How Not to Sharpen?

E

edwdixon5

Joined
Mar 6, 2008
Messages
24
MrEZCooking's YT vids were recently mentioned in another thread, and some cautions were made about following his advice or adopting his technique. I'd like to know what problems others may have with him specifically, and, more generally, what wrong turns new sharpeners are apt to make. What are the most common pitfalls?
 
and to be more to the point of your post, most new sharpener either don't spend enough time on the course grit to fully apex their edge or have trouble removing the burr after doing so.
 
That's an interesting thread you started. I've book-marked it and am going to go through your recommendations. The thread I was referring to was actually this one: http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/1067670-I-want-to-learn-to-sharpen-knives-but-don-t-know-where-to-start, where some critical remarks are made. I can't stress enough that I'm genuinely interested in learning to detect the same flaws others are seeing, and not in engendering a mud-throwing contest. I think honest disagreements can be productive, and just wanted to explore this one as a learning exercise.
 
What do you find good about his videos?
 
I had never heard of this guy before. Just watched two minutes of his "knife sharpening demo" video and had to stop. Then I started researching him. Not a professional chef. Not professionally trained. Lots of misinformation in his theories on everything from knives, cooking techniques, sharpening, etc. I think it's just a guy in his kitchen trying to sound impressive. It's not all bad news, though. Even though he wears a chef's outfit in his videos, he openly admits on his blog that he has no professional experience (never worked in a real kitchen) or qualifications. That's a good start. And I have to admit that some of his recipes do look yummy, and I'm 100% sure he actually can cook up a mean meal.

But everything the guy writes and says needs to be taken with a fistful of salt. I'm sure that real chefs laugh at him, just like real sharpeners laugh at him because he says the darndest things.
 
Magnaminous_G said:
But everything the guy writes and says needs to be taken with a fistful of salt. I'm sure that real chefs laugh at him, just like real sharpeners laugh at him because he says the darndest things.
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Again, this is provocative, but not very helpful. He's a guy on YT sharing recipes for the most part. I don't think "real chefs" would be very offended by that. I just wanted to know what the misinformation is. If "real sharpeners" are laughing, what are they laughing at? I'm not defending him; I actually want to know. But it also wasn't my intention to hold anyone up for mean-spirited ridicule.
 
edwdixon5 said:
Again, this is provocative, but not very helpful. He's a guy on YT sharing recipes for the most part. I don't think "real chefs" would be very offended by that. I just wanted to know what the misinformation is. If "real sharpeners" are laughing, what are they laughing at? I'm not defending him; I actually want to know. But it also wasn't my intention to hold anyone up for mean-spirited ridicule.
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It's not provocative. It's good advice. He does seem to know a little bit about cooking and sharpening but actually not a whole lot. He seems to be taking what little he knows and stretching the limits to try to sound like a professional... which he is not (neither in cooking nor in sharpening).

But okay, I'll play. You asked what the misinformation is. Well, based on the videos I forced myself to watch, I can already point out quite a bit:

1. Here’s the vid in question. He calls pushing the edge away on a stone a “reverse Japanese stroke” and says it is “the most difficult” stroke for sharpening a knife. I think he’s the only person on planet Earth who calls that a “reverse Japanese stroke.” And he claims he uses this revolutionary technique because it allows him to see the angle he is using… I almost lost it right there.
2. He dulls his knife to prep for sharpening by banging the edge against the spine of another knife.
3. He says at the beginning of the video that he will demonstrate a full sharpening through the grit progression all the way to an 8K finish. In the first vid, there is about 15 seconds of actual sharpening. The rest of it is him blathering on about his theories. In both videos (part one and two), he never actually demonstrates a single grit progression.
4. In the second video, there is a little more actual sharpening (maybe 60 seconds total), but where he does proudly show you his bevel, it is uneven. I think that is because he does this weird flourish thing at the tip… which I wouldn’t advise.
5. His way of testing for sharpness… my God. No comment. Take a look at 11:37 of the second video. That is extremely dangerous to the point of stupid and tells you nothing about your edge. When he does eventually test on paper, he’s using stock copy paper and holding the edge at nearly parallel to the paper… not exactly a great test of keenness.

