Author Topic: knife sharpening  (Read 6697 times)

BZB

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knife sharpening
« on: June 25, 2013, 08:50:59 AM »
On a previous thread here I learned the difference between honing and sharpening. No wonder my knives did not get sharper when I tried to sharpen them with a honing steel! Oops!
The past couple of years I have taken all our kitchen knives to the farmer's market to be professionally sharpened once a year. It cost about $40 - $60. Now after watching this video I am going to get a whetstone and do it myself.

http://video.about.com/culinaryarts/Sharpen-Knives-With-a-Whetston.htm#vdTrn

This video shows a simple trick to keep the correct angle of the blade. Clip a little bull clip (the black triangle shaped office supply kind) on the blade before you start - it will keep the blade at the correct angle.

Kazimieras

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Re: knife sharpening
« Reply #1 on: June 25, 2013, 01:16:52 PM »
Alternatively get a sharpener with the angles built in already.

Ex: http://www.amazon.com/Smiths-CCKS-2-Step-Knife-Sharpener/dp/B00032S02K/

mgreczyn

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Re: knife sharpening
« Reply #2 on: June 25, 2013, 02:28:34 PM »
We get ours sharpened at the farmers market as well.  Took the guy like 10 minutes.  $40.  If you get a whetstone you should set up a side biz. 

BZB

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Re: knife sharpening
« Reply #3 on: June 25, 2013, 02:50:55 PM »
@Kazimieras - I like that knife sharpener - good price and good reviews - thanks!

aj_yooper

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Re: knife sharpening
« Reply #4 on: June 25, 2013, 07:03:45 PM »
Great video.  Thank you.

Vilx-

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Re: knife sharpening
« Reply #5 on: June 26, 2013, 01:11:01 AM »
Nice video, but not much information. I recommend Sharpening Made Easy. You can buy the book, or just read it all online in that link. I intend to do it too, but I still need to find a good whetstone and read the book to the end. The whetstone that I got at my local home supply store is some kind of crap which is softer than my knifes. :P

Anyways, my uncle also is quite knowledgable about sharpening (he even took a university course on the subject) and he says that the most important thing above all is to keep the same angle while sharpening. All the internet resources that I could find agree on this. He has enough skill to just do it by hand, but that comes with a lot of practice, so an angle guide is recommended.

davisgang90

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Re: knife sharpening
« Reply #6 on: June 26, 2013, 04:11:29 AM »
I use the Spyderco Tri-Angle Sharpmaker system.  It works like a charm.  Pay once and sharpen for free in just minutes. 

http://www.amazon.com/Spyderco-Tri-Angle-Sharpmaker-Sharpener-204MF/dp/B000Q9C4AE/ref=sr_1_1?s=sporting-goods&ie=UTF8&qid=1372241408&sr=1-1&keywords=spyderco+triangle+sharpmaker

psu256

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Re: knife sharpening
« Reply #7 on: June 26, 2013, 08:37:08 PM »
Thanks for the video. I bought a Smith's whetstone at Dick's Sporting Goods a few years ago and keep it in my kitchen. Something similar to this one:

http://www.smithsproducts.com/product/sk2/

Really like the non-skid base on it.

DirtBoy

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Re: knife sharpening
« Reply #8 on: June 27, 2013, 09:33:26 AM »
I like the Spyderco Sharpener as well.  I use it for all my knives and scissors.  I setup my little maple table infront of the TV with a pile of things to be sharpened.  Put on a show and sharpen while watching a movie or something.  Makes such a mundane task go by quickly.

jba302

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Re: knife sharpening
« Reply #9 on: June 27, 2013, 02:48:12 PM »
Those pull through sharpeners are bad on knives, they can cause a lot of chips and rip off a shitload of metal. While it would not matter short term (or with a hack knife), you would be better served with the spyderco system for a knife that you want to keep around.

Or go with hones, which are fun to learn DIY and a decent 3 hone set will cover all but the fussy knives, plus you can do tools and axes if you get a hard set.

Gerard

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Re: knife sharpening
« Reply #10 on: June 28, 2013, 04:22:33 PM »
Unless you're using knives for some super-professional butcher/mercenary job, or you're even clumsier than I am, you're really not going to do that much damage if your angle is a tiny bit off. I would just pick up a five-dollar stone in Chinatown and do your own. I'm surprised to learn that there are people who don't.

Riceman

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Re: knife sharpening
« Reply #11 on: July 06, 2013, 09:07:30 PM »
If you like to cook and like to use good tools, go to a place like knifeforums.com and buy a nice, used japanese chef's knife.  You will always be able to sell it back on the same website for the same price you bought it for.  They are brilliant to use and stay sharper much longer than traditional western knives.  Also, they tend to be easier to keep an angle when manually sharpening, as the bevel on the edge can be up to an inch wide, whereas western knives may have only a tiny bevel at the very edge, making it harder to gauge the correct angle.

Sharpening a nice knife on a stone is badass--and not just in the moustachian way.

capital

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Re: knife sharpening
« Reply #12 on: July 07, 2013, 10:22:14 AM »
Alternatively, if you want a high-quality tool that isn't flashy but works well, at a price you don't have to worry about, the Victorinox basic chef's knife is great:
http://www.amazon.com/Victorinox-Swiss-8-Inch-Fibrox-Straight/dp/B008M5U1C2

Cinder

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Re: knife sharpening
« Reply #13 on: July 31, 2013, 02:16:31 PM »
A really good resource for info about all different kinds of sharpening can be found at

http://forums.egullet.org/topic/26036-knife-maintenance-and-sharpening/