the measure of a sharp knife

[woodentoe 14]

So, clearly I suck at sharpening my kives. How do you measure how sharp your blade is? What are your tricks?

[Ray Ray 3,566]

I've scene people skin paper, so that's what I do.

[Babyface Finster 45]

I dry-shave a knuckle. True story.

[ruger9 0]

I dry-shave a knuckle. True story.

 

My dad would dry-shave the underside of his forearm. I've never been able to get a knife that sharp; I guess I need more practice.

[woodentoe 14]

 

My dad would dry-shave the underside of his forearm. I've never been able to get a knife that sharp; I guess I need more practice.

 

Well I could filet a sheet of copy paper but not shave my arm. I'm going hunting soon and want to make sure my new buck knife is sharp enough in the unlikely event I get lucky.

[ruger9 0]

Strange that... haven't been hearing as many shots this year as usual, and I saw a thread here about how the season has been "sucky" so far...

[rightisright 3]

My left arm constantly has bald spots from testing my knives after I sharpen them.

 

I have one of these in my kitchen: http://www.amazon.com/Chefs-Choice-Professional-Knife-Sharpening-Platinum/dp/B000CSK0DM It works great on pocket knives, too. Someone very experienced w. stones could probably get a blade sharper....but "shaving sharp" is good enough for me.

 

And don't forget to use a steel regularly. It will straighten out the edge of a knife after use. I steel my kitchen knives every time I use them. I usually go for a month or two before having to sharpen them again.

[ruger9 0]

That things works well? I've never heard anyone serious about blades ever recommend an electric sharpener...

 

Frankly, I'd settle for one good enough for KITCHEN knives, as cooking is another passion...

[rightisright 3]

That things works well? I've never heard anyone serious about blades ever recommend an electric sharpener...

 

Frankly, I'd settle for one good enough for KITCHEN knives, as cooking is another passion...

 

Like I said, shaving sharp. It was actually recommended to me by a professional chef several years ago.

 

I have no personal experience with these, but they also have a good rep on knife and gun forums: http://www.amazon.com/Work-Sharp-WSKTS-Knife-Sharpener/dp/B003IT5F14

[ruger9 0]

Like I said, shaving sharp. It was actually recommended to me by a professional chef several years ago.

 

 

 

Thanks for the recc, might have to check that one out.

[checko 180]

I have been trying to sharpen knives on my stone for a while now and i just cant get it down. It gets sharp enough to cut but i like it to be super sharp, especially my kitchen knives. I found a website for a guy that professionally sharpens knives that is actually down the street from me. I'll just drop it off on the way to work haha

[Ray Ray 3,566]

funny how we talkin bout how sharp our knives are but the most common used "sticker" is a kitchen knife. And those are never sharpened.

[Duppie 73]

That things works well? I've never heard anyone serious about blades ever recommend an electric sharpener...

 

Frankly, I'd settle for one good enough for KITCHEN knives, as cooking is another passion...

Actually quite efficient for your cheaper knives or ones on the way out simply because it removes too much material and leaves the edge "hooky". I would not consider it for my good knives or Japanese blades where a wet stone is necessary.

I test my edge by dragging on a thumb nail or a soft cut on the heel of my palm.

[A-Tech 8]

I have a $10 sharpener made by S&W. It has carbide, ceramic, and a diamond stick for serrated edges. Works great. I use it on my daily kershaw.

I too, steel my kitchen knives often. Haven't needed to sharpen them all year.

[fishnut 2,358]

my kitchen knives are always kept arm hair shaveing sharp with wet stones and my EDC is usually shaveing sharp (unless i use it allot that week) with diamond stones and stropping depending on how dull i make it.

[rightisright 3]

Actually quite efficient for your cheaper knives or ones on the way out simply because it removes too much material and leaves the edge "hooky". I would not consider it for my good knives or Japanese blades where a wet stone is necessary.

 

Stage 3 is only a stropping disc. Stage 1 is for severely damaged knives and Stage 2 is for getting rid of small nicks. Normally, unless I've banged up a field knife, I only use Stage 3. And a quick steel afterwards straightens any hook.

