Great series of videos, Jay! You make it look easy enough that I may give this some serious thought some day. 
How to sharpen a knife
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Videos = A+, gloves = D- 
Videos = A+, gloves = D-
I was gonna ask what their purpose was as I knew they weren't for protection. 
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- #145
I peeled a butternut squash, and plum forgot that the skin gives me a terrible rash. This one was very bad, and I'll be preparing food wearing gloves for a few days, I'm sure.
Not at all. What I believe Scott means is that this site, more than anything else, is dedicated to enjoying the process of extracting every last bit out of everything we attempt to do, whether it's brewing coffee, selecting a shirt, or shaving.
If you're going to shave, enjoy it. Get the best razors, blades, and creams, master the technique, and strive for perfection. As for knives, I can understand settling for adequate performance, but why should that ever be one's goal? If you have a knife (any knife), having to sharpen it is an eventuality as certain as having to shave. Might as well make the most of it.
For the record, I have never shaved a peach, but dice plenty of onions.
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- #146
Given the recent sad news, perhaps you shouldn't.
Ouch,
Thanks for the videos and sharpening lessons. I have several cheap knives to practice on.
How about some specific recommendations for knives to purchase? Perhaps give some recommendations for several price ranges like sub $100, $100-$300, $300+, or whatever ranges make sense. I am looking for something that not only performs really well, but also looks and feels great.
Thanks for the videos and sharpening lessons. I have several cheap knives to practice on.
How about some specific recommendations for knives to purchase? Perhaps give some recommendations for several price ranges like sub $100, $100-$300, $300+, or whatever ranges make sense. I am looking for something that not only performs really well, but also looks and feels great.
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- #148
You may not get your dream knife for a c note, but you can get a mighty fine blade. Tojiro is a no brainer, and Suisin, Kiyotsuna, Misono molybdenum series, and Togiharu make some good looking knives at that price point. The $100-300 range offers considerable choice, with Hattori, Misono UX-10, Hiromoto, and Blazen powdered steel some of the favorites. At the high end of that range, you can afford two of them. Over three bills, and you get anything you want- top line Nenox, custom jobs from Carter, Takeda, Watanabe, Haslinger, you name it.
I need to find a good knife shop for the japanese blades here in the Chicago land area. I want to feel them before purchasing, they're for a Xmas gift for my boss.
Ouch... my eyes are bleeding... Thats alot of great info on this thread.
I'm meeting Dave at the end of the month for some stone and blade time
Can't wait
As time permits I'll be reading this more indepth, I just skimmed it this first time. So much info all at once...
Thanks for showing a better side of us Kitchen Knife Nutz !!!
I'm meeting Dave at the end of the month for some stone and blade time
Can't waitAs time permits I'll be reading this more indepth, I just skimmed it this first time. So much info all at once...
Thanks for showing a better side of us Kitchen Knife Nutz !!!
I recently purchased a couple of Tojiro DP knives from Korin - I have no frame of reference for Japanese knives as these are my first two, but I am very pleased with the quality, ergonomics and cutting ability of these knives.
These knives came with the sharpest factory-sharpened blades of any knife I've ever bought - I could shave hair off my arm with them out of the box.
I think that these may be some of the best knife values out there - around $50 for a nice chef's knife.
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- #152
Glad you like them, Chris. Some people report issues with the fit and finish of the Tojiros, but I never had a problem They put their money where it counts- in the blade. They're the cheapest stainless knives hardened to RC60 that I can think of. For $50, you get a lot of knife.
The first time I used Japanese knives, I had to alter my technique substantially. I found that the sharp, thin blades would "stick" to my cutting board as it it were a magnet.
Believe it or not, most Japanese knives don't come fully sharpened from the factory. Even with megabuck sushi knives, the understanding is that the chef will put his/her own finishing touches on the blade, and for the factory to do otherwise would be considered insulting.
My first japanese knife is a Hiromoto HC4 (the poor thing)... Ouch has it right about the learning curve from a western knife skill set to the japanese knife skill set. If and when you take the plunge to really sharp knives, start low in the $$ range. Hiromoto's HC line for carbon steel and Tojiro for the Stainless Steel (sneeze, mmm that followed me here as well...). These are great knives for little money to get used to how they work. You may find you have a slight twisting action in your slice, that didn't mater with your western chef knife. It will translate in to micro chipping in a japanese blade. There are a few other quirks that pop up now and again but are easy to fix.
So learn the quirks on a less expensive blade so you don't chew up a big money Carter or something... oh ya after you get used to production japanese style knives you get to start all over again when you get some of the custom made stuff like a Carter nakiri, paper thin edges that are laser sharp tend to get your attention...
