How do chef's/barbers do it?

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curious2003

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Apr 20, 2003
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how do professional chef's sharpen?

I do not have any clue so this might be a question that many know the answer to but I noticed something at Chinese restaurants where they have the takeout section where they usually chop BBQ things up...they seem to only use a steel rod. Doesn't seem like they sharpen their knives at all in the kitchen. Don't even see any sharpeners. Next time I go to a Chinese restaurant I might ask about that...

Also what do barbers do to get those razor's in shape? Free hand stones then stropping on leather?
 
I would assume that a barber strops his blade more than he sharpens it. It's not like he's using it for utilitarian tasks. But my grandfather was a barber and he used a free-hand stone for his scissors/razor. As far as chefs go, they usually use a rod. Unless they have those "Miracle Blades" :p .
 
I worked in NY deli's as a teenager, and we used to send out several knives a week to the sharpener. We had a rotation. They started out like chef's knives, ended up looking like fillet knives after a while. Industrial kitchen knives are made from soft steel, I would imagine most food service send them out regularly.

I recently watched a guy deftly making up my sushi and asked him how he sharpened the knives - water stones.


In the neighborhoods, a guy used to come around a couple times a year in a truck and people would bring out their knives to be sharpened. (Imagine what today's soccer moms would do if the neighborhood was filled with people walking around with butcher knives!)
 
also, my mom worked in hair salons. They send out their scissors periodically for sharpening, I imgaine the scissor guy would take the straight razors too.
 
Generally you don't want a lot of grinding going on in your restaurant kitchen so sharpeners are uncommon there. I have seen Magic Chef power sharpeners in some places. The best rig I have seen in a commercial kitchen was a large Tri-Hone. This was about a foot long narrow metal box that supported 3 bench stones on a triangular prism. You could rotate the hones to select which one was on the top. They had various grits. The box served as an oil or water reservoir.

I have a setup from Spyderco that is intended for commercial kitchens. It is a plastic bracket that you can screw down to a counter. There are two 12-inch long narrow eliptical ceramic rods that can be stuck in the bracket. They are set at about 15 degrees. By rotating the rods you can work straight, serrated, or recurve blades. The rods I have are white fine-grit and only work with modest dulling.

The steels used by chefs and butchers only work for light maintenance. If used often they keep a sharp edge very sharp. They do little or nothing for a dull edge. There are a lot of commercial sharpening services that handle the serious sharpening for a large fraction of the chefs of the world.

Barbers mostly strop their razors. They have a couple grades of strops and strop compounds which have very minimal abrassive content. Occasionally they hone using an extremely fine straight razor hone. This is more like a bimonthly or semiannual activity than weekly or daily.
 
I always have this van that comes around my neighborhood to sharpen knives. Never took a look though. Wonder what they use and if I should let them do my folders for me and save me the trouble of having to buy a Sharpmaker or Edgepro....
 
Chinese Restaurants are all about the profit margin...

You have knives made in China or Taiwan of some relatively Junk steel. The chopping knife is thin with a broad blade, heavy yet serviceable even when dull. Sometimes they have some sort of cheap aluminum carbide stone, but usually just a steel. The operative description of how they cut is that they chop. Everything is chopped. Meat is chopped, veggies are chopped, even soft tofu is chopped. Nothing is sliced or carved. It's either chopped, or cooked whole. You don't need a good edge for chopping, just enough sense to move your other hand out of the way.
 
Originally posted by curious2003
Wonder what they use and if I should let them do my folders for me and save me the trouble of having to buy a Sharpmaker or Edgepro....
Click to expand...


Before you try any of that you should try learning how to put a convex edge on a knife.

It requires very little equipment (wet/dry sandpaper and a telephone book) and produces superior results. The first time you do it to a knife it may take a while, but after that the knife can be made sharp in a matter of seconds.
 
Worked in a greek resturaunt for 4 months. They sharpened on the grinder once a week, and the stones and steel daily. Turned a chef's into a fillet in under a month(until I taught them the grinder).

I took my stuff and sharpened all the knives there(50 of them), and they lasted 3 days before being trashed.

I was able to chop mushrooms and day old tomatoes with the cleaver off the grinder. just the weight of the blade alone, set on the food, was enough to cut.
 
Originally posted by MelancholyMutt
Chinese Restaurants are all about the profit margin...

