[TheForge] Knife sharpening

[J. Petrila]

it might be different now, but kitchen knives and a really good knife are
not made from the same material..

A chef's knife is designed to have the burr straightened using a steel..
This burr will fold over in use and the steel straightens it or stands it
back up.. Yes it removes little sections but for the most part it lifts it
back into position as its the fine burr that does the cutting..

So, a good knife will have a very hard edge with a narrow burr vs a kitchen
knife which will be a little softer and have a longer or wider burr..

As pointed out all ready you can see a dull edge by looking down a blade as
it will reflect light differently on the sharp vs dull spots.. Also if you
have a really good eye or a loupe you can actually see the cutting edge...

A proper edge also depends on what you are cutting..   There are single
bevel edges and dual bevel..  Dual bevel actually has a pre sharpened edge
and then a second edge at a little steeper angle.. this reinforces the
cutting edge..

So diamond stones remove the metal in a consistent manner and last a really
long time and old timers will say nothing beats a soft, and a hard Arkansas
stone.. Water or oil..

some would argue a Japanese water stone will offer the best edge as they go
from roughly 24grit to 10000 grit..

The sharpest edge might not be the longest lasting as they are the thinnest
edge..

Ideally to get the sharpest edge the metal removed from the edge has to be
straight.. Basically like a cold chisel with no rounding at just behind the
burr..  Microscopic..

Norton used to make one really nice Oil stone set in an enclosure..  they
also make some fine diamond stones..   DT makes some decent diamond...

I use all of the above but prefer water stones for easy of clean up and
water is everywhere..

JLP Services Inc
6 Kenwood Dr
Rutland, MA 01543-1215

1 (508) 667-5498

On Mon, Jul 3, 2017 at 9:50 PM, barry myers <blmyers647 at gmail.com> wrote:

> I make knives and sharpen them on the slack belt and touch them up as
> someone said their son does.
>
> No matter how good of an edge I put on a knife, and it has to shave when
> they buy it, the new owner will sharpen it to his desired angle - good or
> bad.
>
> What I tell people is that if you know how to sharpen a knife, do your
> best.  If you don't, I tell them to get a pair of crock sticks - anyone can
> hold a knife perpendicular and drag it down the sticks.  I have even given
> people one of those little Smith's yellow sharpening blocks and told them
> not to use the carbide side.
>
> Just a thought.
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