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By Chad Ward (Chad)
Warning: Remember that handling, using and sharpening knives is inherently dangerous. Neither eGullet nor the author can be responsible for your safety. That's your job. Knife safety, especially during sharpening, is a matter of common sense. Keep your fingers, toes and everything else out of the path of the blade – even if it were to slip. If you go slowly, pay attention and stay focused, you'll be fine.
Table of Contents
Section One: The Sad Truth about Kitchen Knives
Section Two: Steel
Section Three: Edge Basics
Section Four: Sharpening Basics
Section Five: Sharpening Step by Step
Section Six: Maintenance
Section Seven: Overview of Sharpening Systems
Section Eight: Conclusions and Resources
"Knife sharpening is hard."
"Sharpening is too difficult and time consuming to do at home."
"Send your knives to a professional sharpener once a year and you will be fine."
"You have to spend hours hunched over a heavy hone slathered with oil."
This well-intentioned advice is parroted in cooking schools, Food Network television programs, professional manuals and cookbooks. And it is just plain wrong.
Okay, maybe not so much wrong as misleading.
Knife sharpening is not difficult. It is not shrouded in mystery. With a little knowledge, a little geometry, a couple of tricks and some inexpensive tools, knife sharpening can be fairly easy and extremely rewarding. At the very least it's a great skill for the toolbox. You'll come away from this clinic with a better understanding of edges, steel and how to maintain your knives yourself. Or, if you decide to send them out, you'll know how to make sure you're getting what you want – and what you pay for.
Section One: The Sad Truth About Kitchen Knives
To a chef, there is nothing more important than his knife. It is not only an extension of his hands, it is an extension of his very personality. The knife is a chef's paintbrush.
So why are most kitchen knives so bad?
The knives found in most commercial and home kitchens are designed for the lowest common denominator. The manufacturers of these knives make a series of compromises calculated to keep the largest number of people happily using their knives for the longest period of time. Like supermarket tomatoes bred for sturdiness and uniformity rather than flavor, these compromises seriously degrade the performance of your knives.
The first compromise begins with the steel. Steel is the heart of the knife. Most manufacturers (Henckels, Wusthof, Forschner, et al.) have proprietary steel blends and are very close-mouthed about the actual formulation of their steels. According to industry insiders, these steel blends are closely related to or equivalent to a steel known as 440a. By and large 440a steel is formulated for stain and wear resistance rather than holding a high performance edge.
In the kitchen, that's not a bad tradeoff.
But this compromise in edge performance is compounded by a heat treatment that leaves the steel much softer than it could be. In general, the harder the steel, the keener the edge it will take. However, a hard steel makes it more difficult to get that edge in the first place. So manufacturers leave the steel a little soft, theoretically making sharpening at home easier. If you've ever spent an hour or two trying to get a super fine edge on a cheap kitchen knife, you'll know that there is a big gap between theory and practice.
Upper-end kitchen knives like Henckels, Sabatier, Wusthof, et al., are a little better, but are still softer than they need to be at 52 to 56 on the Rockwell C scale (the Rockwell scale is a scale used to measure the relative hardness of different solids). By contrast, Japanese knives tend to be around 61-62 on the Rockwell scale. Custom knife maker Phil Wilson hardens his S90V (a stainless supersteel) chef's and filet knives to 62-63 Rockwell.
The next compromise is in the factory edge angles. Most kitchen knives come with an edge that is at least 25 degrees per side, frequently even greater. If you add the two sides together you get a 50 degree included angle. And that's the best case scenario. Take a look at a protractor if you happen to have one lying around. Fifty degrees is extremely thick. An angle that obtuse is more appropriate for an axe than a chef's knife. Again, the theory is that the thick angles will allow the edge to resist damage from impaction, rolling and wear better than a thin edge. But, as the song says, it ain't necessarily so.
Finally, there is just plain cruelty and misuse. While I'm certain none of you would ever use the sharpener on the back of an electric can opener, or use a glass cutting board, or store your knives loose in a drawer or put them in the dishwasher, it does happen. And when you add soft steel and thick angles to the general abuse that knives see in the kitchen, you end up with tools that are more adapted for bludgeoning oxen than fine dicing a soft tomato.
Take heart. The news isn't all bad. We can fix these problems. Geometry is far more important than steel. With some basic knowledge and the willingness to invest a little time, you can realistically expect a dramatic increase in knife performance.
First, do no harm: General knife care
- Use wooden or composite plastic cutting boards only. Glass, ceramic, marble and steel will cause the edge to roll or chip. Bad. Don't do it.
- Don't drop your knives in the sink. Not only is it a hazard to the person washing dishes, but you can also blunt the tip or edge.
- Don't put your knives in the dishwasher. The heat may damage wooden handles and the edges may bang against other cutlery or plates.
- Keep your knives clean and dry. Sanitize if necessary.
- Do not store your knives loose in a drawer. Use a block, magnetic strip, slotted hanger or edge guards. The magnetic strip is not recommended if you have children or inquisitive pets.
- Finally, your knife is not a can opener, a screwdriver, a pry bar, box cutter or hammer. There's a special place in Hell reserved for people who abuse their knives this way.
If your knives won't fit in a block, simple plastic blade guards are a good solution
Second: Modify for performance
This is the easy part. Establishing and maintaining high performance edges is what this tutorial is all about. It can be as simple as steeling with the proper technique or as complex as creating specific edge bevel and edge aggression strategies for each knife in your collection. It's all up to you.
While you can't change the steel your knife is made from, you can certainly keep your knives at peak performance – and without too much difficulty. We'll discuss high performance edges and sharpening strategies a little later in the tutorial.
Third: Modify for comfort
This is something very few chefs (and even relatively few knife makers) take into consideration. Ask any chef to show you his knife-hand calluses. He'll have a thick one at the base of his first finger from the "pinch grip" used in most kitchens. He or she may also have another on the side of the second finger where the finger rubs against the bolster or dropped portion of the blade that extends below the handle.
He will also have aching hands and possible repetitive stress injuries.
In the interest of economy, most knife manufacturers leave the spines of their knives squared off. The edges of the spine can sometimes be sharper than the knife itself. That edge cutting into your finger can lead to blisters, calluses, reduced circulation, numbness and injury.
If you ever handle a chef's knife made by Canadian knife maker George Tichbourne you'll know that it doesn't have to be that way. Tichbourne worked with several professional chefs when designing his kitchen knife series. One of the key features is a smoothly rounded spine. It doesn't abrade your finger, cut off the circulation, make your hands numb or create any of the other discomforts associated with standard kitchen knives.
You can do the same in less than half an hour. Lock your knife, edge down, into a padded vise. The padding doesn't have to be anything elaborate. Two pieces of flat rubber or leather will keep the jaws from scratching the blade. You'll need a sheet of fine (600 grit) wet/dry sandpaper available at any auto supply store or an abrasive cloth, sometimes called a crocus cloth. Using a gentle shoeshine motion, lightly round the edges of the spine. You don't have to buff hard or remove a lot of metal. All you need to do is break the sharp edge at the base of the spine. How far you take it is up to you. This simple modification will make a world of difference in the comfort of your knives.
Section Two: Steel
An Overview of Steel
By definition, steel is a combination of iron and less than 2 percent carbon. For centuries, carbon was the only alloying element. The problem in the early days of steel making was getting rid of unwanted elements, not adding new ones. However, there are a variety of alloying elements that are added to modern steels to impart various characteristics.
Iron alone is relatively soft. It does not hold an edge well, wears quickly and has little resistance to bending. Add a little bit of carbon and the story changes dramatically. The carbon combines with the iron to form hard carbide platelets cemented together in a matrix of iron. The combination is resistant to wear and bending and will take a keen edge.
Smaller carbides and a tighter grain structure allow for a stronger, sharper edge. Other carbide formers, like vanadium, can refine the grain of the steel further. Knives with a high vanadium content can take a very keen edge, but are harder to sharpen.
Carbon - Present in all steels, it is the most vital hardening element. Greater than 0.5 percent carbon content qualifies a steel as a "high carbon" steel.
Chromium - Added for wear resistance and corrosion resistance. A steel with at least 13 percent chromium is considered "stainless." Chromium is a carbide former, so it also increases wear resistance.
Manganese - A carbide former. Manganese aids grain structure, increases hardenability, and wear resistance. Manganese is present in most cutlery steels.
Molybdenum - Another carbide former. Increases hardness, prevents brittleness, makes the steel easier to machine.
Nickel - Adds toughness and possibly aids in corrosion resistance.
Phosphorus - Essentially a contaminant.
Silicon - Increases hardness and strength.
Sulfur - Increases machinability but decreases toughness.
Tungsten - Increases heat, wear and shock resistance. Tungsten is the strongest carbide former behind vanadium.
Vanadium - Another carbide former. Contributes to wear resistance and hardenability. Vanadium refines the grain of the steel, which contributes to toughness and allows the blade to take a very sharp edge.
Most kitchen knives fall into the category of "high carbon stainless." These knives generally contain between 0.5 and 0.8 percent carbon, 13 to 18 percent chromium and a little manganese, molybdenum, silicon, phosphorus and sulphur. This makes for a steel that is easy to produce, is very stain resistant and reasonably wear resistant. Knives from Global and Mac's Superior line have some vanadium added for improved wear resistance and a finer grain, which allows the knife to be sharpened to an incredible edge.
Carbon Steel versus Stainless Steel
The great debate rages on. Carbon steel advocates claim that their knives take a keener edge, hold it longer and are easier to resharpen than stainless steel knives. Stainless steel users claim that carbon steel knives are unsanitary, leave an off taste in foods and that stainless knives hold an edge longer than their carbon counterparts.
Who's right? Depends on your definitions and your environment. It's not as simple as carbon versus stainless.
Carbon steels range from simple iron/carbon combinations to high-alloy tool steels that will cut through concrete without losing their edge. Stainless steels vary from very soft, extremely stain resistant dive knives to super stainless alloys, like Crucible Particle Metals' S30V, a steel purpose-designed for the custom cutlery industry.
In the far less demanding realm of the kitchen, however, the carbon steel devotees are right. At least until they actually have to use their knives. Then it's a different story.
