Knife Sharpening, Necessary Life Skill?

kamagong said:
I'm going to flat out say that knife sharpening IS a necessary life skill. Unless you eat out every single meal, you'd best know how to keep your kitchen tools sharp.
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Nope. Sorry, that is simply untrue. My mother in law is over 70. Cooks meals quite regularly, and has absolutely no clue how to sharpen a knife. She's got a drawer full of dull knives. yet she still hasn't died of starvation.
 
A lot of people don’t seem to see even knife possession as a necessary thing...they’re content to saw away with a key or their teeth and look like a moron!

As far as sharpening, I do my own and I’m decent but not great, I enjoy it and the ability to select different types of abrasives as I wish.

Ironically, there are two respectable knife stores around here (that only sell quality knives) and neither sharpens worth a damn. They basically clamp your knife and use a wheel to polish the edge to a mirror edge using jewelers rouge. The sad reality is that this is a vast improvement over the horrid edges most crap knives people bring in have ... plus it looks fancy !
 
What passes around here for knife sharpening services should be against the law.
 
at the moment - it is not a necessary life skill.

should i become trapped in the wilderness, marooned on an island, or the end of the world as we know it comes along, or any other survival type scenarios - I would then consider it a necessary life skill.
 
Haha I'm sure a lot of things become a life skill after the fact. Problem is just that. You don't get any time to devolp the skill after things have already happened.

Being a mechanic is a life skill once your car brakes down :D :p

l1ranger said:
at the moment - it is not a necessary life skill.

should i become trapped in the wilderness, marooned on an island, or the end of the world as we know it comes along, or any other survival type scenarios - I would then consider it a necessary life skill.
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NorthernSouthpaw said:
Nope. Sorry, that is simply untrue. My mother in law is over 70. Cooks meals quite regularly, and has absolutely no clue how to sharpen a knife. She's got a drawer full of dull knives. yet she still hasn't died of starvation.
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Same with my mom. She never used a chefs knife or a cutting board either. She just pulled one of the dull steak knives out and started cutting “grandma style.”

kuraki said:
It's only an essential skill if you want to identify as a man.
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Pretty much sums up some people’s arguments in this thread. :confused:
 
DeadboxHero said:
Haha I'm sure a lot of things become a life skill after the fact. Problem is just that. You don't get any time to devolp the skill after things have already happened.

Being a mechanic is a life skill once your car brakes down :D :p
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quite true - and I was about to argue, "well, people survived before there were even cars" - and they did, and they also survived before knives, so not a solid argument on that front, but takes me to my next point...
if knives have not always been necessary, then sharpening them is definitely not necessary. its a great advantage to both have, and know how to sharpen, a knife, but not a necessity.
 
DeadboxHero said:
NEW thread, "Is tying your shoelaces a life skill"

"NOPE, Velcro Shoes baby! :cool:"
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croc.png
 
As noted, people can and do survive without being able to sharpen a knife. However, from my perspective, being able to sharpen my knives, change the tyres on my car, cook a meal from scratch, and many other little elements of self-reliance, are part of what enables me to have some self respect. I place a high value on that, so for me personally these things are necessary life skills.

I think it is easy to fall into a vortex of reductio ad absurdam when discussing what ‘necessary’ means. For someone with autism it may be ‘necessary’ for them to turn around a full 360° before passing through a doorway. There isn’t a clear reason to others why that individual needs to do that to enter a room, but yet it is indeed necessary for their well being.
 
Knife sharpening is a skill related to craft and trade work. It is necessary only to those who need it. That more than half of the world's population now lives in urban environments the general populace is getting farther and farther from the land, too.
 
Velitrius said:
If you want to carry a knife, you probably should learn how to sharpen it.

If you want to drive a car, you probably should learn how to check the oil, pump gas and change a tire.

There is no definite NEED to have these skills, as there are folk who are paid to perform these services for you.

But if those folk aren't available to you at some point, then not having these skills can get real inconvenient.
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This is where I'm at with it. I mean, if you think about it, very little in the modern first world is a "necessary life skill", because if you have some money in your pocket, there are no end to people who will:

- prepare food for you (restaurant)
- feed it to you (old folks home/hospice/hospital)
- pour a drink in a glass for you (restaurant)
- build a roof over your head (contractors)
- clothe you (old folks home/hospice/hospital)
- bathe you (old folks home/hospice/hospital)
- transport you somewhere (Lyft/Uber)
- Grocery shop for you (Online grocery delivery services)

And so on. I know an awful lot of well paid people who are absolutely worthless and who can't (or don't) do anything for themselves. Maybe a hundred years ago, it would have been considered a necessary life skill, because we didn't live in a country that's 90% service industry like we do now.

All that said, I think sharpening a knife now falls in the column of "Lifeskills it's great to know if you want to be considered self-sufficient." I think self suffiency is an excellent goal to work towards.
 
leghog said:
Yet she could work smarter instead of harder.
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What? You think I'm gonna be totally complimentary to my Mother in law?!?!
Notice how I didn't mention whether or not the meals actually tasted good.;)

P.S.
I guess she's gotten smarter.... Since she gets me to sharpen for her now.
 
marchone said:
What passes around here for knife sharpening services should be against the law.
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Someone DM'd me to ask if I was referencing someone here on BF. I was not. I made an oblique reference to local knife sharpening services in NYC. I hope that serves to clear the record. :thumbsup:
 
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