Is his final edge “sharp?” Yes, I guess... sort of. Hard to tell given the way he tests edges. But I’ve already made the point in my previous post. He does seem to know “something” about cooking and sharpening. I'm not saying he's completely pretending to know how to cook or sharpen. But he really doesn't seem to know a lot.

What's the conclusion? Everything the guy writes and says needs to be taken with a fistful of salt.

Cheers,

Mag
 
Thanks. That's the kind of thing I was asking. Again, I'm a novice. It's easy enough for an expert to point at something and say, "Don't do that." My question was just, "Don't do what?"
 
His definitions are a bit off as well. His vid on knife grinds and geometry uses completely different names that what most every other knife nut/manufacturer/affictionado does. While generally just mildly irritating, it does sometimes make it difficult to know what he's talking about. His sharpness test is nothing short of nails on a chalk board to me.
 
You're welcome. :) But I'm not an expert. I still have a lot to learn myself. But that's the difference between me and "MREZCooking." I try to help people where I can, and I try to demonstrate what I know. But I would never claim to know more than I do. I'm a student still. But this guy films himself in his kitchen in full Cordon Bleu regalia pretending to be an expert. I'd probably like the guy if he just wore his normal clothes, stated outright that he wasn't a real chef, and spoke humbly and honestly in his videos instead of taking this smug, professorial air.
 
Magnaminous_G said:
I think it's just a guy in his kitchen trying to sound impressive.
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Andy Warhol was right. With the advent of easily accessible technology that anyone can learn how to use, a love afair with media, and the democratization of buzz marketing everyone will get their 15 minutes.

YouTube is easy to use and aggregate, yet I still can't get a razor's edge on my knives. Shouldn't it be the other way around?
 
It's not exactly easy to point out everything in the videos because he talks for so long about his "mad skills" then goes into methods and terminology that seems to be all his own.

Personally I get board to death about half way through and go back to watching videos like these http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rwy5hT0nCCQ and these http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fK4CXIINQtA which you can learn from without even knowing what they are saying.
 
knifenut1013 said:
It's not exactly easy to point out everything in the videos because he talks for so long about his "mad skills" then goes into methods and terminology that seems to be all his own.

Personally I get board to death about half way through and go back to watching videos like these http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rwy5hT0nCCQ and these http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fK4CXIINQtA which you can learn from without even knowing what they are saying.
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I've seen the first vid, but I've never seen the second one. That's a great find! I hope I get to practice on a Yanagi one of these days. Probably I should just buy my own for practice.
 
They are very different to sharpen but very enjoyable and often require a different stone progression. Here is one I recently finished on a natural stone.

IMAG0004.jpg
 
knifenut1013 said:
It's not exactly easy to point out everything in the videos because he talks for so long about his "mad skills" then goes into methods and terminology that seems to be all his own.

Personally I get board to death about half way through and go back to watching videos like these http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rwy5hT0nCCQ and these http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fK4CXIINQtA which you can learn from without even knowing what they are saying.
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Thanks for the recommendations. Much appreciated.
 
I think that all of you are a bit off on this matter on the sharpening and this guy MrEZCooking. The fact of the matter is that there is more than one way to sharpen a knife effectively is there not? The fact of the matter is that he is doing it "in the dirt" and not using some crappy machine like :The Wicked Edge" or "The KME" Those are for people who are either lazy or don't know a fucking thing about sharpening. How many times I have seen people in here say "The wicked edge took me from zero to hero!" His terminology may be off a bit and his methods are his own. To me it looks like his blades are sharp as sharp can get. Look at how many views this guy has I mean he has more views on some of his sharpening vids than most of the other guys out there. I am quite sure that if some of you on this thread were to make videos on sharpening you would find people that would question your terminology or methods as well. That is just life!
 
The fact of the matter is that he confuses newbies with his vernacular. His sharpening skills are medicore at best. And he teaches people things that are dangerous , as in a serious threat to health and safety.

So yeah its hard for people to take him seriously.
 
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