening a knife, using it till its so blunt its like a butterknife, then regrinding a new edge on it
versus using it, and when it goes "off" a little, running it up and down a strop or steel to bring it back - its basic maintenance, and over time, will probably result in less wear on the knife.

now i have an edge pro, I reprofile my knives to between 15 and 18dps - i go through and finish with the 3000 grit tape for a mirror polished bevel.
then i use the knife, once a week or so i will give it a few passes on the sharp maker ultra fine stones (at 40deg) to keep it sharp.


chefs wil touch their edges up frequently with a steel, and only send the knife away to be sharpened a few times a year - again, its basic maintenance.
 
Personally it all depends on the tool, and how its being used to determine edge finish/geometry, and then what methods are available to maintain that edge.

I agree it should be kept off the stones as much as possible, but damaged, dull, dulling, losing a step, etc all require steel to be either cold worked (smooth meatpacker's steel) which ultimately leads to steel loss, or worked with an abrasive at some level, which leads to steel loss. I cannot imagine a strop is pulling a whole lot less steel off the edge than a UF Spyderco rod. And then a coarse edge straight off the stone will last a long time under some conditions relative to a bright finish. The coarse edge cannot be effectively refreshed without a stone, but in some environments it might still enjoy a longer life than a polished edge that requires daily upkeep and the occasional trip back to the stones.

Edges are consumable resources.
 
I think that an edge will remain sharp if it's used properly. The type of cutting board, the items cut, and the general care given the knife will greatly extend the knife's sharpness. Just a quick touchup will bring it back to very sharp.
 
I'll give a brief example of a sharp knife working better than a dull knife.
I cut paper and cardboard all day every day at work...paper mill...I also have to splice the sheet of paper from one roll to another and part of this process requires cutting the paper to be joined in a straight clean line...I've watched co workers use their crap unsharpened knives tear this edge making it difficult to put in a clean splice whereas my knife cuts a clean straight line every time making it easier, faster and a cleaner splice...I'll take a sharp knife every time.

By the way, as an aside, I also use a utility knife at time to slab paper off the roll and I can wear down the edge to the point where you can't see the bevel line at all in a brief amount of time. Paper is brutal stuff to a metal edge and can wear down the metal nearly as fast as dry wall...carpeting is also brutal on the knife edge.
 
Loving this thread. In the last week or so I had this kind of intense, panic thought that my knives weren't sharp enough.
I have a sharpmaker and one of those portable otterbox KSF strop setups, but I thought "I need a lansky! I need a work sharp! I need an edge pro!", yada yada yada.

However, taking a look over my knives, I started just spending some time with them on my strop if they didn't slice paper and BAM. I had forgotten how much I love stropping. I've found it to be very forgiving in terms of getting an exact angle.

I don't use my knives like crazy. I work in a school and spend my free time going for walks with my dog and reading, etc. I have and carry knives because I like them, not being I'm using them all the time. As a result, I decided yesterday that stropping is perfect for my needs, with the sharpmaker for when it's actually necessary. Any time I've chipped an edge, some sandpaper over my strop has taken it out in no time.

I finally calmed down and stopped obsessing over the perfect angle, perfect bevel and a knife that chases hairs off of my arm. I think it's definitely common for people to over do it with sharpening, but I honestly can't recommend a strop enough. Any time I lose that razor edge the strop is an almost effortless way to bring that sharpness back. As a result, I very rarely spend any time on the sharpmaker.
 
Can you elaborate on what you mean by didn't slice paper when you decide to strop?
 
Kai Winters said:
I'll give a brief example of a sharp knife working better than a dull knife.
I cut paper and cardboard all day every day at work...paper mill...I also have to splice the sheet of paper from one roll to another and part of this process requires cutting the paper to be joined in a straight clean line...I've watched co workers use their crap unsharpened knives tear this edge making it difficult to put in a clean splice whereas my knife cuts a clean straight line every time making it easier, faster and a cleaner splice...I'll take a sharp knife every time.

By the way, as an aside, I also use a utility knife at time to slab paper off the roll and I can wear down the edge to the point where you can't see the bevel line at all in a brief amount of time. Paper is brutal stuff to a metal edge and can wear down the metal nearly as fast as dry wall...carpeting is also brutal on the knife edge.
Click to expand...

I work in printing, paper can be brutal stuff. I completely changed my philosophy on sharpening about 12 years ago when we started running heavier stock on our equipment - cast coated 12 pt, clay coated 15 pt, 17pt coated both sides.

Just cutting out jams and splicing is murder on an edge.
 
me2 said:
Can you elaborate on what you mean by didn't slice paper when you decide to strop?
Click to expand...

Hey, yeah, sorry. I didn't explain myself very well.

What I meant was that, for me, slicing paper OR shaving arm hair OR catching on my fingernail are, for me, that sharpness levels I want. I went through all my knives yesterday and tested them on printer paper. If they didn't slice cleanly enough, I gave them each about ten passes per side on my strop, first on the black compound and then the green. When I first saw that a few of my knives needed attention I had though "oh, I need to buy some crazy sharpening system to fix this" but in reality, just those few passes on my strop brought everything back to crazy sharpness levels.

It brought up all the reasons that I love stropping. I think I had lost faith in it, but you can't deny those results!
 
VermontEdge said:
Hey, yeah, sorry. I didn't explain myself very well.

What I meant was that, for me, slicing paper OR shaving arm hair OR catching on my fingernail are, for me, that sharpness levels I want. I went through all my knives yesterday and tested them on printer paper. If they didn't slice cleanly enough, I gave them each about ten passes per side on my strop, first on the black compound and then the green. When I first saw that a few of my knives needed attention I had though "oh, I need to buy some crazy sharpening system to fix this" but in reality, just those few passes on my strop brought everything back to crazy sharpness levels.

It brought up all the reasons that I love stropping. I think I had lost faith in it, but you can't deny those results!
Click to expand...

I think what me2 is getting at is that an edge should be cleanly slicing paper right off the stones - stropping should just be final finishing step on an already clean edge. If it's not cleanly slicing paper until after stropping, you're likely leaving a burr that gets straightened out during stropping. When it straightens out, the edge feels sharp, but when that burr collapses again after usage, you'll likely see performance issues.

Now, if you're doing it as maintenance in between sharpenings, that's one thing. But doing it fresh off the stones should be approached a bit differently.

Just my $0.02.
 
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