December 6, 2006
And Another Thing...
Go out and buy yourself a sharpening stone and learn to use it.
I used to be pretty good back in Boy Scouts, but in the many years since then, I lost my stone, and thought, "well, I was probably good for a fifth grader with a pocket knife, but my Wusthof knives need the professional treatment."
Once in awhile I would use a coarse stone I still had, and fine grit paper to take care of emergencies (oops, there was a stone in that), and the result was fine, but what a lot of work!
So I would go to my favorite cutlery store four times a year (not enough, but when you are paying for each knife, keeping them in really proper shape is expensive. Of course the injuries that can come from a not-in-proper shape knife are even more expensive) and have to use a backup blade for a week, while the dude was "out sick" for three days, and then needed three more to get caught up (local readers who spend time in North Beach will know who I am talking about). Of course when the knives were done, they were beautiful. But it costs, so I have been determined to get back into taking care of my own knives.
I went to the restaurant supply shop and bought a Norton dual stone and some honing oil, and got my chops back up. I use the back of my belt for stropping, and, for the past few months, have been enjoying razor sharp knives, without having to pay through the nose to keep them there.
It isn't hard. Ideally you should find someone to show you how, but you can teach yourself with a book and some practice.
When I am in other people's kitchens, I am amazed at the high quality, yet poorly maintained knives I encounter. One house I know, where one of the couple likes to cook and is a good cook, boasts a lovely collection of German knives, which probably have not been sharpened since they were made, thirty years ago. Next time I am over there I am going to bring my tools and take care of two of the knives.
But I probably won't be over in your kitchen soon, so get on over to the local restaurant supply store, buy a stone and some oil, and get to honing!
Posted by erik at December 6, 2006 11:57 AMJohn,
I know what you mean about the dual stones. I am starting to question how long this one is going to last, especially since I have embarked on a project of sharpening all my woodworking tools.
As for the ideal stone, I would go for a Japanese water stone, but those run $70, so when it came down to it, I got cheap.
I had terrible luck at the hardware stores, although certainly better than the consumer cooking shops (Sur la table has a big inventory of those useless electric sharpening systems that do terrible things to the knife's edge). None of them had good prices, and they had minimal selection.
My next sharpening investment is going to be a low-speed bench grinder.
My favorite cool demonstration of a sharp blade is to take a tomato and run the blade over it with no pressure and watch it cut practically on its own.
Posted by: Erik Keilholtz at December 6, 2006 2:16 PMArkansas stones are good. I've never trusted the dual stones myself, mainly because all of the dual stones I've tried were pretty lacking in consistent quality. I've also had better luck getting good sharpening stones at hardware stores rather than cooking shops.
But, yeah, sharpening isn't that hard to learn. And you can do cool things like demonstrate the blade by shaving the back of your hand.
Tip for people who have knives--take it under a bright light and look at the blade edge on. If you can see a white line or bits of white shining back, it's dull.
Posted by: John Herreid at December 6, 2006 1:35 PM