You have knives made in China or Taiwan of some relatively Junk steel. The chopping knife is thin with a broad blade, heavy yet serviceable even when dull. Sometimes they have some sort of cheap aluminum carbide stone, but usually just a steel. The operative description of how they cut is that they chop. Everything is chopped. Meat is chopped, veggies are chopped, even soft tofu is chopped. Nothing is sliced or carved. It's either chopped, or cooked whole. You don't need a good edge for chopping, just enough sense to move your other hand out of the way.
Click to expand...



Actually you can get some really good carbon steel chinese cleavers made in hong kong and china. Some of the stainless steel is okay but others are not as good.

Some of my family is in the chinese restaurant business (being Chinese and all) and they keep the knives really sharp. When you do the amount of chopping and slicing that needs to be done cooking chinese food you can't afford to waste time with a dull knife. In chinese cooking everything is cut in the kitchen during cooking or preparation, how else can you eat everything with just chop sticks.

Next time you go to a chinese restaurant/deli that has whole ducks and chickens in the window, watch them cut it up for the customers. There is no way a dull knife could cut as fast or as cleanly through the soft meat and bone. The way they cut is interesting in its self. If you watch an experienced cutter he will let the weight of the cleaver do most of the work and depending on what is being cut they have a slight rocking action at the very end, but it can be hard to see when they cut fast, and man can some of those guys cut fast.

At home the only kitchen knives that I need/use are 2 chinese cleavers (a large one for heavy chopping and a medium one for all other cutting) and a pairing knife. My family has used the same cleavers for close to 30 years now, I touch them up once a week if necessary, and they are probably good for another 30 years
 
My family has been in the Chinese restaurant business for 40 years...

The thing is, The health departments in almost every state in the US will not allow carbon steel knives to be used in restaurants and food processing plants.

Yes, there is a lot of chopping and some slicing, but I have yet to see one chinese chef who knows how to sharpen a knife... a sushi chef... yes... those knives need to be razor sharp, but Chinese... not one...
 
I'm a chef. In the restaraunt where i work I sharpen my knives. I have a Norten tri-stone. The large one (2"x12") I also have several steels. I also have a sharpmaker. Each knife gets a different sharpening treatment. Depending on blade style, size, and blade steel.
A short japanese deba will not get the same treatment as a long german stainless slicer. All are cared for by me. NO ONE touches my knives. Not even to move them out of the way. Even the boss asks to use my knives. Most of the time I'll just cut what he needs myself.
I have worn out two knives (slicers that take a real beating)and I'm about to wear out the medium grit stone. But it's taken me 20 years to do it.:eek:
 
Most chef's don't sharpen knives. They either send them out or, if they haven't invested in higher end cutlery, use the house knives which are often replaced on a regular basis by a service that picks up the dull ones and leaves sharp ones in their place. A few do and those tend to use bench stones.

I sharpen knives for many of the chefs in our area. Most of them are amazed at how sharp I can make a knife. They could too, if they just worked at.
 
Fred,
You left out a critical point, How do you get the knives for the chefs in the area so sharp? In other words, what method do you find works for you.

Various brief comments, from posts I have seen (remember recollection may be partial):

A barber's razor is very thin at the edge (most, perhaps all, are deeply hollow ground) so a barbers strop that works for the razor is not necessarily ideal for a regular knife.

EdgePro has a scissor sharpening attachment.

Apparently, the RazorEdge, system has some commercial sharpening tools, but I am not clear on what they are.

I recall the EdgePro system, at least in part, was developed to make it easier to sharpen large quantities of kitchen knives, and it would seem an effective system that is relatively safe for the knives (I don't know about any scratching of the surface, just the temper.)

I looked in a parked van once, that had sharpening service signs on it. It seemed to have mainly grinding wheels. I wondered how careful they were to maintain the temper of the knife, especially on its edge. :confused: :eek: :confused:
 
My barber has a straight razor with replaceable blades! It takes these 4" long blades, when they dull, throw them away...
 
I saw a van out in front of petsmart one day sharpening things for them, I assume scissors and trimmer blades for the grooming center.
 
ha. i worked in a deli... we always had dull knives. i asked my manager why they never sharpen them, and he said "you're a big guy, put some back bone into it! you'd just cut yourself on a sharp knife anyways"
:eek:
 
If it isn't a $20 a person or higher restaurant....they usually DON'T sharpen their knives ever. They just ride them out for 3-4 years and replace them. I've worked in 4 restaurants NONE of them bothered to ever sharpen the kitchen knives, it's usually "this one sucks" and when all of their knives suck they just buy new ones.
 
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