Can you sharpen a knife?

[Squisher]

Yep . but drill bits theres a skill.

We used to have a job that required you to sharpen a 3" drill every half hour. If you weren't good sharpening drills after a couple weeks of that you might as well put a gun to your head.

Interrupted cut on work hardened steel. The day they started doing it on a boring mill with a carbide ball cutter was one of the happiest days of my life. Whenever I used to talk about that job I'd get all worked up with my hate.

 

[Lifted]

I use the microwave at 80% power for 15 minutes. Nothing will make a knife sharper.

 

[TastesLikeChicken]

I use a double-sided oiled stone. It's very likely that a professional knife sharpener can improve on what I can do with that stone. However, when my knives can effortlessly cut through a tomatoes and can cut paper thin slices from a frozen tenderloin tail for carpaccio I don't see a need to spend the extra cash.

 

[xSauronx]

I have to be able to sharpen a knife. When I got a sample of the granite I used for the kitchen, I had to pay a $10 deposit on the 18"x18" piece. Unfortunately, I got paint on the back of it, so I figured I couldn't return it. Besides, it's a 35-40 minute drive each way to the place I got it.

So, I now have a granite cutting board. Works great as a cutting board - easy to sanitize. Easy to clean. Hell on the edges of knives. So, every time I use a knife on the cutting board, I sharpen it.

sounds like it would be more suited to dough work than cutting work.

 

[Modelworks]

Using a wet stone on your knife = bad if you want to have the knife around for a long time, it wears down the metal. What you want to use instead is a sharpening rod or steel. If you magnify the knife edge you would see lots of little serrated edges with one bit of metal going to the left and the next going to the right, that is what makes the knife dull. To make a knife sharp again you want to get those serrated edges back in a straight line, a wet stone doesn't do that, it instead removes all the edge material . when you use a wet stone it makes the knife sharper because it removes the metal and leaves a new surface.
If you use a rod , once on each side of the knife it sharpens it by pushing the metal back straight without removing the metal, making the knife last much longer. Only use a stone when you have nicks in the blade or really bad spots.

 

[lxskllr]

Using a wet stone on your knife = bad if you want to have the knife around for a long time, it wears down the metal. What you want to use instead is a sharpening rod or steel. If you magnify the knife edge you would see lots of little serrated edges with one bit of metal going to the left and the next going to the right, that is what makes the knife dull. To make a knife sharp again you want to get those serrated edges back in a straight line, a wet stone doesn't do that, it instead removes all the edge material . when you use a wet stone it makes the knife sharper because it removes the metal and leaves a new surface.
If you use a rod , once on each side of the knife it sharpens it by pushing the metal back straight without removing the metal, making the knife last much longer. Only use a stone when you have nicks in the blade or really bad spots.

Not bad advice, but a hard Arkansas doesn't really remove material. You can use a stone similarly to a steel without negative effect, but you have to use the right stone.

 

[NetWareHead]

Not bad advice, but a hard Arkansas doesn't really remove material. You can use a stone similarly to a steel without negative effect, but you have to use the right stone.

Additionally, you can't rely on a sharpening steel forever. The steel is for maintenance of a sharp edge. With my straight razor, I sharpen it on a series of progressively finer grit stones and then finish it on a leather strop. However I only sharpen it on the stones once or twice a year and strop it on leather before and after every shave.

 

[lxskllr]

Additionally, you can't rely on a sharpening steel forever. The steel is for maintenance of a sharp edge. With my straight razor, I sharpen it on a series of progressively finer grit stones and then finish it on a leather strop. However I only sharpen it on the stones once or twice a year and strop it on leather before and after every shave.

That's about what I do, but it depends on the blade. My razor I use a water stone a couple times per year, and strop it the rest of the time. Knives it depends on my intended use. Some I don't go beyond a medium Arkansas. That gets it sharp enough for the intended use. Kitchen knives, I'll use a medium stone once a year or so, and hit them with the hard stone once a month maybe.

 

[PottedMeat]

Well, can you?

yep, if using the honing steel stops working.

Interrupted cut on work hardened steel. The day they started doing it on a boring mill with a carbide ball cutter was one of the happiest days of my life. Whenever I used to talk about that job I'd get all worked up with my hate.

ugh. i partially drilled a hole in stainless steel with a HSS bit. about halfway it got work hardened and i had to use a diamond bur to grind it out.

