Thread: Knife honing help

Originally Posted by Marshal

If I were to take a wild guess? Probably all the things we wouldn't/couldn't accept on our razors. Micro chips, burrs, stria left behind from coarser stones, places that weren't hit at all by finer stones due to changes in angle relative to the stone...at least that's what I found when I examined one of my hand honed edges. Takes a lot longer to fix all of that with a knife than a razor too! I can see where someone would prefer to use a honing device to keep their angle steady. But even with all those imperfections my blades cut fine, and when I went back and fixed them...well, I probably could've shaved comfortably with my pocket knife.

I need to find that thing. Finally got it just the way I like em and now it's lost. I don't want to spend the time re-setting the bevel on another one.

I started honing knives around 7 years old. I still have the scar on my finger when I took my first jackknife and was jabbing it into a block of wood point first and it snapped shut on my finger. Sliced it to the bone and it took multiple bandaids on the way to church in the back of an old station wagon to finally stop the bleeding. I never did that again. I never gave up honing though either and still enjoy it.
My edges may have had all those issues when I was a child learning to hone and I would venture a guess that everyone goes through the experience of less then perfect bevels and edges when they start out. Some continue to learn, others quit, and I assume some probably do neither because they are ok with all of the invisible "imperfections". At such an early age I didn't even know about microscopes or even a loupe or magnifier for that matter. I just tried to get my knives as sharp as my dads pocket knife which I finally did as a young adult. I have had quite a few more years "practice" since then. My bevels look dead straight and even to me when I look at them. If you put them under a scope they may well be way off under 7000 power magnification. I don't know. I have never looked and I probably never will as it seems a bit unnecessary to me as Bob pointed out.
Take away- keep practicing and you will get there OR buy a machine OR send them out. Makes no difference to me or my dad. As for me I will continue to hone the old fashion way. Hey someone has to continue on the tradition right?

I started honing about the same age when I was given my first Swiss Army pocket knife. I guess my dad figured I couldn't hurt much with the little 2 inch blade, and I suppose he was right. I've had many a little nick over the years, but never any true cuts until I decided to try hand sharpening a sword by holding the stone in my hand and running it along the blade. Let's just say I learned the hard way why that was a bad idea, and I'm glad I slipped while setting the bevel - I still have the tip of the finger that slid about a foot and a half down the blade. Superglue did wonders to stitch it back together.

I don't hold my knives to the same standard as my razors. They just have to cut, they don't need to shave. So it's rare for me to examine them under magnification. For the most part now my thumb pad and eyes tell me enough about the condition of the edge. I will say this though, since getting into straight razors all of my edges have gotten better by leaps and bounds.

Originally Posted by Brontosaurus

From Russia with love.

Hey guys, do you shave with your kitchen and hunting knives?
I use a hardware store cheap and cheerful bench hone to sharpen my knives and a sharpening rod to keep them sharp. When I can cut a tomato without squeezing its contents out I am happy.

On my pocket knife, I use a small DMT as I am too hard on it for a fine edge to last. I do have some 'Sunday knives' which I will hone to pretty damn sharp as I don't abuse them the way I do my EDC.
On kitchen knives. I am no Chef and certainly use no microscope.
On a kitchen knife, it seems a somewhat jagged edge is a good thing as cutting through meat and veggies. JMO.
Every time I hand hone one it is sharp, yet dulls quickly. Back to this thing. Works good!



Oh! I AM lazy, BTW.

Originally Posted by Marshal

...I will say this though, since getting into straight razors all of my edges have gotten better by leaps and bounds.

Nice story. I can relate. Since I started honing razors many aspects of my knife honing along with my stone collection have improved. I use the same stones for my knives as I do my razors. I think I have honed more straight razors in the last 3 years then I have knives in the past 10.