Patent ID: 7235004

Claim:
A knife edge conditioning apparatus for manually modifying the physical structure along an elongated edge of a stroked knife blade, the blade having two faces that at their terminus have been sharpened forming two edge facets that intersect to create the elongated edge at the junction of the two facets, said apparatus comprising at least one precision knife guide having a planar knife face contacting surface along which the face of the blade can be stroked in sustained moving contact with a hardened surface of an object located adjacent to and at an angle to said guide surface, said object being non-motor-driven, said hardened surface being of non-planar shape to maintain sustained contact with and locally stress and fracture the edge of the blade at the location of contact with said hardened surface on repeated stroking to create a microscopic serration along the edge, said hardened surface being substantially free of abrasive particles and free of sharp edges characteristic of abrading, skiving and metal removing tools, and where said object in a rest position can be displaced by an exerting force exerted by the blade edge against said hardened surface of said object against a predetermined restraining force of a resilient structure that upon release of said exerting force repositions said hardened surface to said rest position.