this post was submitted on 05 Jul 2026
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Just give it a shot, its very unlikely you will do more damage to it. Take a close look at the blades edge, if its not straight, which happens naturally over time, you can use a honing rod to straighten it out. Then depending on how dull it is you can start with low grit stones/sand paper and move your way up. This also changes with the type of steel the knife is made out of, but generally you can follow the same steps. Holding a steady angle is the only real trick, that and equal pulls on each face of the cutting edge. Knife sharpening tools will help here, but most are such a pain to set up they end up not being worth it. Finishing with a leather strop and some cutting compound will give you the best results. For work tools and things that get messed up quick, or soft steels, I normally use 800grit and move up to 1000 then finish at 1500. For kitchen knives and harder steels I'll only use 800 if they are really messed up and generally go 1000, 3000, 5000. I finish them all the same way with a leather strop and some cutting compound spread on the strop.