Global knife question

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scottsmith

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Dec 30, 2006
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Hello- this site is amazing. You guys know your stuff, so forgive a first timer a basic question. I just picked up a Global 10" chef knife (G 16) and have been doing a bit of research on caring for it. I need to buy a ceramic or diamond steel (ouch- those are almost as expensive as the knife!) and some japanese wetstones to ocasionally sharpen. The Global stones are going for roughly 85 bucks a stone, but I have seen other japanese stones online for about $20. Are they all the same, or should I stick with the "brand" name?
They also sell guides for the blades for about $7, so I will buy those until I learn what the hell I am doing as far as proper angle. I guess these knives are sharpened between 10-15 degrees.
For the record, I have never had a very good kitchen knife, but this thing is something else. I'm sure there are cheaper knives that do a similar job, but this thing is really well balanced, sharp as hell out of the box and looks cool (always important;).
If anyone can answer the wetstone question, I, and hopefully my wallet, will be greatful.

Scott
 
scottsmith said:
The Global stones are going for roughly 85 bucks a stone, but I have seen other japanese stones online for about $20. Are they all the same, or should I stick with the "brand" name?
Click to expand...

Just buy the cheaper stone. There are benefits to better quality stones, but generally don't buy specific ones from cutlery manufacturers as they are way over priced.

-Cliff
 
The global stones in the silver boxes are almost the same as the Shapton M5 stones but double their price. You can get Shapton pro stones or their new glass stones for less than some of the global stones. Now the ones that say MinoSharp on them (sometimes listed as global) are rather nice stones and cheaper than the ones in the silver boxes (they come in a plastic box that serves as a stone holder and include a couple of angle guides and look like this: http://www.sointuusa.com/series.php?brandID=mino&seriesID=stones ) I have the 1000 grit and it is much like a King clay stone. Holds just the right amount of water and has good tactile feedback.

http://www.japanwoodworker.com/dept.asp?dept_id=13098 and http://www.epicureanedge.com/shopdi...+and+Maintenance+Items&websess=34570441678173 are good places to get waterstones The Shapton M24 are made for chef knives or for carpenters who like to apply more pressure than usual (M15 is made for carpenter tools, and the pro series is a resin bonded stone that will work for either... cut fast and leave a good finish but don't soak up any water and don't have much tactile feedback). The King F1 (4k) and G1 (8k) are very good clay stones (the S1 6k is good but not rated as highly) The Arato Kimi 220 grit pink brick is a good very coarse stone http://www.epicureanedge.com/shopexd.asp?id=80025&websess=34570441678173 or http://www.japanwoodworker.com/product.asp?s=JapanWoodworker&pf_id=01.001.0&dept_id=13120 and, while it wears fast like all coarse waterstones, it does wear more slowly than most and it is huge so will last a long time. Bester makes good hard ceramic stones from 500 to 2000 grit (wear very slowly and do soak up water nicely so you don't have to keep wetting them like you do the Shapton pro stones)... a bit of a pain to flatten when they eventually do need it though (the price for being so wear resistant). Kitayama is a good polishing stone. Other places to try are http://www.traditionalwoodworker.com/default.php/cPath/34_501 http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=2&p=43071&cat=1,43072 http://www.hidatool.com/woodpage/stones.html
This place has some nice Norton kits http://www.craftsmanstudio.com/html_p/N!LWS.htm

You don't need a steel and they are not really recommended for Japanese knives anyway (the steel is very hard and doesn't fold over like soft western-style knives). A few strokes on a fine 4000-8000 grit waterstone will keep that edge sharp without risking chipping it, though Globals are sort of westernized Japanese knives.

If you like the Globals, you should try some of the stuff from one of these places:

http://www.epicureanedge.com/shopdi...=Japanese/Asian+Knives?websess=78438441681720
http://www.korin.com/
http://www.japanesechefsknife.com/products.html
are places to get Japanese knives (Tojiro, Mac and Rysusen make very good knives for lower priced ones)... unless you want to go custom then there is http://watanabeblade.com/english/pro/index.htm and http://www.shop.niimi.okayama.jp/kajiya/en/shop_e.html
 
I second Yuzuha's recommendation for Shinichi Watanabe's wares. A knife of his was one of the two sharpest "out of the box" knives I've ever fondled. The other was from Murray Carter, whose Japanese style kitchen knives I also recommend highly. Some of Mr Carter's work is listed at Kellam Knives website.
 
Or, you could get some paint sticks, and wrap them tightly with 600 grit autobody paper. That is, if you just want to sharpen it.
Bill
 
Unless you're experienced at sharpening knives on stones you could pick up a Spyderco Sharpmarker. You can store it in a kitchen drawer, it's quick to set up, doesn't make a mess, etc. If you buy the ultra-fine stones they are a nice way to touch up the edge without removing a lot of metal.
 
Assuming that you are not very adept at free hand sharpening, I would get one of these http://www.chefsresource.com/csw-18.html. Use it very lightly on the smooth side after every couple of uses. That plus storing the knife properly and only washing it by hand; cutting only on wood or plastic, should prolong the original sharpness for quite some time.
 
I think the first issue ought to be "Spyderco" or "Free hand"? If you never free-handed a knife before, expensive knife is probably not the one you want to begin with.
 
There is a minosharp water sharpener designed for Global knives. I think they have a slightly asymetric bevel like 15 degrees on the front side and 10 on the back. (they say to hold at 15 degrees and sharpen with a 6 to 4 ratio front and back, which would give an asymetric geometry. If you are right handed, I suppose you could use the 30 degree slot on a Sharpmaker and stroke the right side of the blade 3 times for every 2 strokes on the left side, or the opposite for a south paw)
 
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