[Joel11230]

I have two ... of those. The first one is about 15 years old. The newer one does European edges and Asian edges. They work superbly for the average kitchen chef. They get even brutally dull knives sharp again. They get knives sharper than 99% of the people out there are using now. I've often brought them when going to Thanksgiving or special dinner to sharpen the host's knives. For God only knows why, I'm often elected to "carve the turkey," even as a guest. I don't know if it's my hunting reputation or I look like a butcher or maybe Jack the Ripper? At first I was a bit uncomfortable considering it's usually the man of the house's "honor." I guess in this new world things are different. It astonishes me how many people, particularly women, are using and just living with dull knives that would make you vomit. I'd dig through a draw full of knives trying to find one without an edge like a shovel. I'd wind up going out to the truck and getting the diamond stone I keep out there and sharpen one so the turkey didn't look like it was carved with a chainsaw. Finally, I offered free knife sharpening...lol The "Chef's Choice" machine brings those blunt edges back effortlessly. If you're presented with 10 or 15 knives, it's a godsend. What they don't do is sharpen knives fanatically Japanese whetstone sharp.

That’s funny, I always get the “carving the turkey” honor as well. I see some knives and think my god my screwdrivers are sharper than this. I definitely have ocd about a knife being sharp. I have a few that nobody uses except me. I really believe there are people that won’t sharpen a knife(like my wife). They’ll just go buy another one. Melanie (my wife) uses her paring knife quite a bit. She has no idea that I keep it sharp for her.

 

[miles58]

That’s funny, I always get the “carving the turkey” honor as well. I see some knives and think my god my screwdrivers are sharper than this. I definitely have ocd about a knife being sharp. I have a few that nobody uses except me. I really believe there are people that won’t sharpen a knife(like my wife). They’ll just go buy another one. Melanie (my wife) uses her paring knife quite a bit. She has no idea that I keep it sharp for her.

Half of the go buy a knife and never sharpen syndrome comes from kitchen knives being sold in a grocery store, and the other half is that they can buy a quasi sharp knife in the grocery store for about the same investment in time and gasoline as it would take to drive the knife to a person who will sharpen it and pay for the sharpening. A good percentage of the rest just plain cannot sharpen a knife. The vast majority of the remainder are people who buy a poor choice for a knife and get tired of sharpening it every time they use it so that makes the knife need more than just a little touch up once in a while and it's more troube to sharpen the knife than it is to just suffer and hack up your meat.

 

[Iron Duke]

Half of the go buy a knife and never sharpen syndrome comes from kitchen knives being sold in a grocery store, and the other half is that they can buy a quasi sharp knife in the grocery store for about the same investment in time and gasoline as it would take to drive the knife to a person who will sharpen it and pay for the sharpening. A good percentage of the rest just plain cannot sharpen a knife. The vast majority of the remainder are people who buy a poor choice for a knife and get tired of sharpening it every time they use it so that makes the knife need more than just a little touch up once in a while and it's more troube to sharpen the knife than it is to just suffer and hack up your meat.

True ... And you see those inexpensive "sets" in a wooden knife block. Three quarters of the knives are missing from the block and piled in the utensil draw. The steel is crap to begin with and then the edge is completely wrecked with all the crashing together during washing, piled in the drain tray, and then thrown in the draw. My other pet peeve is "serrated knife edges." Cheap sets are usually with serrated edges so the happy homeowner can continue to saw through food well after a smooth edge blade couldn't be distinguished top or bottom. Amazingly, I've yet to find any knife sharpening device or stone in a non-hunters home! You ask if they have a sharpening stone and they get a glazed look as if you asked them the name of their 3rd grade teacher. "I'll take Science for one thousand Alex."...lol I tell people you can't let a good knife touch ANYTHING and they look totally confused. Go back a month later after sharpening all their blades, and the knives are all mashed together in the drain tray again. People just don't get it, nor do they care. Simply not as anal as many of us...lol

 

[miles58]

What really,really just turns me off is going into a decent restaurant and they bring me a serrated knife to cut whatever meat I might be eating, and that ridiculous excuse for a knife is so dull I could ride it to china and back and wouldn't even get a crease in my, ass and the handle is more of a club than anything else.

