Knife sharpeners

[Texas Maverick]

On 12/24/2024 at 11:14 AM, Eyesa Horg said:

With that restated, consider finding a professional and drop em off. Pay the man/women, done. No real manual labor at all except the drive!

and having to reach into his pocket to put out his money. LOL

 

TM

[Kid Rich]

18 hours ago, Choctaw Jack said:

Speaking as someone who spent 50+ years making a living as a butcher, I believe the best knife sharpening system is a good set of oil ( or high grade water) stones and a medium or fine "grit" steel 

(The term "steel" is  generic . Good ones can be made of steel, diamond coated steel, or ceramic).

It does take practice but once you learn the proper technique, your knives last longer, your edges can be tailored to the task at hand, and it's  much easier on your hands and wrists . 

A set of quality stones aren't very expensive,  and with proper care and usage can last many years.

All.of this, of course, IMHO.

Choctaw

I agree with you one that. I learned at the age of 16 to properly sharpen a knife from a Cook in a truck stop in rural SD. He was a Chinese fella that also taught me to swear in a couple of different languages.

 When i was hunting with my brother in SD one year he made the remark that he never used a steel as he had sen more than one knife ruined by someone using a steel to sharpen it. I told him it wasn't the steel that ruined the knife it was the idiot using it.

 All of my knives in our house are sharp and get touched up when they start to get a little bit off. When they reach a point that the steel no longer readily touches them up I use the stones to put a proper edge on them.

kR

Edited December 28, 2024 by Kid Rich

[Forty Rod SASS 3935]

It just seems to be a light weight tool for the job it does.  I admit it works, but it jut isn't all that special.

 

Of course having different ideas is why there are so many flavors of ice cream.

[Pat Riot]

Did somebody say ice cream? 

 

I am curious @Forty Rod SASS 3935 have you decided on a sharpener?

 

 

[Subdeacon Joe]

I interpreted the request in the OP as,. "I want something simple that doesn't take half an hour to set up, has 87 parts to assemble, and can be used without having a degree in machining."  Also to me "chef sharp" is a step below "butcher sharp" or "meat cutter sharp."  Unless you're talking about the mystic arcana surrounding the knives of fugu chefs.  Those people seem to think "razor sharp" is about like a butter knife.  

I used to do the whole 4 whetstones, crock sticks, and a few leather and polishing compound contraptions I used to finish the process.  Plus crock sticks or a steel every time I used the knives.  Now I'm not quite so particular.  The one I suggested above is small, easy to use, and will get me to "sous chef sharp" in just a couple of minutes. If that.  

One thing is that I don't let my knives get dull.  A couple of times when I've taken my knives to use for cooking at church I've apologized to people as "I let them get a little dull" and they thought I was kidding.  Some wouldn't use my knives because they were "too sharp."  

[Sgt. C.J. Sabre, SASS #46770]

43 minutes ago, Subdeacon Joe said:

One thing is that I don't let my knives get dull.  A couple of times when I've taken my knives to use for cooking at church I've apologized to people as "I let them get a little dull" and they thought I was kidding.  Some wouldn't use my knives because they were "too sharp."  

I learned to sharpen knives in my late teens. My Mom used to get mad because her kitchen knives were too sharp. She kept cutting herself.

[Subdeacon Joe]

Just now, Sgt. C.J. Sabre, SASS #46770 said:

I learned to sharpen knives in my late teens. My Mom used to get mad because her kitchen knives were too sharp. She kept cutting herself.

 

At least it was a  clean cut rather than a mangled tear from a dull knife. 

[Rip Snorter]

I used to sharpen my folks kitchen knives when I visited as an adult, college age till they passed.  I always warned them that I had done it - no cuts!

[Cypress Sun]

46 minutes ago, Subdeacon Joe said:

 

At least it was a  clean cut rather than a mangled tear from a dull knife. 

 

I have found the old adage of "a dull knife will cut you faster than a sharp knife" to be very true.

[Eyesa Horg]

And remember, never cut towards yourself,always towards your buddy!

[Choctaw Jack]

1 hour ago, Eyesa Horg said:

And remember, never cut towards yourself,always towards your buddy!

When I was tasked with training new meatcutters, one of my most used warnings was;

" Remember,  if you cut me we're both gonna bleed!"

Choctaw

[Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984]

1 hour ago, Eyesa Horg said:

And remember, never cut towards yourself,always towards your buddy!

