How Are Your Knife Sharpening Skills???

L Ross said:
One of the few good things to come of my Covid and Pneumonia plagued trip to Florida a year ago was the purchase of this gizmo at a bait shop down in Destin. A guy manning the till was sharpening the knives they used in the shop to cut bait or something. They were those white composite handled, stainless steel bladed bait knives. I was buying one of the knives to leave in my boat to do emergency hacking and slashing after I had a floating tree climb my anchor rope a couple of years ago. I watched him give each knife a lick or two and I asked him if I could see a sharpened blade. Reluctantly he handed a knife over admonishing me to be careful. I was favorably impressed.
The counter man said, "They're made in U.S.A. and I have a bunch over there on the wall and they're only $8.99."
I would rather buy something useful rather than a souvenir T shirt so I bought the bait knife and sharpener. Well hot damn, talk about a lazy way to put a quick rough edge on a knife. The sharpener now resides in a kitchen drawer. It is perfect if you get a ding on a blade, or notice a shiny spot on an edge. A stroke or two with the Accusharp, then a couple of swipes with my Buck diamond hone and you're back in business.
There should never be a dull kitchen knife in America ever again. So simple anyone can do it and relatively safe to boot.
Hold the knife firmly on a counter top with the blade sticking out into space, sharp edge up. Place the Accusharp vee notch on the blade all the way back by the handle and draw it slowly and firmly to the point. You can feel the carbide rods cutting. One of two swipes and you cannot see the new edge. If you feel it, there is a toothiness that I like to hone away, but actually it is a useable edge for kitchen work and probably 90% sharper than most of the junk the average person is trying to cook with.
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Those have two carbide bits at a fixed angle. So far, so good. The problem with carbide is you need to press firmly for them to work. That firm pressure rips chunks of metal from the blade. Microscopically, yes but they are gone, none the less. Repeated applications of the carbide, deepens the gouges, much like potholes get deeper more than wider. If you look along the edge, you will see what I mean. Using the carbide and then “cleaning it up” with a stone is much better.

I have often joked, I should give those away as gifts, much like the glazier who gave away BB guns to the neighborhood kids.

Kevin
 
StrawHat said:
Those have two carbide bits at a fixed angle. So far, so good. The problem with carbide is you need to press firmly for them to work. That firm pressure rips chunks of metal from the blade. Microscopically, yes but they are gone, none the less. Repeated applications of the carbide, deepens the gouges, much like potholes get deeper more than wider. If you look along the edge, you will see what I mean. Using the carbide and then “cleaning it up” with a stone is much better.

I have often joked, I should give those away as gifts, much like the glazier who gave away BB guns to the neighborhood kids.

Kevin
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Oh absolutely. You can feel it dragging at the blade, especially if you bear down. I do take the blade to my Buck diamond hone after I make two passes with the Accusharp. I try to use only enough pressure to clean up the edge.
I am still a fan. One reason is when we are cutting meat with three guys around the boning table I used to get, "Hey Duke, can you touch up my knife." Now with the Accusharp my Brother-in-Law can touch up his own knife. When Longhunter is here cutting I don't have to worry about him, he keeps his blade very sharp. He has an old Germanic knife steel with full length striations on the rod, and I have never seen a better steel. I reach across the table and borrow it as soon as I feel my edge losing its bite.
My other thought is this. I firmly believe that the vast majority of kitchen and hunting, and fillet knives in America are woefully dull. Some people will buy some type of motorized sharpener, but not many. This Accusharp is CHEAP, user friendly, and if Strawhat is correct, will eventually wear out the knife's edge or at least require skilled remedial treatment to restore the blade. But! In the mean time these people will have a useable edge.
My buddy Jimmy an I insist our spousal units have sharp kitchen and pocket knives. If our wive's out live us, (and most likely will), they can touch up a blade with the Accusharp in our absence. I try to show Sue how things work that she has the physical strength to do. And I try to explain why. She can't handle a gas chainsaw, so I bought a Stihl electric. She isn't going to cut a load of firewood with it but she uses it regularly to cut up limbs, clear trails, cut brush. When it gets dull she can take it into ACE and get it sharpened or a new chain.
I love perfection as much as the next guy with CDO but a man has to be practical also.
 
I think I cling to manual sharpening using diamond, ceramic and Arkansas stones for the same reason I'll probably never get a progressive press. I get much therapeutic benefit from the practice of manually sharpening blades and performing each of the steps required in reloading ammo.
 