 

[NetWareHead]

I have to be able to sharpen a knife. When I got a sample of the granite I used for the kitchen, I had to pay a $10 deposit on the 18"x18" piece. Unfortunately, I got paint on the back of it, so I figured I couldn't return it. Besides, it's a 35-40 minute drive each way to the place I got it.

So, I now have a granite cutting board. Works great as a cutting board - easy to sanitize. Easy to clean. Hell on the edges of knives. So, every time I use a knife on the cutting board, I sharpen it.

Stone and glass cutting boards are the worst for your edges. I was going to spring for an expensive end-grain wood cutting board but I think I am going to try this: http://importfood.com/tamarind_cutting_board.html which is a slice of a tamarind tree and happens to be end-grain too. it looks sturdy enough to even use a cleaver on it.

 

[shortylickens]

Yes. I know the old fashioned way.
But I prefer a modern hi-tech gadget when I have one accessible.

 

[torpid]

Could I do it if I needed to? Yes. Do I know how to do it now? No. I take my knives twice a year to a professional who sharpens all of them in < 15 minutes. While I can appreciate that it would be potentially fun and rewarding to learn how to do it, I have plenty to fulfill my life already and as such haven't yet added knife sharpening.

 

[BoomerD]

I use the microwave at 80&#37; power for 15 minutes. Nothing will make a knife sharper.

I store my knives in a geometrically perfect pyramid. They stay sharp and NEVER dull...in fact, if I put a dulled blade into one...it sharpens itself

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/797668/amazing_save_cash_by_keeping_your_razor_blades_sharp_forever_i/


I could keep kitchen knives sharper than I do, but my wife is dangerous with a sharp knife...it wouldn't take long before she had no fingers left...

 

[lxskllr]

I store my knives in a geometrically perfect pyramid. They stay sharp and NEVER dull...in fact, if I put a dulled blade into one...it sharpens itself

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/797668/amazing_save_cash_by_keeping_your_razor_blades_sharp_forever_i/


I could keep kitchen knives sharper than I do, but my wife is dangerous with a sharp knife...it wouldn't take long before she had no fingers left...

Pyramidology... :^S

I worked with a guy who believed that crap, and lent me a book on it. I read the whole thing out of courtesy to him. and it almost made my head explode. Assuming you took some of the information as absolute fact, it was contradicted later in the book. It was like the guy was making shit up as he went :^S

 

[BoomerD]

Pyramidology... :^S

I worked with a guy who believed that crap, and lent me a book on it. I read the whole thing out of courtesy to him. and it almost made my head explode. Assuming you took some of the information as absolute fact, it was contradicted later in the book. It was like the guy was making shit up as he went :^S

 

[Fritzo]

20 years ago, I was trained to sharpen carving knives with some showmanship. I had a big 24" knife with a steel, and we would sharpen then to the beat of the band playing at weddings.

Corny but the people liked it.

 

[lxskllr]

Here's a sample related to thee best of my memory. If I'm off a bit, just make up your own facts, it'll work just as well :^D

Book - Sitting in a pyramid boosts health and prolongs life due to focusing tachyon emissions from space.
Me - How does that work?
Book - The emissions go into the pyramid, then bounce off the interior walls, which focus them to the center where the user soaks them up, and gains the health benefits.
Me - So emissions go THROUGH the exterior wall, but are REFLECTED by the interior wall?
Book - Yup
Me - sounds like bullshit to me, but I'll go with it for now.

Later on...

Book - a pyramid doesn't have to have a solid wall. A wire frame will work just as well.
Me - !$@# What are the fuckin' tachyons bouncing off of now?! Your telling me the emissions bounce off the air inside the pyramid???
Book- Yup
Me - Go fuck yourself :^S

 

[BoomerD]

 

[bobdole369]

Who the fuck doesn't know how to sharpen a knife?

 

[2Dead]

Yep.

 

[Atomic Playboy]

I'm pretty sure everyone can sharpen a knife.

 

[Howard]

Who the fuck doesn't know how to sharpen a knife?

How to sharpen a knife well, you mean? Probably about 98% of the population.

 

[BoomerD]

I'm pretty sure everyone can sharpen a knife.

You'd be wrong. Lots of people can't sharpen a knife very well.

BUT, hey...my electric can opener has a knife sharpener...that'll do the trick...right?

 

[notposting]

Just bought this one from Amazon...
www.amazon.com/AccuSharp-1-001-Knife...dp/B00004VWKQ/

Seems good enough.

 

[xSauronx]

How to sharpen a knife well, you mean? Probably about 98% of the population.

seriously.