# Lessons Learned



## Still-edo (May 17, 2012)

So I stole my mom's Old Hickory chef's knife that was worn in the middle from years of sharpening. I decided to see if I can fix the profile and thin it out a little.

Mistake #1 - Decided to use a stone instead a belt sander. Because technology is cheating... Now 3 hours of my life gone. Still not done.

Mistake #2 - Fingers too close to the stone. Middle fingers now free of incriminating fingerprints.

Mistake #3 - Not maintaining the stone for flatness half way through. Now stones double as cereal bowl. 

My angles are still cool though.

Any lessons you guys care to pass on?


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## G-rat (May 17, 2012)

Band aids will clog up your stones... Lol been there recently


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## WildBoar (May 17, 2012)

W/ no fingerprints, it's a great time to rob a bank. Use some of the $ to buy your mom a new knife. :cool2:

What stone are you using for this?


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## Still-edo (May 17, 2012)

Please don't laugh... too hard...

I think that was lesson #4. I used a really course Norton bench stone. Figured bigger bite = faster thinning... But ended up spending quite some time polishing down the gouges. (really carefully because both middle fingers were hamburger by then lol)

But whew! New respect for the hardness of carbon knives. As cheap as these knives are, they don't grind easy for nothing!


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## sachem allison (May 17, 2012)

does she know that you are messing with her knife? she may be happy with its profile an you may get in trouble. it has happened to me before.


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## Crothcipt (May 17, 2012)

Oh no what did I get my self into. My boss game me his forschners to sharpen. His scimitar has a huge chunck taken out of it. I'm just hoping that it's not carbon.


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## tk59 (May 17, 2012)

I would add that there is no such thing as "too late to quit." People have a tendency to keep at stuff if they've already invested a lot in it. Then again, this is how you build muscle memory, lol. I did it with an A-type and a 1k SS.


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## cwrightthruya (May 17, 2012)

Aside from, "Don't let your wife find out you bought a bunch of new stones without her knowledge"? 
I would say my biggest lesson came when I first started sharpening. It was then that I used nitrile gloves to protect my hands from getting dry and grit embedded. This worked out pretty well until I gained some skill and took the knife to my finisher. This is where things went down hill quite rapidly, as it pulled my glove and consequently my finger under the knife. It cost me 5 stitches and a bit of blood loss (luckily I'm a pro when it comes to stitches). Now I dont sharpen with gloves. Things go much better....


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## Heath Besch (May 17, 2012)

Tried the same thing once (with shockingly similar results). Then I discovered the power of the draw file technique. Accomplishes the same result but saves your fingers and stones. If I have to thin a knife now that is what I prefer over a belt grinder if the blade has already been heat treated. Good luck on the skin grafts!


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