Not Truly On Topic

[Ruff]

Hello,

Figured this was the place to ask this question. It is about all knives, just not cowboy knives. I looked through the topics and could find anything. If this has been addressed before I apologize and ask you to put me in the right direction.

How do you sharpen knives? My wife and I have a block of kitchen knives it came with this steel. Well I have followed the instructions and can not seem to get the knives as sharp as I feel they should be. I know that with out seeing what I am doing it might be hard to impossible to tell me what is wrong. I will accept guess and advice.

When I was a kid my Uncle worked at a meat packing plant and I watched him sharpen his knives almost nightly he used a stone and a steel. Should I try that? Have them professionally sharpened, their is a Bass Pro shop here in town that does that? Also my cowboy knives are not sharp any thoughts on getting them sharpened?

Thanks for any and all advice.

[St. George]

Get a couple of 'good' Arkansas Stones - 'hard' and a 'soft' - add a Crock Stick and a sharpening steel, and you'll pretty much have what you'll need to put an edge onto the blade and maintain it.

Some guys want a 'razor-sharp' blade - but that doesn't necessarily equate to a good using knife - neither does an edge that'll shave off your arm hair.

In today's 'Brave New World' many young men are already waxing away their body hair - so who's gonna be impressed when your knife does that?

What 'cuts' is an edge with a minutely-broken edge - it's a very effective cutting edge for most purposes.

Oddly enough, 'youtube' usually has a couple of good tutorials on this subject - look 'em up, and pay attention.

And buy some Band-Aids...

Scouts Out!

[Camano Ridge]

There are hundreds of ways to sharpen knives and many items to help you do it. What St. George said is tried and true. However You can get to a sharp blade by other metods. If you have not used stones before find some one that knows how to use them or watch some good you tube tutorials. Go to your local thrift store by a half dozen kknives for 50 cents a piece and practice. I guarantee you will ruin the first couple of blades trying to sharpen on a stone. THe easiest kit I have seen to start you sharpening is the Lansky system, It is easy to use and gives good results. No matter what way you go you need a strop something St. George did not mention. When you sharpen the knife you will build a burr or wire edge tha needs to be removed. Do that by giving a couple of swipes to both sides on a strop. The strop I use is simply a 2 1/2" wide x 10 inch long piece of leather glued to a piece of pine board.

[St. George]

I didn't mention a strop, because a Crock Stick will do the same with less practice.

Vaya,

Scouts Out!