Kitchen Knife Sharpening question

I use an EdgePro II for all my knives. By far the best knife sharpening system available and the only one you will ever need to buy. Quick easy polished scalpel sharp blades in minutes every time. A tad spendy but it is a quality made precision tool that will last a lifetime of use.
 
With the knives you name, unless they have been abused or neglected, learn how to true them with a steel. You only need to realign the edge....to much aggressive sharpening when not needed will remove steel from the knife. I've been doing this for over 30 years with my Wusthofs and others.
 
Gotta remove steel to sharpen and a honing rod won't do squat to a knife with no edge. I've seen a lot of people try and use a honing rod, most knives need to be resharpened after...
 
knifenut1013 said:
Gotta remove steel to sharpen and a honing rod won't do squat to a knife with no edge. I've seen a lot of people try and use a honing rod, most knives need to be resharpened after...
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True, but is that a "honing" rod or your typical Walmart "steeling" rod?

I ask because I figure there would be some difference between a monkey mashing a knife edge full force into a soft steel rod and very lightly stroking it across a glass or ceramic rod. Not sure if the glass takes anything off, but the generally 3 micron finish of the ceramic rod should let you run it up and down the rod for years without any significant metal removal.
 
MAC ceramic rods and victorinox metal grooved rods in most cases.

The edge of a kitchen knife is just not going to last a few years, most a best last a few month with the use of a honing rod and at the end of that time there is no bevel to speak of.

In a professional environment knives like henckles and wusthof last about a week and for the home user about 2-3 month before they need to be sharpened. Professional cooks tend to steel/hone there knives while home cooks tend to use until unbelievably dull, I have yet to see any of the pros properly hone a knife and home cooks are too afraid to.

Almost everyone hones the edge at a very high angle and with extreme amounts of pressure too. It's really amazing the damage some can do with the honing rod alone.
 
knifenut1013 said:
MAC ceramic rods and victorinox metal grooved rods in most cases.

The edge of a kitchen knife is just not going to last a few years, most a best last a few month with the use of a honing rod and at the end of that time there is no bevel to speak of.
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Oh no, that's more directed towards ChefRichie. Just saying that a proper honing rod that actually hones the edge and doesn't simply realign the edge physically can't remove enough metal to cause such wear.

In a professional environment knives like henckles and wusthof last about a week and for the home user about 2-3 month before they need to be sharpened. Professional cooks tend to steel/hone there knives while home cooks tend to use until unbelievably dull, I have yet to see any of the pros properly hone a knife and home cooks are too afraid to.

Almost everyone hones the edge at a very high angle and with extreme amounts of pressure too. It's really amazing the damage some can do with the honing rod alone.
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Yes, I've been to Chinese restaurants in the back and seen the cooks trying to grind their knives on the rod at erratic angles moving back and forth and doing it about 20 times per side. But I wouldn't say the damage itself is amazing when you consider the amount of pressure being applied on such a small contact surface, usually made worse by the grooves(it's a bit like running a serrated knife edge along a smooth knife edge).

I typically took it more slowly, only went downward, and only needed 2 strokes per side, with all attention on the angle.
 
German knives are commonly hardened at 56 HRC, making them rather easy to sharpen, but at the same time they dull and bend easily. The edge will need to be realigned with a hone (use the least amount of strokes and least amount of pressure to true the edge), before each use or as needed. I prefer to freehand with stones, and will use ~ 600 grit, followed by 1k grit. With knives that need regular honing, there's no need sharpened them beyond the grit size of the hone.
 
Honing rods are usually only used emergency fixes.

I will say thoigh, one chef relies purely on a cheap steel and after 6 years he figured something out, no bevel but decent sharp. Still I wouldnt recommend it.

ive used the steel 2 or 3 times in a decade.
 
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