Sharpening a turd vs sharpening a God

williamsld8

williamsld8

Joined
Sep 19, 2010
Messages
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so I had this plan. I wanted to work on my sharpening technique because I'm still in the limbo of discovering what works best for me and what I like, plus I want to learn how to sharpen a convex edge as well. So I said hey I'll get a couple of cheap counter knives, like a few 15 dollar walmart knives to practice on. Is this foolish? Cuz what it takes to sharpen a cheap knife is different than what it takes to sharpen a quality one of good materials? Or is this a fairly safe idea to keep from potentially ruining a knife I paid good money for while trying to learn? Thank you.
 
You can still learn a lot of technique on a cheap knife. I have found that is is harder to put a decent edge on a cheapie, and some wont get sharp at all.
 
ricklee4570 said:
You can still learn a lot of technique on a cheap knife. I have found that is is harder to put a decent edge on a cheapie, and some wont get sharp at all.
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I've found this as well. I've tried to sharpen two different China cheapies for a friend that I couldn't get sharp at all. Very frustrating. :thumbdn:
 
I practice that frequently but would have a tough time paying $15 for tester/cheapie. I have a shoe box full of junkers after a couple of Saturday's scouring the yard sales and picking them up for 25 and 50 cents.
 
You should be able to get those chinese knives pretty sharp. They most likely will not hold an edge for long, but they should take an edge at least. I practiced on cheap Winchesters and kitchen knives whenever I was learning. Then, I would recommend trying something with either 8cr13mov steel or a Buck with 420HC as a next step. Both are easy to sharpen and work well for every day use.
 
Dittos on garage sales, also thrift shops for knives. I have even found some decent carbon butcher types for next to nothing and those will sharpen very nicely. To practice convexing for a larger blade you could practice on a machette or pick up some thin scrap stuff and just work that.
Good luck.
josh
 
the barracks I live in is kinda strict on "weapons" so anything longer than 3" is kinda hard to get away with, so any kitchen knives or machetes are out of the question. I will check on the garage sales though
 
Steel doesn't really make a difference in learning how to sharpen an edge properly, but the biggest reason cheap knives would be more difficult to sharpen than a well-made one would be the thickness of the edge. Well made knives are much thinner behind the edge than cheaper ones, and consequently grinding cheaper knives can be seen as more of a challenge. In all reality, it's simply the well-made knife that's easier to sharpen because it's thinner behind the edge.

With all that being said, you really don't want to trial and error things with an expensive knife, and despite how difficult it may be to grind a thick edge, you will still learn all the same things you would need to learn in the first place--plus you'll get more practice in general.

If you don't have that much patience and still want to try some knives to sharpen ( as well as ones that will work in your barracks ) just pick up some knock-off swiss army knives from the dollar store. The blade itself is thin enough that the thickness behind the edge will not matter, and you will be able to practice with the same shape and size--and if you screw up, then hey, it was only a dollar lost.
 
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