Keeping sharps sharp - a foray into knife-sharpening

[Too Tall]

It’s hard to overstate how nice it is to have a real knife shop local. I actually don’t even know the details of the maker/type of some of my knives because I bought them by cutting shit with them, not by comparing specs on the internet. I know not everyone can bring carrots into a shop and go to town, but when you can...

Also, I do not sharpen my wife’s G&G Hawk prototype folder. If I’m honest, I don’t have the guts to touch it. Having a local person is golden.

I'll report back. I hear you, some years ago I got a Chris Reeves Sevenza which has served me well. It gets buckets of abuse and resharpens without fail BUT over the years I've hacked the bevel to become unacceptable. Time for the Pros.

I'm hoping they run a few classes. Basically, I "get it" how to sharpen a knife. I'm seeking a better eye and hand for how to keep my folders in shape.

[dgaddis]

INTERSTING - 'new' sharpening method. Coarse grit on one side, fine grit on the other. In his testing it greatly improves edge retention, for this particular use, in these particular steels/blades.
Benchmade M390 - usually gets 425-680 cuts, this one with the coarse/fine edge did 900
Spyderco M4 - typically 600-750, coarse/fine edge did 1,050 cuts

[Mark Kelly]

As the sharpening guru says, a sharp edge is simply two polished faces that meet at an angle.

If one surface is less polished than the other (higher Ra) then the edge itself will be slightly serrated in the plane of the cut whilst there will be a plane almost orthogonal* to this where the edge is straight. I can see situations where this would cut very well.

*logically the angle will be 90 degrees minus half the included angle of the blade.

[Matthew Strongin]

As the sharpening guru says, a sharp edge is simply two polished faces that meet at an angle.

If one surface is less polished than the other (higher Ra) then the edge itself will be slightly serrated in the plane of the cut whilst there will be a plane almost orthogonal* to this where the edge is straight. I can see situations where this would cut very well.

*logically the angle will be 90 degrees minus half the included angle of the blade.

While more pocket knife or bushcraft knife related than for kitchen knives, I've read blogs and watched videos where people suggest things like that. Rough grind on one side with high polish on the other for a best of both worlds approach. Or approaches like sharpening to a high polish very keen edge from tip to belly for delicate work with a rougher grind for more bite from belly to tang.