sharpening a bolstered knife...

J

JonnyBoy369

Joined
May 25, 2014
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45
Hello all,

Today I bought a friend a very used J.A. Henckel 8" chef knife at Value Village for about $6. I got it for him to replace some kind of awful cheap blue colored chinese serrated chef knife which was all he had lol. It took alot of work and we got it real sharp with my stone, except for the inch or so near the bolster. I can't see any way to sharpen it at all with a stone. Do you have to grind the bolster down? It seems like even doing that, you wouldn't ever be able to get that part flush with the stone to sharpen it. There has to be a way to do it correctly.
 
Yes--you have to grind it down. Also, grind an angle on the "point" of the bolster so it angles back towards the fingers. This helps prevent it from getting in the way when cutting with the heel.
 
Thanks guys for the info. That knife now belongs to a friend, I think I'll just stick with knives that have no bolster for myself.
 
I still cannot wrap my head around this one...Where is the bolster blocking the edge? or is it a different model from what is pictured. I'm sure an Ah ha moment is right around the bend.

ja-henckels-international-classic-8-inch-chefs-knife-lgn.jpg
 
Many kitchen knives are like this. Either you grind it down now or live with the unsharpened thick choil/bolster etc. I have a Tramontina that also requires major work near the tang :(
 
Eventually it will have to be ground down otherwise, it will not allow the blade to make complete contact with the cutting board. I grind them a little past the blade, angle and taper them just a bit so one can start a honing steel as close as possible to the heel.
 
I'm assuming it's not an issue of the bolster actually being in the way per se, but instead the gradual thickening of the edge as it gets closer to the plunge grind in front of the bolster. The radiused outward 'turn' that the edge makes at the plunge, in order to blend the edge into the bolster (or ricasso on most knives), is what will cause the edge to lift away from the stone when sharpening. Thus, it takes a very long time to sharpen that portion near the plunge, as the rearward edge of the stone rides up on that radiused turn and lifts the stone away from the edge, leaving only the forward edge of the stone in contact. The stone's width will dictate how close you can get to the radiused plunge with full & flush contact, and therefore how much of the edge near it that can be sharpened before the stone lifts away (Hint: using a round rod-type diamond sharpener can help, as it'll stay in contact much closer to the plunge). That thick portion could be eventually ground away, but the radiused plunge will be transformed into a very ugly inside corner, and the bevel at the rear portion of the edge will be much, much wider and also very ugly. On knives like these, it usually comes down to sharpening most of the edge forward of the plunge, and living with the remaining 1" or so that likely will never be sharp. On a large chef's knife, you're not losing much anyway, as the forward 70-90% of the edge length is doing all of the work anyway.

Below is an excerpted post from an older thread illustrating what would seem to be the same issue with thinly-ground edges on thick blade stock
(excerpted from thread here -->: http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...y-do-some-makers-not-sharpen-the-entire-blade ):
irbailey said:
I'm assuming you mean long sweeping transitions from stock thickness to cutting edge?

To me these are very annoying and hard for people to sharpen correctly. They're ok if the edge is dropped so the edge starts off thin, but otherwise they just seem pointless to me.

Same goes for 'sharpening choils', they look ugly to my eye, and add nothing to a knife except something to get snagged up whilst cutting.

Any grind will have a small taper where the bevels are ground, but getting it fairly small isn't too difficult, hell, even I can do it....:eek::D

P4040096.jpg


Ian
Click to expand...


David
 
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HeavyHanded said:
I still cannot wrap my head around this one...Where is the bolster blocking the edge? or is it a different model from what is pictured. I'm sure an Ah ha moment is right around the bend.

ja-henckels-international-classic-8-inch-chefs-knife-lgn.jpg
Click to expand...

It's common for people not to contact the bolster during sharpening, and knives that have either been improperly honed (excessive metal removal) or are very old will and up with the heel of the blade sitting higher than the bolster, and as such the projecting bolster prevents the edge at the heel of the blade from contacting the cutting board. When this happens, the bolster must be ground down so that it does not sit proud of the edge at the heel. It's honestly kind of a pain in the butt and is one of the reasons I don't care for culinary knives with integral bolsters that extend to the base of the blade.
 
Ah, I see what you mean. That makes sense. It seems like it shouldn't be too hard to take down a bit with some power tools. It might not look factory, but it'll work. That does seem like a strange design choice.
 
Maude is right. Hard to make look factory, but not impossible. I have a mobile sharpening service see 30-40 integral knives week. I always grind just a bit past the edge. Helps with future sharpening.
 
Martin,

That's exactly what I meant (explained much better by David). I just grind them extra every time so that it won't turn into a recurve in subsequent sharpening.

Should we cut a sharpening notch with a round file instead? :D
 
Yeah guys I didn't mean the bolster impairs cutting, it at least for me impairs being able to sharpen it on a stone for the last inch or so as the bolster makes it ride up and I see there is no way around that. I am glad I got my friend the Henckel it was well worth 6 bucks, I wouldn't want to own one though, I don't have access to power tools. I do like the weight of the old Henckel better than my own Victorinox, and from what little I know about steel whatever it's made of took a lot better edge than my own Vic it seems like harder steel. One day when I can afford I am narrowing down what kind of high quality knife I want, no bolster and very hard steel. I am a cook I use my knives constantly, and it sucks when you have a knife that won't even stay sharp through a box of peppers or something.
 
Have 2 the I've ground down, a Dexter Russell & a 12" Sab.

DSC_0029.JPG


Just clamped the knife to my workbench, then started with a dremel about an inch up from the edge with long light strokes going toward the edge.
 
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