So learn the quirks on a less expensive blade so you don't chew up a big money Carter or something... oh ya after you get used to production japanese style knives you get to start all over again when you get some of the custom made stuff
like a Carter nakiri, paper thin edges that are laser sharp tend to get your attention...- Thread starter
- #154
Gesundheit! DwarvenChef has a very rare allergy to stainless steel.
I never heard it put quite that way before, but it's very true.
A technique I used to use all of the time for chopping was, while rocking the blade, to keep the tip end pretty much stationary and move the heel in a sweeping arc, almost a quarter circle. With a relatively dull knife (still sharp by most standards) the knife will easily rotate around the pivot point where it hits the board. With a sharper knife, this point digs into the cutting boards, and attempting to rotate the knife while a portion of the blade is dug in to the board can chip the edge.
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- #155
If you think this is too time consuming, you can always do this.
[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98kmvzKt2EY[/YOUTUBE]
[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98kmvzKt2EY[/YOUTUBE]
If you think this is too time consuming, you can always do this.
[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98kmvzKt2EY[/YOUTUBE]
That's what I was doing this summer in the desert and it doesn't work that well.
Good videos of how to sharpen a knife. I will say that doing it freehand in that manner takes much, much practice. And then, even more practice. There has to be a very strong feeling of accomplishment in attaining such a skill.
Practice is the key word in learning how to sharpen in such a manner -- primarily in learning how to keep a consistent angle. I have seen cowboys take out old concave Arkansas whetstones from literally a couple of generations of use (such a stone would be worthless to most people), and with a small circular motion put a fine shaving edge on a "cutting" knife (a larger pocket knife used for ear marking and castration when working cattle). When you do it all the time, you can get very good at putting an edge on a knife. Your equipment can range from very high end to very low quality, but without practice, the equipment (high or low end) is of not much use to you. I don't have those skills, nor the patience to acquire such with regard to knife sharpening.
I don't sharpen knives for a hobby, but I do enjoy a very good edge. Perhaps blasphemy to the purist, I am satisfied with using a sharpening system to obtain very fine edges. Simply put, I have to use a "contraption" to help me keep a consistent angle when sharpening a knife. I am not an advertiser so I am not disclosing the system I use (I don't use the EdgePro).
Unlike shaving with canned goo, I get a much better shave when I whip up a higher end cream with a fine silvertip. Such is not the same to me with knife sharpening. Frankly, I can put a shaving edge on a knife with a sharpening system that is just as sharp as any that a professional could attain. Even then, I had to put in a fair amount of practice to obtain the edges I wanted with my sharpening system.
I will say that I can put a serviceable edge on a knife using my thumb as an edge guide. But, I have not done that near enough to obtain the consistency needed for shaving sharp edges.
Practice is the key word in learning how to sharpen in such a manner -- primarily in learning how to keep a consistent angle. I have seen cowboys take out old concave Arkansas whetstones from literally a couple of generations of use (such a stone would be worthless to most people), and with a small circular motion put a fine shaving edge on a "cutting" knife (a larger pocket knife used for ear marking and castration when working cattle). When you do it all the time, you can get very good at putting an edge on a knife. Your equipment can range from very high end to very low quality, but without practice, the equipment (high or low end) is of not much use to you. I don't have those skills, nor the patience to acquire such with regard to knife sharpening.
I don't sharpen knives for a hobby, but I do enjoy a very good edge. Perhaps blasphemy to the purist, I am satisfied with using a sharpening system to obtain very fine edges. Simply put, I have to use a "contraption" to help me keep a consistent angle when sharpening a knife. I am not an advertiser so I am not disclosing the system I use (I don't use the EdgePro).
Unlike shaving with canned goo, I get a much better shave when I whip up a higher end cream with a fine silvertip. Such is not the same to me with knife sharpening. Frankly, I can put a shaving edge on a knife with a sharpening system that is just as sharp as any that a professional could attain. Even then, I had to put in a fair amount of practice to obtain the edges I wanted with my sharpening system.
I will say that I can put a serviceable edge on a knife using my thumb as an edge guide. But, I have not done that near enough to obtain the consistency needed for shaving sharp edges.
Hey Ouch, what is your take on ceramic knives?
Regards,
Mike
Regards,
Mike
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- #159
They can be wicked sharp and hold an edge for a very long time, but they are brittle, easily damaged, and difficult to resharpen. They're tiny, too.
Steel is still the only game in town for knives, as far as I'm concerned.
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