Sharpening vs. Honing: Sword & Edged Weapon Upkeep
We've all seen it on TV or read it in books: the iconic brooding warrior, campfire blazing in the evening gloom, staring off into nothingness as they slowly and painstakingly sharpen their token weapon before the Great Battle the next day...
Except that's not sharpening!
This is something that pretty much everyone gets confused at some point: What is the difference between sharpening something, and honing it? Aren't they synonyms?
Well, in the world of knives and metal edged weapons (even kitchen knives!), there's actually a pretty big difference in terms of vocabulary between when you're "honing" a blade, and "sharpening" one. The game is very different when you're talking about alternative cutting materials, like obsidian or ceramic, but this post is specific to metal blades in particular.
Here's an example of a freshly-sharpened knife blade vs. a used blade under a microscope:
Not only are tiny, tiny little bits of metal missing from the right image (taken after the blade was used for a while), but you may also notice that there's a slant to the blade's edge in the right side picture vs. the left, too. It's kinda like a punk's mohawk after a humid day at Pride; looking a little droopy, and not cutting quite the same edge as earlier.
This is where the difference between honing and sharpening comes in. When you're dealing with a blade that's mostly just misaligned, which happens from everyday use from contact with a cutting board, a round in the dishwasher (which is why you should NEVER put expensive knives in the dishwasher! Your dishwasher gets too hot and softens the metal of your $150 dinner knives until their edges wear off!) to contact with an enemy in battle. Most metals, once they're ground down thin enough, become softer and more malleable the sharper their edges get, which is why you see chefs and warriors alike constantly tending to their equipment on a near-daily basis with whetstones or honing steels. Even shifts in temperature and humidity can cause the edge of a working blade to gradually misalign and lose cutting power!
The difference lies within whether you're removing metal from the blade, or just adjusting the existing metal back into shape. Your kitchen sharpening stone (which most chefs refer to as a "honing iron" or "honing steel") is great for keeping your knives aligned so they stay working for you longer. However, when you start to notice that the edges of a knife or sword are looking a bit tatty and less razor-like, then it's time to sharpen, which is to remove small amounts of metal from an edged tool in order to restore it to as sharp and even an edge as possible.
Sharpening is actually very tricky, and still one of the niche professions out there that's still needed today with modern equipment and tools, and an expert to do the work. A professional blacksmith or knife maker is trained in the exact degrees at which a blade needs to be held while a spinning grinder shaves down the ratty, poorly-performing metal to the right sharpness and degree so it cuts when and how you'd expect it to. Even a mid-quality wood ax for chopping firewood, pedestrian and cheap as they are, needs to be sharpened by an experienced hand on occasion in order to work well.
So, to better remember:
Honing = brooding badass by the campfire slowly pleasuring a sword with a rock or something
Sharpening = relatively boring routine upkeep done by a skilled craftsperson shaving off the crappy edge of a knife or weapon using something like a grinding stone to create an entirely new edge by removing thin layers of old metal.
With honing, you don't usually see many, if any, sparks come off the blade, and warriors and chefs will both agree that an edged tool or weapon should be honed every time before it's used.
With sharpening, you see a genital-unsettling amount of sparks spitting off the edge of a blade and a spinning grind wheel, usually right in the direction of the sharpener's groin (which is why most blacksmiths still wear heavy-duty leather aprons and elbow-length fireproof gloves). Sharpening is usually needed less frequently than honing, and usually called upon if regular honing is no longer getting a knife or weapon to cut properly, so the frequency of sharpening is more determined by the frequency the object is used and how well it's cared for between sharpenings.
Adulting protip: If you decide to invest in expensive knives, you're probably going to find yourself seeking out a professional to sharpen them for you, too. It's not just Medieval knights that needed to keep their swords honed and cared-for to avoid frequent trips to the blacksmith! Hand-wash expensive knifeware only, always hone the edges before you use them, and it should be a long time before your whetstone stops being enough to maintain your knives.
