Are you kidding me?

[Dean51]

I would guess between 11% and 25% just use those pull thru sharpeners. Every one I know either use a pull thru or anything from a file to course emery cloth.
Sharpening seems to be a dying art, I'm the only one I know who actually uses sharpening gear.
I'll freehand the kitchen knives because the wife and daughter still use a glass cutting board.  Yes I got a good cutting board for them.
My knives are sharpened on a guided system, I can be edge anal. 

[pfrsantos]

Sharpen properly, in my mind is removing (if even needed) just enough metal to get a good edge. The only time I've got to remove a lot of metal is fixing a badly chipped or sparked blade (mostly on secondhand knives that came in lots or were given to me, as I wouldn't knowingly buy a knife with those problems). Granddad used a stone that was too coarse (meaning his knives have heavy blade wear), out of my friends, some have completely blunt knives (I tried for a half-hour to sharpen a friend's Winchester, and it was only sort of sharper than it was, and provided, this was starting with a stone intended for axes and coarse grit) others, mostly men in their fifties and older, do a great job, and I can learn a thing or two from them. Even more common,  in the third category is those who basically said "forget it" to pocketknives and bought a folding box cutter.

I have a nearly 90 year old knife with only moderate wear to the blades, even though I can tell it was carried for most of that 90 by the original owner. Obviously, he knew how to sharpen a knife.

Great point! I've had my oldest knife since I was in my late teens. Let's call that 25 years for round numbers. I have sharpened it a few times, but there's no excess blade wear on that knife. Most of the times I dress the blade, I steel it. I only remove material when steeling doesn't work anymore, and I only remove just enough metal to get it back sharp. In fact hardly any of my knives show noticeable wear, even my kitchen knives which I've had for many years.

A friend's father had a Climber that he wore both blades to about half thickness on in three years. Not only is he clueless on sharpening, but he's also clueless on using it without ruining the edge too (such as scoring through something while it's sat on a paving slab ) I did try to adjust his thinking, but some people just don't want to learn. 

 

[smiller43147]

Following Simon_Templar's example and bumping an old thread of mine with a picture of my favorite sharpener (Spyderco Tri-Angle Sharpmaker) and SAK (Pioneer X).

[Huntsman]

What I hate to see (eg on ebay) is blades that have been horribly sharpened - in some cases totally wrecked
I think people have but them on a grinder and not taken much care - Makes me wanna cry!!

As for me I think I do know how to sharpen blades - Usually reasonably well
But I am so lazy about doing it         
But am always amazed and super happy when I do     ...... As it makes such a difference   
You'd think I'd learn from that   

[Farmer X]

What I hate to see (eg on ebay) is blades that have been horribly sharpened - in some cases totally wrecked

Even though there may be nothing functionally wrong with them, knives with poor and/or excessively sharpened blades will awlmost without exception be a pass for me. Blades that have been badly reprofiled are even worse...

[Huntsman]

PS. @Smiler
.... Interesting post - But why is it entitled "Are you kidding me?"  ..... Clickbait    

[smiller43147]

PS. @Smiler
.... Interesting post - But why is it entitled "Are you kidding me?"  ..... Clickbait    

Hard to say for sure, it was 5 years ago.  I think it's just my knee jerk reaction to having to warn people that a knife is sharp.

[comis]

Hard to say for sure, it was 5 years ago.  I think it's just my knee jerk reaction to having to warn people that a knife is sharp.

Definitely a valid point about people not knowing how to sharpen, and despite the popularity of SAK, I am surprised how little people know about slip joint and how to safely one.

[Huntsman]

Hard to say for sure, it was 5 years ago.  I think it's just my knee jerk reaction to having to warn people that a knife is sharp.

Yeah - Funny that - I was researching a breadknife recently - Found a brilliant Japanese one - Not famous brand -
Very thin very sharp blade - Which is amazing at cutting hard crust and soft bread - (can be challenging to do both) and basically all bread types

One of the reviews warned that 'this knife is very sharp ...... ' - as if this was a bad thing     
"Strange," I thought -        "Isn't that what you want from a knife?  "

[MadPlumbarian]

I guess I was off, I figured out of everyone on here knows at least something so probably 30% or more,,
When I had my first locking knife it wasn’t in the best sharpness, my step-father was a carpenter, one who had a full garage of not cheap stuff, he needed my knife to open something and he said “this thing ain’t that sharp, I’ll tell you what I’ll sharpen it if you help me finish this”.. I forget what it was but he had very expensive large wet stones that he used only for sharpening his chisels, needless to say they sat in water for at least an hour and then he was at sharping the knife for at least another hour! Every few min I’d walk in and ask him if he was done but nope, until I think he got tired of me walking in “are we there yet”? But each I’d walk in I’d watch for a few min to see how and what he was doing, needless to say when he was done he handed me the knife and while not letting go said “here you go, now be careful”! For giggles I opened it up and tried it on a piece of paper, it just sliced like nothing, I was like ahh, big deal, so I put it to my arm and sure enough it shaved the hair like nothing, ok, WOW,, now that’s sharp! So I kinda got my lesson, needless to say I don’t have expensive wet stones but I can sharpen my knives.. stones or steel..
JR

[Tasky]

Given that you'll find steels and various sharpeners (usually the gimmicky kinds) in just about every kitchen/homeware shop anywhere, I'd say a good percentage of people have at least some idea of how to sharpen a knife.
Some might even be pretty good... but I wouldn't go holding them to the geeky ScarySharp™ standards of a knife enthusiast forum.
Certainly most of that percentage would be able to get a knife sharp enough for their purposes.