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Guest
I have read in your web-site a fair number of ideas, complaints, and musings concerning the act of sharpening a knife. To those of you who are pleased with whatever sharpening method you are using, be it a gizmo that you paid a couple hundred dollars for or the guy over at the scissors shop who sharpens for you, I would suggest you ignore the rest of this post and stick with the system that works for you. For those of you who don't fit into this category I am willing to suggest a system that has come to work for many people, people whom I've taught how to sharpen things over a period of many years.
I am a retired knife maker. For a decade I had a web site through which I marketed my custom-made knives of all sorts as well as (of all things) custom made sword canes. Perhaps a third of the custom knives I made were for kitchen use. I made knives to the specifications of a number of reasonably well-known chefs, and an equal number of such people sought out knives of my own design. I bore you with this information only in order to attempt to establish a bit of credibility with you before I go on. Now days I sharpen dozens of knives and scissors a week as a service provided by the local Metal Club here in the retirement settlement where I live. I also teach knife making to members of this club.
For reasons I do not fully understand the simple act of sharpening a knife has become mysterious to a very large segment of our population. I guess that's because people no longer carry knives in their pockets nor use knives very often. But back in my day virtually any seven-year old country boy could show you how to sharpen a knife, and to sharpen it well, on an old brick, or on a corner of the sidewalk over by the schoolyard. And indeed that is virtually all you need to sharpen a knife.
The people who used to come to me to learn sharpening were often surprised, occasionally offended, when I handed them a piece of wood and then later a rather smooth red brick as their first sharpening stones. The point I was trying to make then, as well as now, is that it does not take expensive equipment, miracle gizmos, or expensive devices to accomplish the simple act of sharpening a knife. It takes some sort of stone (used wet no matter what the directions say) a bit of easily acquired skill and some energy.
I also read on your website postings some discussion concerning the correct angle for the final edge on a knife. This is a concern I suppose, but it is not one that I feel you should worry greatly about. If your tool is going to be used for chopping you want a more obtuse edge than if it's going to be used for fine slicing. An old-fashioned straight razor has an extremely acute edge and is extremely keen, but that edge is very delicate because it is so thin. You and I need to strike some sort of a happy medium in terms of the angle of the edge we put on our knives. And you won't notice much difference if it's 16° or 23° or 19°, but you will notice the difference between that 23° edge and one that is twice that angle. The former is wonderful for a slicing tool the latter for chopping tool.
It is a fairly safe assumption that the knife you bought came with a correct angle on the edge. So all you need to do is duplicate that angle and the knife will be in good shape. If you're not happy with that angle you can alter it by holding the knife against the sharpening stone at a different angle, and holding it consistently at that angle, but if you are happy with it leave it alone. Yet it seems from what I've seen in the past that holding it at that or any consistent angle is the major problem most people face when attempting to sharpen a knife. So here's a way to learn how to do that. Get a flat piece of lumber, a hunk of 2 x 4 will do, but then again so will the surface of your cutting board. Take your knife and start running it edge formost across the piece of wood as though you are trying to sharpen it on that piece of wood. Run it first one way then turn it over and run at the other way. Continue this while increasing the angle of the blade slightly with each pass until you begin to shave just the tiniest bit of wood off the top of the surface. What you'll get will be something like sawdust. Okay you have now found the angle at which your knife needs to be sharpened and you have felt the feeling it will have when it is at the correct angle to the stone! Practice that for a few minutes and get used to the feeling of the knife simply taking very small shavings off the top of the wood.
You have just learned how to sharpen a knife! Now all you need to do is transfer that skill to something that is harder than the knife blade. That can be a crock stick, that can be a brick, that can be the sidewalk, or that can be a sharpening stone, but if you will get the feeling (a sharpening steel also works exactly the same way though it does not sharpen much, it hones) of trying to shave off just the tiniest bit of whatever it is your sharpening on you will have achieved effective sharpening technique. It's as though you are trying to whittle a very thin shaving off the top of the stone, the steel, the crock stick, the flower pot, or the concrete block that you're using to sharpen your knife.
Once you have the technique, don't be afraid to lean on the knife. Sharpening is an abrasion process and you need to have some pressure between the blade and the sharpening surface. Do one stroke on one side, one stroke on the other keeping things even and when you think you have achieved your end strop the knife in order to remove what is called the "wire edge"--all those little foil like pieces along the edge that you have created during your sharpening. Stropping can be done on the palm of your hand, on a piece of paper, a newspaper, an old magazine, a piece of wood, granddad's old leather strop, or the side of your boot. The technique here is the reverse procedure from sharpening. You move the knive with the edge trailing rather than leading. Continue stropping until all the wire edge is gone.
If you feel you want test that edge you can go ahead and try to slice some paper with it or you can attempt to shave some hair off your arm. My left arm consistently looks mangy because I'm always testing one edge or another on it. But in truth the best way to test the knife is to go use it. If it's sharp enoough for the task at hand you'll know it. If it isn't go back to the stone and continue as outlined above.
Many of you have noted that your knives only need to be sharpened annually, or every few months. I'm glad to hear that. My own kitchen knives are not sharpened often, but they are run over the sharpening steel a couple or three times before they are put back in the drawer after every use. Essentially a knife that is stropped (or steeled) regularly will not need to be sharpened often.
