OT - Knife sharpener advice - OT

ChrisgrillsSTLMO · January 2019

Greetings-

SWMBO was kind enough to get me this Wusthof 3 stone knife sharpener. Does anyone have any experience with this item and if so do you have any advice/tips about using it? Any information would be appreciated.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5017260/uploads/editor/jw/g5dj078u4z4a.jpg

Cheers,

GrateEggspectations · January 2019

Search YouTube videos for sharpening with stones. Lots of good advice and description of several approaches there. Start with the coarse stone and work your way up to the finest. You might also want a steel, which hones the blade and keeps it straight between sharpenings. Consistent blade angle during stone sharpening is essential. It takes some practice. It can also be messy, as a slurry will develop while you sharpen. I have found traces of splatter on my ceilings in the past.

GeezerSteve · January 2019

You shouldn’t need a steel to hone with that setup. The smoothest of these looks like a ceramic extra fine type of stone. You can hone on that. I’ve not used this brand, but have a two-ceramic stone set from spyderco- brown coarse and white fine sticks. For most of the kitchen stuff I do, I just “semi-hone” on the brown one as it’s fairly smooth. I don’t actually hone (going from the shoulder of the bevel to the edge), but just touch up to bevel by sharpening the blade briefly. Just be careful not to roll the blade off the stone.

Watch some of the wood carving knife sharpening videos to see how they start and end a sharpening stroke. Most pick up the blade to repeat or to flip over to the other side. One guy I’ve seen even “rolls the knife over on its back to get to the other side without screwing up the bevel angle. I do mostly chip carving now, so I drag a blade over a white ceramic stone - 1200 grit I think, back and forth to polish it.Rarely do I have to resharpen those blades and they are scary sharp!
Good luck and nice score on the kit.

Eggcelsior · January 2019

You can stack 3 pennies and set the knife on it with the edge on the stone to get a 15-20 degree angle. That way you have an idea of the angle for building muscle memory.

GrateEggspectations · January 2019

GeezerSteve said:

You shouldn’t need a steel to hone with that setup. The smoothest of these looks like a ceramic extra fine type of stone. You can hone on that. I’ve not used this brand, but have a two-ceramic stone set from spyderco- brown coarse and white fine sticks. For most of the kitchen stuff I do, I just “semi-hone” on the brown one as it’s fairly smooth. I don’t actually hone (going from the shoulder of the bevel to the edge), but just touch up to bevel by sharpening the blade briefly. Just be careful not to roll the blade off the stone.

Watch some of the wood carving knife sharpening videos to see how they start and end a sharpening stroke. Most pick up the blade to repeat or to flip over to the other side. One guy I’ve seen even “rolls the knife over on its back to get to the other side without screwing up the bevel angle. I do mostly chip carving now, so I drag a blade over a white ceramic stone - 1200 grit I think, back and forth to polish it.Rarely do I have to resharpen those blades and they are scary sharp!
Good luck and nice score on the kit.

I hear you that you can hone with the finest grit, but will the OP really want to have to get the blade wet (water or oil on the stone) every time he wants to hone? Probably not. Stones take quite a while to dry. A good steel is very helpful in between sharpenings and can be used (dry) before and/or after every knife use.

MacPa · January 2019

Stones need oil, Mineral oil works. Buy a cheap 2 dollar 6 inch knife and practice with that before using on a good wusthof it will payoff in the long run. You may want a 5X eye loop to see your progress. I bought my first 3 stone set 40 years ago. About 15 years ago I switched to diamonds and love them. instead of oil diamond need only water, I use Windex its cheap and cleanup is even easier.

tz666 · January 2019

https://eggheadforum.com/discussion/1215878/knife-sharpening/p1

OhioEgger · January 2019

You'll find as many different recommendations for knife sharpening as people who sharpen their knives. They all work.

1911Man · January 2019

I'm eyeballing the Wicked Edge WE120 right now (plus adding the 1500 grit/glass combo stone set). I was thinking about either just clamping it to the table I'll sit at while sharpening, or maybe mount it to a piece of wood. I'm already looking at a pretty steep price point on the setup, so I'm trying to save where possible. Is that a BAD idea or is it viable? Although it looks like they offer an aluminum mount plate that's not too expensive. Still didn't want to drop ~$600 on this setup (if I can get around it). Or at least not all at one shot.

Anyone have their 'Go' version?? I like the idea of having the ability to go down to 13 degrees on the edge, but I'm not sure if it's worth the added $$.

