The front steps hone.

[jackknife]

Or; Are we too darn spoiled?

I was over my sister in laws home a while back, and she had made a nice dinner for her sisters (My better half) Birthday. A nice standing roast, with mashed potato's and gravy and green beans, with home baked blueberry pie after. Real down home cooking. When it was coming time to serve, Diane asked me if I could carve. Sure no problem.

Wrong, big problem.

I love my sister in law, and a guy can't ask for a better SIL, but Di keeps a kitchen drawer full of the dullest knives you can imagine. I once told my better half, Karen, that for Christmas I was going to get Di a knife block with some good knives in it. No, I was told that Diane actually does not like really sharp knives as they scare her. I arued that really sharp knives scare me too, that's why I'm verycareful with them. No, it wasn't to be. It's Di's kitchen and Di doesn't like very sharp knives.

So there I was,a nice pot roast to serve, and a butter knife dull knife. So I thought of Italy.

No, I'm not nuts. When I was stationed overseas, I had the luck to have a small apartment off base. It was in a little village that was as typical Italian as you could get. Little bakery on the corner where I'd stop on the way home from the base and get a loaf of still warm bread. A little meat market where you could get the nicest veal, pork chops, sausage, and home made meat sauce for the pasta. We got off at 1600 hours, 4PM for you civilians, and I'd dash home on my Vespa motor scooter for a shower and change of clothes to meet the guys at a bar for some cold ones. Italians may be known for good wine, but they make some great beers!

But being a knife nut, it didn't take me long to note something. Every day, about 5, when it was getting time for the ladies to make dinner for inbound husbands, they'd go out front to the stone stoops to the row houses, and sharpen their kitchen knives. These were working class folks, certainly not knife people, but they had a job to do with a knife, and they wanted it to cut. They'd strop their worn dark bladed old carbon steel butcher knife on the smooth stones of the front steps, gently try it with a thumb, and then go make dinner. They'd probably been doing that for generations, watching their mothers sharpen the kitchen knife on the steps. No sharpening equipment, no gizmo's, no mirrored edges capable of tree topping hair. Probably not even a consistent angle. Nothing but a nice toothy edge that cut right through meat and vegetables with ease.

All this went through my mind as I looked at the great dinner Diane had made, looking like it was ready to be photographed for Martha Stewarts magazine. I couldn't bring myself to mutilate it by sawing away with a dull knife. I told them all to wait a moment, and I went out to the front steps and sharpened Italian style. The smooth cement put a nice biting edge on in just a few moments. The cheap no name knife that had "Stainless Steel, China" on the blade got really sharp. I went in and cut the meat with no effort. The toothy edge slice right through the tender roast, making nice even slices. Diane was amazed. Karen was amazed. Most of all, I was amazed.

I guess it was going back almost biblical, sharpening a knife on the steps. It worked like a charm. JUst about as primitive as it gets. I tried a couple of other knives, and even went to the corner of the house to use the smooth weathered brick for a "finish" edge. The knives would not tree top hair, of course. Nor would they shave arm hair very well, if at all. But when tried against common everyday materials, meat, rope, cardboard boxes, plastic packages, fruits and vegetables, the rough edge worked great.

Now, I'm not going out front with my pocketknives and using my steps to sharpen, it does make me think. JUst like when I found my old Boy Scout 'carborunum' stone in a box of stuff in the attic, and I used it just for yuks to sharpen a few pocket knives, not expecting them to really cut well. I was surprised when the edge made by that old stone cut very well, and even seemed to hang in there longer. And it was sooo easy to use.

I can only wonder at how spoiled we've gotten by all our cutting edge gear. I'm not going to abandon my diamond hones, or even my old carborunum stone, but it's nice to know that in a pinch, any stone or cement steps can do. If a bunch of Italian ladies can do it, I think I can.

 

[Obsessed with Edges]

Good post, Carl. :thumbup:

More and more, I'm coming to appreciate simplicity in the tools/methods used to put a decent (or even better) edge on a blade. I've been experimenting a little bit lately, with a chunk of red sandstone I picked up off the ground, literally, in the neighborhood some time back. It had chipped away from a larger piece, and was relatively flat on one face. I further flattened it on the concrete driveway, and have tried a couple different things with it. First, I noticed it soaks up water like a sponge and, when it's wet, it can be rubbed against a piece of leather and it comes off in a very fine, muddy slurry. Initially, I'd laid the slurry onto the leather a little heavy, and it was still a bit coarse. But I've since used a smooth, rounded, riverbed-type stone (also picked up in the yard), to rub the sandstone slurry into the leather, slightly wetted. As the leather dries, I continue rubbing, and the surface of the leather becomes very smooth and even shiny. I'm noticing this has really enhanced the performance of the strop, using no compound other than the sandstone 'mud'.

I've also used the same piece of sandstone wet, like a waterstone, to sharpen a few blades. I use it like I use my strops, with edge-trailing strokes only, and it has worked much better than I could've expected on simpler steels like carbon (1095, and Opinel's carbon) and 420HC. I wouldn't necessarily expect it to work on more abrasion-resistant supersteels, but seems to be very encouraging on the more common stuff most of us use everyday. I know sandstone has been used for centuries in this way, often for large grinding wheels. But, I'm just now getting personally acquainted with it, and I'm impressed. I'm now pondering an exploratory trip to go looking for some larger chunks of this sandstone; might even make myself a 'bench stone' from it.

 

[richstag]

I really LOVE my arkansas stones. But they would probably be considered specialty? I don't know.

Anyhow, a bunch of years back I went with my best friend and his parents to a lot they bought in Virginia. It was all dense forrest right on the river along a very steep riff raff embankment. We had chainsaws and machetes and axes. It was a lot of work clearing the 3 acre lot and it took quite a few weekend trips. Anyhow, my machete found itself dull to the point that it was not very effective. You can't use a chainsaw and axe for everything. I found a piece of flat rock, maybe slate, I am not sure, but it easily cut into the steel on my 1095 machete. I put a little bar oil on it and used it the rest of the time just making circular motions with the entire machete. I was not worried about perfection or taking a lot of time out of the work day. It worked. It kept my machete effective enough and the next trip back I remembered to bring along a diamond rod. Much easier than carrying around a big chunk of slate, or whatever it was, with me.

Kevin

 

[tiguy7]

I heard or read somewhere that Chinese cooks sharpen their cleavers on the unglazed ring found on the underside of large plates or platters. I wonder if they use a special clay to make a "sharpening plate".

 

[Curtis_Lowe]

My Grandmother use to sharpen her knives on the back porch steps. She said she learned it from her Grandmother who came over from Italy. Heck, I've seen Murray Carter use a brick to sharpen.

btw This thread made me hungry.

 

[Phydeaux]

I had to sharpen someone's meat cleaver on a cement sidewalk many years ago. Not a great edge, but it was much improved.

I remember leaning to free hand on one of those Boy Scouts stones, I'll have to see if I still have it.

Ric

 

[J D Wijbenga]

Great story Jackknife! My grandfather used to sharpen the kitchen knives on the brick wall outside. This is in the Netherlands where most houses are made of brick.