Carbon steel kitchen knives generally are a little harder and stronger than stainless steel kitchen knives. They are easy to sharpen and take a screaming edge. And while the patina that develops on a carbon knife can be unsightly (unless you like that sort of thing), it isn't unsanitary.
But in the wet, acidic environment of the kitchen, stainless rules. For all their faults, compromises and shortcomings, stainless steel kitchen knives work better and will hold their edges longer than carbon steel knives.
Doesn't make sense, does it?
The culprit is corrosion – the effect of acid and micro-rusting. Even on what appears to be a mirror-bright, razor sharp edge, microscopic particles of rust and corrosion will form, attacking the edge and reducing its performance. Unless carbon steel knives are rinsed and dried frequently, their edges will degrade rapidly in kitchen use. The stainless edge will easily outlast them.
According to chef and knife maker Thomas Haslinger, "Acids of fruit and vegetables are fairly aggressive and will dull a carbon blade more quickly than stainless. The acid actually eats the edge."
Section Three: Edge Basics
Most kitchen knives are flat ground, meaning that the blade tapers directly from the spine to the edge. Hollow ground, convex ground and saber ground blades are rarely found in the kitchen. I mention them only to confuse you.
Edges come in a variety of flavors. The most common are the V-edge, double beveled edge, chisel ground edge and the convex edge.
V-edges and double beveled edges are variations on a theme. The edge found on your kitchen knives is most likely a V-edge, meaning, oddly enough, that the edge bevels form a V, two surfaces intersecting at a line of (ideally) zero width.
A double bevel takes this idea a little further by adding a second, more acute, angle behind the edge bevel. This secondary bevel is sometimes called a back bevel or relief angle. It's purpose is to thin the metal behind the edge. The thinner the edge, the greater the cutting ability. However, an edge that is too thin is susceptible to damage. So you add a smaller, more obtuse primary bevel to the very edge to give it the strength to avoid damage from impaction, chipping or rolling.
Chisel ground edges are primarily found on Japanese knives, especially sushi knives. The edge is ground only on one side. The other is side is flat. Hence they come in right and left handed versions. Chisel ground edges can be extremely thin and sharp. If the edge bevel is ground at 25 degrees and the other side is 0 degrees, you have an included angle of 25 degrees – considerably more acute than the average Western knife.
Sometimes known as hamaguri-ba, the convex edge arcs in a rounded curve down to the edge. Thus the final edge is the intersection of two arcs, creating a very sharp edge with more metal behind it than the standard V-edge. Convex edges are generally formed on a slack belt grinder, so they are difficult for the home sharpener to achieve. This can be remedied with the mousepad trick found later in the tutorial. See the Convex Grind FAQ for sharpening methods and a comparison of the convex edge with other edge types.
A double bevel. The wide area is a 10 degree back bevel; the narrow section is the 15 degree primary edge face.
The back bevel also solves one of the great problems with V-edges, the fact that the metal behind the edge gets progressively thicker as the knife is sharpened over time. The knife doesn't cut as well and becomes harder and harder to sharpen. The answer is to grind the shoulders off the edge at an acute angle, i.e. add a back bevel, then reestablish the primary bevel.
If you sharpen your knife without grinding a relief angle, your edge will thicken over time.
Micro-serrations: True or False?
Knife geeks frequently talk about "micro-serrations," microscopic teeth on the edge of the knife. Is this really true? In a word, yes. Sharpening by its very nature creates a scratch pattern on the edge of the knife. The coarser the stone, the coarser and deeper the scratch pattern will be and the larger the micro-serrations. Conversely, the finer the stone, the finer and more polished the edge will be with less prominent micro-serrations. The real question is, which one is better?
This is one of the great debates in the knife world – the razor sharp polished edge versus a toothier edge.
John Juranitch in his book "The Razor Edge Book of Sharpening" is emphatic that a polished edge is the answer, that micro-serrations are indicative of a dull knife. His experience comes from sharpening knives for the meat processing industry. Meat cutters go through knives faster than tissues in flu season, so Juranitch's conclusions are hard to dispute.
However, Joe Talmadge, author of the Bladeforums "Sharpening FAQ;" Cliff Stamp, physicist and knife nut; Leonard Lee, president of Lee Valley Tools and author of "The Complete Guide to Sharpening;" and many others have come to the opposite conclusion: that micro-serrations, in the right context, can be a very good thing.
What is the right context? Later on we'll examine the difference between push cutting and slicing, their applications in the kitchen and the value of various levels of polish on your knife edges. Which leads us directly to:
The Meaning of Sharpness
What do we mean when we say that we want our knives to be sharp? Seems like a silly question. We all know what sharp is. Or do we?
Sharpness is not just a function of creating a super-thin edge that will readily sever free-hanging nose hairs; it's also a function of shape and intended purpose. You could grind your chef's knife to razor thinness, but the edge would crumble the first time you hit a bone or tried to hammer your way through a winter squash. Your knife would be sharp but useless. Similarly, a razor sharp but wedge-thick edge is great on a splitting axe but not much good for carpaccio.
We have to take into consideration the shape of the blade, the angle of the edge bevel and especially the material being cut when we consider how we judge the sharpness of our kitchen knives.
So the real question is not "how sharp should my knife be," but rather "how do I get maximum performance from my knife under a given set of conditions." A sharp knife can be defined as one that has a keen edge that can hold up in repeated usage while producing the results we're looking for in the kitchen.
The Myth of Thick Edges
The theory is that thick edges (larger angles) last longer than thin edges, and the majority of the knife buying public wants the edge to last as long as possible. But it doesn't work out that way in practice. Thinner edges actually outlast thicker edges almost all the time.
The thinner edge starts out performing better than the thicker edge. So even if it does degrade it has a lot of ground to lose before it falls to the performance level of the thick edge.
Thinner edges cut more easily, putting less stress on the edge. If a thin edge takes three slices to get through a big slab of raw meat, a thicker edge might take six or seven. Or three with a lot more force. The thicker edge is doing twice as much work, degrading twice as quickly.
Thinner edges are easier to control. Lateral stresses are a significant source of edge degradation. The more smoothly, accurately and easily you are able to cut, the less lateral stress you put on the edge.
Thin is good.
A very thin, high performance 10/15 double bevel. The knife is an 8" custom chef's knife in ATS-34 steel from Steve Mullin.
The High Performance Edge
We want our kitchen knives to cut as easily as possible while maintaining integrity and staying sharp.
For maximum performance, you want the edge as thin as possible. To borrow an image from Joe Talmadge, imagine a woman stepping on your foot. If she's wearing tennis shoes, it will hurt a lot less than if she's wearing stiletto heels. The same amount of force applied to a much smaller area penetrates better. A knife edge a thousandth of an inch thick with one pound of pressure behind it concentrates 1,000 pounds of pressure per square inch at the edge. While an actual kitchen knife's edge will be a little thicker than a thousandth of an inch, the thinner your knife's edge, the more efficiently it will cut.
To thin a knife's edge, you lower the edge angle. The problem is that a thin edge is much more susceptible to damage. As the edge becomes thinner, there is less metal to support it. It can roll, indent and chip, causing the edge to degrade quickly.
So the goal is to thin the edge as much as possible, but not so much that it is regularly damaged during hard use. One way to do this is to keep thinning your edge until it reaches an unacceptable level of fragility then back off a couple of degrees. This is easier than it sounds, but not really necessary. We'll discuss suitable edge angles in just a moment.
One factor that strongly plays into how thin you can take a knife's edge is the quality of the steel. That's one of the primary advantages to the new breed of incredibly hard stainless super steels. You can sharpen them to very acute angles without risk of significant damage. As an aside, I've taken a chef's knife made from ATS-34 down to less than 8 degrees per side before it required an unacceptable level of maintenance.
As we've discovered, the average kitchen knife is made from pretty mediocre steel. But it can still be much thinner than the factory edge. As a matter of fact you can sharpen your Henckels and Wusthofs to angles that would give the good folks in Solingen the heebie-jeebies without worrying too much.
Section Four: Sharpening Basics
Before we get into sharpening systems and the actual mechanics of sharpening, it helps to understand some of the basic principles. These are the burr, the sharpening angles, the abrasive, consistency and sharpening strategy. They apply no matter what sharpening method you choose.
The Burr
First and most foremost is the burr. The burr is your friend. A burr, or wire edge, is a rough, almost microscopic, raised lip of metal that forms when one edge meets the other. It is the only way to be absolutely certain that you have fully ground an edge. Essentially you grind one side until it meets the other and pushes up a small curl of metal. If you stop sharpening before the burr is formed, your knife will not be as sharp as it could be.
Sometimes you can't see a burr, but you can always feel it. You check for a burr on the side opposite the edge you have been grinding. Hold the knife blade horizontally and place your fingers or thumb at a 45-degree angle to the edge and pull gently down and away. DO NOT PULL TOWARD THE TIP OR HILT; YOU MAY LOP OFF A FINGER. PULL AWAY FROM THE EDGE. Remember, check the side opposite the one you've been sharpening. You're checking for a very light lip caused by the edge rolling over to the other side. Check at various points along the edge. The burr tends to form quickly at the base of the blade but takes a little longer at the tip. You must feel a burr running all the way from heel to tip to know that you have fully ground that side of the knife.
Hand position for checking a burr.
The Angles
As we've discussed, the 50-degree-plus included angle that comes standard on most kitchen knives is way too obtuse. Leonard Lee suggests anywhere from 5 to 20 degrees per side (10 to 40 degrees total) for general kitchen work. Five degrees per side is incredibly thin and would require a very hard, high quality steel to keep that edge in regular use.
For the vast majority of kitchen knives, 15 to 20 degrees per side will provide a significant increase in performance without requiring undue maintenance. Meat cleavers should be a little thicker, say 20 to 25 degrees per side, while dedicated slicers can be taken down to 10 to 15 degrees per side.
The best compromise in the kitchen has proven to be a 15/20 double bevel. That is a 15 degree back bevel with a 20 degree primary edge face.
A 15/20 double bevel illustrated. This is an excellent performer in the kitchen.
