Customer Reviews

The Razor Edge Book of Sharpening

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I like this book. I only give it 4 stars cause it is old and not very pretty, but it is very useful. It gave me a new perspective on grinding and sharpening. I am sure there are others, but this works for me. The book outlines and discusses various thoughts on sharpening and picks up apart all kinds of traditional notions that you keep running into when researching sharpening on the web. Yes, it talks a lot about the meat cutting industry, but heck, few places demand better edges. Anything that works for their knives will work for anyone else that needs a sharp knife. It is an old book and you will not leave it on the living room table for decoration. It has basic old illustrations and cheap print on cheap paper, but that doesn't make the contents any less useful. He does promote his approach to sharpening and sells the hones etc. I bought the book and the company's 8 inch 2 hone kit (for dry grinding, nice, no oil, no water, just wash the hones in water after use). I have tried many things over the years to keep things sharp. I read the book a couple of times (which doesn't take long) and then went ahead and worked with the sharpening kit. I ground new edges and sharpened a half dozen kitchen knives, from a cheap Martha Stewart/KMart 3-inch paring knife to 8 inch chef knives (steel Wusthof and Sabatier carbon steel) and long thin dangerous looking Finnish fish fillet knives, and for fun a cheap basic thin bladed kitchen knife I found in the back of a cabinet. Every one of them now easily shaves hair from arms, legs, chin etc. They just glide smoothly through an onion, even with skin on. Very happily applying the same techniques to sharpening my chisels, planes, etc. too. Just make sure to grind until you get the burr on the coarse hone, and use a light touch on the fine hone.

Way cool. After reading the book and getting a couple of good hones you will be able to grind a new edge on any knife in 15-20 minutes. The edge is the kind that you will (carefully) show your friends while asking them if they have ever seen a sharp knife.

"Be careful, I keep my knives sharp. No, I mean really sharp".

This books slashes through the old wive's tails and misinformation in which the subject of knife sharpening has been known to be shrouded. Juranitch teaches with authority, and gives specific instructions which with a little practice make it fairly straight forward to get knives amazingly sharp. He also recommends the guides and hones manufactured by his own company. Though a little skeptical, I bought some equipment and found its performance to bear out his claims. Amazon has been indicating for quite a while that the publisher is out of stock, however the book is available from the Razor Edge Systems website. (Amazon frowns on URLs in reviews so I won't include it, but you can probably get it on your first guess. Otherwise use a search enginge.)

This book is a disappointment. The folksy conversational tone cannot hide the weaknesses. Afer the introductory section of empty chit-chat you will be entertained or further irritated with endless anecdotes about the author's long and serious study of sharpening problems and how his intervention saved the day time after time. You will see a number of pictures Mary holding the knife or shaving the author. The illustrations are poor and crude (Figure 1-2 displays % - percent - when it means degree). Others' opinion and method of sharpening is "bull" and "bung." While the author is wondering why so much attention has been paid to hollow grinding, he proceeds to give a detailed description of how to build your own hollow grinder. The presentation is hodge-podge, with a section on knives followed by a discussion of scissors, then back to knives again. And if after all the "theory" of sharpening you still cannot tell whether your knife edge is sharp, well, he has the solution: just buy his edge tester. If your blade is still dull, you may want to try the "advanced" method of sharpening - full-proof, of course - with his special guide. For the most part, this book is a ... self-advertisement and product promotion. The author may be a good sharpener, but this book is a disappointment.

This book taught the principles of sharpening very well, but it did lack detailed instruction to acctualy sharpen a knife without any previous experience. The instruction half only tells you to apply what you have learned in the first half of the book and is mostly a repitition of the first 40 pages of the book. I also purchased the razor edge guide and descovered it isnt as simple or as precise as it is described.

John Juranitch was a pioneer in developing knife sharpening technology, and this 15 year old book is a classic. It describes the Razor Sharp method, which requires buying his products. A more up-to-date book that covers newer sharpening systems is Sharpening Made Easy by Steve Bottorff....

This 1985 book was once the Bible on knife sharpening but it has been surpassed by several newer books from Sharpening Made Easy to The Complete Guide to Sharpening. Juranitch's book is mostly on knives, plus a few other sportsman's tools. It covers the importance of edge angle and edge finish, two items often overlooked by amateur sharpeners, and emphasizes the use of equipment he makes and sells.

the book works well if you have the special items that go with this way of sharpening: the special "tester" "handi-hones" "guides" etc.the books is disappointing if you think you will sharpen in a better way by reading it as it gives you a feeling you need to buy the products it is based on to get a proper edge. The items are not available on many countries and I was left disappointed and with this "I need more sharpening tools" feeling that is not correct as I am doing well with my old tools. This book should have an addition to the title: "with our special products- sold separately".

Sharpening is a topic that has mainly consisted of folklore, and journalistic re-intrepretation of folklore. Juranitch is the first to really examine what it takes to produce a truly sharp edge, including looking at edges under microscopes and giving experienced tool users implements he has sharpened for blind tests to see how well what "everybody knows" about obtaining an edge actually holds up. He comes to some surprising conclusions, and can back up what he says with repeatable results. If you've ever wondered why you work and work at sharpening, and still don't get the edge you want - this is the book for you!

I learned how to sharpen knives from my father and he his father, this book covers what your father never knew. After practicing on old knives for a month or two I was sharpening like an expert. People are amazed at how sharp I can make an edge, it's a thrill to watch a persons eyes pop out of their head when, in a very short period of time, you have taken their dull, bent and rusted knife edge sharpened it to a glistening working tool and are using it to shave your beard! I've had friends drop off buckets of knives they thought they'd never use again. This is THE BOOK, the bible of tool sharpening. It's simple and easy to understand. If there is someone who would like to give this book to me as a gift, I won't turn it down. My local library is getting tired of me checking out the same book over and over again!

For those inspired by the Razor Edge Systems catalogue: don't expect a single word about hollow grind straight razors in this book because you won't find it; in general, the care for this type of grind could have been treated in more detail.So far the missing star. But it offers simple and no-nonsense techniques to sharpen axes, knives, arrowheads, chisels or chainsaws yourself. It will keep both dummies and experts from bringing their tools to the local store for sharpening.