How Often do YOU Sharpen??

I was talking with a chef friend in PM's...and he mentioned that he sharpens his main use knives every day. Awhile back, I was talking with @sachem allison, and he mentioned that while using the knife I sent him, he didn't sharpen it at all...with over 14 days of open to close shifts on it...stropping was enough. Another (home user, semi-retired professional chef) customer told me he hasn't sharpened my knife in over a year, despite it being his daily go-to knife. I can only assume he strops often as well lol.

This got me to thinking (and I know there's other knives out there that match or surpass mine in edge retention...so that's not my point)...but, how often do you guys sharpen your knives?...and with what kind of usage? I would think that daily sharpening would be really hard on the knife...requiring thinning pretty often. I also can't believe any knife can go a year of daily use without sharpening lol...even I sharpen my own knives once every couple months or so, with that kind of daily use. I do however strop them on 1, 3, or 6 micron loaded balsa, then clean hard felt once a week or so (or when I feel the edge starting to deteriorate on things like tomatoes etc).

So again, how often do you guys sharpen?...and what are you doing with the knives you're sharpening?

 

As seldom as possible. It's just another work task and there isn't enough time to start with.

 

Right?? I wish I could say the same, but you guys would hate my knives if they came to you all without an edge, lol.

 

I'm a home cook. I really like sharpening and prefer highly polished edges. I sharpen gyutos (touch up on really fine stone) after about 8-10 hours of use. I strop on felt with 1 micron diamond spray between sharpening.
Pettys, sujihiki and yanagi are maintained a bit more frequently.

 

I sharpened my Henkels almost every day 35 years ago at work. Now, at home , I go months between sharpening, stropping almost every time I use a knife. It's possible to use more care with board contact with the type and amount of prep done at home.

 

When I worked in a kitchen, generally once a week...now.....maybe every three months, I need to do it mire often just for fun.

 

Depends on the knife. My Tojiro ITK was every other week when it was my daily driver. My Richmond Laser in Aebl could go about a month. My thinned Hiromoto AS can go nearly two months with just stropping on a rod. I could sharpen them all more often to maintain the ability to fruit ninja veggies but it isn't needed for the gallons of mire plus I fine dice in a day. When I start sharpening is when the leper and tomato skins get to be a hassle.

 

What are you doing with leper skins? And where did you find a colony?

I touch up micro bevels on a 6k synthetic once or twice a week. When that doesn't bring the edge back, I swap it for the backup knife. When the majority of the knives are annoyingly dull I take them home and sharpen. All in all maybe once a month or month and a half.

 

Good information here guys, thank you. I didn't figure there would be any consistency to everyone's preference...but it's cool to see the trends. Like John...for me, if it gets picky with tomatoes, I will run it on a 6k stone a few times. If that doesn't fix it, I'll lightly sharpen it. I strop much more often though.

 

I do have an addendum-if I have one a knife to do for a someone else I'll get one or two of mine while I'm at it. I don't like breaking the stones out for just a single knife.

 

I wait for mine to get dull and then tell hubby I need a new knife...

Probably only pull out the stones every few months--touchups in between on an Idahone or strop.

 

I touch up with light touches on a ceramic rod. But again, I push it as far as I can, probably 6 weeks is average. I rotate knives too, so that makes a difference. My work kit is 2 gyutos, 2 sujis, 1 petty.

 

Aha!!

Had any...dull knives lately...??

 

When using plain steel knife at work it must be everyday. I dont do microbevels. I like the feedback from freshly sharpened knife.
Some more complex steel will take me some days to destroy but I dont like the feeling of the AS for example, so I just have knives with simple carbon.

 

You think you've got it bad? I have some knives that get sharpened more often than they get used!

 

I only use simple carbon to make my knives...AISI W1 and W2 specifically. My current batch of W2 looks like this:

C - .934, Si - .211, Mn - .233, P - .011, S - .003, Cr - .077, Ni - .065, Mo - .012, V - .166, W - .003, Cu - .029, Sn - .004, Al - .010

I'm looking forward to getting your feedback on edge retention my friend, that's for sure .

 

For me, pretty much relative to which knives being used and what said knives are used for. Example: 1) workhorse weekly, 2) Takobiki every other month, 3) Laser &/or nakiri every day &/or use.

It all depends on the acutal usage of each and every knife I own, ie: if it is hair splitting sharp then don't sharpen it. Hope this helps.

Al