[raz-0 1,259]

funny how we talkin bout how sharp our knives are but the most common used "sticker" is a kitchen knife. And those are never sharpened.

 

Perhaps yours aren't. Mine are.

[djg0770 481]

As per a bunch of folks on NJ Hunter: http://www.kmesharp.com/kmeknshsy.html

 

Made in NJ

[zoid 24]

Skinning paper is a good test. Seeing how easy it goes through paper is a good test. Extremely sharp knives will be able to cut a strand of hair

lengthwise without slicing it in half. If it goes through paper with minimal effort that's good enough for me. When you get it hair splitting sharp it

will cut great, but the edge will be more delicate.

 

[woodentoe 14]

As per a bunch of folks on NJ Hunter: http://www.kmesharp.com/kmeknshsy.html

 

Made in NJ

 

There is a step by step tutorial on sharpening. They specify how to feel the burr on one side and then grinding the other side to remove the burr.

 

I employed this tutorial and made both my knives sharp enough to shave hair from my arm.

 

Thanks for all your input and suggestions.

[CMJeepster 2,778]

I have a $10 sharpener made by S&W. It has carbide, ceramic, and a diamond stick for serrated edges. Works great.

I too have one of those and love it!

[Bishop 0]

My left arm constantly has bald spots from testing my knives after I sharpen them.

 

I have one of these in my kitchen: http://www.amazon.co...m/dp/B000CSK0DM It works great on pocket knives, too. Someone very experienced w. stones could probably get a blade sharper....but "shaving sharp" is good enough for me.

 

And don't forget to use a steel regularly. It will straighten out the edge of a knife after use. I steel my kitchen knives every time I use them. I usually go for a month or two before having to sharpen them again.

 

 

They work pretty well but have 1 serious downfall.

Designed primarily for kitchen knives, they did not take the knive's bolster, if it has one, into consideration.

Henckles, Wustoffs and forged blades have them.

If your just honing, you probably will not have it happen.

However if sharpening regularly or using the coarse grind, the bolster does not fit in the well, and just get so close.

Eventually, you will eat away the blade past the bolster.

At that point, you can no longer properly chop/dice etc.

Unless you hang the bolster off the block.

[Bishop 0]

For checking sharpness, dry shave is good, nail test at the right angle with a solid bite, slicing paper cleanly (push and pull) all work.

Next level up, hair popping sharp ... passing the knife through say your arm hair and you feel them catch the edge and pull pop/get sliced, thin glossly catalog paper cutting ... keep you ears open and let the knife slide through and even whittle, the quieter and cleaner the cut the sharper.

Another level up, take the glossy paper, lightly fold it so it circular and test the knife lightly like you would trying to get it to bite your nail, see if it can catch and slace cleanly leaving a circle in the page .. now your getting sharp.

Also hair wittling.

 

But in the end, its all relative to the task.

There is such a thing as too sharp as you'll dull the blade real fast.

Food, I like a little tooth. Enough to grab a tomatoe skin just a tad and glide through the body.

 

One real good test for sharpness and relation to durability, grab a thick catalog or phonebook.

take a bit of the corner before sharpening and carefully push down till it bottoms out ..... check how many pages you got through.

Sharpen it and try it again ... see how many more you got through than the unsharpened time.

Repeat till you start hitting the same # of pages from the first test.

Tells you a lot about your angle, the steel, the knife's function.

 

Cardboard works to.

Sharpen and push cut a page from a catalog.

Then get a piece of cardboard and slice it ... check against paper .. repeat.

 

Soon, you'll get a feel what you need that knife for and how sharp you really need to go with it.

 

just my 2 cents.

[MandM 2]

The Lansky Diamond kit isn't bad... I found with some practice and patience you can get real good results. I was using that on all my knives for a long while... till I sprung for an EdgePro Apex.

 

Is it worth the $200.... if you have a lot of good knives that you want to keep razor sharp, hell yes. With very little skill and effort you can make any blade scalpel sharp. And there's no risk of marring or scratching on the blade flats like with careless hand honing, etc.

[WVisHome 0]

I go by if it'll shave my arm dry without pulling.

