Sanelli knives - anyone here use them?

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I've never used nor seen one in person but I just read a discussion of them a couple of weeks ago. They're one of the only brands of kitchen knives that I know of that utilizes a convex edge grind. They look like an interesting alternative to Forschner and Dexter/Russell.
 
I like the look of the half-heavy knife:
63741834.jpg

It's got a lot of mass behind the edge like a cleaver and a nice, round belly like a chef's knife. It could be good as an all-purpose knife!
 
A friende uses them at work - they're not bad.... easy to sharpen and hold their edge pretty well.

Obviously not the best of knives, but not bad at all for the money.
 
A friende uses them at work - they're not bad.... easy to sharpen and hold their edge pretty well.

Obviously not the best of knives, but not bad at all for the money.

I'm a bit curious about sharpening them- how does your friend do it? As I understand it they're ground convex. It's tricky to sharpen a convex edge on a stone; most people do so with a strop of some type, or a belt grinder (at least in modern times). A current favorite method involves sandpaper and a mouse pad. While this isn't too difficult I consider convex a little bit of a PiTA to sharpen, mostly because my gear is mostly waterstones and steels.
 
I'm a bit curious about sharpening them- how does your friend do it? As I understand it they're ground convex. It's tricky to sharpen a convex edge on a stone; most people do so with a strop of some type, or a belt grinder (at least in modern times). A current favorite method involves sandpaper and a mouse pad. While this isn't too difficult I consider convex a little bit of a PiTA to sharpen, mostly because my gear is mostly waterstones and steels.

I wouldn't put a knife anywhere near a belt sander. :ermm: If you need to take that much metal off you're not using or caring for it properly.

YouTube - How to sharpen a knife with a convex blade
 
He just uses a regular steel, though recently used a whetstone having used them for around 2 months....

What exactly is a convex edge?
 
I wouldn't put a knife anywhere near a belt sander. :ermm: If you need to take that much metal off you're not using or caring for it properly.

YouTube - How to sharpen a knife with a convex blade


That's a good way to do it. Funny, I have a Bark River myself!;) I have to disagree about the best grinder, though. There are many, many different belts, some as fine as a 1000 grit Japanese waterstone. Plus you can buy leather stropping belts to fit any belt grinder. While many people think of them as tools for removing a lot of metal, a skilled sharpener can work wonders with one. Some of the most insane screaming sharp convex blades I've ever seen came off a belt grinder run by a real sharpening wizard.

Chef William: Here's an illustration of the convex grind.
 
I like the look of the half-heavy knife:
63741834.jpg

It's got a lot of mass behind the edge like a cleaver and a nice, round belly like a chef's knife. It could be good as an all-purpose knife!

Youse guys gotta be nuts. This is the ugliest blade (not to mention the handle) I've ever seen. If it worked for anything the Japanese woulda invented it centuries ago. Oh wait, they did. This is the design for boat keels... :cool:
 
Well yeah, they're ugly as a mud fence...but in a commercial kitchen that could be an asset. I can't imagine it walking off the line!:ROFLMAO:
 
Yeah, that handle is ugly...Rachel Ray-branded ugly, but stick a wood handle on it, rake the heel forward, maybe drop the point a little, and you got yourself a knife!

 
That's a good way to do it. Funny, I have a Bark River myself!;) I have to disagree about the best grinder, though. There are many, many different belts, some as fine as a 1000 grit Japanese waterstone. Plus you can buy leather stropping belts to fit any belt grinder. While many people think of them as tools for removing a lot of metal, a skilled sharpener can work wonders with one. Some of the most insane screaming sharp convex blades I've ever seen came off a belt grinder run by a real sharpening wizard.

Chef William: Here's an illustration of the convex grind.

Sorry, still not sold on motorized sharpening. There is really no use for a strop on a kitchen knife unless your using it for delicate carving or shaving your beard. On a 8-10" chef's knife?....no way. A 1200 grit sharpening stone is more than enough to get the edge back after proper use. One slip with a motorized belt sander and you can throw your $150 blade in the tackle box.
 
Sorry, still not sold on motorized sharpening. There is really no use for a strop on a kitchen knife unless your using it for delicate carving or shaving your beard. On a 8-10" chef's knife?....no way. A 1200 grit sharpening stone is more than enough to get the edge back after proper use. One slip with a motorized belt sander and you can throw your $150 blade in the tackle box.

To each his own. I know quite a few professional sharpeners that use belts. In fact, nearly all of 'em do. But you're right, you do have to be pretty careful. A lot of the pro's have theirs set up to run at a lot lower RPMs than stock, and again they're not sharpening kitchen knives with 80 grit belts, or at least I hope they aren't!:ROFLMAO:

I guess you and I have a bit different styles when we sharpen on stones...I would never stop at 1200 grit myself, but I like a more polished edge. With hunting/sporting knives I'll leave 'em a bit "toothier" since that seems to work well for cutting rope, bark, etc.

Last nite I ordered some 3M Micro abrasive sheets from Lee Valley. I got the PSA type in 15µ & 5µ plus a couple sheets of non-PSA 0.5µ Chromium Oxide (they don't have it in PSA anymore). My plan is to experiment with them as polish tapes for my Apex. Wish the 0.5µ was PSA but I'll find a way to mount it.
 
I'm with you on all that stuff, Rob. I "think" I have some .5 PSA somewhere as well as .3 non PSA aluminum oxide paper, Thiers-Issard paste, and both .25 and .1 diamond paste. I don't have time right now but later this aft I'll look through my 2" thick knife receipt file and see where it all came from.

I'm crazy, aren't I...... :wacko:

All a guy really needs is some liquid .5 chromium oxide in solution from Dave.
 
Anything past 1200 is overkill on a kitchen knife, commercial or not. If you like the polished edge, just run it over a power strop for a second and you'll have a mirror finish.
 
Anything past 1200 is overkill on a kitchen knife, commercial or not. If you like the polished edge, just run it over a power strop for a second and you'll have a mirror finish.

One person's opinion, certainly not mine. When people I hardly know ask me to sharpen their knives I give each one of them one minute's time on paper wheels. The edges are probably every bit as good as your 1200's and the owners think I'm some kind of sharpening God. What a joke. For my better knives, it's EdgePro all the way because I want the angles as close to perfect as possible, something totally unattainable with belts or free handing unless your name is Dave. I don't want convex edges.

Caveat: I freehand lots of knives, not because it's better, it's because it's faster. When profiling a blade I start with big slab of D8XX metal with sparkly diamonds all over it and get a rough edge. I take the gashes out with a Bester 700, Norton 1k, 4k, 8k, and Naniwa 10k superstone. Then I go to the strops. I guess it's a Zen thing.

Buzz
 
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