[bcarvings]

Hi,
I have a small pocket knife that has very good steel on it, but the knife is very dull. Are some knives not able to be sharpened? I took it to my carving club and they said it is already sharp. They told me that it is my wood that is hard. That is not true because I use soft basswood that x-acto knives slice though like a hot knife through butter.
Do all carving knives have a thin blade? I noticed all the good knives I've used have thin blades, so is it possible that I got the knife as sharp as it can go, it's just a little thick?

Can't really say about your knife, but a quality pocket knife can be plenty sharp. In my experience, the blade thickness does not need to be changed, but the bevel does. A dime thickness under the back edge of the blade is used by some, others like hardly any space under the back edge. I carry at least two, one with the dime thickness and one that I work totally flat for softer woods. It takes a fair bit of time to get the bevel the way you want it in either case. Patience and persistance is the only way to get there. No easy answers or quick methods.

[bcarvings]

Hi,
When forgers heat treat their knives to like 1400 degrees for 30 minutes. How do they do that? Do I need an expensive $3000 stove or something? Also thanks for the info plain ol ed, I think my pocket knife is thicker than a dime..

I'm not talking about a blade thickness of a dime. What I'm referring to is the space between the back of the blade and the stone. As for heat treating steel, no you don't need to spend $3K to do it. However, you do need to spend some time studying the subject. Once again, patience and persistance. No quick easy answers.