[Poll] How often do you re-sharpen?

How often do you re-sharpen your knife?

  • I touch the edge up regularly

    Votes: 40 39.6%

  • I only sharpen if the knife feels dull

    Votes: 28 27.7%

  • I do a little of both

    Votes: 33 32.7%
  • Total voters
    101
I use a Spyderco ultra fine stone when ever it gets below acceptable.
 
dogstar said:
Do you touch up your edge before the knife gets dull? Or do you keep cutting until you have to sharpen?
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I'm going to quibble and point out that if a knife were even close to dull, touching up isn't going to do much.
Touching up is a fast thing, after all.
 
I have a stone next to my "spot" on the couch. If I have used the knife at all that day, I give it a few swipes. Sometimes I give it a few swipes if I haven't used it. That's kind of a function of me also fiddling with it as a worry stone. I check the edge periodically to see if it needs more. I usually use carbon or a simpler stainless, so the steel isn't uber hard and I rarely have to do more.
(12c27, the carbon steel of stainless):thumbsup:
 
Definitely touch-ups, although I'm more of a strop guy. Unless my knives have seen particularly heavy use, going through my usual 3-strop progression usually has 'em back to screaming sharp.

Also like to strop *during* heavy use - if I'm doing something like breaking down boxes and using an actual knife instead of a box cutter, I'll cut off a piece of cardboard to strop on every now and then... keeps me going a lot longer.
 
Sometimes I feel I strop my knives TOO much. I'm a sharpening nut, so I touch up my knives constantly. I rotate through them so most of the time stropping brings them back to high sharpness, but I don't hesitate to use stones if the strop doesn't work well enough. Once I've stropped them back multiple times the edge will lose most of it's aggression, which will bring me back to using stones.

Even though the constant stropping helps tremendously in keeping a knife sharp, I always prefer my edges after a fresh progression through my stones etc.
 
I habitually fiddle with sharpening anyway - so my regular-carry knives get 'touched up' daily, or nearly so. I find it relaxing and a pleasant distraction when or if my mind is anxious about other things. Sometimes when I'm bored, I'll just pick up any knife within reach and hone it a little bit, just to see if I can make it a little better than it started, whether it was actually needing it or not.

I'm always looking to get an edge as sharp as I can make it, or at least keep a certain character of sharpness that I like or find a new level of cutting aggression I'll like even more. It's not just about maintaining the edge sharp, but also about finding new methods or simpler & more repeatable means to get them where I want them and maintain them as such. It also helps keep my hands tuned up for sharpening in general.

And any knife that I find to be 'dull' when I pick it up is going to get sharpened, if I have any desire to use it at all.
 
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Depends on the knife.

One, my razor, is razor sharp.

Some I keep very sharp.

The others are some level of working sharp (~arm-hair shaving but not smooth) and I often let small chips just sit, knowing that the next few sharpening sessions take care of them - especially with larger choppers/axes. I don’t want to over-sharpen and thicken my edges unnecessarily.
 
Depends on the knife and it’s use for me, but all you guys talking about strops - I burnish with a meatcutter’s steel to touch up.

That’s kinda ironic, because I have a really nice two sided strop that my old cabinet maker friend Jerry used on his chisels and plane irons when he was alive, and I use it for mine also, but knives usually get the steel. My hard-abuse work knives might get the stone first, if they’ve lost their apex.

Parker
 

Sharpening preferences

I realize there may be circumstances that would affect your choice, but for simplicity's sake this poll assumes one knife that you use frequently. What option most closely resembles your thoughts for sharpening that knife. Feel free to post a comment with some context regarding the steel...
www.bladeforums.com www.bladeforums.com
 
I love to sharpen. I love the act of sharpening.

I look for excuses to use a knife so I can dull it. Then I can go ahead and touch it up without feeling stupid for sharpening a sharp knife!

Recently I've been using 3M diamond film on aluminum plates. That stuff cuts fast and leaves a clean, shiny surface.

I've also been searching for a softer natural stone between a hard Ark and black Ark, to use for touch ups that don't require the steel removal of the hard stone, and don't require the time consuming brilliance of the black stone.
 
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Show me on the knife where you were touched up…

But seriously, I used to be obsessive about daily stropping, but now I wait a week or two. If an edge gets a ding in it, I fix it.
 
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