Knives (handmade) 101 #5 If I Spend a Few 100 $ On a Knife Will It Be Sharp Forever

NO!

As always, if you have any questions just leave a comment...

Just kidding :)

But it is a valid question - if a bit unrealistic.

So let's start from the beginning.

What makes a knife sharp, and what keeps it sharp.

I. Getting the Knife Sharp

I could get into the engineering and talk about blade geometry for as long as it takes, and no one would read it let alone remember it. So, let's keep things simple.

For a knife (remember if not stated differently I'm talking about kitchen knives) to get sharp, we need to bring the side planes - what we call bevels as close as possible in order to reduce the surface area of the edge.
At the same time, keeping the integrity of the blade so it doesn't chip or roll.

The physics behind is based on the principle that the smaller the area which is transferring the force of the cut, the easier it will be to penetrate the object.

This is what it looks like when the sharpening is done right

This is done by sharpening.

Sharpening is basically a process of removing metal from the blade until we get the desired apex of planes and thus making the cutting edge as tin as it can be - keeping in mind the blade integrity.
You can sharpen a knife in hundred types of ways on a lot of different abrasives.

There are two general types of sharpening.
i. sharpening a dull knife
ii. maintenance - keeping a sharp knife sharp

The main difference being - the length of the process.

**i. **When sharpening a dull knife one must start with the lower grit abrasive.
400 grit stone or diamond plate should be a starting point if your knife is really dull.
When you get the knife as sharp as you can on 400, you can move on a next - usually, the progression of grits goes X2 or close enough.

Generally, my sharpening goes 400/1000/3000/6000/10-12000/stroping - with smaller or bigger variations depending on the knife in question or what I want from it.

Do you have to do the same for your knife? Of course not!

My advice is to buy a 1000/4000 stone and for most of you that will be more than enough for everyday usage.

Something like this

You will have to burn some muscle grees to get your dull knife sharp for the first time but after that, it will be a few mins every once in a while to keep it sharp.

ii. Keeping the knife sharp

If you use the knife it will get dull - or not sharp enough.
So what do you do?

Just make it your weekly routine to do the last step of your prefered sharpening routine, and once a month take it to the last two.

If you take your knife to crazy sharp levels as I do - than stropping once a week should be just fine and once a month I would do 10-12K.

If you skip a week - do last two next week. If you skip a month - you will have to resharpen it from the scratch.
And so on, the more often you do it the less the bother it is.

I won't go into techniques - you can do a YT search and find one you like. I will be publishing a video showing how I do it soon - so keep tuned.

II. What Keeps The Knife Sharp Longer

The time your knife will stay sharp depends on two things concerning how the knife was made and how you use it

i. The Knife

There are two main things that go into what is called edge retention. (There are a few other things but let's keep something for the future.)

The hardness of the steel and the wear resistance.

Both of these properties are directly related to the type of steel and the heat treatment that was done.

Generally speaking the harder the knife is, the longer it will stay sharp. The same thing goes for the wear resistance.

So why not just make the knife as hard as possible and it will stay sharp forever?
Yep, it will stay shart but it will also chip as soon as you use it.

A good knifemaker knows how to find that sweet spot where a knife is hard enough to have maximum performance properties and at the same time that it won't chip in normal tasks.

This is one of the benefits of acquiring a handmade knife. Most production knives are made way too soft for my taste - floating somewhere around 54-56 HRC. Most of my knives, especially chef ones, are tempered to 61-62.

ii. The Way You Move - Use It

Most of the people I know, that are not in knifemaking, tend to use their knives in a way that a knife is not supposed to be used.

Some of them are misusing them so bad that it hurts my heart really deeply.

The way you handle your knife directly relates on how well the knife will serve you in the long run. So, here are a few tips on what to do and what not to do.

1. NOT cutting on a plate, stone countertop or any other hard surface like glass-like cutting boards. Most of these are way harder than your knife and will make the edge either chip or dull in no time. And I do mean no time - a few strokes across your plate and your knife is dull. Buy yourself a nice wooden cutting board and do all your cutting on it.
2. NOT using your kitchen knife as a utility knife in your "around the house" activities. This includes cutting branches, making the tinder for your BBQ, cleaning the drains and so on. A kitchen knife is made with one task in mind - cutting food. Everything else is misuse and will damage your knife.
3. NOT washing your knives in a dishwasher. Now, I don't care what kind of a shitty $5 knife you have - just don't do it. Why? Because! There is no plausible excuse to do it - it takes 20 seconds to clean your knife the old way, under the warm water in your sink. Wash it with some detergent, rinse, wipe dry while still warm from the water, and put it back in the place.
4. DO keep it sharp. A dull knife is a dangerous knife! Not only will it not do the job, but there's a better chance you will cut yourself with a dull knife then with a sharp one. Just take 5 min every week and touch-up on the sharpening stone.
5. DO/NOT The all mighty iron rod. If you have a knife set, there's a fair chance it came with an iron rod. Should you use it? Probably not. First of all, a rod is not meat to sharpen but to align the edge. So if your knife is dull, you won't do anything good. Secondly, if you didin't know that, you probably don't know how to use it - so don't. If you know how to use it, and your knife is softer than the rod (and is sharp), you can use it to touch-up.

Before I finish, I'll get back to the question in the title.
Will an expensive knife stay sharp forever? No, it won't. But if you take care of it and don't misuse it will serve you well for a long time. And yes, it will stay sharp way longer than most production stainless knives.

Thank you for reading, and if you have any questions or just want to leave a comment, please do - that's what comment section is all about.

Check out my previous posts on handmade knives:

1. Handmade Knives (custom) 101 #1 – Are You Bipolar?
2. Knives (handmade) 101 #2 – What’s Wrong With My $10 Supermarket Knife?
3. Knives (handmade) 101 #3 What to Think About When Buying a Knife
4. Knives (handmade) 101 #4 Full Custom Build