GoDuke, I can not stress this tip enough. When using the ceramic hone. Use ZERO PRESSURE against the rod. It took me forever to figure this out when finishing the knife. Start with 220g until you feel a burr along the entire edge(opposite side of what you just sharpened). Then do 4 passes with 600g and one final pass with zero pressure from the stone. After that use the ceramic rod with zero pressure at 2 degrees more than the sharpened angle. The best thing is to glue a piece of cardboard cut 23 degrees to the blue hone cover to help you see the angle. I sharpen all typical kitchen knives at 21 degrees. if you"ve got true Japanese knife it'll be 12-16 degrees depending. Feel free to reach out if you can't get it. Also, Ben Dale that created the system said almost everyone would get better results if they'd slow down!
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I want to have reasonably sharp cooking knives. But after many decades on this marble, "I know me."
What I mean is that I'm the guy who'd go out and buy the nice set of stones with every intention of sitting down and learning how to sharpen by hand. Then taking time to do it. Except I would never do it.
So I'm the dude who would be better off buying an electric sharpener right off the bat.Comment
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I, too, am That Dude. The Ken Onion Work Sharp has been a life-changer for me. Half an hour every so often to put a perfect edge on the entire set of ~10 knives, without having to barely move... gravity and the weight of the knives do all the work. That and a good hone, and we don't ever have to settle for anything less than an excellent sharp.
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Hi All
Many good comments about knife sharpening. I am a knife guy that takes great pride in keeping my knives super sharp for kitchen work. Here are my two cents: Mostly, I use a steel or ceramic rod to keep my knifes sharp. I favor a Japanese 15 degree edge on my Asian and my German knives. I like F. Dick steel rods (medium through fine) and Idahone ceramic. The F. Dick are expensive but come in very high hardness steel in their best models which you need, especially for your very sharp and delicate Asian knives.
I also use the Worksharp Ken Onion and the Culinary version as well. Both work great although you need to use a soft touch to avoid taking too much metal off your knife to avoid shortening its life. A good high hardness knife can go a very long time with just rod honing before you need to reshape the edge with a belt sharpener like the Worksharp. Remember, it is a lot less work too keep a knife sharp with regular rod honing (i.e. every time you use it!) than to try to bring it back with a machine after it gets dull.Comment
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Starting out with a RUIXIN PRO RX-008 Professional Knife Sharpener with 10 Whetstones, picked it up on Amazon for $40.
I have a mix of old Wusthof and Henkels that have been abused....so I thought I would try and get a decent edge on them and see if I like sharpening myself before investing in a quality sharpener.
If I screw it up I go back to plan "B" and buy some new knives, and let the dude at the farmer's market sharpen my knives 1-2x a year
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ILMsmoke Thanks so much for sharing your insights. My personal knife journey follows for any comments/feedback you or others might have.
When I was a youngster (back in the 70s) my dad was the authority for me on all things knife. He was a farm boy, hunter/fisher, and also a welder and steel fabricator. He would bring home scrap steel from the shop and take it to the garage, then emerge with a knife.
He made a comment one time about how sharpening at an incorrect angle will ruin a knife. I now know what he meant - the issues related to changing the knife profile - but it planted a fear in me that I might ruin a knife by sharpening it wrong. So in my adult life I was always relying on various sharpening devices to sharpen knives without ruining them.
Then about 15 years ago I stumbled on the Murray Carter knife sharpening method using Japanese water stones, and I bought his DVD course. Subsequently I proceeded to reprofile all of my knives (note that I only have affordable knives, nothing expensive) and now I have about 8 or 9 kitchen knives that I fully re-sharpen about twice a year and maintain with a steel in between.
I'm sure my knives are not as sharp as what a pro can do, but I definitely warn guests before they start using them. But most important, I now feel empowered to maintain my own knives without fear of "ruining" them. Sometimes I start sharpening a knife and I make it worse instead of better. So I start over and keep at it until I get it right.
Again, I wouldn't take this approach with expensive knives, but my "collection" is just 3 stainless chefs knives that I got in a set at Costco years ago and are really amazing at holding an edge now that I thinned the blade a bit, a Victorinox boning knife, and a handful of carbon steel knives,
Thanks again.Comment
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