I wish to point out that everything I've written is simply one man's opinion, albeit an opinion based on more than half a century of sharpening and making edged tools. I reiterate that if you have a way to sharpen a knife that you're happy with please ignore everything I've written. However if you think you can improve your skills at sharpening I suggest you try this system, it's not the only system by any means, but it is one that has worked for many many others in the past.
I am a retired knife maker. For a decade I had a web site through which I marketed my custom-made knives of all sorts as well as (of all things) custom made sword canes. Perhaps a third of the custom knives I made were for kitchen use. I made knives to the specifications of a number of reasonably well-known chefs, and an equal number of such people sought out knives of my own design. I bore you with this information only in order to attempt to establish a bit of credibility with you before I go on. Now days I sharpen dozens of knives and scissors a week as a service provided by the local Metal Club here in the retirement settlement where I live. I also teach knife making to members of this club.
For reasons I do not fully understand the simple act of sharpening a knife has become mysterious to a very large segment of our population. I guess that's because people no longer carry knives in their pockets nor use knives very often. But back in my day virtually any seven-year old country boy could show you how to sharpen a knife, and to sharpen it well, on an old brick, or on a corner of the sidewalk over by the schoolyard. And indeed that is virtually all you need to sharpen a knife.
The people who used to come to me to learn sharpening were often surprised, occasionally offended, when I handed them a piece of wood and then later a rather smooth red brick as their first sharpening stones. The point I was trying to make then, as well as now, is that it does not take expensive equipment, miracle gizmos, or expensive devices to accomplish the simple act of sharpening a knife. It takes some sort of stone (used wet no matter what the directions say) a bit of easily acquired skill and some energy.
I also read on your website postings some discussion concerning the correct angle for the final edge on a knife. This is a concern I suppose, but it is not one that I feel you should worry greatly about. If your tool is going to be used for chopping you want a more obtuse edge than if it's going to be used for fine slicing. An old-fashioned straight razor has an extremely acute edge and is extremely keen, but that edge is very delicate because it is so thin. You and I need to strike some sort of a happy medium in terms of the angle of the edge we put on our knives. And you won't notice much difference if it's 16° or 23° or 19°, but you will notice the difference between that 23° edge and one that is twice that angle. The former is wonderful for a slicing tool the latter for chopping tool.
It is a fairly safe assumption that the knife you bought came with a correct angle on the edge. So all you need to do is duplicate that angle and the knife will be in good shape. If you're not happy with that angle you can alter it by holding the knife against the sharpening stone at a different angle, and holding it consistently at that angle, but if you are happy with it leave it alone. Yet it seems from what I've seen in the past that holding it at that or any consistent angle is the major problem most people face when attempting to sharpen a knife. So here's a way to learn how to do that. Get a flat piece of lumber, a hunk of 2 x 4 will do, but then again so will the surface of your cutting board. Take your knife and start running it edge formost across the piece of wood as though you are trying to sharpen it on that piece of wood. Run it first one way then turn it over and run at the other way. Continue this while increasing the angle of the blade slightly with each pass until you begin to shave just the tiniest bit of wood off the top of the surface. What you'll get will be something like sawdust. Okay you have now found the angle at which your knife needs to be sharpened and you have felt the feeling it will have when it is at the correct angle to the stone! Practice that for a few minutes and get used to the feeling of the knife simply taking very small shavings off the top of the wood.
You have just learned how to sharpen a knife! Now all you need to do is transfer that skill to something that is harder than the knife blade. That can be a crock stick, that can be a brick, that can be the sidewalk, or that can be a sharpening stone, but if you will get the feeling (a sharpening steel also works exactly the same way though it does not sharpen much, it hones) of trying to shave off just the tiniest bit of whatever it is your sharpening on you will have achieved effective sharpening technique. It's as though you are trying to whittle a very thin shaving off the top of the stone, the steel, the crock stick, the flower pot, or the concrete block that you're using to sharpen your knife.
Once you have the technique, don't be afraid to lean on the knife. Sharpening is an abrasion process and you need to have some pressure between the blade and the sharpening surface. Do one stroke on one side, one stroke on the other keeping things even and when you think you have achieved your end strop the knife in order to remove what is called the "wire edge"--all those little foil like pieces along the edge that you have created during your sharpening. Stropping can be done on the palm of your hand, on a piece of paper, a newspaper, an old magazine, a piece of wood, granddad's old leather strop, or the side of your boot. The technique here is the reverse procedure from sharpening. You move the knive with the edge trailing rather than leading. Continue stropping until all the wire edge is gone.
If you feel you want test that edge you can go ahead and try to slice some paper with it or you can attempt to shave some hair off your arm. My left arm consistently looks mangy because I'm always testing one edge or another on it. But in truth the best way to test the knife is to go use it. If it's sharp enoough for the task at hand you'll know it. If it isn't go back to the stone and continue as outlined above.
Many of you have noted that your knives only need to be sharpened annually, or every few months. I'm glad to hear that. My own kitchen knives are not sharpened often, but they are run over the sharpening steel a couple or three times before they are put back in the drawer after every use. Essentially a knife that is stropped (or steeled) regularly will not need to be sharpened often.
I wish to point out that everything I've written is simply one man's opinion, albeit an opinion based on more than half a century of sharpening and making edged tools. I reiterate that if you have a way to sharpen a knife that you're happy with please ignore everything I've written. However if you think you can improve your skills at sharpening I suggest you try this system, it's not the only system by any means, but it is one that has worked for many many others in the past.
