12-20-2011, 10:02 PM
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#24 |
| Senior Member
Join Date: Aug 2010 Posts: 552
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So you basically have two ways to make your knife cut more effectively: straightening the edge, and grinding the edge.
Straightening the edge is easy and it's maintenance you should get in the habit of doing for any knife you care about. The easiest way is to strop the blade on something.
Stropping involves moving the blade across something so that the spine (dull part) of the knife leads and the edge follows. You match the bevel of the blade to the surface, and pull it across. Do this a couple of times to both sides of the edge. If there's a bit of a roll developing, this will push it back to true.
This makes the knife seem sharper longer. What it's actually doing is aligning the sharp part with the way you cut using a knife.
Grinding down the edge is what you do with a whet stone. It actually involves removing metal from the blade. You generally lead with the edge of the knife and follow with the spine, but some people do circular motions. It doesn't matter much. You can get either one to work so long as you practice, so pick the one that feels the most natural.
You want to sharpen (grind down) your knives when stropping to straighten the edge doesn't improve them. Then you'll know that the edge has actually dulled. The reason you want to strop first is to make the knife last longer, since you actually remove metal when you grind it down.
When I'm talking about grinding it, I'm definitely not talking about taking it to a grinding wheel. I mean using some sort of whet stone or a hone. I prefer stones, but other people prefer buying a system of hones that hold the knife at particular angles.
Which is better? That depends on what you mean. Using a honing system with guides for the hones and such is easier. Using the stone is harder, but like many skills weighs nothing (and just a stone weighs less than a whole honing system).
There are lots of videos on YouTube on how to sharpen using a stone. I'd suggest watching a couple and seeing which ones seem the most helpful.
The general idea, though, is to match the bevel of the knife that creates the sharp edge to the stone, and remove metal in order to create a sharper edge. You start with a rougher stone and move toward finer. You should probably be able to get by with a medium stone for your kitchen. You really only need several stones when you're starting with something pretty dull and moving toward shaving sharp.
So you might want a medium and a fine stone. Use the fine to touch up the edge periodically, as a form of maintenance. Use the medium if you let the edge wear down a lot or use it enough that you take away most of the sharpness. Kitchen knives are generally pretty soft and thin, so you shouldn't really need a rough stone.
A bunch of people have talked about how carbon steel is the bee's knees. In a lot of ways, I agree. It's harder than comparable stainless, which means it can get sharper. Since you're not generally pounding your kitchen knives into anything hard, you don't have to worry that the harder steel will shatter.
But that's beside the point. If your knives work for you, touch them up with some stones to get them sharp, take care of them, and enjoy your kitchen. There's no need to go out and get fancy, expensive knives made out of crazy steel that's harder than a diamond and will hold an edge so sharp you can cut the space-time continuum into pieces.
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