Sharpening technique

awestib

awestib

Joined
Dec 29, 2008
Messages
1,647
Hi Folks,

I found this youtube video about freehand sharpening of a kitchen knife some time ago and thought I should post it. Not sure if many of you have actually already seen it. If yes, my apologies of redundancy. If not, this is pretty much the technique I now use, particularly the change of hands and the handle lift when we come towards the belly/tip. Also look at his elbow which remains planted on the table to remove "one axis" from the equation.

Unfortunately this is in German so please ask if something remains unclear. The guy uses 3 different grit stones first before he strops on leather with a Sic paste. On the last stone (white) he increases the angle a bit and finally does edge leading strokes only right and left for burr reduction before he goes to the strop. Enjoy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zryU18-GI1U
 
Andy,

Thanks! I do switch hand though for belly & tip I use Ken Schwarz technique.
Any chance doing a subtitle for this video? ;)
 
Thanks Chris, I thought this video is carrying coals to NewCastle, so thanks for the reply.

Subtitle? Yes, I know :)
 
I can't understand it but my one thought is I think it's bad form to be resting on his elbow or his forearm on the table. That's going to irritate or inflame something after a while in his body.
 
You may be right Rey HRH, particularly if you sharpen a lot. I guess you could put something padded underneath your elbow. I have been using a similar method and have had no issues so far.
 
Nice video.... But I wish it was in English!

My method is different from the video.......I use only my right hand to maintain the angle and push/pull with my left... I turn the knife over to face the other direction but my hands function the same. I think I saw this recommended on a Japanese knife sharpening video. So I don't switch hands. It felt a little strange at first with knife flipped around but I quickly got used to it. Since my hands keep the same function, I feel it gives me more consistency.

I wonder how others sharpen?
 
This is not extremely different than what I do, but I do it a lot faster. One thing that would speed up and simplify his process would be to use longer hones. For a blade of that length I would want at least 12 inch hones. I would use diamond hones for most of this if I was working on stainless. I disagree with most of the world and frequently rinse my hones, even water stones. I don't want steel residue dinging my edge. He should easily use twice as long a strop. I like a harder strop for the final stages. I use deep submicron diamond grit to finish the edge on most stainless. For crummy stainless (such as most 440-series) I finish with an extra-fine or even fine diamond plate and an elevated honing angle. The carbides in the steel just won't hold when finished at an extremely low angle. Finer alloys (or nicely cryo-quenched lesser alloys) I work at about his angles. I see no point in his edge-wiping step prior to final honing. That comes from the edge damage he created by edge-forwards honing with a dirty water stone.
 
Thanks for the reply Jeff!
I like/prefer diamond plates too and I keep them clean and use a water/dishsoap mix during sharpening. I had the same thought about his strop, it looks a bit soft and in fact I ordered one from the same place but it was o.k. (not rock hard but not soft either). I really like the Sic paste he uses for stropping.
 
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