I've used and sharpened dozens of knives over many years. In the early days 'shaving sharp' was a term I knew, but I never really bothered to achieve it with my outdoor blades. If they looked sharp, felt sharp and did the job that was all that mattered. I generally just used a carborundum stone or a file.
When I was at high school, a friend and I went to stay in the country during the holidays..... and it was then a farmer showed me how to use a sharpening steel. I soon adopted this method of sharpening and found that some of my knives could indeed shave. Prior to that, if someone mentioned shaving with a blade I would have thought of my uncle with his old blade razor and the leather strop hanging from a rail in the bathroom.
Sometimes after being introduced to the sharpening steel, I found that a knife might not shave or cut paper well even though I'd sharpened it and the edge looked and felt good. I then read someone's advice about sharpening a knife... 'raise a burr on both sides, then carefully remove the burr'. And this was quite a clue as to what might be happening with these blades that had been sharpened and which looked good.... but which didn't cut so well. I was probably leaving some patches of wear or damage that were at a very blunt angle to the edge. Even if these patches were too small to see with the naked eye in good light (my eyes are pretty good), they were obviously a hindrance to optimal cutting performance. The burr raising method certainly is helpful because the burr can be felt. If you feel a burr all along an edge, then you have probably ground all of the edge to the apex. Although it can take a relatively long time to grind away a knife (by sharpening) to the point where it is isn't as useful, sharpening does reduce the width of the blade. So I haven't always used the full burr approach. But simply being aware of the concept helped me to think about what might be happening as I sharpened.
Not long ago I decided it would be nice to get some sort of an optical magnifier so I could study the cutting edge. I bought one for less than five bucks on eBay, and it has really helped me. A blade which looks smooth and sharp can look really ragged. And just yesterday I inspected the blade of a new machete that I sharpened and found that although it looked and felt good, there were some horrendous rough patches on the edge.
Here's a pic of my wee pocket microscope. I has a built-in light, but I find that it isn't necessary to use the light if there is plenty of sunshine or other artificial illumination.
When I was at high school, a friend and I went to stay in the country during the holidays..... and it was then a farmer showed me how to use a sharpening steel. I soon adopted this method of sharpening and found that some of my knives could indeed shave. Prior to that, if someone mentioned shaving with a blade I would have thought of my uncle with his old blade razor and the leather strop hanging from a rail in the bathroom.
Sometimes after being introduced to the sharpening steel, I found that a knife might not shave or cut paper well even though I'd sharpened it and the edge looked and felt good. I then read someone's advice about sharpening a knife... 'raise a burr on both sides, then carefully remove the burr'. And this was quite a clue as to what might be happening with these blades that had been sharpened and which looked good.... but which didn't cut so well. I was probably leaving some patches of wear or damage that were at a very blunt angle to the edge. Even if these patches were too small to see with the naked eye in good light (my eyes are pretty good), they were obviously a hindrance to optimal cutting performance. The burr raising method certainly is helpful because the burr can be felt. If you feel a burr all along an edge, then you have probably ground all of the edge to the apex. Although it can take a relatively long time to grind away a knife (by sharpening) to the point where it is isn't as useful, sharpening does reduce the width of the blade. So I haven't always used the full burr approach. But simply being aware of the concept helped me to think about what might be happening as I sharpened.
Not long ago I decided it would be nice to get some sort of an optical magnifier so I could study the cutting edge. I bought one for less than five bucks on eBay, and it has really helped me. A blade which looks smooth and sharp can look really ragged. And just yesterday I inspected the blade of a new machete that I sharpened and found that although it looked and felt good, there were some horrendous rough patches on the edge.
Here's a pic of my wee pocket microscope. I has a built-in light, but I find that it isn't necessary to use the light if there is plenty of sunshine or other artificial illumination.