I bought a sharpening stone

I got a stone about twenty years ago and have used it for all my knives on a regular basis. None of my knives are particularly fancy but they all have a keen edge.

If you get into the habit from day one it's really a 30 second job per knife. Admittedly I'm not into major butchery so re-profiling has never been an issue for me.

Apparently the pro. meat guys retain quite rough edges to their knives, too polished and they don't slice as well. Worth bearing in mind for cleavers etc.

i am worried after reading this thread - yesterday i bought a Norton stone in 120/280 grit, for my stainless steel knives, which I take it is far too coarse? it was the finest i could get, but may have to go to a specialist kitchen store. what grade is best (leaving aside fancy-pants products and preferences)?

i should have consulted the SF oracles first...

Originally Posted by Gutman

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i am worried after reading this thread - yesterday i bought a Norton stone in 120/280 grit, for my stainless steel knives, which I take it is far too coarse? it was the finest i could get, but may have to go to a specialist kitchen store. what grade is best (leaving aside fancy-pants products and preferences)?

i should have consulted the SF oracles first...

Hmmm, I've not heard of that grit for a waterstone - perhaps that's US grit ratings? If US grits then you're not in all that bad a shape.

Originally Posted by Thomas

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Hmmm, I've not heard of that grit for a waterstone - perhaps that's US grit ratings? If US grits then you're not in all that bad a shape.

I think Norton is an American company, not Japanese, so those are probably US ratings.

In other news, I picked up 1000 and 6000 King stones today in Osaka. I couldn't find the combination stone so I got them separately. Going to give them a try tomorrow.

This just proves there's a fetish community for everything.

Originally Posted by Big A

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This just proves there's a fetish community for everything.

you'd think that the mere existence of styleforvm would be sufficient proof of that.

Knife damage and repair question: someone who no longer works for me used by Wusthof Grand Prix chef's knife to pry open a can of tomatoes. It's damaged in three places - two dents along the edge and a broken tip. Is this something that can be repaired by a civilian, a specialist, or not at all?

Have a couple of knives in really bad shape and am thinking of grabbing this:

http://www.sharpeningsupplies.com/Na...t-P324C97.aspx

Opinions?

lefty

I think a knife dinged up as badly as that Wustof has to go to a professional. Certainly I would not be able to fix it myself.

Originally Posted by MikkoN

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I use Japanese synthetic waterstones only.
They are cheap, durable and effective.
A combination stone of 1000 and 6000 grit will do nicely. KING is the most common brand seen outside of Japan.
My advise is to buy the largest one you can find. Sharpening with a small stone is hell...

Here is a very nice clip on using waterstones by a pro who uses his knives a LOT.

If interested in Japanese cuisine, check his other vids too.

Cheers,
M

that guy has absurd knife skills.. I've been trying to follow his vid on sharpening with pretty much no succuess, though. maybe I just need to keep at it for longer than a couple of minutes

Originally Posted by Big A

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This just proves there's a fetish community for everything.

i was researching kitchen knives and there is a cutlery forum with a subforum for "Christian Knife Enthusiasts." No lie.

Originally Posted by alliswell

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Knife damage and repair question: someone who no longer works for me used by Wusthof Grand Prix chef's knife to pry open a can of tomatoes. It's damaged in three places - two dents along the edge and a broken tip. Is this something that can be repaired by a civilian, a specialist, or not at all?

you can probably get it fixed, but at what cost? they'll have to shorten the knife by at least half and inch and remove a good quarter to half-inch of belly. And it'll probably cost around $30 to $40 to do it. Considering you can probably find a new gp chef's knife for around $80, that's probably not a good deal.

Originally Posted by alliswell

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Knife damage and repair question: someone who no longer works for me used by Wusthof Grand Prix chef's knife to pry open a can of tomatoes. It's damaged in three places - two dents along the edge and a broken tip. Is this something that can be repaired by a civilian, a specialist, or not at all?

Originally Posted by Manton

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I think a knife dinged up as badly as that Wustof has to go to a professional. Certainly I would not be able to fix it myself.

Originally Posted by foodguy

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you can probably get it fixed, but at what cost? they'll have to shorten the knife by at least half and inch and remove a good quarter to half-inch of belly. And it'll probably cost around $30 to $40 to do it. Considering you can probably find a new gp chef's knife for around $80, that's probably not a good deal.

Hmmm. If this were my knife, I would take a 4-lb hammer to gently bring the dents close into line. Once that was done, I'd polish the remaining flares off, and grind a new bevel to bring the tip back to a point.

The reason I'm advocating this for the Wusthof, where I did not for Manton's Shun, is 1) that the Wusthof has softer steel than the Shun and is likely less brittle/more malleable (AND the Shun is laminated, which adds a whole new layer of complexity), 2) Manton's bent area was at the tip, which is IMHO trickier to straighten since there is nothing on the other side of the ding, and 3) Shun's guarantee.

And finally, foodguy's advice pretty well defines why I would try it myself: if it works, great - it took a few minutes and cost me nothing. If it didn't work and I ruined the knife - well...I'm out the $80 for a new knife, where I might have been out $40 for a repaired knife with no guarantees of success.

Good luck with it, let us know what you wind up doing and holler if you have questions.

T-Bone thanks for the info in this thread.