db said:
How do you know how dull most people let their knives get.
For perspective, a sharp edge is actually about 0.1 micron thick, 0.1 mm is a 1000 times thicker, that is obviously really dull. If your knives are actually thicker still, then before warning about off center honing I would advise about using knives in such a condition, sharpen more frequently. If your knives have visible denting, or corrosion or chipping on the edge, then yes you could visibly change the look of the profile if you ground all the damage off on one side but then you are profiling not sharpening and the Sharpmaker which is being discussed here is a poor tool for that so I would suggest other methods.
However, if he ever did say honing on 1 side and 1 side only until you get a burr doesn’t move the edge over to 1 side he’s wrong as well.
Yeah, Mike didn't have much practical experience, he tended to say things all the time with no actual data to support it. In that partcular thread we were discussing the effect of honing, how much metal was being removed and he was talking about what he had seen observing the deposits on the stones (ceramic rods in particular) and I listed the numbers I had and did some calculations based on them and magnification inspections. He was arguing for the lack of support for needing to use a steel to preserve a knife due to the minimal amount of material stones remove, the fundamentals apply to this topic.
I have even seen Joe the writer of the FAQ give the same advice that I have in this thread.
I was around when it was first brought up as I noted in the above. I was also around years before it was brought up and it wasn't a concern. It is possible if you always start on the one side, and especially if you over grind, that over time you would note that the edge is getting lopsided and moving towards a chisel grind. However this is a really extreme case.
I sharpen probably about a 1000 knives a year including my personal ones and ones for friends and family (including such things as replacement blades which you can sharpen 10-20 in a day). Many of who are tradesmen and fishermen so tend to heavily use their knives. Some of my knives are so warn the knives are visibly smaller. I never pay attention to it and have never seen it happen.
Even the Busse Basic #7 which Patrick worn down to a nub by sharpening it on a belt sander on a regular basis was not adversely effected (in that respect) and I can guarantee you he had no consideration of what sides he started or finished with, he never even payed attention to the belt that were on it, and I would put the state of his knives when dull up against anyones considering what he cuts with them (or attempts to) on a regular basis.
I can give you his cell phone number and you can ask him the specifics about how many passes he did on one side vs another and the effect it had on the knife. Just email me if you want. Let me know when you plan to call him as I would like to be there because his responce is going to be entertaining.
Simon Yu said:
..then finally stropping would be a good way to go. Kind of want some confirmation before I do something that may require more sharpening to fix a mistake. Along with getting information on where to get a strop if so . . .
Stropping has a number of benefits, you can really cheaply get fine abrasives, and there is slop to it which helps set the very edge. Compare the cost of a 0.5 micron stropping paste to a similar stone, the paste is a dollar and the hone a hundred (roughly). Strops also give and relax the angle tolerance and thus many people find it helps.
Generally you want an edge very sharp before stropping, as burrs will crack or break off rather than be cleanly removed. Some steels like 52100 grind so easily that this isn't a problem but it can be for a lot of stainless so when you start stropping the sharpness goes down, then gradually comes back up and you also tend to lose a lot of slicing aggression for little gain in push cutting performance.
Generally the best method is a few light passes, I have discussed the results in detail in the review of the South Fork noting what happens to the sharpness and the cutting ability with continued passes on the strop. This is with S30V, as noted other steels will have similar but different behavior.
-Cliff
