A sharpening question

[Galloway]

Whats going on when you get one side of a blade razor sharp and when you finally get the other the first one isnt sharp anymore. Then you work the first one again and so on and so on?

[Delmonico]

Whats going on when you get one side of a blade razor sharp and when you finally get the other the first one isnt sharp anymore. Then you work the first one again and so on and so on?

Are you talking about a straight razor?

[Ozark Tracker]

I think he's talkin about that roll you get on an edge when your sharpning,  on my pocket knife I take my knife and strop it on the upper leather of my work boot,  nothing but leather there.

[Delmonico]

I think he's talkin about that roll you get on an edge when your sharpning,  on my pocket knife I take my knife and strop it on the upper leather of my work boot,  nothing but leather there.

Well if you want to get a razor so you can shave with it, one stroke on one side, one on the other, back and forth to keep it even.  also you have to have a very fine razor stone and a good strop.  Need to use mine sometime when there is a camera around, would make a good avatar.

[Ten Wolves Fiveshooter]

Howdy All

    Just caught this thread, I would like to add this, think of the edge as being an upside down  ^, every time you steel or strop one side of the blade, you are pushing the the blades edge over to the other side, there is nothing wrong with this, this is how it is supposed to work,  if you're shaving you want to strop the edge over so that the edge will be facing the skin, and then it will cut the whiskers, if you strop the edge the other way, the edge will be facing outward, and will just ride over the whiskers, it's the same when cutting meat, and you need to remove the meat from the bone, if the edge has been steeled  to the outside, it won't cut the meat off the bone, instead it will just pass over it, that's one of the reasons for steeling/stropping, is to put the angle of the edge in either the outward side or the inward side of what your going to cut, using a supper smooth steel is better than  one that is coarse or medium, and when you steel a knife blade do it slowly, slapping the knife blade against the steel won't get you any where, and hold the knife blade at the right angle when steeling and stropping or you will defeat your purpose also. I've had pards hand me there knives telling me they couldn't cut anything with them, and after a little steeling and finesse, I recovered the edge, and they couldn't believe it, just remember a steel isn't meant to sharpen the edge, "THE STEEL IS USED TO TRUE THE EDGE" also if you want to cut just a piece of meat or something, and there isn't a need to take anything off the bone, take your knife and draw it down a piece of wood at a 90 degree angle which is as straight as you can get, this takes the angle of the edge out of the blade, so that when you cut the edge won't lay over on you. When you want to shave or remove meat from the bone, you want to finish your strop or steeling on the side that you want the edge  to lay over, you want the edge to lay over on the side you want to cut, if you practice these techniques, you will be able to maintain a sharp edge for a long long time without having to put the blade to the stone.

      The 45 years I was in the meat business I learned to keep my knives sharp, if you didn't you wouldn't be able to make it through the day.

                                 I hope I was able to give a better understanding of the edge of a blade


                                                     Regards

                                                  tEN wOLVES