You sharpen your knives by scraping away metal. That's really all there is too it. But there is a huge array of abrasives available.
Traditionalists will demand an Arkansas stone. These stones were originally mined from a novaculite deposit in Arkansas. They were graded, from softest to hardest, as Washita, Soft Arkansas, Hard Arkansas and Black Hard Arkansas. However, the best parts of the deposit were mined long ago, leading to spotty quality in the natural stones. They have since been replaced by ground novaculite reconstituted into benchstones. These can be found under the Arkansas Perfect name.
Synthetic aluminum oxide stones are very, very hard and don't wear like natural stones. They clean up easily with a scouring pad and are more consistent in their grading systems. Spyderco and Lansky both manufacture synthetic stones in a variety of grits (see discussion of grits below).
Japanese waterstones are considered by many to be the ultimate sharpening tools. Although natural waterstones are extremely expensive and hard to find, reconstituted stones are readily available. These reconstituted Japanese stones are held together by a resin bond, cut very quickly (and wear more quickly as well) and are available in extremely fine grits that will put a high polish on an edge.
Synthetic waterstones, as used by EdgePro systems, are formulated from aluminum oxide specifically for knife sharpening. Like Japanese waterstones, they need to be wet in order to cut effectively.
Diamond "stones" have man-made diamond particles imbedded in or coated on a base metal. They cut very aggressively and should be used with caution. They were formerly available only in very coarse grits, but that is changing rapidly. According to Leonard Lee, monocrystalline diamonds are preferable to polycrystalline diamonds in a diamond stone. They are nearly twice as expensive, but last much longer. EZE-Lap, Lansky and DMT make excellent diamond stones.
There are two other issues related to abrasives that must be considered: grits and lubrication.
You Want Grits with That?
All of these abrasives come in a variety of grits from very coarse to ultra-fine. Grit refers to the size of the individual particles of abrasive in the sharpening stone. A stone with a finer grit has smaller particles, and produces an more polished edge with less prominent micro-serrations. A stone with a coarser grit has larger particles, produces an edge with more prominent micro-serrations, and tends to abrade metal away more quickly. There are several different grit rating systems, and unfortunately it is very difficult to correlate these different systems. For example, Japanese waterstones are graded differently than diamond stones and both have different numbering systems than the codes found on powered grindstones. Steve Bottorff, author of "Sharpening Made Easy" has taken a stab at it here if you're interested.
What we do know is that you'll need a coarse to medium stone for shaping the edge and removing the shoulders of over-thick edges. You'll also need a fine stone for sharpening the final edge. The combination stones found in most hardware stores just won't do the trick. The coarse side isn't coarse enough and the fine side isn't fine enough. Any of the sharpening systems mentioned later will come with appropriate stones.
In very general and imprecise terms, stones rated lower than 300 grit are coarse, 300-400 are medium, 600+ are fine and 1200 and up are extra fine.
Japanese waterstones have their own grit rating system. They cut so quickly that anything below 800x can be considered coarse, although they'll leave a much more polished edge than a corresponding Western stone. 1000x and 1200x can be considered medium and medium-fine and make an excellent general purpose stones. Waterstones can go up to 8000x, but that's really overkill for kitchen purposes.
The stones that come with Spyderco's Sharpmaker are listed as fine (the white stones) and medium (the grey stones). The grey has been compared to an approximately 800x waterstone, the white to a 1200x waterstone in effect.
The synthetic waterstones from EdgePro systems also have an idiosyncratic rating system. The coarse stone is listed as 100, the medium as 180, the fine 220, extra fine 320, ultra fine is 600. However a conversation with Ben Dale, owner of EdgePro, revealed that the extra fine stone is equivalent to a 1200x Japanese waterstone and the ultra fine equivalent to a 2000x Japanese stone. The basic system comes with a medium and fine stone, which should be sufficient for most needs, though the coarse stone comes in handy for quickly reshaping bevels.
Oil or Water?
Everyone knows you need to lubricate your sharpening stone with water or oil, right? So the question is which one is better. Neither. The purpose of a sharpening stone is to grind the edge and remove metal. Oil reduces friction and makes the process much slower.
Supposedly oil helps float away metal particles that would otherwise clog the pores of the stone. You can do the same thing by wiping the stone with a damp cloth when you're done. Steve Bottorff reports that you can clean your Arkansas stones with paint thinner. Synthetic stones clean up with a scouring pad and abrasive cleanser.
According to Joe Talmadge, if you have already used oil on your Arkansas stone, you'll probably need to keep using oil. But if you have a new Arkansas stone, a diamond stone or a synthetic stone, go ahead and use it without oil or water. It will work much better.
John Juranitch reports that in his company's work with meat processing plants they discovered that the metal filings suspended in the oil on a stone actually chip and abrade the edge. Although these chips were only visible through a microscope, the meatpackers readily noticed the difference between the knives sharpened on a dry stone and those sharpened on oiled stones.
Waterstones are another matter entirely. Both Japanese and synthetic waterstones require water in order to cut effectively. Japanese waterstones can be damaged if used dry and must be soaked thoroughly before use. Waterstones wear very quickly, revealing new layers of cutting abrasive as the swarf builds up and is washed away. That's why they are so effective. There is always a new layer of sharp abrasive cutting away at the metal of your edge. By the way, "swarf" is one of those cool terms you get to toss around when you discuss sharpening. Swarf is the slurry of metal filings and stone grit that builds up as you sharpen. Throw that into your next cocktail party conversation and just watch the expressions of awe appear as people realize that you are a sharpening God.
You must be able to maintain a consistent angle while you are sharpening. This can be tough to do, which is why there are so many gimmicks and sharpening systems on the market. They don't provide any magic. All they do is help you keep your edge at the same angle throughout the sharpening session.
Maintaining consistency is a primary reason freehand sharpening with benchstones or waterstones is a little tricky. It takes a lot of experience and practice to keep the edge at a constant angle stroke after stroke using only your hands and eyes.
Sharpening Strategy: Coarse versus Polished Edges
Related to the grit discussion above, the finer the stone you use to sharpen your knife, the more polished your edge will be. And while it can be a lot of fun to create a scary sharp edge that will cut the tops off of arm hair without touching the skin, it's really not necessary or ideal for kitchen use.
As a matter of fact, leaving the edge of your knife just a little coarse can be a very good thing. This is where we must compare push cutting to slicing.
Push cutting involves parting fibers and requires a polished edge. Shaving, for example, is push cutting. So is peeling an apple or julienning a carrot. You are pressing your thin, finely polished edge through the fibers of the food, pushing them to either side.
Slicing, on the other hand, involves severing fibers and requires a toothier edge. Crusty bread, a soft tomato, roast chicken – anything with an outer layer that is tougher than the squishier inside demands an edge that can bite into the skin without crushing the interior. A highly polished edge will simply skate over the surface of a ripe plum until you put enough pressure on it to push through the skin. But the fruit underneath will give way before that happens. Not pretty.
Now you must decide. Do you do more push cutting or more slicing? Do you have knives that you use more often for dicing, peeling and julienning? Do you have a knife that is dedicated to slicing?
A good basic strategy is to start with a standard 20 degree bevel (a 15/20 double bevel if you're feeling adventurous) with a moderately polished edge on all your knives. This alone will be a vast improvement over what you might be used to.
Then branch out. If you have a knife that is only used for vegetables, a santoku for example, you can take it to a very fine, highly polished edge. A dedicated slicer can be finished on a medium-fine grit stone, leaving the edge slightly coarse. Your chef's knife can be somewhere in between.
There is one caveat. The thinner the edge, the finer it will need to be to avoid excessive damage. A coarse edge wears more quickly and requires more maintenance. This is usually not an issue unless you like your edges very thin. Then a polished edge will last longer. Of course if you have a very thin edge it will probably push cut through materials that a thicker edge might have to slice through, so you're not losing any slicing performance.
If you're really nuts you can create a dual edge on your knives. This would be a slightly coarse section at the back of the blade near the choil or bolster. The rest of the blade would be finished on a fine or extra fine stone. That gives you a toothy section for cutting through tough materials as you begin your stroke and a finer edge for push cutting through the rest. Yes, this is only for the seriously deranged.
Section Five: Sharpening Step by Step
Hey, 5,000 words into this and we're actually getting to the "how-to" part.
Okay, here's where we put all of this together.
Haul out your sharpening rig and let's grind some metal. Don't have one yet? Check out the Sharpening Systems section below to see what suits you best.
Got one now? Good.
Remember the basics: burr, angle, abrasive, consistency and strategy. Let's assume, for the sake of discussion, that you've decided to put a 15/20 double bevel on your chef's knife. Because it's a general purpose knife, it doesn't need to have a mirror polished edge. As a matter of fact, a good medium-fine edge is what you're aiming for. This is your angle and strategy.
Because this is the first time you've really tried to change the horrid factory edge, you'll need to begin with a fast cutting, coarse abrasive. Benchstone, waterstone, Sharpmaker grey stone – doesn't matter. Start with the coarsest thing you've got.
Determine how you're going to establish consistency. With a Sharpmaker you simply stroke straight up and down. The EdgePro or Lansky rod-type systems have angle guides built in. Freehand sharpening requires a little more skill and patience, but if you use a guide system like the Razor Edge or simply place your thumb on the spine in the same spot every time, you can create a consistent angle.
Advanced Section:
Warning: Math! If you want to be really anal about it, Leonard Lee offers this formula for creating freehand angles of less than 20 degrees. "Use the basic rule that a 1 degree angle subtends an arc of 1 unit at a radius of 60 units. The 1-in-60 rule is close enough for many purposes, particularly sharpening at low angles. You'll find that a 10-unit rise in 60 units is about 9-1/2 degrees and a 20-unit rise is about 19 degrees."
This works out to raising the spine 1/8 inch (measured 1.5 inches back from the edge) for every five degrees of angle. The average chef's knife is about 1.5 inches wide at the heel, so for a 15 degree angle you'd raise the spine 3/8 inch – about the height of six quarters stacked up.
If your knife is wider or narrower than 1.5 inches, measure the height from 1.5 inches back from the edge, otherwise the math doesn't work. It's the height/width ratio that gives you the angle.
