Along the quaility knife thread...On Topic

WessB · July 2003

That thread was VERY informative, but lead me to ask this question in hopes of keeping it alive....Now i have some relatively inexpensive knives made by "Tramontina" they are high carbon made in brazil. I have been pleased with them, however I recently purchased a Wusthof Santoku knife and am considering some future purchases of better quality cutlery and have some concerns. I never got very good with a steel so I purchased a Chefs choice 460 diamond hone sharpener...this is a manual jobber not the electric models....so this leads to my question...does using a sharpener like this degrade a good quality knife??? Should I spend some time learning to properly use a steel???? What do you use??? The thing does put a VERY sharp edge on the knives I have used it on and it also does serrated knives....and to those who called their threads relating to cutlery "OT"...I say I think not, we all use knives in our cooking and it is very much related to the topic of BBQ`n...[p]Wess

Mr. Hyde · July 2003

WessB,[p]Hi Wess,[p]I also have a Chef Choice sharpener, although it is electric, and yes, it does do damage to my knifes. I only used it a few times before I realized that. I now use a set of diamond water stones that I bought to sharpen chisels and plane knives. I found that it works wonderfully on my kitchen knives, but it takes a little time.[p]As I understand it (and I am no expert, others may correct me), a steel is to bring up the edge of an already sharp knive (if you can imagine the edge of the blade kind of "bending over" as it gets used). A stone actually removes material from the edge, resharping it.

JSlot · July 2003

I agree that this a most informative and interesting thread, Wess. Not off topic at all. I may be heading up your way for a quick trip soon. Hope all is well with you guys![p]Jim

bigmikej · July 2003

WessB,
I have one of the electric diamond hone sharpeners w/ three slots (progressively finer grit) that I received as a wedding gift about 3 months ago. I have used it on my Henckels and Wusthof knives, but only once. It put a very sharp edge on them. As I understand it, a steel cannot sharpen a dull knife, but finely hones a sharp knife. To sharpen a dull knife, one must remove a fine layer of blade (hence the rougher grind stones on my sharpener.) I will probably continue to use it on my knives. The only other way I know of is to send them off to have them sharpened and that, to me, is an expensive pain in the butt. [p]Just my opinion...

Chef Wil · July 2003

WessB,
cheaper sharpeners like the one you have are ok for less expensive knives, it will cause pits in your knife after you use it a few times to sharpen it, your blade will get out of square, meaning the full edge of knife won't make contact on the subject your cutting like when it was new. My suggestion is, get yourself a wet stone and oil, and a good steel, practice on old knives lying around the house, when your confident about your stroke and the knives start cutting again, go for the nicer knives. Remember when you are sharpening knives, the stroke of sharpening is like wanting to shave a slice of paper off the truck of the tree !!! Smooth and full strokes.

WessB · July 2003

JSlot,
Would love to make you an offer of a meal but we just 3 weekends ago got our boat in the water and we are trying to make up for lost time..All is well otherwise, if you`re here during the week drop us an E we can figure something out...[p]Wess

Bordello · July 2003

Mr. Hyde,
I'm no expert but did spend 13 years in a sausage kitchen, my understanding is as yours, a sharp knife when being stroked on a steel "restores the cutting edge" I also had a more flat kind of steel that I believe would, too a degree sharpen as well as restore an edge. [p]Cheers,
New Bob

Randy · July 2003

Once your knife gets good and dull you have got to put a new edge on it, a steel wont do it. If you want the easiest way, go buy your self a Lansky shapening kit. Your knives will become the envey of anyone who uses them. I own a block of Wustoff and this is what I have used for years. http://www.lansky.com/

UnConundrum · July 2003

WessB,
There are different styles of sharpening systems, all with different levels of difficulty and results. The electric driven sharpeners are easy to use, but hell on your knives, especially if you've made a considerable investment. On the other hand, a properly maintained knife should not need sharpening more than once or twice a year. A good quality knife should be steeled before and after each use.... This helps maintain the blade by aligning the microscopic bits of metal on the cutting edge. Sharpening grinds these bits away and part of your knife with it. Using a steel only realigns the bit with no damage to the knife. Use of a steel requires practice to master, but is well worth the effort. There are three general types of steel, the metal ones, ceramic and diamond. The diamond steel seems to be the easiest to use, but it too removes metal from your knife... that's why there's diamonds... to cut the steel. A ceramic "steel" will also remove some metal but not to the degree of a diamond, and the metal steels seem to remove virutally no metal.[p]I personally purchased a model "600F Galley V" sharpening system from spyderco (http://www.spyderco.com) for maintaing my edges. This is a stationary mount which holds two ceramic stones at a fixed angle. I use this to "steel" my knives whenever I use them. Since it's screwed to my worktable, it's always there and readily available. Unfortunately, when I went to spyderco's web site, I could find only replacement stones. I hope it hasn't been discontinued. I use this with my Globals, and haven't actually sharpened them in the last 9 months or so.... and they don't need a sharpening now.[p]When they do need the edge reset, I use the Edge Pro system (http://business.gorge.net/edgepro) I found the system when some people in cooking forums were raving about it. I have to admit that it's a great system, but a little expensive for the weekend cook. I bought the professional system, and my knives have performed like new. As a promotion on the web site, Ben, the owner offers to have you send in the knife of your choice and he'll sharpen it for free, no strings attached, with his system. When you check out the results...you'll be sold like I was. I've bought electric sharpeners, ceramic stones, Global stones, stones from restaurant supply houses, on and on, but nothing worked like the Edge Pro system. When I use a stone freehand, I just can't seem to keep the angle stable...this system avoids that problem.. Sorry if this sounds like an advertisement.... just a really great product if you can afford it, and the promotion is too hard to pass up

Ryan · July 2003

WessB,
A steel will only keep a sharp knife sharp. It does nothing for a dull knife. Use your sharpener to put an edge on it, then keep it sharp with your steel. I use my steel EVERY time I use a knife. I generally have to re-grind a few knives every year...[p]Ryan

Basselope · July 2003

I came back to this thread to talk about sharpening knives. Like UnConundrum I never felt that I could hold a super stable angle when sharpening. I mean I could get an edge, but never the edge I thought I should be able to get.
Then one day I bought a Lansky kit. OMG I could put an edge on a knife any knife that would not quit.
then some SOB "borrowed" my Lansky. So I went looking on the net and found a Gatco kit (available from WWW.Cabelas.com) very similar to the Lansky, perhaps a tad easier to use.
Both of these will put an edge on your knives that will blow you away. They are both about 1/8 the price of the Edge Pro. While that is a beautiful system, I can get results that make me happy for a lot less long green. I can then use the money saved to but meat for the BGE.

Along the quaility knife thread...On Topic

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