Knife Sharpening

[Marchman]

I use a diamond rod and loads of past practice at holding the right angle. As said before sharpening often reduces the time required.

 

[muddy42]

Might prove to be an unpopular opinion, but a knife doesn’t need to be as ‘scary sharp’ as a chisel, plane or indeed shaving razor. It’s not doing the same work. A reasonable edge stropped regularly and some user dexterity will always suffice.

I agree. For gralloching, removing feet, removing the skin (mostly be hand) and butchering into large pieces, any tough shallow angled blade is fine. Reserve your sharp knives for the finer butchery and boning loins etc.

 

[Selous]

The only fool proof method I have come across is as follows:
1. Clean knife
2. Pack and put in envelope
3. Send to @Longstrider
4. Wait for a few days and hey presto a wickedly sharp knife turns up!!

 

[muddy42]

i think a key part of owning anything is knowing how to look after it. I now only buy knives that I know I can sharpen - small flat ground knives for the lansky and scandi grind knives with a magnet, vice and sandpaper. And strop.

Please treat knive makers with respect and throw away those quick fix pull through disk gizmos. If you look closely after sharpening they just scrape out grooves either side of the blade. Its a quick fix, that makes a knife feel sharp, but you cant sharpen a knife forever like that.