—DRAG ACROSS · UP AND DOWN IS YOUR ANGLE · OR HOLD SPACE
APEX
THE SHARPENING BENCH · KEEPERS GUILD
An edge is two ground surfaces meeting in a line. If they never meet, there is a flat
at the tip and the knife will not cut, no matter how bright you polish it.
There is no button here that says sharpen. There is a stroke you have to make, and
an angle you have to hold while you make it. Your hand drifts. That is the whole game.
1
Drag across the stone to sweep the blade heel to tip. Up and down sets the angle you are holding. Both at once, every stroke.
2
Consistency beats effort. The variance between your strokes matters more than the average. A wandering angle grinds a rounded apex that never meets.
3
The burr is the milestone. Grind one side until a thin wire of steel folds over onto the other side along the whole length. That burr is the proof the bevels have met. Then flip.
4
Grits go in order. Each stone only has to remove the scratches of the one before it. Jump from 400 to 3000 and you will polish coarse scratches for an hour.
5
Then take the burr off. Light alternating passes, or a strop. Leave it on and the knife cuts once and goes dull as the wire folds over.
DRAG on the stone to stroke SPACE hold to sweep ↑ ↓ angle 1 2 3 4 stones Z X C pressure F flip B feel for the burr W water L lap the stone V change view ENTER test it R restart
PICK THE ANGLE FIRST
You grind each side at one angle and you live with it. Lower angles cut better and chip
sooner. This is a real trade-off, not a difficulty setting.
WHERE THIS STOPS
Serrated blades, ceramic blades, a snapped tip, and knives you care about deeply belong
with a professional sharpener. Grinding out real damage costs blade height, and a good
sharpener takes the least steel that will do the job.