Thread: Honing and stroping both razors and knives.

Is it advisable to use the same stones and strop that you use on your straight razor on your knives that you have honed? My guess is that you should not but I had to ask.

Bill

I use my 4000/8000 all the time on my knives. Like the razors, I like a blistering sharp, smooth and polished edge on my kitchen knives. I usually save the strop until after it has dulled a bit during use.

If you are going to strop your knives, I suggest going the paddle strop route, or a piece of leather glued to something rigid. A hanging strop would not be advisable for knives, too much room for error. A strop will never sharpen a dull edge, it must be pretty damn sharp off the stones, only then will you see the benefits of stropping.

If you use the hone for knives then make sure that it is flat before you hone razors on it. They are kinda fussy about that.

Personally, I prefer to use a different set for knives. I have a lansky system which I use to do all my knives and its surperb. I find it difficult to maintain a constant angle while honing a knife on a flat hone which is critical. But if you have that ability there is no reason you can't use one set for all purposes.