Your EDC blade

T

technician1

Joined
Nov 25, 2009
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OK just woudering,,,,,, how often do you resharpen or touch up your EDC blade. daily, weekly,monthly,yearly,never ? and how sharp do you like to be?


Me on avg. monthly maybe alittle more

When it's hair shaving sharp I stop, I kinda worrie about taking to much blade off. and shorting the life of my fav. blade

Thanks for your time.
 
Since I'm sort of sharpening obssessed, I touch up at least once a week on Sharpmaker UF rods. I want at least hairsplitting sharpness on all the knives I carry. My chinook 3 which has residency in my RFP is dedicated SD, gets used only on my cutting dummy but gets pretty dull after a session of practice cutting and needs a full sharpening after. That's why I have another NIB just in case and I just ordered another one as a backup to the spare.
 
I touch up my blades whenever I start to notice they don't slice paper cleanly.
I have not attained the skills to "pop hairs" yet so slightly shaving sharp is good enough for me.

All in all I would say I sharpen a knife about every other week.
I rotate many knives so many stay sharp for a long time. ;]
 
if i've used the blade that day, i'll run it over a strop that evening.

once stropping is no longer enough, then i'll put it over the benchstones.
 
I sharpen when I have a hard time cutting cardboard. That's usually once a week. But I always go out with a fresh blade, so I'll keep the used ones dull and use gem until they can't cut cardboard well.
 
I sharpen my knives about once a week... I just keep my stones in water all the time and whenever I'm bored I'll touch up the blades.

I don't worry about 'taking too much' off of my favorite blades, it's an investment into my skill (but I only sharpen as much as I feel I need to, I'm not unnecessarily grinding away)... so I don't mind. I stop at about shaving sharp/hair popping sharp.
 
somber said:
I don't worry about 'taking too much' off of my favorite blades, it's an investment into my skill (but I only sharpen as much as I feel I need to, I'm not unnecessarily grinding away)
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This is a good "philosophy". :thumbup:
You only get better by practicing.

For me, I don't sharpen my EDC blades that much since they get light use anyway. Maybe once in three months.
 
sambo. said:
if i've used the blade that day, i'll run it over a strop that evening.

once stropping is no longer enough, then i'll put it over the benchstones.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I like doing this too, but sometimes I strop right after I've completed a task if that's all I'm doing with it that day. Maybe just a few strokes depending on how light the task.

My tests:
If it doesn't push-cut through a whole page of phone book paper it needs time on the stone
If it doesn't pile up arm hair instead of popping it off, it needs to be stropped

Then if I actually want to shave my face with it, I'll test with warm soapy water and see how it feels, and strop it a little bit more until it feels comfortable. That's not really my EDC though, that's my Everday Shaver. Just happens to be the spey blade on my Case Trapper. Down with Gilette! :D

I just like to keep knives sharp rather than let them get dull. I know I'm not a lone in that, but it's just the philosophy I can get on board with. I suppose to me it's because I enjoy having a knife as sharp as I can get it, not as sharp as I need it to be.

I think I can pretty much agree with somber's take on it, and interestingly enough sometimes I overuse my knives just to get a chance to put them back on a stone and get more experience with that.
 
usually Daily if they see the usual uses. Not a sharpening as much as a touch up, typically under ten passes total on a medium ceramic (pocket gatco, like brown sharp maker rods) keeps em biting. Depending on the knife I'll hit em up with the UF sharp maker rod too.
 
I pretty much avoid unnecessary cutting AND unnecessary sharpening. I have a good idea of how my knife should perform with certain materials. One material I've noticed that reeeeally shows an unsatisfactory edge is thin plastic, e.g. plastic wrap or a bread bag. It's amazing how a blade can snag on the stuff then do a decent job on paper.
 
KennyB said:
Yeah, I like doing this too, but sometimes I strop right after I've completed a task if that's all I'm doing with it that day. Maybe just a few strokes depending on how light the task.

My tests:
If it doesn't push-cut through a whole page of phone book paper it needs time on the stone
If it doesn't pile up arm hair instead of popping it off, it needs to be stropped

Then if I actually want to shave my face with it, I'll test with warm soapy water and see how it feels, and strop it a little bit more until it feels comfortable. That's not really my EDC though, that's my Everday Shaver. Just happens to be the spey blade on my Case Trapper. Down with Gilette! :D

I just like to keep knives sharp rather than let them get dull. I know I'm not a lone in that, but it's just the philosophy I can get on board with. I suppose to me it's because I enjoy having a knife as sharp as I can get it, not as sharp as I need it to be.

I think I can pretty much agree with somber's take on it, and interestingly enough sometimes I overuse my knives just to get a chance to put them back on a stone and get more experience with that.
Click to expand...


That's totally me. I've recently got into sharpening, and i realize i don't particularly need a shaving sharp edge. It's just so awesome when i do.

I just ordered UF rods for my SM. Let's see how far i get with that.
 
I touch mine up on my Sharpmaker fine stones about once a week. Maybe longer if the knife has not seen much use throughout the week. Only takes a few very light passes most of the time since I don't let the knife get dull.
 
I run mine once or twice across my paper wheels as needed, keeps em shavin sharp for sure.....Usually just the rouge wheel is necessary.
 
I cut a lot of plastic wrapping and plastic banding straps at work. There are only a few steels that will stay razor sharp all day for me. I touch up any knife that I use in the course of the day. Usually use a fine ceramic rod or stropping. If it won't shave hair it does not get carried until it will. Eventually they will need a more extensive sharpening but not often. Have been doing this for 30+ years and have not noticed any excessive metal loss. YMMV.
 
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