[Malice4you 627]

My left arm is 'recovering' from the clean cutting I did last time I sharpened a bunch of knives. It's probably a good thing I wear long sleeve shirts in winter - they're covering up partly bald patches on the underside of my arm... That is my primary test to see how sharp the blade is.

 

I use the Spyderco Sharpmaker kit - with the diamond, coarse, fine, and ultra-fine rods. Depending on the knife steel and grind, on the majority of my knives, I can get hair popping sharp. On certain models, I've managed hair splitting sharpness. Some cheaper blade materials seem like they will never take a good edge, though I've never had a problem with the higher-end steels... (Though, ZDP-189 takes forever to get sharp again if you somehow manage to get it dull...) The heat treating on a blade will also affect the blade's ability to take a good edge....the same blade material from one manufacturer to another can have a totally different 'feel' and different results from sharpening...

 

What I consider dull is considered sharp by the average person... I can't stand that... I've got scars showing what happens if I let a knife get dull and have to put too much force behind the blade...so my knives stay sharp...

[Bishop 0]

My left arm is 'recovering' from the clean cutting I did last time I sharpened a bunch of knives. It's probably a good thing I wear long sleeve shirts in winter - they're covering up partly bald patches on the underside of my arm... That is my primary test to see how sharp the blade is.

 

I use the Spyderco Sharpmaker kit - with the diamond, coarse, fine, and ultra-fine rods. Depending on the knife steel and grind, on the majority of my knives, I can get hair popping sharp. On certain models, I've managed hair splitting sharpness. Some cheaper blade materials seem like they will never take a good edge, though I've never had a problem with the higher-end steels... (Though, ZDP-189 takes forever to get sharp again if you somehow manage to get it dull...) The heat treating on a blade will also affect the blade's ability to take a good edge....the same blade material from one manufacturer to another can have a totally different 'feel' and different results from sharpening...

 

What I consider dull is considered sharp by the average person... I can't stand that... I've got scars showing what happens if I let a knife get dull and have to put too much force behind the blade...so my knives stay sharp...

 

I love the sharpmaker.

Only problem is it really can't regrind.

Once you set the angle on something else, bur prepped, its a great honer, especially the finer ceramics.

[Malice4you 627]

You can reprofile to 30° - though I hope for your sake you have the diamond rods, cause even the coarse rods will take forever to get you there. While I'd love to make some of the knives into a full flat grind, there are services available to do so, and often times, Spyderco will come out with a flat ground option anyway...

 

For me, the 30° and 40° are sufficient for my needs...

[Sht 3]

If you suck & really want a sharp blade I'd say wicked edge pro pack 1 or higher. Buy once cry once.

[twong11219 0]

As Nick said, the amount of sharpness is relevant to the task. The profile also needs to match the task and type of steel. A super sharp edge that can cut tissue paper is useless when trying to cut hemp or nylon rope. I use to sharpen all my knife to a razor edge but have since toned down to a coarser edge for my EDC. With regards to the profile, you can reduce any steel to 11°, but how long will it last. A quality steel like S30V with a high Rockwell will hold up much better than a soft 440. Granted you can resharpen 440 more easily than other steels, but if the blade can't hold the edge, it'll curl on itself and render the knife good for spreading butter. Alot of honing to maintain that edge.

 

If I want the razor edge, I finish off with a metal polish on a flat wooden surface. I use that over a leather strop for my honing. It works better in my opinion in that I can control the contact point on the harder wood surface than the leather which is a bit spongy. Some of my knives had a nice finish on the flats that I don't want to mess up. For some nasty reprofiling work, I whip out the diamond stones. After that, Japanese whetstones. I've got all the arkansas stones but will always reach for the Japanese stones. I start from 800 to 8000 grit. They are just faster and provide a very nice finish. The final strop just polishes the edge and removes the micro burr. I've been sharpening freehand for some time now can can feel that I'm holding the angle correctly. A tip to see if you are sharpening at the correct angle is use a Sharpie to mark the edge. Whatever you scrape off is the angle your holding.

 

Final test is with a tissue paper.