Well, I'm done

robgmn said:
Good points, but I think it puts a lot of weight to doing things "in the field" on a daily basis.
I'd be willing to bet the majority of people who would even consider sharpening their knives would be best served by a mechanical process at "home" that delivers a very accurate result, and can do a decent "touch up" in the field until they can get better results at home.

I think of it this way: on the track, I could use a hand drill to cut a pretty straight hole into a part to effect a repair and keep the car going. The truth, however, is that I could create a damn-near perfect one using a drill press in my shop.
The analogy of substituting hand-machining for CNC work fits the bill quite nicely. So does the idea of using a fence to rip plywood strips on a table saw versus freehanding with a circular saw.

I recognize and appreciate that a skilled person could create a great edge by freehand sharpening and that it's an amazing skill, but the reality is that with a guided system, a non-expert (heck, my ten-year-old) could create an edge with lines that are so precise, you'd think it WAS machine-crafted.
With the right skill and lots of practice, a person could learn to fly an old-school radio-controlled helicopter around a field.
With a little skill and a little practice, a child could outfly them using a new 'copter with gyro control, channel mixing, etc.

Keeping a knife sharp is really not that difficult, but the edge you can achieve using a mechanically optimized process is amazing. There's no denying it.
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I see your point...up to a point. Like Fred earlier you are comparing a durable outcome to a temporary one. In your analogy, imagine the hole that needs drilling also fills itself back in with use, there is an ongoing need to re-drill the hole. Now further assume you are perfectly capable with a bit of practice, drilling that hole to a functional tolerance - so that to anyone using said part would never know the difference. The drill press not only becomes redundant it becomes unnecessary, and if someone observing you were to say they can make a better hole with their drill press, you might have a similar attitude to mine on this topic - why bother? There's no advantage.
 
HeavyHanded said:
I see your point...up to a point. Like Fred earlier you are comparing a durable outcome to a temporary one. In your analogy, imagine the hole that needs drilling also fills itself back in with use, there is an ongoing need to re-drill the hole. Now further assume you are perfectly capable with a bit of practice, drilling that hole to a functional tolerance - so that to anyone using said part would never know the difference. The drill press not only becomes redundant it becomes unnecessary, and if someone observing you were to say they can make a better hole with their drill press, you might have a similar attitude to mine on this topic - why bother? There's no advantage.
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I understand 100%, and recognize my analogy isn't perfect, but the point about doing stuff "in the field" probably stands even better after your analogy of the hole that fills itself in.

It's purely an academic discussion really ('cuz who cares how you got your edge as long as it cuts well?), but the point was more that a person with a sharpening system that eliminates the need for skill will be able to repeatedly get a good edge (and a consistent edge) every time they sharpen their knife. A person with knowledge of knives would not be able to tell if the edge were done by someone with 10 years experience, or a few weeks, if the same steps are followed.

Even an expert can have a bad day (as evidenced by a recent post in which someone messed up in their tempering process and actually softened the blade). The "mechanical" process of sharpening virtually eliminates that possibility, which is the advantage you speak of.
That advantage being that you don't have to spend a ton of time to develop the skill of sharpening just to have a great edge on your knife.

It's like my fireplace: I enjoy the fire a lot more than the laborious process of getting a good one going, so i cheat and use starter logs.
Someone else may really enjoy doing it "manually". If we both get a good fire, we're both happy in the end.
My version of building that fire may be my need to repair something that's broken because I CAN. It makes no sense that I'll sped an hour fiddling to repair a ten dollar toy, but it's something I just gotta' do :-)
 
I talked to David; he told me his 84 year old father was hospitalized over the Christmas holidays and he had not had time for much else but trying to get him better.

Fred
 
Fred.Rowe said:
I talked to David; he told me his 84 year old father was hospitalized over the Christmas holidays and he had not had time for much else but trying to get him better.

Fred
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Hopefully he'll return here with good news that all is well with him and his family..
 
I assume you already know the basic theory so I'm not going to "teach" you anything you haven't come across yet. I'm just sharing what worked for me.
Have you created a set up like I have where the angle of the hone is set and all you have to do is to keep the blade level? It makes it a lot easier to keep a consistent angle.





 
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