Forget the math. In a pinch a large binder clip clamped to the spine will get you pretty close.
So, let's get started:
1) Establish your 15 degree angle. If you're using a Sharpmaker, put the stones in the 15 degree slots. With a Lansky, Gatco or EdgePro system, slide the rod into the 15 degree setting. With edge guides, clamp the guide at the 3/8" height. Freehanding, raise the spine to 3/8 inch measured 1.5 inches back from the edge.
Now you're ready to create a burr. Be patient, this might take a while. To grind off the shoulders of the previous edge we're going to be removing a lot of metal. That's why we need the coarse stone. At this point it doesn't really matter what kind of stroke you use. You can go heel to tip or just grind in circles. It doesn't make any difference.
To keep the aesthetics of the knife, you'll want the bevels relatively even on each side. If you just grind one side until you get a burr, the other side will require much less grinding. Thus the bevels will be mismatched. To keep them matched, grind one side for about five minutes or so then switch to the other side, maintaining your approximately 15 degree angle. Feel the knife every so often to see if you can feel a burr. Keep grinding and switching sides until you detect a burr beginning to form. Remember, the burr forms on the side opposite from the side you are grinding. If you don't remember how to check for a burr, see the picture earlier in the tutorial.
As soon as you detect a burr, keep grinding on the current side until the burr runs the entire length of the opposite edge.
If you use the Magic Marker Trick described below, you can save a little time on this step.
2) Repeat on the opposite side until you feel a burr along the full edge of the first side.
3) Optional: If you want to dress up the scratch pattern, switch to your fine stone and give the edge several passes on each side (at the same angle) to polish them out a little.
4) Establish your 20 degree angle. If you're using a Sharpmaker, switch to the 20 degree slots. With a Lansky, Gatco or EdgePro system, simply change the rod to the 20 degree setting. With edge guides unclamp the guide and slide it forward about an 1/8 to 1/4 inch. Freehanding, raise the spine another 1/8 inch. If you switched to your fine stone, switch back to your coarse stone or the next one up, usually a medium stone.
5) Create a burr again at the new sharpening angle, going back to side one. This time you're grinding the edges to meet at a 20 degree angle. This will happen very quickly because you've already removed most of the metal you need to. The 20 primary edge face will be very narrow compared to the 15 degree back bevel, somewhere around 1/32 to 1/64 of an inch.
6) Switch sides and repeat until you have a burr running the full length of the first side.
7) You're almost home. Now that you've got your burr you need to grind it off completely so that the true edge remains. Now technique matters. No more grinding in circles. Stroke gently from heel to tip, alternating sides with each stroke. Keep the sharpening stone perpendicular to the blade as usual, beginning the stroke at the heel and ending at the tip. Or if you are sharpening on a benchstone, stroke tip to heel, if you're more comfortable that way. Lighten up on the pressure as you go. There is no hard and fast rule, but five to 10 strokes per side should do it. If your checking reveals that the burr is simply flopping from side to side, lighten up the pressure even more.
8) Change from the coarse or medium stone to the fine stone and continue. Keep stroking side to side until all the scratches from the coarse stone are gone. Continue lightening up on the pressure as you proceed. You are trying to grind the burr off. If you press too hard you'll simply form another one.
9) Finish with a few very light strokes on the fine stone. Now, to make sure that the burr is completely gone, place the knife on the stone as though you were going to take one last stroke, but this time increase the angle just a hair. On a Sharpmaker, tilt the knife very, very slightly in toward the center to increase the angle. Now guide the knife down the stone using no more pressure than the weight of the knife itself. Switch sides and repeat for one stroke. You can do this for one more stroke per side if you can still feel any vestige of a burr.
If you have a smooth steel or very fine grit ceramic rod you can substitute a couple of strokes per side at a slightly greater than 20 degree angle for this last step (see discussion on steels and steeling below).
Your edge should be frighteningly sharp at this point. If it's not, you might not have fully ground off the burr. The edge could simply be turned to one side. Try the fine stone and light pressure again. It could also be that rather than grinding off the burr it was simply turned straight down. This will give you an edge that will send shivers down your spine but it will break off in the first use. A light touch at the end of the sharpening process is the key.
If you want your knife too look as good as it performs, progress through the coarse, medium and fine stones at each angle setting while you're raising your burr. This will remove any deep scratches and give the edge a more refined look.
This edge is not only very sharp, but is relatively strong. With regular steeling it will last for many months, even under hard use. When steeling ceases to have the desired effect it's time to sharpen again. However, now that you've ground the back bevel you really only need to sharpen the 20 degree primary edge. If your knife is very dull go back to step four on the coarse stones. If it is only a little dull you can begin with the fine stones. The burr will be very easy to raise in subsequent sharpening sessions.
Tips and Tricks
There are a couple of tricks that can make the sharpening process even easier. I've saved them until the end just to be cruel.
The Magic Marker Trick
One of the easiest ways to ensure that you are matching an existing bevel is to coat the edge with magic marker. As the magic marker is abraded away by the sharpening stone. you will be able to see where the metal is being removed and whether you have matched the angle properly. Once you have coated both bevels with marker, take a swipe or two down your stone. If the marker is wiped off over the width of the bevel you have matched the angle properly. If your angle is too high, only the marker near the very edge will be removed. If your angle is too low only the marker near the shoulder, above the edge, will be removed. Recoating the edge as you sharpen is a good way to ensure that you're holding the correct angle throughout the process. No matter what type of sharpening system you use, the magic marker trick will save you a lot of time and frustration, especially in matching an unknown angle on one of the guide or rod-style systems.
The magic marker trick also comes in handy when you are establishing a back bevel. If you coat the edge before working at the 15 degree setting you can grind the back bevel until the marker is ground almost to the edge, leaving 1/32 to 1/64 inch. That's about how wide the primary edge face will be. Rather than grinding all the way to the edge until you get a burr, you can now switch to the 20 degree setting, knowing that the last little bit of edge will become the primary edge face. You still have to raise a burr at 20 degrees, but the marker trick can save you a little time.
The Paper Airplane Trick
Take a piece of paper with square edges. Fold the bottom left corner over until it meets the right edge. Smooth it down. You've just turned a 90 degree angle into a 45 degree angle. Fold the creased edge over to the far right edge like you're making a paper airplane. You've just folded it in half again, and you have a 22.5 degree angle. Sound familiar? Twenty-two and a half degrees is pretty dang close to 20 degrees. As close as you can generally hold a specific angle by hand. This folded piece of paper can serve as a guide for steeling your knife, setting an angle on a benchstone or just checking that you're keeping your angle steady as you sharpen. The paper edge guide is especially handy when you are learning to steel your knives properly. It helps build the right angle into muscle memory so you can do it without the guide when you have a little more experience. Fold the paper again and you have an 11.25 degree guide for steeling those super thin slicing knives that you've sharpened to 10 degrees per side.
The Mousepad Trick
Do you have an old mouse pad? Is there an auto supply store nearby? You can make a superb sharpening system for about $5.
Go to your nearest auto supply store and get some 600 grit sandpaper. Mylar-backed wet/dry sandpaper works best. This is the stuff used to sand automotive paint between coats. Get the self-stick kind. If they have higher grits, get a couple of sheets of those, too, 1200 grit is generally the next step up. Go nuts. It's cheap.
Stick the sandpaper to the mouse pad and trim the edges. This is your new sharpening system. If you have both 600 and 1200 grit, apply one to each side of the mousepad. Make sure you have a work surface you don't mind scratching up. If you have a double-sided mousepad sharpener, you don't want to work on your kitchen counter or dining room table. Your spouse will kill you.
This system requires a stropping motion when sharpening, using an edge-trailing stroke. That means that unlike other sharpening methods you don't lead with the edge, you lead with the spine. Image an old barbershop with the barber stropping his razor, stroking away from the edge. That's the idea.
To establish your angle, lay the knife flat on the pad, edge toward you. Lift the spine slightly while pulling lightly toward you. Continue lifting until the edge bites into the sandpaper. That's your stropping angle.
Press down lightly and stroke the knife away from you, spine first, moving from heel to tip. When you reach the end STOP and lift the knife straight up off the sandpaper. Don't roll it off or lift the spine further or you'll mess up the edge you're creating. Turn the knife over and stroke back the other way with the edge away from you, pulling the spine toward you at the same angle as the previous stroke. The really cool thing is that the mouse pad is soft enough that it conforms to the angle of the knife edge. As long as you're pretty close you'll be fine. This will give you an amazing edge in a fairly short amount of time. If you want to polish it up, use the higher grit sandpaper on the other side of the mouse pad.
Because the mousepad is soft, it deforms lightly around the edge of the knife and gives you a slightly convex bevel. As we've discussed, a convex edge has many advantages but can be difficult to achieve without a belt sander. This is one way to create or maintain a convex edge without serious power tools.
This is the same technique as stropping (below) but with a different abrasive.
Stropping is a handy way to finish off a burr or put a final mirror polish on your edge. While you can strop on anything from the back of a legal pad to an old belt, places like Lee Valley Tools and HandAmerican sell hard backed strops. The strop is usually charged with an abrasive, like green chromium oxide paste, so it actually does remove very fine particles of metal.
Like the mousepad trick above, stropping is an edge trailing stroke. Lay your knife flat on the strop with the spine facing away from you. Slowly pull the knife toward you while lifting the spine. When the edge just begins to bite into the leather you have found your angle. Keep that angle as you stroke the spine away from you, pulling the edge along behind. When you get to the end of the stroke STOP. Lift the blade straight up off the strop. Do not lift the edge higher or roll the knife over while it is still on the strop. You can wreck your edge that way.
Now lay the knife flat again, spine toward you, and gently push the edge toward the end of the strop while lifting the spine. When the edge begins to bite you've found your angle for the return stroke. This second step isn't really necessary if you've kept your angles consistent during sharpening, but it never hurts to make sure you are holding the right angle. The return stroke is the same motion as the first stroke, simply in reverse. The edge is facing away from you and you pull the spine toward you.
Stropping will create an extremely sharp, highly polished edge optimized for push cutting. To some extent, stropping can make up for less than perfect sharpening technique, especially since it's a little more forgiving.
