Shop Sharpening Short Cut

  I honestly don't remember whether this quick tip is something that I picked up off the internet or from a fellow woodworker or if it is something that I figured out for my self.  It is so obvious that I am sure someone else has done it before.

  This blog begins with it being peach season and I love fresh raw peaches, I even eat them unpeeled.

  Yesterday I was cutting a peach into sections with my thin bladed fruit knife.
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  This knife has a very thin carbon steel blade that takes a very fine edge is excellent for slicing fruit. Care is needed because the blades will turn over easily if it hits anything harder than fruit flesh.  Cutting a peach or plume means you draw the blade along a pit sometimes. 

   Since I was sitting and enjoying my peach I didn't want to have to go to the kitchen (or shop) and get some thing to hone the blade I was using.  Ordinarily I would use a sharpening steel, ceramic stone or strop to re-hone the blade. I improvised and used the unglazed section on the bottom of my coffee cup.

  After a couple of firm but careful passes across the raw section of ceramic the knife blade was much improved and I was able to slice my peach into perfect thin sections.  This is not a substitution for formal sharpening tools, but a quick way to touch up a knife on a work site, and another reason to avoid paper coffee cups.

cheers, ianw