I picked up three kitchen knives to sharpen today from an acquaintance. The first blade I went to work on has proven to be very troublesome. I set the stones at 22* but every time I started to get a decent wire edge going it would chip out in sections about 1/8" to 3/16" long. I asked the owner of the blade about the steel or manufacturer and he didn't know (the blade isn't marked). The other two knives are good to go, it was just this particular knife. I spent an hour fooling with it but couldn't prevent it from happening. I call it chipping but it actually looked like an extremely thin strip of wire when it came off.

Any ideas? Would changing the angle help? It was pretty close to 22* before I started so I don't think the angle is the problem but I'm far from being an expert.

I had the same issue with a japanese white carbon steel deba. It was such a B$%#$, but it was all my fault for using diamond stones on a 64 rockwell knife, I should have used water stones. But who knows white carbon is a super chippy steel.

CoryNash wrote:


That doesn't sound like chipping. It could be a cheap steel that just won't hold an edge... not having markings may be a clue. Or it could be fatigued metal that you need to get past. You could try making some cuts on something that will remove the edge and leave you with good steel to work on... you can cut directly into a fine stone, or the bottom ring of a ceramic cup will do the trick. Do enough until you get to a smooth feeling edge, then give it another try.

If the wire reforms, try going up a 3-4 degrees per side, and with the finest stone/ceramic you have, make just 3-4 light passes, alternating sides, and see if that cleans it up.

I have sharpened a couple of Italian stilletos that were clearly not for real use, just show. The metal was so soft that flakes of wire were constantly falling off the edge, even at wider angles. Curtis might be right about the steel.