Question: Sharpening just PARTS of the edge?

[Wartstein]

Just a quick question:

Don´t want to repeat myself, but once again for context: I have only basic sharpening skills, do most of my sharpening on the SM (brown and white rods) and a leather strop. Still I am happy with the results I achieve.

Now I have a maybe silly question (for sharpening experts), but who cares.. :

Lets say you just freshly sharpened your edge, it cuts paper cleanly and perfectly overall, but there is still a small spot or area that is not sharp enough / less sharp than the rest of the edge (maybe snags on the paper (for example at the heel or tip of the blade)).

- Do you sometimes sharpen JUST that area / that spot once more, or do you ALWAYS go over the whole egde again?

!! I am talking about just very few passes on that still-not-sharp-enough- spot or area of course, AND if, then done very seldom !! I am aware of that if you did that all the time, and maybe even always on the same areas of the edge, that would not be a good idea and make for quite a "wavy" edge (if that´s the correct term in English) over time...

[The Meat man]

If there's a dull spot on my blade, I continue to sharpen the entire edge until it's up to standard. Unless the dull spot is a chip, in which case I prefer to just live with it rather than spend a lot of time and waste steel sharpening it out.

[Wartstein]

If there's a dull spot on my blade, I continue to sharpen the entire edge until it's up to standard. Unless the dull spot is a chip, in which case I prefer to just live with it rather than spend a lot of time and waste steel sharpening it out.

Thanks!

[Woodpuppy]

Agreed on the chip, I have one in my M4 para3 that reminds me to be more careful when I go to cut something. Might have a wire bead in it.

I sharpen mostly on a sharpmaker also. Since I learned early that dragging your tip off the points of the rods will wipe out your point, I stop short. Then I do some extra strokes of the point only on the flats until I’m happy with the result. And of course finish with full length strokes.

[cabfrank]

It's a good question, something I have pondered in the past. Now I know.

[Wartstein]

It's a good question, something I have pondered in the past. Now I know.

Glad that asking what I thought could maybe be a bit silly question turns out to be of some benefit not only for me! :)

[ABX2011]

Yes I’ll go back and work on the dull spot rather than the whole edge. Of course I won’t hit just that spot exactly so when I make the final finishing passes I’ll go over the whole edge again.

[JD Spydo]

There is one part of a knife blade that I'm always looking for better methods of sharpening and I'm speaking of the "tips" of knife blades. Especially the tips on Hawkbills and Reverse S blades can be quite challenging. I take the job of tip sharpening really seriously because many times a super sharp tip can make a huge difference in overall performance. And even with all the sharpening experience I've garnered over the years I'll shamefully admit that I could stand to know more about sharpening the tips on many types of knife blades.

On serrated and especially Spyderedges I still like doing mine manually. In other words doing each scallop and each spike individually. It's a time consuming job but I usually do it while watching a ball game or video. It sure makes the serrated edge look more like it came from the factory.

[Woodpuppy]

I hadn’t considered hawkbill pattern or reverse recurve blades. seems like the Gauntlet system would work really well for that!

[JD Spydo]

I hadn’t considered hawkbill pattern or reverse recurve blades. seems like the Gauntlet system would work really well for that!

Actually I've found that the stones out of the old 1990s Spyderco GALLEY V sharpening kit to be better than about anything else I've been able to use for sharpening the tips of Hawkbills and Reverse S blades.

Speaking of the new GAuNTLET kit that Spyderco recently released I must say that I'm very disappointed in it. I've also used the old discontinued Spyderco 701 Profiles to do really detailed sharpening on the tips of Hawkbill and Reverse S blades.

Don't know exactly what I might be doing wrong but for a long time I've been kind of disappointed with the overall results I get on the tips of blades of all styles and designs of knives. I truly believe that getting the tips extremely sharp is a skill of it's own IMO. But I welcome any suggestions because it is frustrating to get most of my blades almost straight razor sharp but many times the tips don't come out right

[Tims]

I hadn’t considered hawkbill pattern or reverse recurve blades. seems like the Gauntlet system would work really well for that!

Actually I've found that the stones out of the old 1990s Spyderco GALLEY V sharpening kit to be better than about anything else I've been able to use for sharpening the tips of Hawkbills and Reverse S blades.

Speaking of the new GAuNTLET kit that Spyderco recently released I must say that I'm very disappointed in it. I've also used the old discontinued Spyderco 701 Profiles to do really detailed sharpening on the tips of Hawkbill and Reverse S blades.

Don't know exactly what I might be doing wrong but for a long time I've been kind of disappointed with the overall results I get on the tips of blades of all styles and designs of knives. I truly believe that getting the tips extremely sharp is a skill of it's own IMO. But I welcome any suggestions because it is frustrating to get most of my blades almost straight razor sharp but many times the tips don't come out right

I struggled with the tip when I first started using the sharpmaker.
Everywhere I read said all you need to do is raise the handle vertically at the end of the stroke to hit the tip. I still see that advice given so it must work for people but for me, it doesn’t and I still can’t see how it does.
Once I realised you have to move the handle laterally inward to allow for the distal taper of the blade, I started hitting the tip. It’s a subtle lateral shift of the handle toward the centre line of the base between the two rods. Just enough to follow the distal taper of the blade and maintain contact with the rods.

