Anyone ever worn out a blade?

[AimlessWanderer]

I'm not talking about having broken a knife, or used it till the backspring, lock, or pivot failed, but used it and sharpened it so much, that the blade is a mere remnant of what it once was. Most of my knives look like they've barely been sharpened.

For example...



I got this knife about 30 years ago. Now, I have carried many different pocket knives over that time, not just this one. Neither has it been an all day, every day, hard working tool. It has been a much carried and much used companion though, albeit on light urban pocket knife duty, and over all the times I've sharpened it, it's probably only knocked the edge back about 2mm or so. I did eventually have to deepen the relief notch next to the kick a little bit though.

However, I've seen a lot of older knives, where literally half the blade has been sharpened away. Granted, I very often get away with just "steeling" (straightening) an edge rather than having to remove metal, and I will always remove the absolute bare minimum when it does have to visit a stone. So are those old knives getting "touched up" on bench grinders, or does anyone here have (had?) knives that they've actually worn the blade out on, despite conservative sharpening methods?

 

[steveclarkus]

I wore out a pocket knife.

 

[Multum in parvo]

I bought a Slipjoint (Schrade Old Timer) where one blade was sharpened so much that the tip would catch in the pocket. I still have it around but don’t wear it anymore.

 

[Legion]

I tend to think the old timers were often sharpening their knives on coarser stones than many of us use today. The dished SIC oil stone in the shed probably did double duty for pocket knives and garden tools.

Also, the old carbon blades would not hold an edge as well as modern alloys, so would require more frequent sharpening.

 

[Bobbers]

For a while I was buying tsa knives to resell. I saw the good, the bad and the ugly. I do not have any photos but they were ugly.
I came across more than one knife that had been sharpened beyond being useful. I have seen 2" blades sharpened to a toothpick.

 

[Multum in parvo]

I just wanted to add, mine doesn’t look mistreated on a bench grinder. It has a proper geometry, so I guess a long life of usage and maintenance.

 

[AimlessWanderer]

I just wanted to add, mine doesn’t look mistreated on a bench grinder. It has a proper geometry, so I guess a long life of usage and maintenance.

I almost wish I had a bench grinder for this one...



This old engine turned Wostenholm IXL came to me with what looked like a factory grind. Sadly, with this brand, that's not always a good thing.

The larger of the two blades was easy to put "my" edge on, but the little pen blade has been a pain in the backside. The half towards the tip was fine, but the lower half was too thick, and the "edge" was nearing 45 degrees. I've spent the last few days (a few minutes here, a few minutes there), trying to thin this down and put a proper acute edge on, with nothing but a small pocket stone.

You can kind of see in this pic, just how much metal removal has been needed, to get an acute bevel to run to the edge. Still not there yet.



Thankfully, I do know that once I do finally get that edge on properly, it will be very easy to maintain, and will give many years of service. Another long serving pocket knife of mine is a Wostenholm Barlow, and that too took some refining (more towards the tip on that one), but has been a great knife ever since.



These teething problems are to be expected though when they try to make handmade/hand finished knives at the affordable end of the spectrum. If I was new to pocket knives, or was only familiar with modern factory products, I'd be very disappointed with these. However, as I've seen just how well these can serve once those initial refinements have been carried out, I'm happy to put the effort in.

 

[Multum in parvo]

I almost wish I had a bench grinder for this one...

View attachment 1566709

This old engine turned Wostenholm IXL came to me with what looked like a factory grind. Sadly, with this brand, that's not always a good thing.

The larger of the two blades was easy to put "my" edge on, but the little pen blade has been a pain in the backside. The half towards the tip was fine, but the lower half was too thick, and the "edge" was nearing 45 degrees. I've spent the last few days (a few minutes here, a few minutes there), trying to thin this down and put a proper acute edge on, with nothing but a small pocket stone.

You can kind of see in this pic, just how much metal removal has been needed, to get an acute bevel to run to the edge. Still not there yet.

View attachment 1566711

Thankfully, I do know that once I do finally get that edge on properly, it will be very easy to maintain, and will give many years of service. Another long serving pocket knife of mine is a Wostenholm Barlow, and that too took some refining (more towards the tip on that one), but has been a great knife ever since.

View attachment 1566713

These teething problems are to be expected though when they try to make handmade/hand finished knives at the affordable end of the spectrum. If I was new to pocket knives, or was only familiar with modern factory products, I'd be very disappointed with these. However, as I've seen just how well these can serve once those initial refinements have been carried out, I'm happy to put the effort in.

