Note to self: stop volunteering to sharpen stuff...

[buzzard767]

Originally Posted by Edgepro-UK

Suggestions are always welcome

Once I obtain the profile I want with rougher stones, my GS progression is 1, 2, 4, & 8k. From there I either use a Naniwa 10k if more polish is desired or go directly to stropping with chromium oxide.

The price of the super fine grit GS's has kept me from purchasing them. For me, anything beyond 8k is overkill except for the Naniwa on a few vegetable slicers or when I want my EDC to really show off. The 8k edge cuts very well and is easily supplemented by stropping when a hair splitting/push cutting edge is desired.

[AllenOK]

Back to the original topic:

I see another true artist/professional has joined us. Welcome, Chico.

I, a lowly supplicant to the art of sharpening a blade, am the resident knife guru at the country club I work at. The past several weeks, some of the other cooks have been approaching me, giving me the usual schpeel, "Can you take a look at my knife, please?"

I'll look at the tool in question, then my prep-checklist, ending with the clock, and determine if I have enough time to do any good. Usually, the answer is "The Doctor is in. Please take a seat and wait a few minutes."

As previously mentioned, there is one cook that has a Shun that's been really abused. He was the third person to wheedle me of some time. I had to recondition the edge. He had a 20 degree bevel! I took it down to somewhere between 10 and 15 degrees. It's holding up very well. He couldn't believe the difference. Now, if I can just give him a sense of proper respect for a finely honed edge. Maybe then he won't leave such an expensive knife laying around for anyone to use/abuse/swipe.

My Executive Chef keeps telling me he's going to have me work on his knives a bit.

[Chico Buller]

Allen, I had a very serious conversation about the balance of freebies-to-wages with a mod in another forum. We spoke indepth on the telephone, and frankly this "nice guy" problem was one to which he was very familiar.

You want to be a nice guy, a problem solver. But let's be clear, if I was the tinker that appraised that abused Shun, the cost for repair and a polishing would be from 100 to 200 dollars. You gave that away, income for your family.

It's a Japanese laminate. Now, this guy might be the head chef at a fancy-schmancy restaurant. They buy him new knives allowing him to throw away the dinged ones. A cheap honing on a hot grinding wheel may indeed be foolish, but clearly a write-off.

However, we both know that a relationship between the chef and the tinker develops into a professional service. Once the client has pristine and useful edges, they "magically" seem to hit the floor less and less. Suddenly, the chef wants to know what else is in your sharpening case. Oooh, there's a new gyuto and a butakiri...

Now take that idea to a discussion with your friend. You wouldn't ask him to re-shingle your roof for free. And one of my best clients paid me about 7,000 dollars in one year.

At some point, the exchange has to be professional. Of course, I will do pro bono work for a soldier about to be deployed or a subsistance hunter. However, there's a clear-cut line.