[SpyderEdgeForever]

Wartstein, I am glad you raised this question. Someone once told me they would only sharpen the blade from the tip to about half-way down the edge and preferred plain edged folders like the original Endura and Delica. I asked "Why don't you sharpen the entire blade length?" and the answer from the person was, that it is "less efficient because most of the cutting is concentrated from the tip to the middle/half of the blade.

I found that very unusual. Perhaps you and others could explain how realistic that person's answer was?

One problem with that method of sharpening I can see, is this: What happens if for some reason they need to use the bottom half of the blade edge to cut something, perhaps like if cutting a piece of meat to roast for dinner?

[Woodpuppy]

I try to keep the portion of the blade in contact with the stone at 90 degrees throughout the stroke. So I’m lifting the handle through most of the stroke on a para3, for example.

[weeping minora]

If a certain area of the edge needs more love, I'll attenuate my focus to that specific area a little more, though I will always continue to sharpen the entire bevel to keep uniformity in shape and edge angle. Arnold Schwarzenegger once mentioned that he used to work both sides of one muscle group to even out an imbalance, rather than to invest the full effort to bulk the side of lacking proportion, which he found to be detrimental and actually promotes a vicious cycle of "catch-ups" in order to achieve symmetry. I think this mindset can be applied to sharpening as well. I believe it is a crucial misstep if you choose to segregate your sharpening efforts too much; you risk the mistake of an off-kilter angle in your efforts, not just resulting in a "wavy" edge after prolonged sharpening, but in more immediate problems of varying degrees within the apex that might only be resolved with an abundance of steel waste to fix this issue. This is much more a performance detriment that might not initially be seen, or felt, by an inexperienced user and of which I believe leads many steels to get a negative repertoire amongst the community. I'd advise those new to sharpening, ESPECIALLY free-hand sharpening on stones, to sharpen the entire bevel until your edge is ready to move on to further refinement. If a certain area starts to dull over another, as the mentioned example of a dull tip vs sharp heel, I'll strop the knife back to sharpness until this is exhausted and a proper sharpening is necessary. By that time, my entire edge should need the full touch up anyway.

In regards to partial edge sharpening on purpose, the only real benefit I've seen implemented to sharpen the first 2/3-3/4 of blade is for boning knives from meat processors/butchers, which is a safety thing in regards to how the knife is gripped in use; especially for non-guarded hankotsu style Japanese boning knives

[vivi]

99% of the time I sharpen the entire edge. Once in a while I'll use a knife for some tip intensive work, and sharpen just the last inch, but that's not very common for me.

Trying to sharpen just a part of the edge rather than the entire thing strikes me as an easy way to develop a burr on the edge adjacent to your target area.

[Jazz]

As long as it doesn’t alter the blade shape, I’d just do one spot lightly, but normally I steel them to straighten the edge, except on hard steels, and sharpen when needed. Also, my wharncliffe needs the whole edge done to preserve the flat shape.

[The Meat man]

As long as it doesn’t alter the blade shape, I’d just do one spot lightly, but normally I steel them to straighten the edge, except on hard steels, and sharpen when needed. Also, my wharncliffe needs the whole edge done to preserve the flat shape.

Jazz, what's the hardest steel you'll steel?

[Jazz]

Jazz, what's the hardest steel you'll steel?

I don’t really know. I wouldn’t steel ZDP, 110V, Maxamet... stuff like that. Don’t want chipping. I steel VG10, S30V, H1, etc. Stuff that can take the straightening.

[Wartstein]

....

Trying to sharpen just a part of the edge rather than the entire thing strikes me as an easy way to develop a burr on the edge adjacent to your target area.

Thanx for your reply. But to be honest: I don't fully understand what you mean (see above)-?

Lets say the whole edge is properly sharpend, but for whatever reason i'd decide to sharpen a certain area of the edge once more (makes no sense, but just to illustrate my question).
How can another part of the edge, adjacent to the area I sharpen, develop a burr, if I am not even touching it at all (the adjacent area)?

Or do you refer to sharpening just one SIDE of the edge? Of course I meant sharpening BOTH sides (just normal sharpening that is), but that done only on a certain area of the whole edge.

[Tims]

....

Trying to sharpen just a part of the edge rather than the entire thing strikes me as an easy way to develop a burr on the edge adjacent to your target area.

Thanx for your reply. But to be honest: I don't fully understand what you mean (see above)-?

Lets say the whole edge is properly sharpend, but for whatever reason i'd decide to sharpen a certain area of the edge once more (makes no sense, but just to illustrate my question).
How can another part of the edge, adjacent to the area I sharpen, develop a burr, if I am not even touching it at all (the adjacent area)?

Or do you refer to sharpening just one SIDE of the edge? Of course I meant sharpening BOTH sides (just normal sharpening that is), but that done only on a certain area of the whole edge.

This is, essentially, what a serration is.
Sure you could do it if you wanted to but like punching yourself in the nuts, it’s probably best not to if you can possibly avoid it.

Go grab a junk knife and do it, then you can see it first hand.