 

12 minutes ago, Choctaw Jack said:

When I was tasked with training new meatcutters, one of my most used warnings was;

" Remember,  if you cut me we're both gonna bleed!"

Choctaw

I recall 55 years ago when I worked in a packing plant, in the boning room where some thirty meat cutters worked nearly shoulder to shoulder, standard practice was to cut toward oneself and to use the honing steel toward oneself rather than away toward others.

[Cold Lake Kid, SASS # 51474]

1 hour ago, Eyesa Horg said:

And remember, never cut towards yourself,always towards your buddy!

 

Dr. Dr. Bob used to say "It's easier to replace friends than fingers"

[Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984]

So, Forty, did you come to a decision?

 

footnote:  I saw Alex Guarnaschelli use the spine of a chef’s knife as if it were a steel to hone her other knife.

[Subdeacon Joe]

10 minutes ago, Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 said:

footnote:  I saw Alex Guarnaschelli use the spine of a chef’s knife as if it were a steel to hone her other knife.

 

I've done that a few times.  It works reasonably well. 

[Pat Riot]

2 hours ago, Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 said:

So, Forty, did you come to a decision?

 

footnote:  I saw Alex Guarnaschelli use the spine of a chef’s knife as if it were a steel to hone her other knife.

Yes @Forty Rod SASS 3935 what did you end up going with?

 

[Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984]

I made the offer to one son-in-law to sharpen his knives when he’s going away for a week. So I got what I’m told is half his kitchen knives. ))) and I’m sharpening away on my Tormek.

 

I haven’t made the offer to other daughter because I’m afraid of getting a pile of ginsus or Walmart specials.

[Pat Riot]

Threads like these are like going to a movie then the power goes out 15 minutes before the end of the movie. Two years later the movie is released on Netflix or Prime and you find that you really don’t care how it ended, but you watch anyway because you’re bored and find the ending sucked anyway. 

[Rip Snorter]

A cutting comment.

[Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984]

Just now, Rip Snorter said:

A cutting comment.

Sharp

[Sgt. C.J. Sabre, SASS #46770]

44 minutes ago, Rip Snorter said:

A cutting comment.

 

43 minutes ago, Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 said:

Sharp

He's been honing his wit.

[Rip Snorter]

Sharper than a serpent's tooth!

[Eyesa Horg]

1 hour ago, Rip Snorter said:

Sharper than a serpent's tooth!

He'll be on edge now trying to make a point!

 

But he'll handle it

Edited April 20 by Eyesa Horg

[Rip Snorter]

Acerbic!

[Eyesa Horg]

4 minutes ago, Rip Snorter said:

Acerbic!

😳, had to look that one up! 😁

[Sgt. C.J. Sabre, SASS #46770]

35 minutes ago, Eyesa Horg said:

He'll be on edge now trying to make a point!

 

But he'll handle it

Oh he has a point. But when he wears a hat it doesn't show.

[Rooster Ron Wayne]

I still use a wet stone .

I don't know any other way to sharpen a knife 😳

[J-BAR #18287]

Soft Arkansas stone dressed with mineral oil, and a SMOOTH steel.

 

If the blade has a good profile, 3 to 5 strokes on each side with the stone produces a new edge, which is then centered and trued with a few strokes on the steel.

 

Never put the knife in a dishwasher.  After washing by hand, dress the edge with a few strokes on the steel before returning it to storage.  I prefer a magnetic wall rack to prevent edge dings that happen when a knife rattles around in a drawer.

 

No need to make this difficult or expensive.

[Forty Rod SASS 3935]

I have a set of five stones that I've owned for over forty years andI bought a new very fine diamond steel.  A bit of a PITA but I learned how to use them many moons ago and still get a better than necessary edge when I sit down and take my time.

 

The steel is good for a quick dress up.

Edited Wednesday at 12:30 PM by Forty Rod SASS 3935

[Pat Riot]

Huh?

 

 

Never mind.

[J-BAR #18287]

I meant to add:

 

spend the money on getting good knives instead of investing in sharpening tools.

 

Good steel doesn't have to be re-sharpened all that often.

 

 

 

 

Edited Tuesday at 02:27 PM by J-BAR #18287

[watab kid]

between stones , tools and manual power versions i can   t say how many i have , they ae in every place one might look here and yet when you need a specific one i cant find it , i do keep a manual one in my car that seems to work well , should probably use it more often than i do ,