Posted: 1/10/2008 4:36:34 PM EDT
| What is the best method (and best equipment) for sharpening a knife? I'll hang up and listen. |
Not quite... If you're not able to do it the old fashioned way on a stone, a Lansky Sharpener or a Chef's Choice are both excellent choices. |
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EdgePro Others are not bad for field resharpening, but for overall consistency to an edge and ability to control angles, nothing else can do what an EdgePro does. Link |
The Lansky system works very well. I wanna pick up the Spyderco kit though, just to try it. Does it do serrated edges? Anybody? |
Tagged because I'm retarded when it comes to sharpening knives Oh yeah, who and what would it cost to take my expensive kitchen knives to get sharpened? A man has to know his limitations, and I'm not going to touch/fuck up what will probably be the most expensive knives I will ever own. (they were a wedding gift) |
That Edge Pro looks nice. Wonder why he used dish soap rather than oil on that stone-holder-rod-thingamabob? |
| I have very succussfully used a Lansky for about 10 years. Works great. Dissadvantages include that fact that it is slow, and one knife I have the stones will not touch it. I had to buy a very highly recommended diamond stone. I worked great too. I like it because it is portable and really works. In addition to the Lansky I sometimes use a leather strope. Also look at a portable steel with a belt holster if you use it alot outdoors or skinning. |
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I've got a Lansky, which works fine. My preference, though, is to freehand sharpen on a bench stone. It's the way my grandfather taught me years ago, and is a very useful skill to know. There's something very relaxing about working a knife blade over a stone. I currently use oil, but may try another set of stones dry in the future. |
Dish soap and water can work nearly as well as oil without the cleanup mess (on oil stones) |
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A mousepad and sandpaper > All others Convexed edges > All others Trust me. Start here. Click the picture to enter the page, and look to the right hand side for "Knife Sharpening the BRK&T Way!" |
Good question. I sharpen my own Henckels kitchen set, but they weren't an extremely high end kit from the start. My father gave me a much nicer chef's knife for Christmas. Aside from touching the edge up on a steel, I'm not ready to grind on that blade, either. Here's what he suggested: He uses a company in Utah that sharpens surgical instruments, and his kitchen knives are always extremely sharp. If you can't find a surgical sharpening company nearby that will do it, check with the local butcher to see if they send their knives out (and to whom). ...and make sure your mother-in-law doesn't put your nice knives in the diswasher. Also make sure your landlord doesn't take the nice paring knife out of the knife block and use it to TIGHTEN A LOOSE SCREW. Both have happened to me personally. 
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Send one of your knives to Ben Dale @ Edge Pro and he will sharpen it and send it back. That's what I did (sent a beater 8" Chef's knife and the edge he put on it was outstanding). That's what sold me on the system. All it cost me to try it out was the postage to send him the knife. Bear in mind that different knife styles need different grinds. The edge (angle) I put on my Messermeister chef's knife is far different than on my Hattori Santoku. |
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I use Japanese waterstones to sharpen the knives in my pro kit(including a pricy Sashimi knife). I use a 1000 grit, a 6000 grit and I have a stone corrector to keep the stones level. I will be adding a 3000 grit soon to get a finer edge. (If you want to do it this way, I suggest a video from Korin.com called "The Chef's Edge". Shows the Japanese method of knife sharpening and a bit on how they are made) That being said, About any of the methods mentioned here will work well, it just depends on how you want to do it. |
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I have a Gerber diamond hone block that is just the ticket for my Victornox kitchen knife set. Years of practice with manual sharpening taught me well and this hone works very fast. I put an edge on these knives that just feels right. They cut though nori on maki sushi like it was butter. I can slice an onion and it stays together with invisible cuts. Ditto on tomato...even my ripe garden tomatoes. The key to diamond is use water and light pressure. I have the knack. I have an electric Chef's Choice, not bad BUT it does not sharpen to the hilt. For long shank knives, it is fine. But I never need it for kitchen knives, using it now for the machete! |
Knife sharpening is almost an art. I have a knack for it. My grandfather taught me when I was wee little. I can get anything with half decent steel to shave pretty easy. Keep your blade angle relative to the honing surface constant through out the stroke and take your time. I use mostly diamond stones for sharpening and finish with leather strops mounted to wooden bases. After the medium diamond stone I got to the fine and then to the strop with metal buffing compound(white in color from Sears) rubbed into it, then to the next that is saturated with red rouge. In fact I just touched up one of my KaBars and it will shave a continuous stroke on my calf from the ankle to my knee as clean as a real razor. I have a bald strip on the side of my leg. Now undersand that different applications require different edge profiles. Too shallow an edge and it will fold over or round off during heavy cutting. too steep and you will lose controlability on fine cutting tasks. I stick with an eyeballed 20 degree or so and that is a good basic edge profile. The type of steel will also dictate the edge you can achieve. I prefer good ol' carbon steel. 1095 is hard to beat. Most production knives are 1095 and with a good heat treat, it can be made as fine as a straight razor. Even 1055 which is a little more tough and less carbon is pretty good. As for actual products, Any of the name brand stuff will work. like i saidd, I use mostly diamond stones and I like large stones to work with. Smiths and DMT make 10-12 inch bench stones and they allow you to work your strokes very easily. My strops are scrap leather peices from eBay that are just 8-10 oz strap leather glued to a 2x4x18 inch oak block, smooth side up and impregnated with metal buffing compound from Sears Hardware and stick on rubber feet from the craft dept at WalMart.. |
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Okay, for all of you have said other than Spyderco... I grew up sharpening knives on stones, both artificial and natural. I can put a razor edge on any (non-serrated) knife I own with a stone. I "graduated" to a Lansky system in the mid-90's. Good system and I still have it. Does a great job. But it's complicated to set up and you have to use the right stones / angles to get the correct edge for the knife. Easier than learning to use a stone, but not the best IMHO. Then I go to the Spyderco Tri-angel Sharpmaker about five years ago. Kitchen knives, pocket knives, hunting knives, plain edges, serrated edges... it don't matter. I can get a shaving sharp edge on any of them. Do yourself a favor. Buy one. Use it. Love it. End of thread.... just like I said before. |
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Ronco electric 2 stone model. It's $20.00 but works after the first sharping it only 1/2 min. to do knife. Is it better than the more expensive electric sharpereners NO, but cheap and does the job. I know how to sharpen, have a 3 stone handsharpener and it works better but is slow and messy. The electric is nice to do all the kitchen knifes very quickly. |
I take mine to the local Sur Le Table store, costs about 6 or 7 dollars, and well worth it, IMO. I have a Chef's Choice, a Spyderco Sharpmaker, and a Lansky set. They all get my knives "pretty" sharp, but not nearly as sharp as whatever the professional knife sharpeners do. For example, my various Cold Steel knives don't compare in sharpness with new out of the box ones. Wish I knew the secret. |