Handling Serrated Knives
Serrated knives and bread knives are a special case. Serrated knives will stay sharp longer than plain edged knives, mainly because the insides of the serrations generally don't contact hard surfaces. That's what the teeth are for. The teeth not only have a cutting function, but are also sacrificial lambs, offered up to steakhouse swordsman and children everywhere who feel that if they're not grinding into the ceramic of the plate, they're not cutting.
There are four ways to sharpen serrated knives:
1) Pretend the serrations don't exist and sharpen on a stone, sharpening system or electric sharpener as you would a plain edged knife. This will eventually remove the serrations.
2) Sharpen the flat, non-serrated back of the blade. This will sharpen the knife, but also will eventually remove the serrations, though not as quickly as the first method.
3) Sharpen the serrations individually with a tapered diamond or ceramic file.
4) Sharpen on a crock stick setup, going very slowly so the ceramic rod glides in and out of the serrations.
This last method actually works fairly well, especially with the Spyderco Sharpmaker. It's triangular rods fit into serrations much easier than the standard round crock sticks. If you want to keep your serrated knives as sharp as they can be, the Sharpmaker system is the way to go, though the Lansky rod-guided system also has an accessory hone for sharpening serrated edges.
Chisel Ground Edges
Sharpening chisel-ground or single-bevel knives is not tricky. You simply match the bevel angle and sharpen as usual – but only on the beveled side. When you raise a burr, grind it off by laying the flat side of the knife perfectly flat against your stone and swipe the burr off. It only takes a couple of passes. You can do the same thing with a strop. The back side of the knife must be perfectly flat or you'll round your edge. All you want to do is grind off the burr.
The back side of a sashimi knife is sometimes lightly hollow ground to make this step easier. You can actually lay the knife flat and sharpen with your usual stroke, edge first across the stone.
How to Tell if Your Knife is Sharp
How do you know when you have achieved the ultimate high performance edge? Depends on what you want to do with it. Remember that we defined sharp not only as two edge faces intersecting at a line of minimum width, but also as a function of blade shape, angle and the material to be cut. We want a keen edge that can hold up in repeated usage while producing the results we're looking for in the kitchen.
You can tell when you've set your knife's edge bevels correctly by placing the knife at a 30-45 degree angle on your thumbnail and pulling across the edge. A properly set edge will bite in and not slip off your nail. Of course, you could hurt yourself doing this, too. Or, at the very least, wreck your nail polish.
Any slick, slightly rounded surface will do. Take, for example, a plastic pen, stand it at a 30-45 degree angle on a countertop and lay the knife edge straight up and down on the plastic. Pull the edge from heel to tip. If it bites in, you've set your edge correctly. If it slides off, you have some more work to do. The sharper the blade, the smaller you can make the angle before it slips.
Another test is to take a Q-tip and push the fuzzy head over the edge. Any nicks or burrs will pull the cotton fibers loose from the head. The Q-tip will also reveal any rough spots in the edge. A well-sharpened edge will feel smooth. This test is more effective for polished edges.
Razor Edge Systems makes an Edge Tester for this very purpose. It is widely used in the meat cutting industry to check edges to see if they need sharpening (or if the meat cutter is just goofing off).
Another check is the "Samurai Hair Test." Lay the knife nearly flat against the hair on the back of your head and pull gently down. Very gently. An aggressive, keen edge will readily grab the hair. A dull edge will simply slide off. Don't shave the back of your head. Just pull gently down to see if the edge catches and tugs. I don't want any irate calls from your barber or hairstylist.
The classic test of sharpening is shaving the hair of your arms. This has several problems, not the least of which is that the hair might not grow back or could come in coarser and darker than the surrounding hair. And if you have a lot of knives to test you'll end up looking like you have mange.
The real problem with shaving, though, is that shaving is push cutting. A highly polished edge will readily push cut, but, as we've discovered, you don't always want a highly polished edge. A slightly coarse edge that tugs the hair but doesn't shave will actually slice better than the polished edge. Thus, shaving isn't the best test for many knives.
There are other opinions on shaving as a test. Cliff Stamp said, "Coarse edges can easily shave, Joe Talmadge was one of the first guys to comment on this. A lot of people think they can't and thus sharpen them pretty sloppily. The more coarse an edge you form, the sloppier you can get and still have decent cutting ability. However you can get better cutting ability but keeping the edge crisp and aligned. This edge will then have a much higher level of push cutting ability, overall durability and edge retention, as well as a slightly higher level of slicing aggression. I have seen edges formed from a 100 grit AO belt that would still shave. This is more coarse than a x-coarse DMT hone."
Slicing newsprint is a pretty good test. Both highly polished edges and toothier edges (as long as they're not overly coarse) will readily slice a piece of newspaper held lightly between your fingers.
The best test, though, is actually using the knife for its intended purpose. If you have a slicing knife, try a soft tomato or plum. A keen, toothy edge can bite into the tomato with little or no pressure, just a light draw across the skin. If you have polished your santoku to a mirror-like edge, try dicing a few carrots or potatoes. The reduced effort will be immediately noticeable. And greatly appreciated if you have 50 pounds of beets to get through before service.
A thin, slightly coarse slicing knife will cut a soft tomato with a light pull and nearly no pressure on the blade.


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Eric Cantor
Mark Wilson/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
News about Eric Cantor, including commentary and archival articles published in The New York Times.
Chronology of Coverage
Sep. 3, 2014
Congressional Memo; Eric Cantor's exit from House of Representatives means Wall Street and Big Business have lost their most sympathetic ear, while oil and gas industries are on the rise. MORE
Aug. 10, 2014
Editorial criticizes Virginia Rep Eric Cantor for resigning four months before his term was to expire in order to make money in the private sector; notes that while his ties to big money were one of the reasons he suffered a primary defeat, his work for his patrons is about to produce its real payoff. MORE
Aug. 2, 2014
Republican Rep Eric Cantor of Virginia, who lost June Republican primary to Tea Party-backed conservative David Brat, announces he will resign his seat effective Aug, 18; he will ask Gov Terry McAuliffe to call special election for seat on Nov 4, allowing winner to take seat immediately rather than wait for January 2015; move would allow his successor to participate in lame-duck session after November elections. MORE
Jul. 20, 2014
Mark Leibovich Your Fellow Americans column contends Eric Cantor is the latest example of Washington's upward-falling, golden-parachuted, everybody-wins calculus; notes that Cantor is likely to become lobbyist after his humiliating defeat in Virginia Republican primary; maintains it is notable that the same qualities people blame for Cantor's loss are the ones that make him such a prized recruit as a lobbyist. MORE
Jul. 12, 2014
Stinging defeat of Eric Cantor, House majority leader and highest-ranking Jewish politician in American history, has created possibility of Republicans having no Jewish representation in the House or Senate for the first time in more than a half-century; his fall, however, has been a blessing for a handful of Jewish Republican candidates who are suddenly being showered with attention from donors. MORE
Jul. 6, 2014
Group of reform-minded conservative intellectuals headed by Yuval Levin and Ramesh Ponnuru has been attempting to craft new vocabulary for the Republican Party that is backed by specific proposals that will help party reconnect with middle- and low-income voters; defeat of Rep Eric Cantor, who was widely seen as standard bearer for reform conservatism, has reformers worried that they may risk being consumed by party's ongoing identity crisis. MORE
Jun. 19, 2014
Congressional Memo; House Republicans will hold vote on new majority leader following shocking primary loss of Rep Eric Cantor; majority whip Kevin McCarthy is widely expected to ascend to position; vote belies longer struggle over coming months and years over who will become true heir apparent to House Speaker John A Boehner. MORE
Jun. 16, 2014
Influx of newcomers from other parts of the country to suburban areas in states like Mississippi and Virginia has brought nationalized politics to political races further down the ballot; such voters, who lack local ties and draw their political information from cable news and radio, were key factor in primary defeats of Rep Eric Cantor of Virginia and Sen Thad Cochran of Mississippi. MORE
Jun. 16, 2014
David Carr The Media Equation column discusses the mainstream news media's failure to predict decisive primary defeat of Rep Eric Cantor; argues that like politicians, journalists have come to focus too much on Washington DC and not enough on important local trends outside the beltway; cites the consolidation of the newsprint industry, and closure of many regional newspapers, as an additional cause. MORE
Jun. 15, 2014
Rep Eric Cantor's loss to Tea Party-backed David Brat in Virginia primary has spurred business leaders to mobilize to preserve their clout in Congress; many businesses fear the loss of their strongest champions on Capitol Hill and are uneasy over what they see as especially hostile strain of anti-corporate populism growing within conservative movement and the Republican Party. MORE
Jun. 15, 2014
Serge Schmemann Quick History column reflects on events of the week, including World Cup, Rep Eric Cantor's primary loss to David Brat in Virginia and crisis in Iraq after offensive mounted by Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. MORE
Jun. 14, 2014
Republican Rep Eric Cantor, who is resigning as House majority leader at end of July, will spend his final five months in office with privileges of merely an ordinary congressman; his security detail, elegant office and salary increase will go to someone else. MORE
Jun. 14, 2014
Defeat of Rep Eric Cantor in Virginia primary is energizing backers of Mississippi State Sen Chris McDaniel, Tea Party-backed candidate who has upended state's Republican order by forcing Sen Thad Cochran into a runoff; conservative groups are intensifying their activity in Mississippi, where McDaniel has done well with connecting to voters among whom suspicion of Washington runs deep. MORE
Jun. 13, 2014
Political collapse of Rep Eric Cantor has strengthened the resolve of other Republicans to be even more determined in their opposition to Pres Obama and his agenda; Obama had already given up on major legislative action in 2014, other than immigration overhaul, and now even that looks implausible given how issue was used against Cantor by his primary challenger. MORE
Jun. 13, 2014
Rep Kevin McCarthy of California appears all but certain to rise from majority whip to replace Rep Eric Cantor as majority leader; race to remake Republican leadership in wake of Cantor's loss in the Virginia primary may actually leave its top ranks more moderate. MORE
