Sharpening: Do you touch up every day, or use until a full sharpening is needed?

[dsvirsky]

I don't touch up my edges every day, but I don't normally allow them to get completely dull.

[dplafoll]

Both. Sometimes I touch up/strop even when it's not "necessary" but I definitely don't do it every single day, and sometimes a knife gets to where it needs more than a simple strop. The real question is "how sharp do you need the knife on an everyday basis", because I often will touch up to much sharper than necessary just for the h*** of it.

[farnorthdan]

Depends on the steel, but not everyday, also depends on what I've done with my blade. Heavy use sometimes requires sharpening at the end of the day.

[Evil D]

Every time after every use. It's so easy to make a few swipes on the Sharpmaker, there is absolutely no reason to walk around with a knife that isn't at peak sharpness if you haven't used it that day yet.

[The Meat man]

It varies for me. If I get a new knife, I'm constantly honing/touching it up :) but give it some time and I usually end up using the knife until it needs a full resharpen.

That said, I've never owned a good touch up tool like the sharpmaker until fairly recently, so I expect I'll be doing more regular maintenance than I used to.

[The Meat man]

Interesting thread. Maybe those who reply should include what they use for touching up their edges. And if the answer is Sharpmaker, what rods?

For myself, I've been using the UF rods.

[Evil D]

Interesting thread. Maybe those who reply should include what they use for touching up their edges. And if the answer is Sharpmaker, what rods?

For myself, I've been using the UF rods.

Depends on how dull it is, but I tend to use all three ceramic rods pretty much every time. For whatever reason I never feel like the edge is quite as sharp unless I start back on the brown and move up through fine and ultra fine.

[dsvirsky]

Depending on the steel and how "dull," I give plain edges a couple very light passes with DMT fine followed by a couple passes (microbevel) on the Sharpmaker brown rods, or just a couple passes on the brown rods. I rarely use the fine, except on serrations, and haven't used the ultra fine within memory.
Serrated edges, I mostly just use the fine ceramic, unless the edge needs a lot of work.

[Ankerson]

I leave it until it loses bite then I touch it up.

[vivi]

Neither.

I do touch-ups as needed, which is not every day. I only go through the full process when setting the bevel, or re-setting it. Doing all that just to touch up the edge is crazy.

[murphjd25]

I touch them up about once a week.

[npad69]

i do touch-ups if i find the edge not slicing paper cleanly after some considerable use. this is when i'm using vg10, cr13, h1, mbs. i like an effective biting edge specially when i need to slice open glossy plastic wrappers without excerting any force.
but lately i never had to do any touch-ups with lc200n and (especially) cruwear since they are still paper-slicey after some use.

[standy99]

Didn't vote as I do neither :cool:

Sharpen with a butchers Steel a lot
Sharpen with a wet stone a little

Have so many knives for different things so rarely use anything that's not sharp
( and being a Butcher for 30 plus years in the past don't use anything but sharp knives and can sharpen a knife from dull/blunt in a minute or three )

YOU CANT REALLY LOVE KNIVES IF YOU DONT LOVE SHARPENING

[toxophilus]

Touch ups (mainly stropping IF needed) during the week :spyder:

[JD Spydo]

That's kind of a tilted question to ask me because I'm kind of a "sharpening fanatic". Let's put it this way you would be hard pressed to find any of my blades even in the kitchen or ones I've stored in my footlocker that don't have a "shaving edge" on them. The only exception would be the factory, new in the box, collectibles I have stored away>> and I don't touch those at all.

But if it gets to where my M390 Military won't just float through a plastic bag like a laser I'll usually get out the GOLDENSTONE or the 204 Sharpmaker and tune it up straight razor sharp immediately.

A dull knife is about one of the most useless tools I know of and therefore I make sure every edged tool I own will give you a good clean shave if necessary.

[ZrowsN1s]

I wouldn't say every day, but I find sooner is better than later when it comes to touch ups.

[Daveho]

I don’t wait till they are totally dull but I’ll touch them on the strops between full shapenings.
FWIW I sharpen freehand on stones.
1k, 6k and a few naturals like dragons tongue.
I finish on a pasted balsa and natural leather.

[abbazaba]

Not every day, but I'll try to do touch ups often enough that they stay shaving sharp with little effort.

[Sharp Guy]

I like my knives to have a high level of sharpness but I don't touch up everyday or after each use. I usually wait until they no longer shave arm hair and often go longer than that.

[ThePeacent]

when they stop shaving arm hair, I touch them up usually with the SM rods

I mainly use H1, CTS-XHP and AUS8 as well as Victorinox steel so the touchups are on a weekly basis, two or three times per week but takes a couple minutes or less