Sharpen all the things

"phenotyp" (phenotyp) 04/30/2020 at 20:50 • Filed to: Essential skills

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After farting around for years with different simple sharpeners, I’d decided that the workhorse knife I use most in the kitchen needed a full on overhaul. Bought a set of whetstones ( 400/1000, and 3000/8000 grit), and set about learning. Thankfully, the workhorse chef knife (nothing fancy) and a couple smaller knives were all in need, and nothing that I was afraid to learn on and possibly fuck up in the process.

While those knives still aren’t pretty, they’re wicked sharp now, rivaling my ‘fancy’ knives, and I’m wishing I had more knives to fix up, now. It’s such a welcome respite from staring at a screen all day. Not having any work today paid off. Next up, I’m probably gonna have to get some 5/10000 wet sand paper to polish the flats of the blades, since they’re all streaked up from various sharpeners, and now it’s pissing me off. 

For Sweden > phenotyp 04/30/2020 at 21:11

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Edgy

Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. > phenotyp 04/30/2020 at 21:47

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Several years ago whilst bored and with plenty of time on my hands I spent some time with the whetstones sharpening a cheap dagger I purchased decades ago at an electronics store, of all places. Like a dummy I ran my finger over the sharpened edge, not expecting much. Nope - sliced easily through the skin like a scalpel. Needless to say, it was the last time I repeated that dumb moved.

phenotyp > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 04/30/2020 at 21:59

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It’s something I’ve wanted to do for a long time. Don’t know why I waited so long. Now I just need better things to cook. Of all the things during this lockdown, not having the time or money to cook fun, good meals, the kind where I go to the grocery store with nothing in particular in mind and just figure something inventive and delicious out, has been what I’ve missed most. My good knives haven’t really seen any use in months.

But now I think I’d be content just to sharpen knives all day long. 

Chariotoflove > phenotyp 04/30/2020 at 22:02

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The is relevant to my interests.  My set of Henkel’s need sharpening, and I have a sharpening tool that XJDano sent me for Secret Senna.  I should probably get a good stone though.  I haven’t kept one since my Boy Scout days.

Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. > phenotyp 04/30/2020 at 22:08

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I still haven’t sharpened my good chef’s knife. Years ago, when I made obscene amounts of money, I went out and bought a beautiful Wusthof (or was it Henckels?) knife. Somehow I’m afraid of destroying it so I just do manual sharpening on cheaper knives. I do sharpen the basic knives I pick up at the Asian market - those things can be amazingly good for the price.

I did discover one interesting thing. You know those cheap serrated ‘ miracle’ knives that claim that they never need sharpening? If you run one of those across a sharpening steel it has absolutely amazing results and became like a razor blade. All I had to do was get it near a tomato and the tomato would slice itself into paper-thin slices...

phenotyp > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 04/30/2020 at 22:16

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Yeah, little serrated paring knives are often the biggest surprises. I used to have a good one, but my girlfriend dropped it flat on a concrete floor and the blade snapped. Now I just sort of make do, and mostly just use the chef knife.

I wasn’t worried about fucking up the workhorse knife, as it was already about as sharp as a hammer, but I wasn’t expecting to get an edge that rivals my Japanese knife. It’s a clunker of a knife, probably about twice as wide as the Japanese, and about 3/4” longer, but for banging chicken apart and smashing garlic, it’s hard to beat. 

phenotyp > Chariotoflove 04/30/2020 at 22:21

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A set of workable stones can be found on amazon for like $20-50. I’ve mostly only used 1000 and 8000 grits. I hated the way my ProChef sharpener streaked up the flat of the blades, and once the chef knife was dangerously dull and no amount of sharpener seemed to fix it I figured it was time to do it right.

It’s way more satisfying than using a sharpener, and maybe in time I’ll even have the guts to sharpen my Japanese knife on em.

Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. > phenotyp 04/30/2020 at 22:29

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Although I can’t find it at the moment, my favorite knife has been a chunky, thick cleaver. It’s amazing how well it can do so many different tasks, and many times I’ll grab it for odd uses, like slicing vegetables or even opening the plastic bags on vacuum-sealed packages. It’s a workhorse and is usually my go-to when I don’t need the length of the chef’s knife.

MiniGTI - now with XJ6 > phenotyp 04/30/2020 at 22:37

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Come over to my house all my knives are a  mangled horror show.

phenotyp > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 04/30/2020 at 23:07

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I’ve heard a lot of people say that. A cleaver is one of  those knives that I don’t really have any experience with, and can’t picture a need for, but maybe someday if I ever buy another, I’d love to use a nakiri. Mostly because I think they look cool. 

phenotyp > MiniGTI - now with XJ6 04/30/2020 at 23:08

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You ship em, I’ll sharpen em. 

Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. > phenotyp 04/30/2020 at 23:13

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Ooh, that would be nice. A cleaver is something you don’t think you need because you don’t do any cleaving, but then once you have one you find all sorts of uses for it. I didn’t plan on getting one, but my mother upgraded and passed it along to me. She has an impressive set of knives and keeps them close at hand on a nice magnetic rack. She doesn’t let my dad touch them, and he has his own knives on a separate rack.

Chariotoflove > phenotyp 04/30/2020 at 23:37

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Plus, I can practice my ominous stare while stroking the blade along the stone. Maybe throw in an evil chuckle.  I need to be ready when the teenaged boys start sniffing around my girl.

phenotyp > Chariotoflove 05/05/2020 at 14:41

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Neighbors commented this weekend about the “samurai” in the garage with a collection of neighbors’ knives to sharpen. I spent most waking hours working on little workhorse knives, small and large santokus, a couple large chef knives, and a fillet knife. Felt like I spent most of my time going 1 step forward, 2 back. But the results should bear out. I worked out some chips, and got most of them to the point where they’d cut a lime peel without effort.

It’s amazing to feel the difference in steel types, and what each knife needs. I repaired one Gerber chef knife that had a bunch of chips in it (HOW??), and how hard it was to sharpen an IKEA santoku that was ChroMoVa, which had probably held its edge for a decade before it was more like a hammer than a knife. That one was super stubborn. IKEA’s chromova knives are great (i’ve had one for like 16 years, occasionally touched up, never let it get dull), but, man. Once the edge is gone, gettting it back is a lot of work.

Another neighbor said that it sounded like the 1800s around here, the schick schick schick echoing between houses, and that it was soothing. Kinda the best compliment.

Being able to provide a service, that people really needed, was really worth the effort.