Jun. 13, 2014
Paul Krugman Op-Ed column examines significance of surprise primary defeat of Rep Eric Cantor, House majority leader; contends Cantor's defeat will probably result in a more extreme Republican Party, and predicts already ugly American political scene is about to get uglier. MORE
Jun. 13, 2014
David Brat, Randolph-Macon College economics professor who defeated Rep Eric Cantor in Republican primary, will now face off against Democratic candidate Jack Trammel, campus colleague who teaches sociology; before two men became overnight political rivals, they knew each other best as teammates on faculty basketball squad. MORE
Jun. 12, 2014
David Brat's victory over House Majority Leader Eric Cantor in Virginia's Republican primary was combination of Brat's ability to connect with voters and perception that Cantor was not engaged in his district; outcome represents one of the most stunning upsets in modern political history, and is a turning of the tables by Brat on Virginia Republican establishment that once snubbed him. MORE
Jun. 12, 2014
Voters in Eric Cantor's hometown of Glen Allen, Va, say they feel Cantor betrayed his roots by becoming caught up in Washington political machine, sentiment that fueled his Republican primary defeat at hands of David Brat; many local residents have come to view Cantor as 'just another politician' in era when voters crave authenticity. MORE
Jun. 12, 2014
Unexpected defeat of House Majority Leader Eric Cantor by David Brat in Virginia Republican primary is igniting fears in Republican Party that divisiveness and in-fighting will hinder policy-making and 2016 presidential prospects; upset comes as reminder that Tea Party-versus-establishment feud, thought to be near resolution, is still raging. MORE
Jun. 12, 2014
Political analysts and Jewish leaders say Eric Cantor's Jewish faith did not play a role in his primary loss to upstart David Brat; analysts, however, do emphasize that Brat, who has a divinity degree and often invokes God in his speeches, had a special appeal for Christian conservatives that Cantor lacked. MORE
Jun. 12, 2014
Rep Eric Cantor of Virginia resigns as House majority leader, hoping to smooth transition following stunning primary loss; move sets off internal battle to remake the upper ranks of House leadership that is likely to push an already conservative leadership further to the right. MORE
Jun. 12, 2014
The Upshot; Eric Cantor's primary defeat represents serious fundraising loss for House Republicans and a broken link to major donors that party is not otherwise close to; Cantor's leadership PAC raised more money since beginning of 2013 than any other run by a member of Congress, and consistently funneled hundreds of thousands of dollars to his colleges and to his local party. MORE
Jun. 12, 2014
Analysts and immigration advocates say Rep Eric Cantor's shocking primary loss in Virginia indicates political cost of hedging on immigration; Cantor showed lukewarm support for several compromises before frantically backpedaling from issue; analysts contrast his failure with success of Sen Lindsey Graham, Republican leader who easily fended off primary challenges after taking firm stance in support of a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants. MORE
Jun. 12, 2014
Randolph-Macon College in Ashland, Va, has emerged as an unlikely political hotbed following Rep Eric Cantor's primary defeat; both David Brat, who defeated Cantor, and his Democratic opponent Jack Trammell are professors at the college. MORE
Jun. 12, 2014
Pres Obama, in speech to donors, indirectly uses primary defeat of Republican Rep Eric Cantor of Virginia to chide Republicans for their intransigence; argues that GOP has become victim of its own stubbornness on issues like the affordability of college, a raise in the minimum wage and an overhaul of the nation's immigration system. MORE
Jun. 12, 2014
Editorial cites unimaginable feat by Republican right-winger David Brat of removing from power House Majority Leader Eric Cantor; holds Cantor, portrayed as too moderate by Republican extremists, despite his opposition to immigration reform and health care, has fallen victim to destructive and nihilistic impulses he helped unleash; questions whether Republicans will continue on even more divisive path, which would then create openings for Democrats. MORE
Jun. 12, 2014
Gail Collins Op-Ed column weighs reasons why House Majority Leader Eric Cantor suffered stunning primary defeat at hands of Tea Party candidate David Brat; notes Cantor's attack ads accusing Brat of being liberal college professor, and muses that Cantor may have made mistake of believing that Americans hate college professors more than professional politicians. MORE
Jun. 12, 2014
Op-Ed article by Republican pollster Frank Lutz weighs shortcomings of polls in aftermath of House Majority Leader Eric Cantor's Virginia Republican primary loss to David Brat; points out polls had shown him with 34 percent lead; holds polls are tools but cannot predict the future, despite increasing media demands for certainty; asserts more qualitative insight, gained from face to face talks with voters, is needed in order to paint more accurate political picture. MORE
Jun. 11, 2014
News analysis; primary defeat of House Republican Majority Leader Eric Cantor has torn apart the Republican leadership; Cantor's political demise will pull top echelons of the House even further to the right and most likely doom any ambitious legislation through the next presidential election; Tea Party conservatives are likely to be emboldened by victory of Cantor's opponent David Brat. MORE
Jun. 11, 2014
Republican Rep Eric Cantor, House majority leader, is soundly defeated by David Brat, Tea Party-backed economics professor in Virginia primary; it is one of the most stunning primary election upsets in congressional history; Brat toppled Cantor with a campaign budget of just over $200,000, repeatedly criticizing him for being insufficiently conservative, particularly on immigration. MORE
May. 17, 2014
Rep Eric Cantor of Virginia, House majority leader, will block a vote on legislation giving a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants who serve in the military. MORE
Jan. 6, 2014
Rep Eric Cantor, House majority leader, is quietly playing down expectations for any major legislative achievements in the final year of the 113th Congress, which passed fewer laws in its first year than any single session on record. MORE
Sep. 9, 2013
Editorial criticizes House Republicans for wanting to reduce the food stamp program with $40 billion in cuts across the next decade; disputes their assertion that it is about saving money, particularly in light of their plan to increase crop insurance subsidies for farmers; calls on Congress to reject plan put forward by Rep Eric Cantor. MORE
Apr. 25, 2013
Rep Eric Cantor of Virginia, House majority leader, has been trying for months to remake image of Republican Party, from one of uncompromising conservatism to something kinder and gentler; items that he had hoped would change GOP's look have been ignored or have only worsened party divisions. MORE
Feb. 11, 2013
Paul Krugman Op-Ed column contends House majority leader Eric Cantor's so-called major policy speech illustrated way in which Republican Party refuse to live in evidence-based world. MORE
Jan. 28, 2013
Rep Eric Cantor is reasserting himself in House after Republican election losses, with plans to unveil softer proposals for his party beyond constant cycle of budget showdowns and deficit talks; plans to lay out his domestic vision on Feb 5 at American Enterprise Institute. MORE
Dec. 20, 2012
Steve Stombers, chief of staff to House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, is also a member of the Fairfax City Council in Virginia, making him one of the only people in Washington to hold two such positions. MORE
Apr. 10, 2012
Congressional Memo; House Republicans are shocked to learned that a political action committee affiliated with Rep Eric Cantor of Virginia had donated $25,000 to a group devoted solely to defeating Republican incumbents not considered conservative enough by some party members; Cantor defends actions, arguing that money was intended for only one House contest. MORE
Dec. 22, 2011
Glendon Swift of Lenoir City, Tenn, has pleaded guilty to making drunken and profanity-laced telephone threats to Virginia Rep Eric Cantor. MORE
Nov. 17, 2011
House majority leader Eric Cantor of Virginia has refused to weigh in on new Republican deficit reduction proposal, despite fact that his support is key to measure's fate; proposal includes tax increases, which Cantor, like many Republicans, opposes. MORE
Nov. 4, 2011
Federal Bureau of Investigation charges Glendon Swift with threatening the family of House majority leader Eric Cantor. MORE
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Speaker John Boehner Quits the Arena
The Republicans' intramural brawl makes it clear that they are incapable of governing themselves.
September 26, 2015, Saturday
Nine Years Ago, Republicans Favored Voting Rights. What Happened?
The issue's political polarization has a surprisingly short history.
August 12, 2015, Wednesday
MORE ON ERIC CANTOR AND: United States Politics and Government , Leahy, Patrick J , Lewis, John R , McConnell, Mitch , Obama, Barack , Law and Legislation , Voting Rights Act (1965) , Voter Registration and Requirements , Republican Party , Democratic Party , Supreme Court (US) , Boehner, John A , Cantor, Eric , Conyers, John Jr
Boehner Uses New Mandate to Muffle Talk of a Shutdown
Speaker John A. Boehner is working to persuade Republicans that engaging in a politically explosive spending confrontation is the wrong way to counter the White House.
December 1, 2014, Monday
MORE ON ERIC CANTOR AND: Boehner, John A , Cantor, Eric , Gingrich, Newt , McCarthy, Kevin (1965- ) , Obama, Barack , United States Politics and Government , Immigration and Emigration , Federal Budget (US) , Shutdowns (Institutional) , Elections, House of Representatives , House of Representatives , National Republican Congressional Committee , Republican Party , Burr, Richard M
McCain Lines Up Allies for an Assault on Sequestration
Senator John McCain is lining up supporters old and new to protect Defense Department spending.
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Eric Cantor, Wall Street Defender, Gone But Not Forgotten
Congress will revive legislation to rein in "political intelligence gathering."
September 25, 2014, Thursday
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Exercising the Right to Rant
Never to worry! Our elected representatives have averted a government shutdown by decreeing that we will keep spending whatever it is we've been spending for a while.
September 20, 2014, Saturday
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After Eric Cantor's Exit, House Turns Sympathetic Ear From Big Business to Oil and Gas
Eric Cantor's departure drives home a new political landscape: Wall Street has lost its most persuasive advocate, while oil and gas industries are on the rise.
September 3, 2014, Wednesday
You Lose, We Win: Consultants Profit Even When Candidates Underperform
Why the market for pollsters, strategists and other political experts doesn't work.
September 3, 2014, Wednesday
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Eric Cantor Cashes In, Goes to Wall Street
Basically, he'll have the same job he always had, but he'll make a lot more money.
September 2, 2014, Tuesday
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Moelis & Co. Hires Cantor, Ex-House Majority Leader, as Vice Chairman
Eric Cantor, who suffered a surprising electoral defeat this year, will be joining Moelis & Company as vice chairman and a director on its board.
