Professional Knife Sharpening?

[Andy M.]

You should have a honing steel. Also called a steel or sharpening steel. This tool should be used every time you use a knife. After using a knife and washing it, you use the steel to hone the edge.

Honing straightens out the blade edge and keeps the knife sharper for longer.

Do you have a steel? What kind of knives do you have?

 

[mugsy27]

i have one of these...is this it?

i am trying to sharpen 2 - 9" wolfgang puck chefs knives...

 

[Andy M.]

That's the one. Do you use it?

 

[mugsy27]

nope! i thought is was for sharpening, and it did a poor job. is it used more for keeping a knife sharp and smaller jobs?

 

[Chief Longwind Of The North]

A very sharp blade is also very thin and can be fragile, depending on the bevel angle. It folds to the right or left and causes the knife to appear to have lost its sharp edge. The edge is usually still sharp however and just needs to be realligned so that it is straight, relative to the blade. The steel does this. It realligns the edge. It does not shapren. I have even been known to use the shaft of a very smooth screwdriver in a pinch to satisfy this task. It works.

As Andy stated, use the steel each time you use your knife. It will decrease the need to frequently sharpen your knives, making them last longer and perform better.

Seeeeeeya; Goodweed of the North

 

[Andy M.]

The steel does not sharpen a knife blade at all - any knife blade.

With a newly sharpened knife. The blade tapers down in thickness to very thin metal at the cutting edge. Chopping and slicing on a cutting board involves that cutting edge's being struck against the board surface. That distorts the very thin cutting edge from a straight, perfectly aligned edge and reduces the effectiveness of the knife.

When you use the steel on the knife edge, you are reducing that distortion and realigning the edge to its original straight, flat form.

It is very important to do every time you use a knife. It should be part of your clean up process - wash and dry the knife, hone it and put it away.

Check out this site for the right way to use a steel

 

[mugsy27]

thanks for all the info!! does washing the knife in the dishwasher do damage?

 

[Andy M.]

YES!!

Always wash your knives by hand. The force of the water jets in the dishwasher will toss utensils around in the machine, causing them to bang into other items. This can cause damage to the blade edge. Also, the harsh detergents can damage some handle materials.

If your knife is worth the time to hand sharpen it, wash it by hand.

 

[Robo410]

$4 a knife is a fair price these days. Do that once a year or so and get a diamond steel for honing and maintaining the sharpness the rest of the time.

 

[aribaba]

I agree with Sugarcreations vbmenu_register("postmenu_306429", true); , good quality blade is very important to knife! When you buy it, you can try it with one PC of paper.... You will know which PC knife is sharp and good quality....

I am a freshhand in this community from China....now feeling that there is so much difference between our life....

 

[beau_safken]

If I would suggest anything, its get the spyderco sharpening kit.

Its the best thing I have ever used. Can sharpen serrated edges also. This thing will allow you to sharpen anything with a edge. Kitchen shears, knives, razor blades **** near anything. I can put an edge on my knife that I could never get in a pro shop. The only issue I see is you have no ability to really put bite on the blade, but for 90% of needs thats just fine.

 

[ohsmily]

The only issue I see is you have no ability to really put bite on the blade, but for 90% of needs thats just fine.

Huh? What do you mean. Could elaborate a little?

 

[beau_safken]

When you sharpen a blade you are putting a point back on the blade. /\

So the process of sharpening, how you pull the blade over the surface of the sharpening stone or honing steel is how to put marks on the blade. Think of it like if you zoomed in real hard and looked at the side of the edge.

Putting bite would be putting some \\\\\\\\\ to catch the food and move it out of the way some. Usually I will put some bite to grip the food as I slice on the right side of the blade. I'm right handed and I like how the bite on the right pulls the food away a little.

get it?

 

[Blunt]

I like to use a 1x 42 belt sander for sharpening. I use up to a 800 grt belt and then switch to leather honing strap. It's important to remove the backing strap from the machine before sharpening. I end up with a highly polished convex edge in a fairly short period of time. I have been sharpening for over 30 yrs and after visiting several cooking stores that offer professional sharpening i would avoid them like the plague. The ones that i went to all used professional electric sharpeners that left coarse saw like edges that dull quickly and remove excessive amounts of metal in the process causing the knife to wear out far sooner than it should. flat grind knives i sharpen using a piece of glass and sand paper up to 2500 grt. honing compounds rubbed on single sheets of paper placed on top of glass and i finish with plain newsprint witch contains fine abrasive in the ink.

 

[Caine]

Ask your butcher who sharpens his knives. He will most likely tell you he sharpens his own, and then offer to do yours, free fer nuthin!