Reddit reviews The Razor Edge Book of Sharpening

>How can someone who's never sharpened his/her own knives learn? And what tool(s) do you recommend (preferably something affordable for beginners)

Get a diamond stone and practice with a cheap blade. Read this book: http://www.amazon.com/Razor-Edge-Book-Sharpening/dp/096660590X

Eventually you'll get the hang of it!

If you want to learn more about knives in general, this guy seems to know what he's talking about: http://www.jayfisher.com/

[](/party "Try not to cut yourself!")

I don't remember where I saw this but it was from a professional knife sharpener that worked for a butcher. They said that while carbon steel started out sharper it dulled faster when cutting read meat. It has something to do with a chemical reaction to the iron in the meat reacting with the blade metal. So the overall outcome was that stainless held an edge better for a longer time than a carbons steel blade even though the carbon steel started out a bit sharper. With that in mind have you tried a ceramic knife?

edit: I think it was a book and I think that book was The Razor's Edge Book Of Sharpening. John Juranitch worked a lot with butchers and his sharpening techniques focus on that application.