I almost always have either a little folding steak knife in my pocket or a small (ish) hunting knife hanging on my belt. When I get "that look" when I come in the door I have been known to just say "have you ever tried to cut meat with what you put on the table?"

I just had Tim Olt make me an elegant little blade that I will craft a tiny sheath for and carry it all the time for just that reason. I am so old that I think maybe the last time I got a decent knife to cut my dinner with in ANY restaurant at least half the earth's population hadn't been born yet, maybe 3/4.

 

[Oneoff]

That’s funny, I always get the “carving the turkey” honor as well. I see some knives and think my god my screwdrivers are sharper than this. I definitely have ocd about a knife being sharp. I have a few that nobody uses except me. I really believe there are people that won’t sharpen a knife(like my wife). They’ll just go buy another one. Melanie (my wife) uses her paring knife quite a bit. She has no idea that I keep it sharp for her.

It should probably be acknowledged that most knives, especially kitchen knives, don't need to be "sharpened". In most cases kitchen knives should be "honed".
Teach your wife to use a proper ceramic rod, preferably after each cleaning and as it is being stowed away for it's next use.
Unless you are processing large operations, a couple of swipes on a rod will keep even the cheapest steel sharp indefinitely.

 

[Iron Duke]

Ceramic rods ... basically straighten out bent over knife edges. Stropping on the other hand will actually hone your knife edge and remove tiny amounts of steel. I strop my kitchen knives (and hunting knife) after every use. Even with stropping, a knife edge has to periodically be reshaped by sharpening on a stone. It may be a long time between stoning, but the time WILL come.

 

[Oneoff]

Ceramic rods ... basically straighten out bent over knife edges. Stropping on the other hand will actually hone your knife edge and remove tiny amounts of steel. I strop my kitchen knives (and hunting knife) after every use. Even with stropping, a knife edge has to periodically be reshaped by sharpening on a stone. It may be a long time between stoning, but the time WILL come.

I have to say that I am very attached to my A.G. Russell field sharpener, even at home.

 

[dale lockwood]

nice info from you guys

 

[Iron Duke]

I have to say that I am very attached to my A.G. Russell field sharpener, even at home.

Spyderco ... makes a setup that's more stout. Had one for years. Does a good job, but it's not as easy as that guy makes it out to be. Trying to maintain that 15° angle while switching from one side to the other is tricky for one thing. Sharpening on a flat stone on a table is a natural motion. Swinging a knife around in mid-air in three different planes is not. I'll take the Spyderco with me if I go out of state on a project primarily for kitchen use.
Sharpeners - Spyderco, Inc.

 

[Oneoff]

Spyderco ... makes a setup that's more stout. Had one for years. Does a good job, but it's not as easy as that guy makes it out to be. Trying to maintain that 15° angle while switching from one side to the other is tricky for one thing. Sharpening on a flat stone on a table is a natural motion. Swinging a knife around in mid-air in three different planes is not. I'll take the Spyderco with me if I go out of state on a project primarily for kitchen use.
Sharpeners - Spyderco, Inc.

LOL!!!
I have had mine for more years than I care to remember but the purpose for the rods at an angle is so that your hand motion is straight up and down on both sides. When I use a single rod. I place the rod end down on a counter with cloth to cushion and stabilize it. Then tilt the rod to the angle desired. So again the hand motion is straight up and down on each side.
I do have stones, an Edge Pro and several versions of the Work Sharp but they don't get used as much as my field guide system.

 

[wpageabc]

This video shows a good way to keep proper angle using traditional stone sharp method...