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The Eyre Affair (Thursday Next #01)by Jasper Fforde
Staff Pick
The Eyre Affair took me a little time to really get into, but once Thursday Next a literary detective from the future enters Charlotte Bronte's novel and tries to save Jane and the story, the book is thoroughly fun, with all the digs at the classics, the fantasy element, and the crazy names of the characters. It works for someone who enjoys the classics (like me) or for those who enjoy fantasy (like my husband). For me the best fun was re-reading Jane Eyre and knowing between which chapters Thursday visited and when the Japanese tourist arrived....
Synopses & Reviews
Publisher Comments:
Great Britain circa 1985: time travel is routine, cloning is a reality (dodos are the resurrected pet of choice), and literature is taken very, very seriously. Baconians are trying to convince the world that Francis Bacon really wrote Shakespeare, there are riots between the Surrealists and Impressionists, and thousands of men are named John Milton, an homage to the real Milton and a very confusing situation for the police. Amidst all this, Acheron Hades, Third Most Wanted Man In the World, steals the original manuscript of Martin Chuzzlewit and kills a minor character, who then disappears from every volume of the novel ever printed! But that's just a prelude.
Hades' real target is the beloved Jane Eyre, and it's not long before he plucks her from the pages of Bronte's novel. Enter Thursday Next. She's the Special Operative's renowned literary detective, and she drives a Porsche. With the help of her uncle Mycroft's Prose Portal, Thursday enters the novel to rescue Jane Eyre from this heinous act of literary homicide. It's tricky business, all these interlopers running about Thornfield, and deceptions run rampant as their paths cross with Jane, Rochester, and Miss Fairfax. Can Thursday save Jane Eyre and Bronte's masterpiece? And what of the Crimean War? Will it ever end? And what about those annoying black holes that pop up now and again, sucking things into time-space voids.
Suspenseful and outlandish, absorbing and fun, The Eyre Affair is a caper unlike any other and an introduction to the imagination of a most distinctive writer and his singular fictional universe. Next up in the Thursday Next series: Lost in a Good Book. Read more about it at thursdaynext.com.
"Witty and clever, this literate romp heralds a fun new series set in a wonderfully original world." Publishers Weekly
"[Thursday Next is] part Bridget Jones, part Nancy Drew, and part Dirty Harry." Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times
"The Eyre Affair is mostly a collection of jokes, conceits, and puzzles. It's smart, frisky, and sheer catnip for former English majors, a cross between Douglas Adams's A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and Jonathan Lethem's Gun, With Occasional Music, with a big chunk of The Norton Anthology of English Literature tossed in." Laura Miller, Salon.com
"An unusually sure-footed first novel, this literary folly serves up a generally unique stew of fantasy, science fiction, procedural, and cozy literary mystery — but in the end is more dancing bear than ballet." Kirkus Reviews
"If you have read any of the classics of English Literature, you will feel strangely at home in the action-packed alternative universe of Thursday Next....Hectic, humorous...and most satisfying." London Times
"So unusual you've got to read it to believe it; and please do." The Bookseller (London)
"For five years, I dragged freshman boys kicking and screaming through Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre. It was torture ? part of the academy's "Nip a Love of Literature in the Bud" program. But finally, those plaintive cries have been answered: Through the miracle of literary-genetic engineering, Jasper Fforde has crossbred Jane Eyre with James Bond and Harry Potter....This is about as much fun as you can have in the classics section without being thrown out of the library. To those students who swore they wouldn't reread Jane Eyre 'til Hades freezes over, I have good news: He's out cold. Start reading." Ron Charles, The Christian Science Monitor (read the entire Christian Science Monitor review)
The New York Times bestseller is the first in a series of outlandishly clever adventures featuring the resourceful, fearless literary detective Thursday Next, renowned Special Operative.
The first installment in Jasper Fforde's New York Times bestselling series of Thursday Next novels introduces literary detective Thursday Next and her alternate reality of literature-obsessed England
Fans of Douglas Adams and P. G. Wodehouse will love visiting Jasper Fforde's Great Britain, circa 1985, when time travel is routine, cloning is a reality (dodos are the resurrected pet of choice), and literature is taken very, very seriously: it's a bibliophile's dream. England is a virtual police state where an aunt can get lost (literally) in a Wordsworth poem and forging Byronic verse is a punishable offense. All this is business as usual for Thursday Next, renowned Special Operative in literary detection. But when someone begins kidnapping characters from works of literature and plucks Jane Eyre from the pages of Brontë's novel, Thursday is faced with the challenge of her career. Fforde's ingenious fantasy—enhanced by a Web site that re-creates the world of the novel—unites intrigue with English literature in a delightfully witty mix. Thursday's zany investigations continue with six more bestselling Thursday Next novels, including One of Our Thursdays is Missing and the upcoming The Woman Who Died A Lot. Visit jasperfforde.com.
About the Author
Jasper Fforde recently traded a varied career in the film industry for staring vacantly out of the window and arranging words on a page.
Table of Contents
1. A Woman Named Thursday Next
2. Gad's Hill
3. Back at My Desk
4. Acheron Hades
5. Search for the Guilty, Punish the Innocent
6. Jane Eyre: A Short Excursion in the Novel
7. The Goliath Corporation
8. Airship to Swimdon
9. The Next Family
10. The Finis Hotel, Swindon
11. Polly Flashes Upon the Inward Eye
12. SpecOps-27: The Literary Detectives
13. The Church at Capel-y-ffin
14. Lunch with Bowden
15. Hello and Goodbye, Mr. Quaverley
16. Sturmey Archer and Felix7
17. SpecOps-17: Suckers and Biters
18. Landen Again
19. The Very Irrev. Joffy Next
20. Dr. Runcible Spoon>br> 21. Hades and Goliath
22. The Waiting Game
23. The Drop
24. Martin Chuzzlewit Is Reprieved
25. Time Enough for Contemplation
26. The Earthcrossers
27. Hades Finds Another Manuscript
28. Haworth House
29. Jane Eyre
30. A Groundwell of Popular Feeling
31. The People's Republic of Wales
32. Thornfield Hall
33. The Book Is Written
34. Nearly the End of Their Book
35. Nearly the End of Our Book
36. Married
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text: ABC has opted not to pick up the back nine episodes of Private Practice. Episode 613 will be the series finale. Star Kate Walsh announced last spring that she would be leaving the show after this season's thirteenth episode. According to Deadline, ABC and showrunner Shonda Rhimes came to a mutual decision to end this show. The show has struggled in the ratings since moving to Tuesday at 10PM. The most recent episode on October 9 garnered a 1.6 adults 18-49 rating and ranked last in the time period. Rhimes tweeted a note to fans that reads in part, "I'm sad to say that Private Practice's run will end after episode 613 this season. There was a lot of discussion and debate but, in the end, the guys at the network and the studio and I all decided that Private Practice was reaching its finish line." You can read the rest here.


text:
GRAND RAPIDS From orchestra to choir to band, music education is in the spotlight in Grand Rapids this weekend. It's all for the 8th Annual Michigan Music Conference.
The event kicked off Friday and runs through Saturday at Devos Performance Hall and the Amway Grand Plaza.
It brings together teachers, choir leaders and band directors to collaborate and learn the latest techniques in music training.
Exceptional music students K through 12 were selected to perform in the Honors Concerts Series.
The shows feature some of the most talented young musicians in band, jazz, choir, orchestra and conducting from around the state.
Soorya Ramappan, Music Student, said, "I think it's really fun to be with friends and improve on your musical sound as a group and as yourself."
Virginia Kerwin, Michigan Music Conference adds, "The quality of Michigan Music Education is highly respected all over the United States. Michigan in many ways sets the benchmark for comprehensive music education."
There are many concerts open to the public Friday at the Michigan Music Conference.
Tickets are $10 and you can take a look at the schedule online HERE.


text:
A new, tiny insect in Maine - even tinier than a baby's fingernail - has the potential to wreak huge havoc on the state's berry growers. The Asian spotted winged fruit fly can turn perfect fruit into a gooey mess in a matter of days. The fly first arrived in the western U.S. three years ago. Last year, it made its way to Maine. Its numbers have grown so quickly it has agricultural experts scrambling to find a way to minimize the damage to commercial berry crops. Patty Wight has more.
Three days a week, David Handley, a small fruit specialist for the University of Maine Cooperative Extension, and crop technician Katie Woodman cross the state in a bright blue truck to check fruit fly traps (left). They know the spotted wing fruit fly is here - now they want to find out how the population fluctuates, so they can better predict when and how farmers should manage them.
The first stop this day is Chipman Farm in Dry Mills. Handley and Woodman drive across a field to a trap adjacent to a row of raspberries. "We'll show you our high tech equipment here," he says. "And it's just sitting here on a tomato stake - a wooden six-foot tall wooden tomato stake - and we've screwed a ring clamp into it."
The clamp holds a red plastic cup - the fruit flies are attracted to the color red, as well as what's inside: a mix of apple cider vinegar, white grape juice, and a little alcohol to help disperse the odor. "It basically smells like ripening or slightly overripe fruit," Handley says.
Handley lifts the lid to a vinegary brew of mostly spotted wing fruit fly, with a few unlucky houseflies mixed in. Katie Woodman estimates there are about 200 spotted fruit flies in the trap, but she's seen far more. "We've had thousands at this site," she says.
Patty Wight: "In one cup?"
Katie Woodman: "In one cup, yes."
David Handley: "Over one week - that's one week's worth of catch."
Handley says there are two things that are particularly troubling about the spotted wing fruit fly. First, its ability to reproduce.
"So each one of these little flies can lay up to 300 eggs," he says. "And it only takes them, on a good stretch of weather - 14 days - to go from egg to another egg-laying adult. So you can see how the population can go from just a few flies to millions in just a matter of a couple of weeks."
The other thing that makes these fruit flies troubling is a specialized tool used by the females: saw-like ovipositors, which they use to deposit eggs. Whereas regular fruit flies are attracted to rotten fruit, the spotted wing females like unripe fruit because their ovipositor can easily cut through fruit's skin to lay eggs.
