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Sharpening your kitchen knives with whetstones - and picking great kitchen knives to begin with
    #18962770 -

Sharpening with whetstones is far superior to steeling or using one of those "sharpeners" which also take a lot of metal off to yield a mediocre edge.

If your knife is already a good knife in good condition, all you need is touching up. In that case you can sharpen it with 1000 grit and then polish it with 6000 grit for superb sharpness and durability, such as this Japanese sushi chef demonstrates here, ironically making a European edge:



If you want to buy just one stone and only need touching up for your good knives, and you dont really need razor sharpness, a dual whetstone of 1000/3000 grit does the job well. Just a 1000 stone, if skilfully used, can make your knife sharper than factory sharp. At 3000 you can push a knife through a sheet of paper, without slicing, and get some shaving action on your arm (be careful with that!) At 5000 and up you can with skill make it razor sharp.

But many of you don't have quality knives in good shape, and your kitchen knives are about as sharp as a licence plate. In that case you have to start with a low grit, like 120 to 400 and work it up to an edge like that, before taking it to a stone of 1000. Here, again ironically is an American chef putting a japanese edge on a knife that has no edge at all:



He uses a lot of inbetween grit sizes, but you can basically take a low grit directly to a 1000 if you made a good edge with it.  The lower the grit the coarser it is and the faster metal comes off.

What you do is let the lower grit stone create the actual edge and then let the higher grit stones take care of refining it from sharp to REALLY sharp.

You can invest hundreds of dollars in a whole arsenal of stones but it boils down to TECHNIQUE more than anything, watch a dude make a crappy stainless steel pocket knife razor sharp using a cinderblock and a brick:



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Re: Sharpening your kitchen knives with whetstones - and picking great kitchen knives to begin with [Re: Asante]
    #18963508 -

Thanks Wiccan very informative will come handy!


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Re: Sharpening your kitchen knives with whetstones - and picking great kitchen knives to begin with [Re: Asante]
    #18977813 -

Japanese water stones FTW :thumbup:


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Re: Sharpening your kitchen knives with whetstones - and picking great kitchen knives to begin with [Re: Shroomism]
    #18997577 -

:awesome:


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Re: Sharpening your kitchen knives with whetstones - and picking great kitchen knives to begin with [Re: unknown1123]
    #19020473 -

http://www.amazon.com/Victorinox-Honing-12-Inch-Regular-Plastic/dp/B000MD9IL2/ref=sr_1_sc_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1382569325&sr=8-2-spell&keywords=vicoranox+steel

Honing steel is the way to go to keep your great chef's knives sharp for a very long time. I use this often, as I cook often. Keep the blades nice and sharp. Been two years since i've actually had to sit down and sharpen either my cheap or expensive knives

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Re: Sharpening your kitchen knives with whetstones - and picking great kitchen knives to begin with [Re: ComputerTekGuy]
    #19044460 -

I picked up sharpening with wetstones skill this year. It's great - now the state which used to be 'sharp' for my knives is 'dull'. Makes cooking much easier and more fun. Going to save up money for some finer steel knives at some point - what I got now ain't great.

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Re: Sharpening your kitchen knives with whetstones - and picking great kitchen knives to begin with [Re: Asante]
    #19048541 -

steels are never intended to "sharpen" a knife, they are only used between sharpening to maintain the edge. I use japanese wet stone and rarely have to use a steel.


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Re: Sharpening your kitchen knives with whetstones - and picking great kitchen knives to begin with [Re: soochi]
    #19048783 -

I'm a Chef by profession, and I've had my MAC chef knives over 2 years now.  If it ever seems dull, a couple swiped on the honing rod smooths everything back where it should be.  I used to carry one of those "knife shaver" "sharpeners" in my pocket until I learned what good steel and a good edge maintained meant to my knives.