 

[Slayer1962]

I use the work sharp. Anytime someone asks for a knife and i hand them my pocket lock blade i always get a comment about how sharp it is. My wife's kitchen knives get a good going over about every 2 months. I sit down watch a couple hunting shows and take my time. The bad thing about Work sharp is that you remove more metal than most other methods. The good thing is everything is sharp! My relatives show up at the house with all their kitchen knives. My one brother-in-law went to culinary school and he brings his, so I guess the work sharp does a good job.

 

[Iron Duke]

I use the work sharp. Anytime someone asks for a knife and i hand them my pocket lock blade i always get a comment about how sharp it is. My wife's kitchen knives get a good going over about every 2 months. I sit down watch a couple hunting shows and take my time. The bad thing about Work sharp is that you remove more metal than most other methods. The good thing is everything is sharp! My relatives show up at the house with all their kitchen knives. My one brother-in-law went to culinary school and he brings his, so I guess the work sharp does a good job.

One family dinner ... I sharpened knives for has a son who is a high-end professional chef in NYC. Complete with those $800.00 Japanese knives. They were gorgeous, but I didn't touch them to a stone ...lol

 

[Bobw67]

I really like the spyderco sharpener but you do need to keep the stones clean and not let the blade get very dull. If your real anal about sharpening then use the strop also. For broadhead blades the stay sharp guides and appropriate sand paper has worked well for me

 

[Iron Duke]

I really like the spyderco sharpener but you do need to keep the stones clean and not let the blade get very dull. If your real anal about sharpening then use the strop also. For broadhead blades the stay sharp guides and appropriate sand paper has worked well for me

Agreed ... you have to keep those Spyderco stones clean. But then again, you should keep all stones clean. I clean my whetstones with a small nagura stone after each knife is done being sharpened. My Smith's diamond stones for rougher work I clean with soap and a stiff brush after a few uses. It's amazing how much more aggressive those diamond stones cut after cleaning.

 

[miles58]

Agreed ... you have to keep those Spyderco stones clean. But then again, you should keep all stones clean. I clean my whetstones with a small nagura stone after each knife is done being sharpened. My Smith's diamond stones for rougher work I clean with soap and a stiff brush after a few uses. It's amazing how much more aggressive those diamond stones cut after cleaning.

The oval diamond steels, and more especially , the finer grits, really benefit from a decent cleaning. I use Dawn detergent, just a little on my fingers and then wiped all over the steel. After that I put a LITTLE wter on my fingers and start rubbing the steel and when the steel gets good and grippy, it's clean. Never throw away a diamond steel that doesn't seem to cut any more. Once the diamonds get worn some the steel clogs more easily and takes a little more cleaning to get it back to grippy and cutting decently. An older steel, like described, tends to be a very good tool for the hard knife steels and more so when you want a finer edge on them. I hav found that for CPM M4 blades, which re usually very hardand very tough, that it puts a nice edge on them. I suspect that the super hard steels like Maxamet, Zmax and Z121, above 63/64 would also really like a well worn diamond steel. Those steels would have to be nearly impossible to sharpen decently without diamond tools. I wishI have one to find out.

 

[Slayer1962]

worksharp you change belts and your clean

 

[Iron Duke]

The oval diamond steels, and more especially , the finer grits, really benefit from a decent cleaning. I use Dawn detergent, just a little on my fingers and then wiped all over the steel. After that I put a LITTLE wter on my fingers and start rubbing the steel and when the steel gets good and grippy, it's clean. Never throw away a diamond steel that doesn't seem to cut any more. Once the diamonds get worn some the steel clogs more easily and takes a little more cleaning to get it back to grippy and cutting decently. An older steel, like described, tends to be a very good tool for the hard knife steels and more so when you want a finer edge on them. I hav found that for CPM M4 blades, which re usually very hardand very tough, that it puts a nice edge on them. I suspect that the super hard steels like Maxamet, Zmax and Z121, above 63/64 would also really like a well worn diamond steel. Those steels would have to be nearly impossible to sharpen decently without diamond tools. I wishI have one to find out.

Dawn ...lol Exactly what I use!