I'm not sure this is the place to post this or the other thread that CW started about buying a better kitchen/butcher knife?
Anyway, here goes.
I am sure loving these used, but new to me, Henckels kitchen knives I bought recently. Especially with the instructions from Kevin about using a belt sander with 120 grit belt to shape the edge, then using a honing steel on occasion to 'fix' the edge.
I was just cutting up some tough pork roast (long story) and cutting across the roast's grain was almost a joy, which I thought would be difficult if not impossible. BTW, that roast almost got thrown out, but I thought if I could slice across grain, then chop up for chili, maybe I could make it eatable.
 
I use diamond stones! They are metal. Best Sharping Stones is the company. I have some at home. Plus had some at work, several people at work used them many times during the work day. They would smooth out a bit after use. These are fantastic! Don't seem to have issues with rust. Hefty so they stay put. A holder is best though. Many different grit options. Even have two sided options. Very worth the money. I believe they offer a good warranty as well. Add a strop with some 1 micron diamond paste and you are set to sharpen knives effortlessly!
 
As I mentioned, I use DMT diamond stones. If it takes me 50 strokes to sharpen a blade, it was blunt, not dull!

Kevin
 
Personally I prefer the stones I mentioned better than the DMT. For me, they give more grit options. 300 all the way to 3000. I believe I have 4 plates to do this. 4 or 5 passes per plate, move to the next one. During the day I would use a 600 grit and a 1200 grit. Few passes each. Then a few passes on the leather strop, with diamond paste.
 
Sharpened daughter's knives today except for serrated bread knives. I have no clue on those, at least not with my pocket diamond hone. She has a v ceramic sharpener built into her knife block, would that work or should I get a single ceramic stick?
 
1. Do you need to sharpen a bread knife?
2. If the answer to #1 is yes, then I would match the contours of the notches. If they are semi-circles, then maybe a round ceramic rod of the correct size?
3. Unless it's part of a set, and keeping the set intact is important to you, a new bread knife may be a less expensive option. Assuming it needs to be sharpened at all.
 
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Match up the scallops in the serrated blade with a ceramic rod. I purchased a pack of ceramic rods in different shapes years ago. Round, square, triangle etc. I believe Spyderco made mine. Make a few passes with your ceramic rods. Then use a very fine stone on the back of the knife. Just pull it in one direction to remove any burr.
 
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This is something that helped me with the final step to attaining a truly “shaving “ sharp edge!!
I don’t know for sure, if he is still in business? Stropman.com
18” overall length.
12” x 2 1/2” stropping surface.
IMG_0013.jpeg
 
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Tom said:
Sharpened daughter's knives today except for serrated bread knives. I have no clue on those, at least not with my pocket diamond hone. She has a v ceramic sharpener built into her knife block, would that work or should I get a single ceramic stick?
Click to expand...
My Buck diamond hone has radiused edges. I work down the scalloped edges to remove any burrs. Then take a single swipe on the flat side with the hone as flat as I can hold it. The blades are noticeably sharper so I believe it works.
 
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Tom said:
Sharpened daughter's knives today except for serrated bread knives. I have no clue on those, at least not with my pocket diamond hone. She has a v ceramic sharpener built into her knife block, would that work or should I get a single ceramic stick?
Click to expand...


I use a diamond round stone to sharpen serrated knives, in a (horror!!!) rotary machine! I lightly touch each gullet, enough to raise a burr on the back side. Remove the burr and call it done.

This is really, NOT rocket science. If you can understand how to sharpen knives and scissors, everything else is easy.

Kevin
 
JonB said:
I'm not sure this is the place to post this or the other thread that CW started about buying a better kitchen/butcher knife?
Anyway, here goes.
I am sure loving these used, but new to me, Henckels kitchen knives I bought recently. Especially with the instructions from Kevin about using a belt sander with 120 grit belt to shape the edge, then using a honing steel on occasion to 'fix' the edge.
I was just cutting up some tough pork roast (long story) and cutting across the roast's grain was almost a joy, which I thought would be difficult if not impossible. BTW, that roast almost got thrown out, but I thought if I could slice across grain, then chop up for chili, maybe I could make it eatable.
Click to expand...
I have really got the "honing steel" figured out.
I wish I learned that 40 years ago, LOL.
.
Serrated knives are kind of disposable for me. I have a 1990s Spyderco pocket knife that I sent back to re-sharpen (after I buggered up the tip)...that's when I learned that the only serrated knives I will buy now, have to be cheap enough to be disposable.
 
I have some Wusthof knives (German) that are about 25 years old, maybe more, that are very good knives. There's a bread knife in that bunch that's never been sharpened and works as well today as it did when new. Some of the plain edge Wusthof knives have been sharpened but in general, they hold an edge better than any cheap steel I've had.
I was recently gifted a set of Cuisinart knives and I am very impressed with the quality of those knives. I would not have purchased those on my own but I was pleasantly surprised with the quality.

I also have some cheap kitchen knives that get used for tasks that I wouldn't risk a good knife on.
 
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