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"I always say the tea is like eating a burning tire covered in dog shit while someone steps on your nuts. Good luck!"
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Re: Sharpening your kitchen knives with whetstones - and picking great kitchen knives to begin with [Re: SizlChest]
    #19059204 -

Cutting boards make a huge difference. Wood is always the way to go. I find plastic over all shit, for the blade and cleaning. Key is to use a cutting board that doesnt just roll the edge off. If using a good board, and maintain with a good steel, you're knives should rarely ever be actually sharpened.

I use my knives 3-5 times a week, and with using them on the steel, they need to be sharpen once a year at best.

Big mistake is people put their good knives in dish washers! Always hand clean with soapy water, rinse good, and DRY IT OFF COMPLETELY.

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Re: Sharpening your kitchen knives with whetstones - and picking great kitchen knives to begin with [Re: ComputerTekGuy]
    #19059420 -

My girl will clean up, and she will sometimes put my knives in the dishwasher.....I want to smack her sometimes, lol.  JUST LET ME CLEAN THEM!


--------------------
PrimalSoup's Tea Tek

"I always say the tea is like eating a burning tire covered in dog shit while someone steps on your nuts. Good luck!"
"Hell, shrooms have blown up from under me and kicked my ass on 2 grams once."
"I think ill eat some shrooms right about now, and ill continue to until it doesnt feel like the right thing to do."

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Re: Sharpening your kitchen knives with whetstones - and picking great kitchen knives to begin with [Re: ComputerTekGuy]
    #19059458 -

One of the first things I taught my last girlfriend that lived with me.

NEVER PUT MY KNIVES IN THE DISHWASHER NO MATTER HOW DIRTY


said it FIRMLY, lol

:lilpimp:

Before we broke up she wanted to buy me a knife set. I wouldnt let her. Yea my knives are weird and mixed, but I dont need a new set that looks pretty or fits in a block

:willfredjoint:

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Re: Sharpening your kitchen knives with whetstones - and picking great kitchen knives to begin with [Re: ComputerTekGuy]
    #19109371 -

I use the wustof classic Ikon series, Shun classic, MAC,  and the moritaka hamano #2 Aogami series (carbon steel).

I normally use  whet stones and a steel hone to maintain.

The carbon steel is by far the hardest to maintain as it will rust if left damp, but by far much sharper and holds an edge much longer than softer stainless steel made knives.

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Re: Sharpening your kitchen knives with whetstones - and picking great kitchen knives to begin with [Re: EdibleStereos]
    #19115637 -

I got some sharpening stones but can't seem to get them to give me a good edge. With a steel I can do it easy but with the stone it's terrible.
Where do you think i'm going wrong? they're cheap knives if that impacts it at all

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Re: Sharpening your kitchen knives with whetstones - and picking great kitchen knives to begin with [Re: infected_2]
    #19116925 -

infected_2 said:
I got some sharpening stones but can't seem to get them to give me a good edge. With a steel I can do it easy but with the stone it's terrible.
Where do you think i'm going wrong? they're cheap knives if that impacts it at all


Key is to have a very small angle between the stone and the knife.

The edge should taper slowly to sharpness; the shiny part of the edge should be at more than 1mm long.

Almost thing about continuing the gentle taper of the knife right to the edge. When you use the whetstone, the blade should be close to flat against it, forming about a 30 degree angle with the stone.

Pictorially, if you imagine the edge of the knife, what you want is this:

Code:

    ^
   . .
  .   .
 .     .
.       .


NOT this:

Code:

            ^
         .      .
      .            .
   .                  .
.                        .


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"Inspiration ~ Move me brightly ~ light the song with sense and color ~ hold away despair ~ more than this I will not ask ~ faced with mysteries dark and vast ~ statements just seem vain at last" --Jerry Garcia, Terrapin Station

"Officer, I'm going to remain silent, and I would like to speak with a lawyer. I'm not resisting, but I don't consent to any searches.

Edited by ch1ck3n.s0up (11/10/13 09:53 PM)

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Re: Sharpening your kitchen knives with whetstones - and picking great kitchen knives to begin with [Re: ch1ck3n.s0up]
    #19140109 -

:Awemazing: I wish I could do this as a living

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