Knife sharpening fetish

[Puglet1]

I am relatively new to knife sharpening. I use a whetstone and leather strap to sharpen my kitchen knife.
I get loads of pleasure sharpening it and can get it to cut vegetables quite well.
The question is “how do you tell when your knife is at its sharpest ?”
The reason I ask is because I seem to be drawn to this mad practice.

 

[Bullet2012]

I can help, We have several knives that require sharpening, just let me have your address

 

[northwest]

It's my razors try my patience, which reminds me, I need to sharpen some.

 

[oldbikedavey]

Many years ago, I was trained in the art of sharpening budding knives, and other implements of horticultural surgery.
The trick is to sharpen just one side of the blade at a shallow angle, preferably on a water stone, and then to lightly deburr on a wood backed chrome leather flat.
Rough test is to shave the hairs on the back of your hand without undue pulling, and the top test is to see if the blade sticks into your fingertip under its own unassisted weight....
It's the single sided sharpening that really does it....

 

[Puglet1]

Many years ago, I was trained in the art of sharpening budding knives, and other implements of horticultural surgery.
The trick is to sharpen just one side of the blade at a shallow angle, preferably on a water stone, and then to lightly deburr on a wood backed chrome leather flat.
Rough test is to shave the hairs on the back of your hand without undue pulling, and the top test is to see if the blade sticks into your fingertip under its own unassisted weight....
It's the single sided sharpening that really does it....

Thank you! I have been trying the one sided method and seemed to get good result - but the temptation has always been to try sharpening the other side (at which point I ran into a vicious circle of it not being “razor sharp “. I’ll have another go tomorrow.

 

[Puglet1]

I can help, We have several knives that require sharpening, just let me have your address

Now that I’ve had a good tip from @oldbikedavey , We could be in business. Send me your knives and when they come back to you blunt , you’ll only have three people to blame…. oldbikedavey for helping me out. Me for doing a rubbish job. Or You for being so silly to send them to me in the first place.

 

[Keith 66]

Sharpening is a black art. I learnt woodwork & boatbuilding from my Dad, He taught me how to sharpen things & had several oilstones. As the years passed i acquired more stones, often from boot fairs or estate clearances.
I have oilstones of various grits & types, red india stones, slate ones, carborundum & diamond, waterstones & some i havent a clue what they are made of.
My favorite is a soft grey stone that gets a wicked edge on most steels, Lord knows how old it is but its getting thin in the middle despite being flatted off several times. I do like to use parafin or WD 40 as cutting oil!

 

[Screwdriver]

Balance the edge of the blade on your thumbnail. Carefully (!) increase the angle holding it loosely to see if/when it will slide off. After a while you will develop a really good feel for how sharp a blade is without doing the paper test. Also lets you assess sharpness at various places along the edge.