I’ve been learning how to sharpen my knives by hand lately. I’m getting pretty good on my kitchen knives but can’t sharpen my pocket knives at all. As important as knives are to cooking, I’m surprised at how poorly most people take care of them. Here’s my latest, I finally managed to pass the tomato test. How do you sharpen your knives?

That’s incredible, I take ours to a guy to have them sharpened. Gave up years ago after ruining too many. Kind of looks like the face of a jack-o-lantern.

Nice looking blade!

Here are my Kramer Damascus, I keep them edged with a ceramic stick

Those Kramer’s sure are pretty!

The blade in my gif is one I made myself. I took a 3 day forging class and got to make my own knife.

that's incredible

 I learned how to sharpen knives as a young boy. That was over 65 years ago. Back then it was oil stones and oil. The key to using this method is constant blade to stone angle. Too tight an angle removes the edge you are trying to establish. Not enough doesn't do anything for the edge, just abrades the  side of the blade.. Once an edge has been generated, it can be maintained by realigning the edge using a steel or a strop. This can extend the life significantly.
 Modern sharpening devices use control devices to maintain a constant blade to abrasion material angle. There are many versions out there.
 As for the sharpening angle(s): A narrow angle tends to cut well with a shorter life span. A steep angle is opposite. Some high end knives have a different  angle depending on what hand it is being used in.
 Then there is the quality of the blade. The material and hardening process make a marked difference in cutting performance and edge retention..As the old saying goes: you cant make a silk purse out of a sow's ear.
 Finally protect the edges when not in use and use the knives for their intended use only. They aren't pry bars, scrapers or hacksaws.

I’ve been learning how to sharpen my knives by hand lately. I’m getting pretty good on my kitchen knives but can’t sharpen my pocket knives at all. As important as knives are to cooking, I’m surprised at how poorly most people take care of them. Here’s my latest, I finally managed to pass the tomato test. How do you sharpen your knives?

This defines SHARP.

I use a steel on our good knives until I have to hit them with the stone.  The cheap ones I use one of the ceramic cheater things you pull the blade through.  That is one fine looking blade ArborAgent!

That is awesome!

What method of sharpening do you use?  I am guessing whetstones.  I used to do mine with a KME System sharpener, but now either take them to a professional or use the Chef Choice XL electric (on my cheaper knives).  The hand sharpening got too labor intensive and my ability to keep the angles on a stone exceeded arthritic limits in my hands.

Yeah I have a set of Shapton Glass stones. I did a 500-1000-4000-12000-strop progression today get here.

My test to see if a knife is sharp is to see if it will shave off the hair on my arm. 

My test to see if a knife is sharp is to see if it will shave off the hair on my arm. 

Don’t know what it’s worth but the guy who sharpens ours say to lay the blade @ 20 degree angle on your nailbed, if with zero effort it sticks, it’s sharp. That is how I do it now. Works well for me and my blood thinners.

I use a @Lansky kit (with the rods to hold the angle) 
https://lansky.com/products/dlx-5-stone-system/

That is sweet...but you know me.  How ripe was the tomato?

Nirey KE-280

Here’s my latest, I finally managed to pass the tomato test.

How do you sharpen your knives?

The lansky seems like a good system for pocket knives. How well does it work on kitchen knives? I imagine it could be awkward to hold with a longer knife.