The affected fruit can look perfectly fine on the outside, but inside it's filled with larvae. And this presents a conundrum to small berry growers: to spray, or not to spray? Because some consumers want their food local, but without the pesticides.
"We've put some investment into some equipment that people probably don't like - we put a new sprayer in," says Walter Goss, who owns a berry farm in Mechanic Falls. He says the sprayer was an expensive investment - the price of a new car - plus he spent an extra $1,000 on insecticide for weekly treatments.
But it was either spray or lose his crops, he says. "This is our livelihood, this is what we do. We only grow raspberries and blueberries, and I can't let it take over. Otherwise I'm out of business."
But smaller berry growers may not have the resources to buy this kind of equipment to treat their crops. David Handley from the Cooperative Extension says he, along with others around the country, are working to find other ways to manage the spotted wing fruit fly.
He wants to improve their traps so they'll catch the spotted wing fruit fly (left) earlier in the season, when there's more time for farmers to respond. He says they're also looking for a biological parasite that will attack the fruit fly. But for the forseeable future, he says, spraying will be necessary.
"This to me is going to be a major investment for farmers in the future," Handley says. "It's not something that I think is going to go away, based on what I know about it already. And we are always going to have to be dealing with it from now on."
Click here to learn more about the spotted fruitfly, drosophila.
Photos of David Handley and Katie Woodman by Patty Wight.


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Thread: A new Pope...
Results 51 to 60 of 75
Every denomination in Christianity picks and chooses which Bible verses have more of a moral imperative than others. There is even difference between two or three denominations within Christianity and the rest over what writings even constitute the Bible. There are also differences between the various biblical translations out there. For example, the KJV uses the term "abomination" to describe both sexual acts between men and the eating of shrimp. Modern translations choose a different word for the eating of shrimp.
Then there's the whole pre-trib rapture vs post trib rapture vs no rapture arguments that protestants have been having since at least Darby's days, probably longer.
Lanie and I can disagree with other Christians about whether gays should be allowed to marry, whether a pastor should only be an unmarried male, and who (if anyone) qualifies for the rapture and still be Christians, as long as we accept that we need a savior and that Jesus is that savior. You might not like it, but in the long run, it is not you who decides who is and who isn't a Christian.
You don't see me saying you're not a real Christian (even though I have lectured). It's God's call. It's not mine or yours.
on edit: I wouldn't say I don't believe in something. I would say I'm interpreting it a little bit differently than you. Sorry if that makes you crazy.
Translations of the Bible, and the differences between them, are inevitable. They happen despite the best intentions of the translators to get it right from either the original Hebrew (Septuagint) and the Greek (NT) or even more contemporary translations.
While I'll agree that men decided which books would comprise the Bible, those decisions were predicated on the process having been inspired by God. I struggle with this concept myself, but I digress.
The bolded statement is what I can't endorse, however.
Any Bible study I've ever taken part in, irrespective of translation and passage, has been approached with the idea of attempting to understand God's word.
I've seen different translations studied just to determine what, if any, the subtle differences were.
I don't think there's a lot of judgment being exercised with that other than a sincere desire to understand what God is telling us.U.S. Army, Retired
In Memory Of My Friend 1st Sgt. Tim Millsap A Co, 70th Eng. Bn. 3rd Bde 1st AD...K.I.A. 25 April 2005
Liberalism Is The Philosophy Of The Stupid
To Achieve Ordered Liberty You Must Have Moral Order As Well
The libs/dems of today are the Quislings of former years. The cowards who would vote a fraud into office in exchange for handouts from the devil.
And if you think I've engaged your drivel with a "rough tongue"...you'd be shocked and what I delete from my posts to you.
Are you okay with divorce?
You don't see me saying you're not a real Christian (even though I have lectured). It's God's call. It's not mine or yours.
Like I said...you're not allowed to just pick and choose which parts of the Bible you're going to adhere to as it fits your twisted view of the world.
on edit: I wouldn't say I don't believe in something. I would say I'm interpreting it a little bit differently than you. Sorry if that makes you crazy.
And it's gonna take more than your misguided idiocy to ever drive me crazy. Sorry.In Memory Of My Friend 1st Sgt. Tim Millsap A Co, 70th Eng. Bn. 3rd Bde 1st AD...K.I.A. 25 April 2005
Liberalism Is The Philosophy Of The Stupid
To Achieve Ordered Liberty You Must Have Moral Order As Well
The libs/dems of today are the Quislings of former years. The cowards who would vote a fraud into office in exchange for handouts from the devil.
Lanie, two questions for you.
(1) Without quoting verses from Leviticus, in ALL versions of the Bible re homosexuality ...
Do libs really think God is OK with same sex "marriage?"
(2) To my admitted inferior knowledge, there is nothing in the Bible that refers to "abortion" per se ...
But ... libs that call themselves Christians, do they really think that Jesus would be OK with killing life in the womb, especially if used as a form of birth-control, or worse yet ... as a woman's right to do with her body as she chooses?
In my opinion, libs who believe in abortion and same sex marriage ... and also think of themselves as Christians, had better be prepared to make up their minds on where they stand ... before they meet their Maker.Considered a black sheep by my mixed-bag of Liberal nutcase family members ... but still love them all anyway!!!
American By Choice ~ 1980
Depends on the liberal. For me, it started out years ago struggling with the concept of homosexuality being a sin because I couldn't understand why. I was still trying to hold on to my faith in college when one of the Republicans were trying to get the PRIDE group defunded. I went to a meeting about supporting the PRIDE group and met some of the homosexuals, the people supposedly out to destroy the family. One of them was crying about never being accepted anywhere and always being thrown out of places of worship. I just couldn't believe they were out to harm people. Between a lot of issues, I left my faith for a while.
My main thing is that I don't want to see gays get hurt. A liberal minister can perform a ceremony. No problem. That's not what this is about. I want to see gay couples have the same rights to each other that we have. Benefits, joint taxes, power of attorney (without having to hold on to a piece of paper for dear life), bad credit. Nowhere in the bible does it say that marriage is about that. Humans came up with that. So, why not let gays have the same benefits that the bible never said to deny them of?
One thing that catches my attention about the bible is the context of speaking about homosexuality. Sodom and Gomorrah were rapists. Hardly anybody wants to point that out. Paul describes homosexuals who burned for lust for each other. That's not love or commitment. History says that homosexuality used to be associated with stuff like the Greeks. Greeks would have their young sons learn to have sex on an older man. Of course that's disgusting. That's not love. That's not commitment. That's just disgusting. I can totally understand why somebody would say that's worthy of death.
So, that's my take on the Bible and homosexuality. That and the feeling I can't shake off that it's wrong to deprive gays of what others have.
The bible makes some references. The strongest one in favor for the pro-choicer's side is in Exodus. It says that if the man kills the woman in a fight, he dies. However, he only pays a fine if he only kills the unborn baby. Makes it sound like the mother is more important than the bible.
However, there are other verses talking about God knowing people in the womb, before the womb, etc. I find those ideas to be really awesome.
I think God judges people based on what they know verses what they don't know. I think if a person really believes the unborn is not a person, then I really don't think God will send them to Hell. Sin is about purposely doing wrong. Then, you have the people who think more harm is done by making abortion illegal, but are personally pro-life. Not sure how God will judge that. I think it's still about their hearts. Now, there are some people who are hardened of heart, and don't care much if it's a baby or not. I think that's when the soul might be in trouble.
Do you really think God is okay with insults?
You called me a "scrunt."
Deal with it.
You wait until I do "bad" so you can lay into me.
Truth is, I don't think you care about what my beliefs are. I think you have a rage against me that's been going on since 2008 (before the election, not after). Maybe 2007. It all started when certain stuff went down, and you never got over it. You never forgave me for it. The truth is you treated me better when I was an agnostic, pro-choice, socialist. That's the truth. It's not so much that you treat me bad. Bailey treats me bad. So have others at times. We were never buddies, but you never treated me as hateful as you do now. It is totally personal for you. You're not just trying to piss me off. It's personal. I know the reason why. It's got nothing to do with politics, religion, or so forth. The truth is you've had a rage against me for years over something that happened years ago. You never got over it. You don't even care about my beliefs, do you? Admit it.
And you better back up 3 years on when my problems started with you. 2005 when I joined and saw they let a mouth breathing Libtard like you post here...I had a problem with you and your idiocy.
And as long as you post here I'll have issues with and continue to point out your stupidity.
My case in point. Tx, I don't have all these angry thoughts toward you on a 24/7 basis the way that you do me.
No, it isn't. Why is homosexuality so much worse than divorce, remarriage, pre-marital sex, gambling, getting drunk, etc? BTW, if I ever did adopt the idea that homosexuality was wrong (which btw, wouldn't make you happy because you'd still be raging against me), I'd probably adopt all the other ideas. It would only be logical to me.
Fact of the matter is you could get hit by a bus tomorrow and my life would go on without pause.
God is the reason I've made the decision not to be celibate.
God is the reason I changed my mind about abortion. Not quite sure how to make that argument since it would never fly in court, but I'm developing ideas. Oh, and yes, I really am pro-life. You're saying I'm pro-choice over and over simply isn't true.
You can own your own opinions, but you can't own your own facts.
And you're reaction to the facts are long winded diatribes like what you just posted.
What you know about religion could fill a thimble. And it's all based in Liberal dogma and propaganda.
And this bears out everytime you say something stupid about religion or the Bible and get pwn3d by someone who actually KNOWS about the scriptures.
I agree, which is why I pray about it.
Maybe, but you don't act like it. You don't act like somebody who loves your neighbor. You don't act like somebody who cares about something other than your rage at times.
Bridget you don't elicit rage or anger in me...you cause me feelings of pity towards you and your twisted view of the world. And more times than not...a bit of laughter at the innane things you say.In Memory Of My Friend 1st Sgt. Tim Millsap A Co, 70th Eng. Bn. 3rd Bde 1st AD...K.I.A. 25 April 2005
Liberalism Is The Philosophy Of The Stupid
To Achieve Ordered Liberty You Must Have Moral Order As Well
The libs/dems of today are the Quislings of former years. The cowards who would vote a fraud into office in exchange for handouts from the devil.
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