how to sharpen a serrated knife blade in 90 seconds - downtown missoula

Wow, that's fast.

And I had no idea that sharpening a blade could be that fast!

When I saw he was gonna just use the rag wheel buffer, I thought it was gonna be lame, but the knife went from useless to razor sharp!

I have two questions:

1)  what is he talking about when he says "wire edge"?

2)  what does he keep doing by running the blade on the wood every ten seconds or so?



Please forward to folks that might be interested in this sort of thing.

Many thanks!

I have no idea what I'm talking about here, but....

I think the first pass on the non-ragbuffer wheel what a grinder, where he carefully did the main sharpening and set the angle o the edge. As that grinder moved the metal to the back edge of the blade, what resulted was a fine "wire" of metal at the tip. (Similar to the sawdust that might be on the edge of the wood if you use a belt sander).
So the buffer passes were to then buff off the extra metal, (he called this the weak part of the edge) resulting in only the sharpened blade.
He mentioned the buffer acting like a Razor strop. (think old time barber sharpening his straight edge on that leather belt strap).
Stropping Video:

-Andy

experimental comfirming with AI

In the context of knife sharpening, a "wire edge" refers to a thin, fragile strip of metal that forms along the edge of the blade during sharpening—especially when using a grinding wheel or coarse abrasive.

🔍 What causes a wire edge?

When you sharpen a blade, you're removing material to create a new edge.
As the abrasive grinds away metal, it can push a tiny sliver of metal over the edge.
This sliver is not structurally strong and can bend or break easily.
It’s similar to the burr that forms when sanding wood or metal.

🧼 Why remove it?

A wire edge feels sharp but is weak and temporary.
If left in place, it can fold over during use, dulling the blade quickly.
That’s why sharpeners often strop the blade (e.g., on leather or wood) to remove the wire edge and polish the final cutting surface.

In the video you mentioned, the person uses a rag wheel buffer to remove the wire edge—similar to how a barber uses a leather strop to finish a straight razor.