# How often do you sharpen your kitchen knives?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-sharpen-your-kitchen-knives/629178>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [July 23, 2012, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-sharpen-your-kitchen-knives/629178 "2012-07-23T22:39:26Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\
**Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-sharpen-your-kitchen-knives/629178/21 "2012-07-24T17:03:40Z")

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I need to break down and get mine sharpened locally. I’ve had them for 20 years without doing so, but it couldn’t hurt to re-edge them.

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**Author:** ![minlokwat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minlokwat/32/2844_2.png) [@minlokwat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minlokwat)\
**Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-sharpen-your-kitchen-knives/629178/22 "2012-07-24T18:10:51Z")

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Never. I’m not such the chef to even notice when the knives are cutting less effectively.

More importantly I can’t stand the sound. Hearing metal scraping against metal makes my teeth hurt. And while I understand there are other implements to get the job done, the sound is too cringe-inducing to bear.

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**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\
**Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-sharpen-your-kitchen-knives/629178/23 "2012-07-24T18:27:23Z")

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> [@minlokwat](#):
>
> Never. I’m not such the chef to even notice when the knives are cutting less effectively.
> 
> More importantly I can’t stand the sound. Hearing metal scraping against metal makes my teeth hurt. And while I understand there are other implements to get the job done, the sound is too cringe-inducing to bear.

Get a pro to do it. It’s cheap. It’s $3.50 a blade here in Chicago at one of the most experienced places. Unless I had no other choice (or the curiosity to), I would never sharpen at home. Knives come back razor sharp and last at least a year for me with proper honing (or is this the sound that bugs you?). I’m a year and a half since my last sharpening, and my chef’s knife still passes the tomato test.

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