Grandpa the Butcher's knifes and trying to walk in his shoes.

[brucelieb]

I have enjoyed reading the posts and please tolerate a beginner hoping not to embarrass myself.
I want to get better at sharpening using and caring for my grandfathers knifes.

My grandfather was a butcher in slaughterhouses in NYC. We were very close and he passed away when I was a young man in my 20's- 50 years ago. Since then I used his knifes. Misused for decades at first. Relegated to simple yard work: utility farm knifes, fish gutting, slicing bait, rope etc.

As I got older and had a family of my own I developed a deep respect married to a sadness that I did not pay close attention to what he attempted to show me long ago. I managed to get my siblings to give up some of their share and so allowing me to put the knifes to their intended use. They did not deserve to be hanging as decorations. So I carved the thanksgiving turkey and the roast on Christmas and have begun to poorly butcher cuts of meat.

I was too young and stupid to ask him to teach me even basic knife sharpening techniques. He used the steels I now own and, if I recall correctly, he used a rather large leather strop. Every weekend he came with a huge box of meat he broke down on the kitchen table. Although I was very big and powerful. He was short stocky and a bull who refused to allow me o help carry the boxes. My wrist swims in the watch he worn. We grew up eating meat all the time and good ribeye steaks twice a week- to the point I hated it as a kid. Now my mouth drools just thinking about a steak.

So left me a huge assortment of knifes and saws- Dexters . I'm now an old retired guy, I want to get good at sharpening and using his knifes.
The stones I have, his perhaps? Are old and not well kept. All sorts of oil was used on them. I did clean and soak them with dish soap. I took a toothbrush and scrubbed them so I can put them to use. Mostly I have no clue what I own. No clue if these were his good one. Perhaps they were my dads since one is a Norton two sided thing . The is a nameless tow sider and one is a solid piece that seems sort of fine. I used them with water yesterday not wanting to return to oil.
I think I need to take more passes. I am without schooling only self taught to -good enough sharp.

Question 1: Should I start fresh with new stones? If so which? The Norton IM200 Knife Sharpener? 300 level? Or a just Ceraxs 1000? Do I need another 5000? or should I just use his seemly fine grain old one. I really don' know how fine, having nothing to judge it by..

Question 2- Do steels get worn out? He left me three steels. None have texture on them. It was beautiful to watch him and i don't aspire to his speed and elegance but would like to use them if it is necessary or worth the effort.

Question 3- Leather strop worth the effort? His is long gone.

Any advice would be wonderful and thank you and Merry Christmas.

 

[Kbrasmodeler]

Welcome Bruce, and that's a fine first post/introduction. I'm glad you had that connection with your grandfather.
As far as sharpening, the simplest and most effective way I know is to start with coarser grit, don't bother counting passes, but try to match the existing angle and raise a Burr along the entire edge, then flip it over and do the same o the other side. Then move to finer grits and repeat. After the finest grit, strop on leather to remove the burr. You can add polishing compound to the leather. I prefer green, as it's aggressive and fine at the same time.
The steels are a bit more art, used to align the edge between sharpenings. I consider it optional, mostly useful for high volume butchers and the like.
Practice on an old beater knife, then use your new skills on Grandads knives.
Come here for advice. There's plenty to learn, too much for one post, but follow what I said and they'll get plenty sharp.

 

[brucelieb]

Wonderful! thanks !
Well, I guess I do need a leather strop. Got recommendations? They all the same? Make your own with a piece of leather?

 

[catspa]

Hey Bruce, that’s fantastic that you got them! Use the old stones, and think about your grandpa being proud of you for it.

I’ve cleaned old stones by boiling the old oil out of them. It takes awhile and can be messy. I use an old skillet with the stone sitting on a couple 1/4” wood sticks, and bring it up to a boil slowly. I cracked one once by boiling the water and dumping it in.

I think the antique smooth steels are the coolest part of the story. I use mine with a trailing stroke, some of them have pitting or dents that I don’t want to jam the edge into going forward. Trailing takes more strokes to burnish, but it’s easier on the knife edge.

Best of luck to you!

Parker

 

[brucelieb]

Merry Christmas and thank you Parker ! Wonderful info.! I will try the boil method! I'm not sure these are his.. When I see my brother in law I'll see if he got his mitts on it and was hold Grandpas back from me.. The no name and the Norton don't seem too special u what doo I know.. I'm hoping the other might be the real deal . These stones could have been my old man who did not know or care much about this stuff. In that case they might be low end.. For 1960 that is.. If they were Grandpa's they/it could be a lot older. Digging out the knife I intend to use on Christmas when the family comes I see it is a Foster. And many of the large ones are.

 

[RokJok]

Wonderful! thanks !
Well, I guess I do need a leather strop. Got recommendations? They all the same? Make your own with a piece of leather?

Howdy Bruce! Welcome to the madness. For a quick 'n dirty (and cheap!) strop get as wide an all leather belt as you can find at a thrift store (Goodwill, Salvation Army, local charity shop), yard/garage sale, flea market, etc.

You can also buy commercial leather glued to wood paddle strops. I got one from Beavercraft off of Amazon for $20 that came with a little bar of green wax compound. It does seem to add another degree of sliciness to already sharpened knives, using the newsprint test as a reference testbed.

Plain leather can work as a strop all by itself. Adding buffing compound is optional, though IMO it does add aggression & efficiency to the polishing process. The green buffing compound mentioned works well on leather. I typically get mine from Lee Valley, though there are tons of other online sources. I find it best to reload the strop with the green compound each time I strop. So I use up the green stuff faster than I'd initially anticipated. Compound on leather for stropping is cheaper than diamond paste on flat stone plates, but isn't as durable.