I'd be using this instead of the 5 stone Lansky kit I've had for many years. Basically, I'm not happy with how the old kit sharpens some of my knives. From the looks of things the WE setup is a much higher end configuration so it should keep me happy for many years.

Since I'm not seeing the info where I'm looking at the WE setup... Do the stones use oil, or are they water stones?? Or are they used dry??

gdenby · January 2019

To clarify some terminology. "Hone" is more properly used when a blade edge is refined, or touched up, after being used w. a whetstone. The word is often used in place of "steeling," which refers to running a ridged harder steel across a blade edge that has rolled, but not eroded. Little or no steel is removed from "steeling." For softer blades, one may need to steel after every few cuts, and actual sharpening may be needed every day or two.

The Wusthof system will remove some steel. They "sharpen," create a new edge bevel. Depending on the amount of use, most good knives like Wusthofs should not need sharpening very often. For home cooks, maybe once every 6 mos.

Holding the edge steady is too hard for me. I have really bad arthritis, and can't maintain a steady angle without a guide. But if you can lock your fingers into a firm position, the coin method works pretty well.

gdenby · January 2019

1911Man said:

I'm eyeballing the Wicked Edge WE120 right now (plus adding the 1500 grit/glass combo stone set). I was thinking about either just clamping it to the table I'll sit at while sharpening, or maybe mount it to a piece of wood. I'm already looking at a pretty steep price point on the setup, so I'm trying to save where possible. Is that a BAD idea or is it viable? Although it looks like they offer an aluminum mount plate that's not too expensive. Still didn't want to drop ~$600 on this setup (if I can get around it). Or at least not all at one shot.
Anyone have their 'Go' version?? I like the idea of having the ability to go down to 13 degrees on the edge, but I'm not sure if it's worth the added $$.
I'd be using this instead of the 5 stone Lansky kit I've had for many years. Basically, I'm not happy with how the old kit sharpens some of my knives. From the looks of things the WE setup is a much higher end configuration so it should keep me happy for many years.
Since I'm not seeing the info where I'm looking at the WE setup... Do the stones use oil, or are they water stones?? Or are they used dry??

I have an Apex Edge Pro set. Its an older model, and it looks to me like the WE tools are somewhat better than they were when I made my purchase.

My opinion, if you have a blade that can hold an edge at 13 degrees, you DO need the sharpener that will do the job. My best knife to date takes a 10 degree bevel. And it cost a lot. So why would I cheap out keeping it fine?

On the other hand, don't bother trying to sharpen steels that will not hold an edge at low angles.

From what I can see of the WE "stones", they are diamond plates. I have some diamond plates for doing heavy duty edge re-building. I wet those w. water to decrease the heat from doing the aggressive material removal. The ones I have are too coarse (even tho' one is listed as fine) for real finishing. I do end up using lapping film and diamond paste at the end, as the WE sharpening set offers.

littlerascal56 · January 2019

Still love my water stone for my good knives! $40 and it will last till I die!

1911Man · January 2019

@gdenby The kitchen knives I have/use the most are Shun Classic line that hold an awesome edge from the start. I've only needed to sharpen a couple of them over the years, and I wasn't able to get to the angle they came with (which is part of why I want the new setup). All my picket knives are using great steel, and hold an edge for a long time too.

Looks like I'll be getting the version that goes down to 13 as soon as I can fit it into the budget.

Two of my Shun's, that I ran through my current setup, need the points done better. I don't know if the blade flexed enough with the current setup to throw the angle off, or what. I suspect that's what happened. So going with a setup that will hold them better and does a better job is something I really want.

I have tried to use some water stones to sharpen other blades, and there's just too much of a learning curve for me at this point. Especially since there's no great way (from what I've seen/found) to get the angle where I want it on the blade. I'm sure that people that have been using them for a while can get a great edge on blades easily. I'm just not there yet.

reinhart36 · January 2019

Looks great. Only thing I'd add is a leather strop. Search "leather strop" on youtube or similar. One final step that takes just a minute following sharpening, and will turn your knives into proper razors.

MN-Egger · January 2019

I have the Edge pro also but with Chosera stones. Takes the guess work out of the angles. I also use an angle cube to make sure of the angle even between stones.

bubbajack · January 2019

reinhart36 said:

Looks great. Only thing I'd add is a leather strop. Search "leather strop" on youtube or similar. One final step that takes just a minute following sharpening, and will turn your knives into proper razors.

Add a little jewelers rouge to that and you will be in business.

OT - Knife sharpener advice - OT

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