How to Longer your Knife Blade Life

Knife blade life, or what we call “the timebetween sharpening’s”, can be affected by many factors. 

One important factor isthe type of material being cut – yes, the material type and chemicalcomposition of the material being cut will affect the edge life of your blade.Whether the material is abrasive (common in many types of recycled paper beingused today), really soft, thin paper like newsprint or even thicker bound bookscan all significantly shorten the edge life of your blade.

If the blade is not calibrated correctlyand the blade depth is set too deep, the blade will cut too deep into yourcutting sticks and this will not only dull the edge of your cutting blade, butit can also damage or shorted the life of your cutting sticks.

 Another factorthat determines blade life is the material the cutting blade is made of. Aninexpensive blade made with inlaid steel will not have the extended edge lifeof the more expensive carbide blade (more about material later). Also,adjusting the sharpening angle or bevel of your blade can also increase ordecrease the edge life depending on the material being cut. 

 A knife blade should last anywherebetween 2,000 and 5,000 cuts before it needs to be sharpened.

Cutting softpaper (such as newsprint paper) or paper with high post-consumer recycledcontent can cause the knife to need sharpening after only 2,000 to 3,000 cuts.Cutting pure paper, such as bond paper with no recycled content, or hard papercan allow the knife to be used for as many as 5,000 cuts before it needs to besharpened. You need to continually check the cut quality to determine when theknife blade needs to be sharpened.