Lansky with a 12" knife

[Dittothat]

I have a 12inch chef's knife that I am trying to get sharp. My father recommended I try his Lansky on it, but I could immediately tell that the edge angle would vary over the length of the blade. It is simple geometry to identify the problem: the base of the right angle triangle doubles and the angles change. I read somewhere that if I move the lansky down the blade as I go this might do the trick, but I am not convinced by the repeatability of this option. Has anyone been successful with a lansky on a lengthy chef's knife? What is your technique?

Finally, you might think this is pretty stupid but I thought if a Lansky wasn't going to cut it, perhaps a waterstone and freehanding it would. I am afraid I haven't had any luck with it: I think I have put an edge on it worse than the factory cut edge. Does anyone think this skill (using a waterstone to sharpen a 12" knife) can be learned without a teacher? Is it even possible? I know the theory, but getting my hands to maintain a repeatable angle, is not working.

Thanks for any advice.

 

[P.Brewster]

I sharpen my kitchen knives with a stone. It has taken lots of practice to get the "muscle-memory" required to do it right.

I use the well-known sharpie (permanent marker) trick: Color the edge with a sharpie. Then, give the blade a few strokes on the stone or whatever you are using. Now look at your marker line - it will reveal if your angle is too high, too low, or just right.

For big knives, I like to mount the stone and use two hands on the knife - one hand on the handle, and one pushing on the spine of the blade.

I'm not sure exactly what you mean about the angles changing with the Lansky (I've never used one)... but I sorta-kinda know what you mean.

Is a Lansky the sharpener with two rods fixed at an angle, with a jig to hold the blade? What right triangle has it's base changing? - a triangle made up by the Lansky, or a triangle made up by the blade configuration?

good luck.

 

[Frank Hillary]

Hi

I have a 12inch chef's knife that I am trying to get sharp. My father recommended I try his Lansky on it, but I could immediately tell that the edge angle would vary over the length of the blade. It is simple geometry to identify the problem: the base of the right angle triangle doubles and the angles change. I read somewhere that if I move the lansky down the blade as I go this might do the trick, but I am not convinced by the repeatability of this option. Has anyone been successful with a lansky on a lengthy chef's knife? What is your technique?
.

Get 2 more Lansky clamps (sold as spares) and fix them along the blade. Problem over. Or you can shift one clamp along but this is a PITA

Regards
Frank

 

[Dittothat]

A bit more about my stone woes: My stone is about 8"x3" and I am trying to slide the 12" of blade across the stone with each forward cutting stroke on the stone. This combined with nice curved shape of the blade means I am having to move my hands around a lot just to keep the edge in contact with the stone, let alone maintaining a constant angle. I know my technique is horribly flawed, but I am at a loss as to how to fix it. Can I work the blade in sections to reduce the amount of "slide"? Any tricks for dealing with the curve towards the tip? I know this is a lot to put into words, but any advice would be appreciated.

 

[gud4u]

Free-hand honing is not that difficult:
- Determine the spine-elevation required to hone the blade bevel at a given angle.
- Hold that angle as constant as possible during the honing stroke.

It helps a great deal if you use a 'jig' to rest the spine of the blade on (constant spine elevation) at the start of the honing stroke, assuring that your stroke starts at a constant angle every time. It's up to you to simply hold that angle constant during the honing stroke.

You can use an angle tool or your trig skills to determine the height of the 'jig'. I keep a cheat-sheet of what combination of stacked coins will produce the spine-elevation required for a given blade with given edge-to-spine and spine-thickness dimensions.

The Lansky is a PIA generally, and particularly for long blades. You have to re-position the hone for multiple zones along the edge, and it's still hopeless for the curved forward portion of the edge.

A few hours spent in practice (perhaps sacrificing a cheap practice blade) is the only real investment required to develop hand-honing skills.

Hope this helps!

 

[smitty0331]

Ditto gud4u. Gererally speaking, chefs knives are too long to sharpen on a Lansky, or any other guided system, except an edgepro. Freehanding is your best bet. It is a very usefull skill to learn anyway, and you can learn on a cheapo to get a feel for the technique.