Uploaded March 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
If your knife isn’t getting sharp, it’s usually not your technique — it’s because you’re not forming a burr.
In this Workshop episode, we break down the most important step in sharpening and show you exactly what’s happening at the edge of your knife. If you don’t form a burr, you haven’t reached the apex — and nothing else matters until you do.
We cover:
What a burr actually is (and what it isn’t)
How to safely detect a burr from heel to tip
Why you should work one side completely before switching
How sharpening angle affects how much work you have to do
Why narrowing your angle can make sharpening feel harder
How grit and pressure impact burr formation
Why some steels form a burr quickly—and others take time
This is the foundation of sharpening. Once you understand this, everything else starts to make sense.
If you’ve ever felt like your knife “should be sharp but isn’t,” this is likely the step you’re missing.
Tools used:
Work Sharp Knife & Tool Sharpener Mk.2
Chapters:
00:00 Why your knife isn’t getting sharp
00:30 What a burr is
01:30 What Angle Do I Use?
03:05 Grit & Pressure
03:38 Steel Types
04:40 Wrap Up
Sharpen smarter. #MakeSharpHappen
If your knife isn’t getting sharp, it’s usually not your technique — it’s because you’re not forming a burr.
In this Workshop episode, we break down the most important step in sharpening and show you exactly what’s happening at the edge of your knife. If you don’t form a burr, you haven’t reached the apex — and nothing else matters until you do.
We cover:
What a burr actually is (and what it isn’t)
How to safely detect a burr from heel to tip
Why you should work one side completely before switching
How sharpening angle affects how much work you have to do
Why narrowing your angle can make sharpening feel harder
How grit and pressure impact burr formation
Why some steels form a burr quickly—and others take time
This is the foundation of sharpening. Once you understand this, everything else starts to make sense.
If you’ve ever felt like your knife “should be sharp but isn’t,” this is likely the step you’re missing.
Tools used:
Work Sharp Knife & Tool Sharpener Mk.2
Chapters:
00:00 Why your knife isn’t getting sharp
00:30 What a burr is
01:30 What Angle Do I Use?
03:05 Grit & Pressure
03:38 Steel Types
04:40 Wrap Up
Sharpen smarter. #MakeSharpHappen
