When Is It Time to Resharpen

M

me2

Joined
Oct 11, 2003
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Just wondering when everyone decides it's time to resharpen. When it stops shaving arm hair, stops slicing paper, stops biting as easily, etc.

I will typically resharpen when a knife starts to scrape when trying to shave my arm. Depending on use, this will typically come with a noticeable drop in cutting ease. Wood shavings aren't quite as easy to make cleanly, the initial bite in cardboard starts to go away, loop cuts on rope or twine take more than one try, etc.
 
That sounds about par. I try to keep mine tuned by using a strop, if I have to get the stones out it's too dull. I usually let my work knife get down to using a stone for re sharpening, of course there are several in my work rotation.
 
When it doesn't clean slice paper of there are flat spots/dings in it.
I stop sharpening when it can shave but if it no longer shaves over time it's not a big deal.
 
Folders, about once or twice a week.
Yanagi, once a week or month
Rest of kitchen knives, twice a day or week.
 
I take mine pretty far, basically most times I can apply a good amount of pressure with my fingers running along the blade and not be cut.
 
I sharpen most of my knives about 3-4 times a year. By stropping or steeling I can usually avoid putting them on a stone for 3-4 months or more. My EDC may see stonework every 2-3 months, but lots of stropping in between.


Stitchawl
 
When it stops feeling 3 finger sticky I'll start thinking about it - when its no longer 3FS and won't shave arm hair it goes back to the Washboard.
 
When I get careless with the edge, it's time to sharpen - giving the edge 'handle with care' respect.
 
stitchawl said:
I sharpen most of my knives about 3-4 times a year. By stropping or steeling I can usually avoid putting them on a stone for 3-4 months or more. My EDC may see stonework every 2-3 months, but lots of stropping in between.


Stitchawl
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What indicates its time to strop? How often do you need to do it?
 
T. Erdelyi said:
Exactly, is dull when it can't cut what I want it to cut, this varies by material and blade.

When it can't cut butter is time to take it to the stones, I've always maintained that most people oversharpen their blades to start with, if you tweak your edge before it gets dull you'll sharpen less.
Click to expand...

I think that sums up my philosophy also. I'm in the habit of giving my blades a few quick & light passes on a strop after using them, and choice of compound (or not) plays into it, in maintaining the 'bite' I want in a given edge. Most of my knives haven't needed going back to stones in at least months, if not a couple years or more. Especially once I've tweaked them to a great slicing geometry, I avoid re-grinding them at all, if I can help it. Hence my motivation to stay ahead of them using strops.

Some cheaper stainless kitchen knives only seem to perform well with a pretty coarse grit, like < 320 or so, as stropping with much any compound quickly over-polishes their edges, and they lose their bite. The steel isn't very durable either, so they'll degrade much faster in use. In the case of those knives, I'm not shy about taking them back to a stone, when they start to disappoint. These are the knives that keep my hands tuned up to the process, in doing it more frequently. So, I don't mind it so much. :)


David
 
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When my knives can't push cut phonebook paper, I'll run them across Spyderco Ultra Fine Ceramic Bench Stone. Once they can't slice printer paper, it's time to give them a good sharpening.
 
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