Sharpening Expectations

[brooksie967]

What are your expectations when sharpening a blade?

What are your friends expectations when they find out that you have high end cutlery/utility knives and then want you to sharpen theirs?

I know what I want out of a blade and tailor the edge on each blade for the task at hand. Sharpening a properly ground, heat treated, balanced knife is pure joy. The resulting edges that can be produced on good steel perform wonderfully and have longevity.

I'm currently deployed and when the guys found out that I have a few years of knife/razor sharpening under my belt, they start asking questions. Primarily they ask "Can you sharpen THIS for me?". They then proceed to pull out their military issue gerber with abused blade constructed from terrible steel that most likely doesn't even have a heat treatment.... I know what these blades are capable of and that isn't much but the owner always expects a laser when they get their knife back.

Not wanting to disappoint and knowing that I can provide at least a somewhat serviceable edge for them; something to cut rope and cardboard. I've agreed to do a number of these for guys here on tour. They've all seen my videos on facebook and want to be able to repeat what can be done with a knife expertly made out of hitachi steel.

While the edge I give them is totally serviceable, I can't help but notice the disappointment on their faces and in their tone.

"But you can shave with your knives if you want, why is my edge gone after cutting through this 1/4 inch piece of copper wire???" :scared4:

One of the guys tried to give me a lesson on sharpening. When I asked him what he uses to maintain his knives he told me the "rod type thing" from his canadian tire knife block....

Anyways, do you guys share your abilities with friends/family? Do you turn people down based on what they hand to you after they've asked "hey can you sharpen something for me?" ?

 

[XooMG]

In my limited experience, I've never met anyone stupid enough to not understand that sharp is thin and thin can be fragile.

I've also never met anyone who couldn't figure out that soft edges dull faster.

I have met people who didn't know what the reasonable limits were, and I've known people to damage many knives without learning the lesson from experience...but I don't know any of the cartoonishly asinine folks who can't figure it out after 30 seconds of sharpening chat. I've known one guy to not change his cutting habits after a short talk about knives and edge damage, but he started calling the knife a "beater" thereafter.

I've never seen a person's eyebrows lift with shock after demonstrating a sharp edge, whether sharpened by me or anyone else.

My situation may be unique within the internet knife community, but I seem to be surrounded by reasonable--if apathetic--people.

 

[Adrian]

My worst experience is my father in law picking up one of my freshly sharpened J knives and testing it on his thumb but without the necessary delicacy..... The resulting cut shocked him. If I sharpen knives for others, I tell them in advance quite frankly the limitations of their knife. I only do it for family.

 

[XooMG]

To amend my previous statement, I can understand how one might encounter personalities that can't be reasonable...but I have never had the issue personally because the people I've sharpened for had rather little interest in knives. It appears that professional sharpeners deal with the bad eggs a lot more, so I am indeed rather rare and lucky.

 

[gic]

Yep sympathize with Adrian's story! Now, after I sharpen a knife for somebody, I demonstrate it on paper etc and warn them the edge is a lot different than what they are used to and what they gave me. I even explain that the knife is now sharp enough to need very little force when cutting so please be careful!

Also if they they seem to not have great knife skills, I always add a microbevel for more strength and stability..

 

[daveb]

In my experience most people, even frequent knife users, have not experienced "sharp" and have no basis of expectation. Sharper than it was is a recognizable improvement.

 

[brooksie967]

I should have added that these aren't gerber "knives" these are gerber multi-tool foldout knife things lol.

 

[Timthebeaver]

Dave is dead on. Running a kitchen knife through a two stage Minosharp results in mind = blown for the non-knife fan

Never lose sight of the fact that 99% of people are cutting food with dull knives, and that they don't care.

 

[Zwiefel]

In my experience most people, even frequent knife users, have not experienced "sharp" and have no basis of expectation. Sharper than it was is a recognizable improvement.

This is where I am now with sharpening for others. I will set a bevel, and take it to 1k, then a little stropping. it will blow them away, and will be a bit more durable on those softer steels. Thankfully, these days I get more requests for help with purchases than with sharpening...

 

[Rayuela]

Yeah, in my experience, people are astonished and troubled by anything sharp enough to cut paper. I sharpened my sister's knives and left them fairly blunt to be on the safe side. A week later, my brother-in-law was in A&E.

 

[cave_dweller]

The last time somebody asked me to sharpen a knife for them I took one look at it and then offered to buy them a new knife. It was the only way...

I'm no sharpening guru, but I do ok most of the time. Around here, that probably puts me in the bottom 50%. In the world at large, I'm probably somewhere in the top 5% when it comes to 'knowledge of what sharp means'. As Dave says, most folks don't know about 'sharp' (aside from whatever they use to shave their faces).

 

[Mrmnms]

I take great pleasure doing knives for friends and family. Who ever I'm sharpening for, I try to adjust for the kind of knife and steel, intended use and who's using it. Most people are extremely grateful and perceive it like it's some sort of wizardry. I'll try to put an edge on anything. It's not my knife. I may offer suggestions on knife care or replacements. The people that pay me to sharpen have higher expectations.

 

[Mucho Bocho]

I take great pleasure doing knives for friends and family. Who ever I'm sharpening for, I try to adjust for the kind of knife and steel, intended use and who's using it. Most people are extremely grateful and perceive it like it's some sort of wizardry. I'll try to put an edge on anything. It's not my knife. I may offer suggestions on knife care or replacements. The people that pay me to sharpen have higher expectations.

Well said Mike. My thoughts exactly.

 

[Ruso]

One friend told me that she wont give the knives again for me to sharpen. I was like . Then she clarified that she is too scared how sharp they are now, lol.
I find most people are grateful and after few sessions really start to appreciate a sharp edge and then a good knife.

 

[RefGent]

I'm willing to do it for any friends and family that invite me over for a meal. Most of the time that just means grabbing my old 2 sided Norton oil stone. I can get most of what the average person has cutting hair with that and it is impressive to most people. I generally don't show off my stuff, because I know they won't get that from me and I don't want them to expect that.

 

[daveb]

I volunteer once a year for a local "knife sharpening for charity" event. 5 bucks a blade, all proceeds to the charity (in this case a scholarship for a local culinary school).

Customers are in an above average demographic and could readily afford any knife they felt they "needed". Pics below are a representative sample of some of the knives that came through.

Before the event I explained the difference between sharpening and repair to the person checking knives in. Or thought I had...

Nice set of Sabs. I've catered in the home that these belong to. They could have knives.

Shuns don't chip. Shuns that are beat against a sharpening steel chip.

Last pic. Owner donated an extra 100 to the scholarship fund.

I cleaned up blades, fixed tips, used a XC DMT to sharpen out chips, oiled wooden handles, noted broken handles and "sharpened" over 100 knives on a 300 grit sharpening thingy.

It's not the money that keeps the uninitiated out of nicer knives. It's just there's no perceived need for them.