Thread: Carter Cutlery guy shaves with camping knife

Originally Posted by singlewedge

Having taken one of Murray's courses. I can tell you this. I saw him shave with a broken kitchen knife that he honed on a 6k and newspaper. A little dove shave soap and hot water he had a 3 day beard gone quickly. And while none of the guys were lining up to feel his face, it looked smoother than any other shave out there.

He DOES NOT use a scary sharp system to get his blades that sharp. He uses a 60 grit Japanese Water Wheel, 1k King and 6k King. Thats it. The secret is not the hone, its the steel that he uses.

Once you learn how he sharpens a blade and how he creates the steel lattice matrix in his blades, you will understand how his knives are that sharp.

You are right Carter has one vid named getting a knife scary sharp, he does not use the scary sharp method.
Any decent Japanese knife gets really sharp if sharpened properly. I do not agree that the way he makes his knives makes them sharper or better than the rest. There are Japanese smitsh that make incredible knives, and most of the knife community, while having Carter knives in their collections, definitely leans towards other makers. Shigefusa is extremely popular, for example.

I think that his choice of and lamination of steels adds a definite "edge" to the ability to maintain the edge and keep it sharp. Not that they are sharper, but they maintain better, thus appearing sharper longer. As far as better, well I can say that the neck knife is a piece of steel to behold. I am sure that I put this into a bone and pull it out with minimal damage.