I’m switching from a fixed angle sharpener (Spyderco) to benchstones with the help of the fine folks here on B&B. The Norton coarse/fine oilstones seem to be a good affordable standard for heavier work like yours. I got a big one for ~20.00 but they do have lots of sizes. I’m pretty happy with the result on my ugly duckling Hultafors.

 

[AimlessWanderer]

I’m switching from a fixed angle sharpener (Spyderco) to benchstones with the help of the fine folks here on B&B. The Norton coarse/fine oilstones seem to be a good affordable standard for heavier work like yours. I got a big one for ~20.00 but they do have lots of sizes. I’m pretty happy with the result on my ugly duckling Hultafors.

View attachment 1566718

I've been a free hand sharpener for years. I had a Lansky set up with diamond hones for a while, but eventually drifted away from it. I do have some larger hones (250, 1k, 6k, and Welsh slate finishers), but tend to do my pocket knives on smaller stuff.



Reprofiling can be a bit laborious, but touching up is nice and easy. I never quite seem to hit the same angle on the large hones as I do on the handheld stuff though, so I stick with the little stuff for the pocket knives, no matter how much meat needs shifting, and leave the larger hones for larger blades.

 

[jj_sharp]

The only tool that I have seen sharpened almost to a nub was my father's hoe. I can only imagine how much use that took, in the hot Louisiana sun.

 

[AndyPanda]

This knife has been used hard almost every day for 50 years and I have sharpened it so many times on old fashioned coarse stones there isn't much left - but I still use it every day. I do have a newer one in a drawer somewhere with a more respectable blade shape but I never use the newer one. This is a longtime friend and still very useful even with the stubby nub of blade.

 

[RayClem]

My grandmother lived with us when I was growing up. She had an old carbon steel boning knife that she used for most of her kitchen needs. She sharpened that knife so many times over the years on a carborundum stone (aka barber's hone) that she wore through all of the hardened steel on blade. The blade became so soft that it would no longer hold an edge. The hone became so dished that it was less than 1/4" thick in the middle. My grandmother was a farm girl born at the end of the 19th century. She lived through WWI, the Depression, and WWII, so she was not one to discard anything that could possibly be used. I finally discarded the knife and the hone long after her death. In doing so, I remembered all the great meals she cooked when I was young.

 

[Ron R]

I kept this pocket knife in my work coveralls for 15+ years as a maintenance technician, kept my small change for vending machines in the mint tin box and this pocket knife was used a lot for simple tasks in the different area's of the plant I worked. We used ceramic filaments from spent very large overhead light bulbs to sharpen our pocket knifes and they worked fine or good enough for a quick touch up regularly basis. All most forgot about this faithful knife until I saw this thread. Another 100 years life on the blade looks like.

 

[Legion]

I kept this pocket knife in my work coveralls for 15+ years as a maintenance technician, kept my small change for vending machines in the mint tin box and this pocket knife was used a lot for simple tasks in the different area's of the plant I worked. We used ceramic filaments from spent very large overhead light bulbs to sharpen our pocket knifes and they worked fine or good enough for a quick touch up regularly basis. All most forgot about this faithful knife until I saw this thread. Another 100 years life on the blade looks like.
View attachment 1585717

I like the custom dented tin.

 

[ChefJohnBoy-ardee]

Only a paring knife that I got in culinary school a long time ago. The blade wasn't technically bad but using it got to be cumbersome and it was easier to spend $20 for a pack of three new ones.

 

[5whiskey]

My grandmother lived with us when I was growing up. She had an old carbon steel boning knife that she used for most of her kitchen needs. She sharpened that knife so many times over the years on a carborundum stone (aka barber's hone) that she wore through all of the hardened steel on blade. The blade became so soft that it would no longer hold an edge. The hone became so dished that it was less than 1/4" thick in the middle. My grandmother was a farm girl born at the end of the 19th century. She lived through WWI, the Depression, and WWII, so she was not one to discard anything that could possibly be used. I finally discarded the knife and the hone long after her death. In doing so, I remembered all the great meals she cooked when I was young.

I have an almost carbon copy experience of my paternal grandmother, other than the knife is still in use at my mother's house (I think). Otherwise, same dished barbers hone, boning knife (heck for all I know it may have started life as a butcher knife and has been whittled to what it is now), and the fact my grandmother maintained the knife. Funny how household chores change gender roles over time. I've no idea where that old dished barber hone went, I haven't seen it since I was boy. At least over 30 years.

 

[Tanuki]

My dad and I both put a lot of use and honing into this old Remington dollar stockman's clip blade. Maybe his dad used it too. I wouldn't call it worn out yet, but it got released from EDC duty in the late 1970s.

I would say that vintage stores are well-supplied with pocket knives that somebody honed down to toothpicks, often with the smallest pen blade the most worn away.