Chicago Cutlery

Thanks Me2. I suppose you are an advocate of Stamp and if so, on a stone to sharpen are you always edge leading/spine trailing?

Cliff got me to thinking more critically about sharpening which led to that aspect in other walks of life. When I first began watching his videos, the more I watched, the more critically I thought and was there because I was tired of all the knife sharpening bs on the internet so I landed with Cliff. What a man and what a thinker, and I never knew him but already miss him.......so unique in this day and time.
 
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As for sharpness after stropping that is true. It’s hard to equal a stropped edge for extreme sharpness. But if coarser edges do slicing tasks longer, how useful is stropping for the softer steels encountered in these styles of kitchen knives?

I generally don’t use strips anymore. I tried them and it was an extra step for minimal return. I do intend to try some diamond loaded strips with some of the more advanced steels, as I have issues getting them as sharp as other steels. I feel this has led to a lack of edge holding for them compared to better sharpened but more conventional steels.
 
For final sharpening yes I typically just do edge leading passes very lightly. There is one exception. I have a 4000 grit water stone that is very soft. Sometime edge trailing passes are needed to keep the edge from gouging the stone. Some days I just don’t have the touch.

For the coarse shaping stage I use a scrubbing pass, a reading the edge on both the edge trailing and edge leading portions. I use a stone holder similar to a Sharpmaker but have done it freehand like in the video.
 
I knew and interacted with Cliff for a long time. I found his conclusions sound and when I tried to replicate them they worked. I was and still am sad to know he’s gone.
 
me2 said:
I knew and interacted with Cliff for a long time. I found his conclusions sound and when I tried to replicate them they worked. I was and still am sad to know he’s gone.
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It's good you had a relationship with him.......he was definitely an outlier from the norm that is being pursued current date. Usually I've found it not the best to go with an outlier on different subjects, but there's always an exception and Cliff (RIP) was one of them. Glad we crossed paths because I'm retooling my thought process to continue on this kitchen knife sharpening process. Appreciate your involvement.
 
Kitchen knives are some of the hardest worked knives around. They also get the least attention. If they’re made of such crappy steels as many people claim we’d have starved by now.
 
I like the old original pre-Chinese Chicago Cutlery. You can tell, I’ve learned, by the location of the stamp. If it is in the wood, they are US made and good quality for the price. If the stamp is on the blade, Chinese, run away. I like them because while the steel doesn’t hold an edge particularly well, they are easy even for a hack like me to sharpen acceptably. I buy old ones, refinish the handles, sharpen them up, and gift them to people I like.
 
Marvin, thx for the tip on logo location showing where a Chicago Cutlery knife was made. Much appreciated.

My experience with the brand lines up with previous postings. I have found CC edges don't last particularly well, but are relatively easy to re-establish. I find they will take a decent slightly toothy edge, which I prefer in the kitchen for soft product like meat, leafy veggies, & especially tomatoes, and will do okay on all else. That said, they fall far short of the performance I get from the Japanese knives or higher end (& higher priced) steels in my other kitchen bladeware.

I give Chicago Cutlery credit for covering pretty well the range of sizes & shapes of knives typically used by home cooks (paring knives up to big chef's knives & slicers). And, like others, I look for them at thrift stores and garage/yard/tag sales. In my world they are well worth the couple bucks I pay to get them.
 
RokJok,
Yep, I agree entirely with you. For the $20 I set as the max for one, they are good. I have several 44S which are 8” chef’s knives. Good on things like cabbage, thick-skinned squash. But I’ll never trade my shirogami Nakiri for one to use on veggies and such. And I have a butcher style in a couple of sizes that are pretty handy, and work well on pineapples strangely. Or maybe it is me that is strange, who knows. But I enjoy refinishing these old knives during the winter months.
 
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