Never let your girlfriend sharpen your knife

R

roadkill2

Joined
Apr 21, 1999
Messages
73
I was at my girlfriend's today. I more or less suck at sharpening knives. So my girlfriend is like "my dad taught me how, let me try." So I just shrug my shoulders and hand her the knife and start playing a computer game. I hear her sharpening it, and she returns and is like "see, its sharper." She hands me my knife back, with scratches ALL over the blade. Apparently she forgot you're only supposed to try and sharpen the edge, not the whole f*cking blade. It actually is sharper now, but my once beautiful AFCK has scratches ALL over it. So the moral of the story is, don't let your significant other try and sharpen your knife unless they know what they are doing...

Later,
roadkill2
 
By the way, I still love her. She was just trying to help out. Didn't ditch her for something as petty as this.

Later,
roadkill2
 
You might want to add this to the "most wicked thing seen done with a knife" thread.

smile.gif
 
There’s a lot to be learned from a girl who knows how to sharpen a knife, and doesn’t give a @#$% about scratches.
 
Knives are gonna get scratches from sharpening and use. I thought the entire point of "tactical knives" was that you got something you can rough up a bit.

Out of curiosity, were these scratches incedentaly. or did she try to sharpen the whole knife from spine to edge, cut in a new bevel if you will?

That technique wasn't all that common in the past as it can yield a very sharp edge on a full-flat-ground blade.
 
Well, you are definitely more mellow than I am. I would have been PISSED! My girlfriend took quite a while to stop complaining about my knife collection.

Yeah, I'm pretty bad at sharpening knives too. I purchased the Edge Pro Professional and that has helped a lot.

 
A woman who will even attempt to sharpen a knife is a rare jewel to be treasured. She just needs to learn how.

My son was talking with some young women the other day and they found the idea of anyone sharpening a knife ridiculous. Don't you just throw them away and buy new ones? After all they only cost a couple dollars each. It's easier to find a girl to setup a Linux-based web server than to find one who sharpens knives.

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"Defense against knife attack:
Option 1. If you have a gun shoot him."
 
I think EZ-Lap (maker of diamond sharpeners) promote a grinding technique that results in a convex type edge by using a circular motion during the hand grinding.

My in-laws use this (circular) technique on their kitchen knives which are always razor sharp but the sides of the blades are scratched every which way from spine to edge.
 
Circular honing doesn't particularly cause you to scratch the side of your blade. As I recall that was the method recommended in my Cub Scout handbook back 40 years ago. I use it when I have reprofiled an edge and want to neaten up the bevel to look more uniform. You scratch up the blade through lack of angle control and/or over ambition.

An inexperienced person can think that they have to hone the entire blade to "do it right". They may get a good edge in the end, but they really mar the blade. Even an experienced sharpener may slip while trying to reprofile a dull edge and mar the blade.

If you know what you're doing and the knife is not very dull you are less likely to scratch the blade. Alternating hone strokes from side-to-side gives you many chances to slip and mar the blade. Working one side at a time (either circular or edge-first strokes) is generally safer.

If you are learning, or doing a lot of knives in a hurry, you may want to protect the side of your blade with tape. A single strip on each side of the blade leaving about .25" clear next to the edge will limit chances of marring the finish. Most of my knives are "working knives" and I don't worry about a few scratches.
 
Jeff, the way you said "an inexperienced person may think they have to hone the whole blade to "do it right" can be interpretted to mean that only inexperienced people do this, which is false.

Experienced people know this is a legitimate way to sharpen a full flat grind without a secondary bevel for the edge; and also a valid way to cut a full flat grind into a knife that wasn't originaly done that way.

An uncommon practice in America today, but not uncommon in other countries, and a practice that was once common in America.
 
Snick,

As you know, you don't generally have to reprofile an entire primary knife bevel. In the case of some Swedish Mora type knives with slightly steep full grinds I do work on the entire bevel. If I want to maintain the look of the blade I sometimes use a succession of Wet-Or-Dry paper and buffing to keep it pretty. When I was 10 I thought it was the way you did all knives.

When I was a teenager I used a grinder and hollow ground or fully tapered all of my knives, even the throwing knives. My friends were particularly impressed by my hollow grinding of Italian pushbutton knives with Kriss-style serpentine blades. I sacrificed the shiny chrome, but they sure would slash well.



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"Defense against knife attack:
Option 1. If you have a gun shoot him."
 
I forgot to add, in my in-laws defense, that the circular scratches on the blade were never an issue to them because these were (as with Jeff) working kitchen knives. And as Snickersnee has already pointed out, the scratches don't mean much to whatever's on the receiving end of the blade.

I agree with Jeff that if the appearance were more of a concern, then some tape and judicious angle control would prevent the random and egregious contact with the stone.

Personally, I like my tools worn and used.
 
He heee! "It appears she sharpened the whole knife from spine to edge..." That's funny!
smile.gif


At least she tried.

On the other hand, I don't even like the makers to resharpen my knives on the occasions that I send them back to them. Sometimes it takes hours to get the edge bevel right by hand, and all that work can be undone on a grinder in about 30 seconds.

Harv
 
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