sharpmaker practice needed.

M

mr_dove

Joined
Apr 12, 2004
Messages
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I just got a sharpmaker and I'd like to practice a bit before I go to work on my good knives with it. I'd hate to ruin my knives by being a novice on the sharpener.

Anyone have suggestions on where to get a cheap knife that will still take an edge and allow me to get some practice on my sharpmaker?
 
cheap plain edge steak knives are good for practice. 5 for 10 bucks at walmart
 
Find a Goodwill, Salvation Army, DAV, or ARC thrift store. You can buy used, dull kitchen knives for a couple bucks or less. The Chinese and Taiwanese knives are likely to be real soft and be a bit on the easy side to sharpen. German or American knives will be a little bit harder. And usually the Japanese knive will be made from the hardest alloys. All of these knives will take some time to sharpen because they will have seen years of use without sharpening. They can be great learning devices.

By the way, if you see some knives from MAC or some of the German brands you will be getting particularly good steel. If you find Case XXX brand they take a nice edge, but are softer than the German or Japanese knives.
 
Old Hickory kitchen knives sharpen easily and will take a nice edge. They're made of good old high carbon steel, and can be found at Wal-Mart for about $5.
 
DONT WASTE YOUR MONEY ON CRAPPY KNIVES!

Instead of buying your own crappy knives, offer to sharpen other peoples crappy knives! This is how I gained experience with my sharpmaker.
 
Get a SAK for crying out loud! Doesn't need to be reprofiled, not overly expensive and sharpens up easily....and still not a crappy knife.....or even better, get one of those $35 deals on a Spyderco Calypso (which you would have to use first quite a bit, before it needs sharpening).

But really....don't be such a sissy, watch the video, go slow and get on with it. Those drawer queens don't have to be sharp anyway ;) .
 
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