How Do You Keep Your Knives Sharp?

[Flask]

Hi all

I am able to put a good edge on my knives using sand paper (emery cloth), and finishing with a strop, but looking for a faster (easier) way and thinking of buying a buffing wheel, wondering if this is a good idea, and if people here use one to put or keep that razor edge on their knives?

Thanks

[gmace99]

I use an oil stone and strop a few times a year I use the buffing wheel at least once a week. Keeps my knifes very sharp

[Red Cent]

http://www.tools4flooring.com/personna-pro-63-0222-folding-carpet-knife.html

http://www.irwin.com/tools/utility-knives-blades/irwin-fk150-folding-utility-knife

The top one utilizes a thin blade (less resistance) with 4 corners and can be rotated and will last a long time. For straight cuts or flowing lines cuts better than a utility knife. I use the second one for sharp curves or, heaven forbid, tight corners.

[DavidL]

DMT stone then water stone. After im finished sharpening I flatten my water stone with DMT stone.

Lower rc knives use a steel to "sharpen". Im not sure if a knife with low rc is not as sharp or if knife edge life is the only downfall. If the latter is the case I may pick up a low rc knife just because steeling a knife is fast and sharpening would be quick too.

[Itch]

We use a piece of leather flesh side up. Rub it down with bee's wax and then sprinkle with aluminum powder on the other end we rub red rouge it keeps our knives very sharp ..

[Sonydaze]

Between needing to sharpen leather working tools, woodworking tools and kitchen tools I went to the Tormek system and am quite happy. Their jigs take the guess work out of keeping the correct angle and take you back to the same angle time after time.

http://www.tormek.com/en/machines/t7/index.php

[BondoBobCustomSaddles]

Like the old cook in Lonesome Dove says, "a good knife is like a good wife, you have to strop her every night!"

Bob

[dikman]

DavidL, I'm not sure what you mean by "low rc"? Carbon steel blades, as opposed to stainless steel blades, have long been considered by many to be superior in "sharpenability". They may not hold an edge as long as stainless, but they are easier to sharpen and steeling them, or in our case stropping, often should keep them sharp with a minimum of effort. The downside, of course, is that they will rust if not looked after.

A buffing wheel can certainly be used to hone an edge - as long as you know what you're doing (a high speed buffing wheel can be an extremely dangerous device if you're not careful). It can also round off an edge, and in extreme cases destroy the temper on thin blades if you get them hot.

[DavidL]

I dont know if low rc is the exact terminology but steels that are in the 30-45 rc that get a sharp edge with a steel where a japanese steel at 64 works better with a stone. Looking at your avatar I can see you make knives. What is you take on a knife in the 30-40 rc range. Is it sharp enough to cut leather well. All I know about knives like this are they are used mostly by chefs because it can be used with a steel.

[Art]

I dont know if low rc is the exact terminology but steels that are in the 30-45 rc that get a sharp edge with a steel where a japanese steel at 64 works better with a stone. Looking at your avatar I can see you make knives. What is you take on a knife in the 30-40 rc range. Is it sharp enough to cut leather well. All I know about knives like this are they are used mostly by chefs because it can be used with a steel.

There are just too many things here to formulate a reply without writing a book.

The steel as used in meat cutting and food preparation has morphed over time. In the last 30 years, I have seen things made of steel that have an abrasive surface (sometimes even diamond) that are called steels. These "things" actually remove metal. You don't see them in meat cutting, but many chefs allow them in their kitchens because they will "sharpen" a useless knife to the point where it can be passably used for fifteen minutes or so. These are the chefs who also try to save money by foregoing a regularly scheduled sharpening service.

A proper steel is a rod of 1040 to 1050 with a good heat treat and a draw to HRc 50-55. This design is used to straighten the edge (make it stand up) that has been slightly rolled, more like bent over a little. This allows the meat cutter to use knives with 35-40 degree included angles (very sharp) to keep them sharp from the start. You can't wait till the knife is dull to use the steel as once the edge is gone it has to be sharpened, there is just no other way except maybe to limp along with one of those abrasive steels.

If there is a mismatch between the hardness of the steel and the knife, it makes little to no difference as you are just standing up the edge. A 62 HRc knife can be steeled by a 40 HRc steel and vice versa without any noticeable difference.

Butchering knives have to be hard to stand up to bones and other hard things like chainmail gloves. If you have ever seen how knives and other tools and implements are handled in a restaurant, you will understand that the blades need to be hard. All these Chef shows on TV make people think the Chef goes to work with his roll of beautiful knives. If that ever happened, those knives went home that night and were never brought to the kitchen (except maybe the one at home) again. Mundial, Dexter-Russell, and Forschner are the three knives I recommend and have never had complaints (there is so much crap out there that a Forschner looks like the knife gods might have dropped it from knife nirvana). They sharpen well (professionally) they are hard, and they last. Dexter-Russell still makes the best steels Number 1412B or Number 1458B, which are both 14 inch and go for around $30 at FSW.

Knives have been the subject of voodoo forever. Some knifemakers will tell you all this exotic crap about their knives and how they are made, and how the steel was passed down from the gods by meteor, but folks who make them because they like to will tell you, buy steel, cut (or grind) out what don't look like a knife, heat treat, and make it pretty. There is some science to it, and many ways to mess it up, but it ain't rocket science, and if you screw-up enough of them, you learn how not to.

Butchers and Chefs in general know little about knives other than when they are sharp, when they ain't, and what NSF means. I wouldn't be asking them about knives and construction, only on use. Get real info from a knifemaker or a sharpener.

Art