About Knives, Mainly Sharpening

The basics:

Steel

S30V - Great for sharpening and difficult to corrode. Expensive.

Carbon - Great steel for sharpening. They rust easily. Inexpensive, and you can find high-carbon steel in abundance at any flea market/junk shop in the form of files.

Stainless - Not great for sharpening and difficult to get a decent edge.

Sharpening

Sharpening is an art for sure, but one of the easiest arts to master. Tips:

• Look at the edge of the blade and try to bounce light off of it. If you see any reflection, white spots, It’s not sharp (i.e. it has nicks however small)

What you need

A stone to sharpen with (Diamond Hones or Double sided course/fine, )

How to Videos

Below are some of my favorite free and pay videos for sharpening knives.

Paul Sellers is pretty well the easiest and least expensive method to get a super sharp blade. With a $20 set of Diamond Hones you can take anything from dull to super sharp in a few minutes.

Patrick Roehrman’s “Beyond Razor Sharp How to sharpen almost anything.” is a mighty valuable video to describe the theory and a good resource for beginners to become great.

This is a review video from Cutlerylover

My other recommendation is Murray Carter Blade Sharpening Fundamentals.