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Knife Purchasing/Sharpening Tips

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    Knife Purchasing/Sharpening Tips

    I sharpen knives at a professional level and have thousands invested in sharpening equipment and sharpened thousands of knives. I figured I can post a few tips when purchasing knives to help the collective here. These are in no particular order here.

    1. Your money is better spent on individual knives vs a block. Blocks are typically a way to get you to buy more than you need.

    2. Pick a knife with a half bolster or no bolster. Knife like the standard Wusthof Classic and Henckels will need to have the bolsters reshaped as they age to keep the designed geometry of the knife. The Wusthof Ikon and Zwilling Pro are half bolster knives and have much better handles.

    3. Choose a knife with a HRC rating of 58-62. Anything less dulls really easy and anything over chips really easy unless it"s a true Japanese handmade knife in SG1 or SG2 type steels.

    4 .8' chefs knives, paring knives, steak knives, bread knives and cleavers are the most used knives with the chef's knife winning overwhelming in this group. I work on a private estate with a world renowned executive chef and he uses one knife 99% of the time and its a 40yo Wusthof Classic. He is German so this makes sense...

    5. Steel rods don't sharpen knives, they realign the blade. steeling knives to bring back sharpness works best on cheap knives with HRC rating less than 58.

    6.Ceramic Hones at 2 degrees over the bevel with zero pressure are the best ways to bring an edge back.

    7. Electric sharpeners ruin good knives over time. they remove way too much metal per pass

    8. German knives are far more durable than Japanese knives. I rarely sharpen a Shun without a chipped blade and rarely sharpen a German blade with a chip.

    9. Sharpeners I recommend are Edge Pro, Tormek, Spyderco Sharpmaker, Wicked Edge, Lansky and pretty much anything that clamps the knife and gives yo control of the process. For rods I recommend the Idahone. I use a Tormek mostly for my profession and only recommend it to people that understand the process and how fast it can remove metal.

    10. Knife brands I recommend are Victorinox, Dalstrong Gladiator, Wusthof Ikon, Zwilling Pro, Enso, Miyabi and Benchmade Meatcrafter for game. There are other great brands out there, but these stand out to me.

    There is likely much more I could elaborate on here, but figured I'd post something with general info and we could expand from there...

    #2
    Very much enjoyed ya sharin yer insight, an experience, Brother! Many Thanks!

    Please, DO feel free to elaborate, at length, as time permits.

    I am here to learn, amass data, an proceed, share with others...

    Comment


      #3
      Dang. Where’s PJ………

      thanks for the info as well! Great read!

      Comment


      • Mr. Bones
        Mr. Bones commented
        Editing a comment
        Do ya need PJ's contact info??? I can axe him shoot it to ya, via PM...

      #4
      Thanks for this.

      Comment


        #5
        Thanks for sharing your knowledge.

        Comment


          #6
          Thanks mate, it's all good info, feel free to elaborate, sharing experience is what this place is about.
          My knife sharpening talent stops a wave over the ceramic rod before use and a rub on the trusty oilstone when I think of it.

          Comment


            #7
            I am far more knowledgeable and skilled on this subject than any of my extensive circle of friends, but you’re well beyond me. Really solid info here, and I appreciate you sharing. I’m highly aligned with you in my opinions.

            Comment


              #8
              I def agree about buying individual knives instead of a block. I got a Wisthof Classic 8 knife block as a wedding gift 20 years ago, and the only knives I use from it are the chefs knife and bread knife. Lousy thing didn’t even come with a pairing knife, so I had to buy one individually.

              Going to check out the sharpeners you recommended. I bought some *very* inexpensive whetstones last year. My knives are as sharp as when new, but I know I could do better.

              Comment


                #9
                What are your thoughts on Workshop sharpeners?

                Also, what do you think the biggest mistakes are that newbies make with regards to sharpening knives?

                Comment


                  #10
                  Very cool! Welcome, eat good & have fun! Nuff said.

                  Comment


                    #11
                    It's all your fault I just ordered a new knife.

                    (seriously, welcome)

                    Comment


                      #12
                      Personally I use a chef knife, stiff boning knife, flexible fillet knife, serrated paring knife, breaking knife, slicer, standard pairing knife, cleaver, shears, and a bone saw quite often. I have others but I grab most of these at least once a week.

                      do you use a belt style sharpening system?

                      Comment


                        #13
                        I think the biggest mistake by far when sharpening is not forming an adequate burr along the cutting edge before progressing to higher grits sharpening. As you sharpen passes along each side of the knife the bevels will meet and begin to form a burr as the metal rolls off the opposite side of the blade of your last pass. This lets you know you have reached an apex and the knifes edge can then begin to be refined my removing that burr with lighter grit stones, leather strop or ceramic hone.

                        Comment


                        • Spinaker
                          Spinaker commented
                          Editing a comment
                          Would you be able to post a picture of what this looks like? I would certainly appreciate it. Thanks for all of this info, this is great. We appreciate it.

                        #14
                        I own a Worksharp, but only use it in rare cases that my Tormek will not do the job. Workshops are fine for Sub $50 knives, but they remove too much material to use them on lifetime investments. I think they definitely can have a purpose for some users.

                        Comment


                        • texastweeter
                          texastweeter commented
                          Editing a comment
                          Damnit...well I guess I am off to sending out my knives again.

                        #15
                        My favorite sharpener for basic entry level sharpening is a Edgepro Apex with a 220g/600g and 1200g ceramic. You can sharpen a kitchen knife very sharp with these three steps. There are loads of knockoff models on eBay for cheap, but they have crap stones and don’t last. EdgePro is made here in the USA and was developed by an icon in the sharpening world.

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