# Pressure while sharpening



## JBroida (Apr 9, 2011)

So, often times i get questions about how much pressure i use while sharpening and i always find it hard to answer. This morning, i grabbed a scale and tested different types of sharpening to see about how much pressure i am putting on the knives while i sharpen... this is what i found

it turns out that for light pressure, i use between 20-80g worth of pressure
for medium pressure, i use between 200-350g worth of pressure
for hard pressure, i use between 800-3000g worth of pressure

So, grab a scale and let us know how much pressure you use


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## Jay (Apr 9, 2011)

As with most folks, I was probably a bit too aggressive when I started sharpening. After all, we're grinding away steel with a stone, so you have to roll up your sleeves and dig in, right?

Not so. I think it's always a good idea to "let the tool do the work", and I've lightened up considerably. Some stones (diamond plates come to mind) seem to work best with a very light pressure, and the finer grit stones perform best with a light hand. This became obvious when I started sharpening straight razors- you need a *really* light touch.


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## EdipisReks (Apr 9, 2011)

i'm putting about 1500 with what i consider hard, about 500 with what i consider pretty standard, and 50-100 with what i consider light.


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## Dave Martell (Apr 10, 2011)

I don't have a kitchen scale to measure grams but I'm guessing that I use a lot of pressure.


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## wenus2 (Apr 12, 2011)

I read this on JKI yesterday, great information.
This gives a good frame of ref. for your notes and videos. Which btw, to all our benefit, are becoming aplenty.


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