The best way to learn to get your knife sharp is to have a family like mine. Get a set of plain edge steak knives and make sure everything is cut on ceramic plates. To hell with the cutting board. That's squeeking sound is like a mating call for the knife to get touched up. After a few months of constant touchups you should be a pro! Practice makes perfect. If they actually used a good end grain cutting board I never would have learned to freehand so well. And jamming a larger knife into a smaller space in the knife block does wonders for knife edges. Lol. And that's my .02. Happy New Year!
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The key to sharpening
- Thread starter Bill3152
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UncleBoots
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I wonder if you can get dinner plates made from the same material as a Shapton Pro 120. You could get away from troublesome guests by sharpening their steak knives halfway through the meal.
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I've had good practice on some of our family's kitchen knives after they've been mushroomed at the apex from CHOPPING on a ceramic tile countertop. That tell-tale THWACK! of the edge against the tile might as well be an ice pick jammed into my ears.
And HAPPY NEW YEAR! right back atcha...
And HAPPY NEW YEAR! right back atcha...
I have some of those at my parents' place. I hide them in the pantry. Since I occasionally house-sit and watch the dog when they go on weeklong trips it's nice to have some knives that are useful for food prep. I tried just sharpening their normal use ones but they beat the ever-loving snot out of them within a week. More than once. I gave up and sharpened a stash set.
Another thing that helps is, if hand washing, they can put the knives in the silverware part of the dish drainer! That formerly-sharp edge is dulled by the knives, forks, and spoons quickly! The dishwasher can help to dull also. Oh, how I wish for less sharpening practice!
Hurrul
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To true - the kitchen is quite a proving ground for cutting tools and often the place that people who aren't really into knives, in turn see the most use with one.
I have given some kitchen cutlery to my wife over the last few years and they make for good practice. She is not terribly hard on them, but things get banged up even still.
At least in my sharpening education, dull kitchen knives were nice to learn on - typically thinner stock, often made of simple stainless steels that sharpen fast. These traits made it possible to notice improvement sooner in a sharpening session. This fruitful practice helped me gain confidence and eventually helped me, though I have more to learn, to consistently produce a sharp edge.
Happy New Year to all.
I have given some kitchen cutlery to my wife over the last few years and they make for good practice. She is not terribly hard on them, but things get banged up even still.
At least in my sharpening education, dull kitchen knives were nice to learn on - typically thinner stock, often made of simple stainless steels that sharpen fast. These traits made it possible to notice improvement sooner in a sharpening session. This fruitful practice helped me gain confidence and eventually helped me, though I have more to learn, to consistently produce a sharp edge.
Happy New Year to all.
I am also an advocate for thinning out behind the bevel. My favorite kitchen duty knives I keep at right around .010"-.012" thick behind the bevel. This not only helps with ease of slicing but makes resharpening a quick and easy task.
Of course, you don't want to give knives sharpened this way to a brute, which is why manufacturers don't make them that way in the first place. In my experience a very high percentage of knife users are clueless about best practice and proper use of their knives. Most readers here obviously excluded. (Most)
Of course, you don't want to give knives sharpened this way to a brute, which is why manufacturers don't make them that way in the first place. In my experience a very high percentage of knife users are clueless about best practice and proper use of their knives. Most readers here obviously excluded. (Most)
the key to sharpening … is having got a couple of aha moments
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Bring the edge to a full apex from heel to tip. Learn how to identify spots in the apex where this is not yet accomplished, and the mystery behind sharpening disappears completely.
Then obtain knives that, or modify them to, have thinner stock behind the edge, so that bringing that edge to an apex requires less material removal (hence less time and effort). Not to mention these cut better and with less resistance anyway (and in some cases will even cut when the apex is trashed).
Pretty simple.
Then obtain knives that, or modify them to, have thinner stock behind the edge, so that bringing that edge to an apex requires less material removal (hence less time and effort). Not to mention these cut better and with less resistance anyway (and in some cases will even cut when the apex is trashed).
Pretty simple.
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I use my EDC in the kitchen when I do food prep, but keep the other kitchen stuff touched up for my wife to use.
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- Mar 30, 2018
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The actual key to sharpening is burr formation and burr removal. That's it. I understand this wasn't a super serious post.