So, you’ve found your perfect knife (or, if you’re like me, your latest in a string of perfect knives) and you’ve put it to good use. The edge just doesn’t have that lightsaber sharpness anymore, and it’s in need of a thorough sharpening. Now you’re faced with a decision; should you have it professionally sharpened, or should you do it yourself?
There are a multitude of reasons to sharpen your own knives. However, there are a few ‘pros’ of sharpening your own knives that you might never have thought of before. Read on for 5 obscure but important reasons that sharpening is a great skill to practice, and for what I use to sharpen my knives!
It’s Good for your Knives
When you’ve resolved to sharpen your own knives you’re less likely to abuse them. Things like prying, hacking, scraping, and other abusive tasks often don’t only dull a knife’s edge, but also actually damage it with chips, rolls, and broken tips. These types of damage take much more time to correct than a normal dulled edge. So, since we all value our limited time, having to sharpen the damage out from abusive use of your knife makes you less willing to undertake those types of use. That said, you can use your knife appropriately to your hearts content without worry; almost every well heat treated steel can be brought from dull to sharp with ease using the right tools (read on for what I use).
It’s Good for the Environment
Sharpening your own knives reduces waste and pollution. If you send your knives out to be sharpened you’ll use a box, packing tape, etc. that could have been saved. Then it’ll have to be shipped (or driven by you, in rare cases where you have a professional sharpening service nearby) likely hundreds of miles by truck, contributing harmful emissions to the ecosystem. Then all that will have to be done again for the knife to get back to you. Doesn’t learning how to sharpen your own knives sound worth the slight trouble, and great eventual satisfaction, if it can help keep our planet and its inhabitants healthy?
It’s Good for your Mental Health
Sharpening knives can act as a form of mindful meditation. Mindful meditation is a practice of focusing on a particular phenomenon, often the breath, and allowing thoughts to go by without attaching to them. While meditation might seem hokey or overly trendy to some, it’s been shown to have real benefits for things like productivity, mental health, and cognitive function. Knife sharpening lends itself extremely well to mindfulness practice because it requires repetitive focused action (the passing of the edge on the stone at a maintained angle) with tactile feedback that provides a very fitting phenomenon on which to rest the mind.
It’s Good for Travel
Sharpening your own knives, or at least knowing how to sharpen the knife you’re using, makes travel more convenient. The last thing you want, if you’re able to bring your EDC with you on your travels, is to be half way through a trip and your knife already dulled. Also, I (and I think many others) prefer to go the AirBnB route when traveling so that I can experience the area more fully… and cook for myself, rather than having to go out for every meal. The problem is, most places you stay have knives that just don’t live up to the sharpness we enthusiasts have come to expect. While you often can’t bring your knives with you when you travel, you can almost always bring sharpening gear (especially something like the minimalist setup I use, described below). That way with just a few minutes of work you can have sharp and usable tools, whether it be your knife or your home away from home’s knife.
It’s Good for your Relationships
Everybody loves to have a sharp knife. Being able to sharpen your friends’ and family’s knives can be a gift that you can give over and over. The great thing is, it’s not something that only knife enthusiasts appreciate! The vast majority of people use a kitchen knife regularly, and most struggle to keep them sharp. With a portable setup you can always be ready to make someone’s day by sharpening their carry knife or kitchen knife.
My Sharpening Setup
So what do I use to sharpen? I prefer to use a minimalist setup for the majority of my sharpening. For a long time I used a DMT Diafold, a Spyderco Double Stuff, and the Stropping Young Lad Pocket Strop. However, I’ve now pared it down to an even more minimal setup that works just as well for me: the WESN Pocket Sharpener and a Sunshine Cloth. I’ve been extremely impressed with the versatility of both these items. The WESN stone has an aggressive 400 grit diamond plate on one side, which I find can be used both to cut a new apex if the edge is damaged and also to bring an existing apex together. The other side of the WESN stone is a fine ceramic plate that is great for touching up an edge from working sharp to shaving sharp. It’s literally pocket sized and comes in a nice leather slip, so you can take it pretty much anywhere. I have really been enjoying this stone, and it has effectively filled the roles of both the DMT and Spyderco stones I previously used. While I still love and use the Stropping Young Lad Pocket Strop, it’s no longer in stock and the maker isn’t sure when or if more will be available. I have used Sunshine Cloths for years and they work surprisingly effectively as a strop, as well as their normal use for polishing and cleaning. I wrap a Sunshine Cloth around my WESN Pocket Sharpener and slap a rubber band around it and I’m pretty much covered for most sharpening jobs, and the whole setup fits easily in a pocket. I highly recommend these tools for a simple sharpening setup!
Here’s a great article from WESN on how to use their Pocket sharpener
Conclusion
While these are all great reasons to learn to sharpen knives and to sharpen your own knives, sharpening is also just plain fulfilling. Maintaining your own knives and helping others maintain theirs provides a feeling of small but useful accomplishment and self sufficiency, and we all deserve to feel that way sometimes. I often say “the world feels right when your knives are sharp”, and I think if you decide to sharpen your own knives you’ll understand what I mean!
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