How sharp is too sharp?

A place to share, learn, & show off sharpening tips, tricks, techniques, & tools for sharpening edges of all kinds.
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Nev52
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Re: How sharp is too sharp?

Post by Nev52 »

I agree ::tu:: You can not beat a old carbon steel knife. I love old Schrade knives with carbon steel blades.
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cudgee
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Location: Victoria. Australia.

Re: How sharp is too sharp?

Post by cudgee »

Dinadan wrote: Sat Feb 01, 2020 11:13 pm There are a lot of interesting comments on this thread. My opinion is that razor sharp is a bit too sharp for a knife unless it has a special use like castrating livestock or impressing coworkers. I never use my knives for anything that requires a razor edge, or that a a razor edge would even help. Filleting a fish, slicing an apple, pruning a fruit tree, slicing strips of pork jowl - none of those need a razor edge. And a razor edge would not last more than one slice through the skin on a pork jowl or a bacon side. And when my wife is slicing cabbage, OMG - I could not believe what a cabbage does too a sharp santoku blade - I asked her if she had been chopping bones with the knife!

Anyway. I use a soft Arkansas stone or a fairly coarse stone on my knives and almost never try for the shaving sharp edge. Not because it is too sharp. But because it is just not anything that I need and will not last past one good Red Fish filleting.
Thought you may find this interesting. I was always under the opinion that the soft Arkansas stones were roughly about 400-600 grit compared to man made stones, and that was the figure posted on a lot of reviews. Well, maybe not my friend, i found a website that did some tests on different stones of comparable grits, the purpose was to see the scratch patterns under a microscope and compare them. The soft Arkansas stone compared to a 1200 grit stone scratch pattern, which is getting up into the finer grits, not what was previously thought. Anyway, i just purchased my first Arkansas stones, the soft Arkansas and the black, and i must say, when i first saw and felt them out of the packaging i was impressed, just the stones on their own are things of beauty, i can now see why people collect vintage sharpening stones. Now, back to things more serious, a sharpener that does a lot of youtube videos, also said the soft Arkansas was similar to a 1200 grit stone in his opinion. I have just used mine for the first time to finish a knife i re profiled from 20DPS to 15DPS, i worked my up from 120 grit diamond, through to 1000 grit, all aluminium oxide, then finished on the soft Arkansas then green stropping compound on rough leather, i only want a sharp working edge. I was blown away how much difference the soft Arkansas made, you could nearly shave with this blade, i did not set out out to get such an edge, but it is razor sharp. I remembered reading your post and thought you might be interested. ::tu::
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Nev52
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Re: How sharp is too sharp?

Post by Nev52 »

Cudgee,
You are correct with your assessment of Arkansas stones. Years ago I purchased Arkansas Novaculite sharping stones from a company in the USA called Natural Whetstone company. After talking to someone in their shop I explained I had always used a Lansky tri stone. He told me to use their black Novaculite stone to finish the blade for a surgical quality razor sharp edge. I tried it and WOW super sharp!! I then use a white stropping compound then green. If it is a kitchen knife I finish with the red stropping compound. Scary razor sharp!! ::ds::



Nev 52
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cudgee
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Re: How sharp is too sharp?

Post by cudgee »

Nev52 wrote: Wed Sep 01, 2021 11:01 pm Cudgee,
You are correct with your assessment of Arkansas stones. Years ago I purchased Arkansas Novaculite sharping stones from a company in the USA called Natural Whetstone company. After talking to someone in their shop I explained I had always used a Lansky tri stone. He told me to use their black Novaculite stone to finish the blade for a surgical quality razor sharp edge. I tried it and WOW super sharp!! I then use a white stropping compound then green. If it is a kitchen knife I finish with the red stropping compound. Scary razor sharp!! ::ds::



Nev 52
::tu:: ::tu:: ::tu:: ::nod:: The American company you speak of is rated by knife people a lot more knowledgeable than me as the best provider of Wichita and Arkansas stones.
Captain O

Re: How sharp is too sharp?

Post by Captain O »

This old sailor believes in a sharp knife. (I've been at this since 1966 at the tender age of 11). Yep, the sharper the blade is, the better. My hidden release Boker, D2 steel, Cobra-tec auto is "scary sharp" and I like it that way. I keep my tools in "service ready" condition so that I can rely upon them as needed. A dull knife is dangerous and not with a "tinker's dam".

Enough said.
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#goldpan
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Re: How sharp is too sharp?

Post by #goldpan »

I have to agree that a sharp knife is preferred to a dull one. And the sharper the better, to a point, pun intended. :roll: But you can get a knife too sharp. More than once I have sharpened a knife to the point where the cutting edge was so thin that it would develop small chips on the cutting edge. Natural serrations? Just kidding. Chipped blades just snag them selves on what ever I'm cutting. After that its a chore re-do the edge to make it last and stay sharp.
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Ruffinogold
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Location: Fannin County Georgia

Re: How sharp is too sharp?

Post by Ruffinogold »

I had a professional sharpener that used to live in my county . When I brought him knives , he'd ask what the knife was being used for . I said what does it matter ? He then went on about how certain tasks do better with certain degrees of edge . Id say , well , that Kabar MK2 I use as a camp knife and that one I use as a skinner and another as a general all around tool [ work knife ] . I mentioned " razor sharp " and he said it wasnt good for certain applications , though I cant remember which now . He said something negative about razor sharp retention and taking rough work
He had German machines that sharpened them with wheels inside . They were huge and really heavy . Each was the size of say three shoeboxes put together . But the guy handed me back killer sharp knifes that held up . It could be all bs , though . For all I know he put the same edge on all of them , lol

I wish the guy was still around because I cant get my blades where he got them to but I was lucky enough to go to him for 3 years

Too sharp ? I dont know . But maybe its about the " right sharp " ? I dont know either ::shrug::
C-WADE7
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Re: How sharp is too sharp?

Post by C-WADE7 »

Ruffinogold wrote: Thu Aug 04, 2022 3:36 am I had a professional sharpener ….
I’m my opinion and experience he is absolutely right. A work knife with a whittling knife angle won’t hold up. Just imagine thinning an axe head down enough to have 30° of total edge, there would be no strength behind the cutting edge. I lay my carving and whittling knives down to a pretty low angle to sharpen but my work knife would roll the edge the first day if the same was done to it.
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cody6268
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Re: How sharp is too sharp?

Post by cody6268 »

C-WADE7 wrote: Thu Aug 04, 2022 1:14 pm
Ruffinogold wrote: Thu Aug 04, 2022 3:36 am I had a professional sharpener ….
I’m my opinion and experience he is absolutely right. A work knife with a whittling knife angle won’t hold up. Just imagine thinning an axe head down enough to have 30° of total edge, there would be no strength behind the cutting edge. I lay my carving and whittling knives down to a pretty low angle to sharpen but my work knife would roll the edge the first day if the same was done to it.
I had a Kershaw the seller had "professionally sharpened" to a shaving razor edge. With regular EDC use, it dulled badly in a week as the angle was very thin. Kershaw cleaned up the mess using their angles, and that edge has held up.
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