OldTools Archive
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254344 | Joe West <joewest64@h...> | 2015‑04‑17 | Field Knife Sharpener |
GGs I bought a knife sharpener. http://www.worksharptools.com/guided-field- sharpener-221.html">http://www.worksharptools.com/guided-field- sharpener-221.html It works well. But, I can't get my knifes sharp enough to shave hair off my arm. I wonder if there is something wrong with my technique. How do others sharpen their knives? Joe West Sent from my iPod |
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254345 | "John M Johnston (jmjhnstn)" <jmjhnstn@m...> | 2015‑04‑17 | Re: Field Knife Sharpener |
My son the chef uses a 1000 grit Norton stone (same as we would use for a plane blade), no jig or guide. He touches it up with a steel as needed. That's the way he was taught at the New England Culinary Institute. Works for me as well. YMMV, J~ John M. Johnston “P.S. If you do not receive this, of course it must have been miscarried; therefore I beg you to write and let me know.” - Sir Boyle Roche, M.P. On Apr 17, 2015, at 8:23 AM, "Joe West" |
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254348 | Tim <tpendleton@g...> | 2015‑04‑17 | Re: Field Knife Sharpener |
I keep a broken off chunk of of a 50 cent flea market sharpening stone (probably 27cents worth) in my backpack for field use. I'm conserving arm hair at present so the shaving test has not been conducted. The next time I see a woodchuck in the wild (Natalie's little buddy, Jeff) I will attempt to shave the rascal. For shop use, I have an assortment of coarse to very fine oil stones. Most of the stones were 'experienced' when acquired. No shave test again, but there are plenty of squirrels in the yard... The Git and I are building a new birdhouse, to replace one that the squirrels trashed, so some pine shaving is on the agenda today. Tim Spring has finally arrived in northern NJ! On Apr 17, 2015 9:26 AM, "Joe West" |
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254352 | Michael Blair <branson2@s...> | 2015‑04‑17 | Re: Field Knife Sharpener |
Most dull knives can be made sharp in under 30 seconds with a saw file. If you want them shaving sharp, hone them after the saw file work. The critical thing is to maintain the angle, whatever system you use. Mike in Sacto |
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254361 | galoot@l... | 2015‑04‑17 | Re: Field Knife Sharpener |
Quoting Joe West |
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254363 | Ed Minch <ruby@m...> | 2015‑04‑17 | Re: Field Knife Sharpener |
Good advice Esther. I use a fairly smooth steel to reshape my kitchen knife blades without abrasives. Once in a while i run them through a “V” shaped set of coarse rods, then a “V” shaped set of smooth ceramic rods put a fresh grind on it. For shop knives, my scary sharp sandpaper-on-glass helps - I run through the grits up to about 600 unless I am doing something that needs 2000 emory paper. Ed Minch On Apr 17, 2015, at 5:42 PM, galoot@l... wrote: > In the kitchen I use a 2-sided synthetic stone from the hardware store a number of years ago. I suspect oil was intended but I usually use a bit of dish soap with a bit of water. It is possible to go nuts with scary sharp and fine sandpaper, but in the kitchen I see it as more like turning tools; get them sharp enough quickly and keep on chopping. The test is not forearm hair (I have wimpy delicate hair that ducks instead of cutting) but what it feels like going through the meat or the carrot. When you have cut either with a sharp knife you will know when it's sharp again. > > Esther > (you are using good carbon steel blades? Don't waste you time with the shiny non-rusting "never needs sharpening" stuff...) |
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254364 | "Peter Evans" <peterrevans@o...> | 2015‑04‑17 | Re: Field Knife Sharpener |
Me too. I use a 1000 grit King, works well. My touching up on a ceramic "steel" is less successful, probably because my wife never puts a knife to the steel (as well as my poor technique). But off the stone - great. Cheers Peter Peter Evans Sydney, Australia -----Original Message----- From: OldTools [mailto:oldtools- bounces@s...] On Behalf Of John M Johnston (jmjhnstn) Sent: Friday, 17 April 2015 11:58 PM To: Joe West Cc: oldtools@s... Subject: Re: [OldTools] Field Knife Sharpener My son the chef uses a 1000 grit Norton stone (same as we would use for a plane blade), no jig or guide. He touches it up with a steel as needed. That's the way he was taught at the New England Culinary Institute. Works for me as well. |
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254365 | Darrell & Kathy <larchmont@s...> | 2015‑04‑18 | Re: Field Knife Sharpener |
On 17/04/2015 9:22 AM, Joe West wrote: > > I bought a knife sharpener. > > It works well. But, I can't get my knifes sharp enough to shave hair > off my arm. I wonder if there is something wrong with my technique. > How do others sharpen their knives? > Hi Joe, Well, it depends on the knife. Kitchen knives get sharpened using a small stone I keep in the itchen drawer. About half our kitchen knives are stainless, the others are ugly, old, stained carbon steel. Gotta love those old ones, easy to get them wicked sharp. Pocket knives get a similar treatment, but usually down in the shop and on finer stones, so they get a bit sharper. The carving knives (Frost and Opinel mostly) get serious treatment. These are for carving spoons and other greenwood working. Diamond plate to shape the edge if necessary, depends on what level of abuse the knives have been through. If the Scout Troop has been doing a carving gig then yeah, the knives usually need more than a touch-up. Then the small cream coloured hard arkansas oil-stone, followed by a strop. Those knives you can shave with. Then it's the exotic stuff like the hook knives for hollowing spoons and shrink pots. They see the small ceramic hone and then get polished on the strop. I want these as sharp as I can possibly get them. One important thing about a knife is to *shape* the edge before honing it. I'll even drawfile a blade to get it to the shape I like before going to the stones. New knives often have a really poor shape to them, The Opinel and Frost knives are an exception. They show up with a decent shape. Most of the knives the Scouts show up with just have what appears to be a 60 degree angle for the edge, with a teeny little bevel. Look at a new one some time. Awful stuff. Bring me my file! -- Darrell LaRue Oakville ON Wood Hoarder, Blade Sharpener, and Occasional Tool User |
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254366 | Bill Ghio <bghio@m...> | 2015‑04‑18 | Re: Field Knife Sharpener |
Sent from my iPad > On Apr 17, 2015, at 6:23 PM, Peter Evans |
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254419 | Bruce Zenge <brucensherry@g...> | 2015‑04‑19 | Re: Field Knife Sharpener |
OK, Here's where I have to 'fess up and admit to power use. I have a water-wash glass grinder that is near as old as I am, that puts the edge on without damage from heat. Then the final edge is applied through judicious use of the ceramic sticks. I know this isn't the traditional way of sharpening using the fine carborundum, then the soft Arkansas, then the hard Arkansas and finally the hard black stone I used to use, but when you sharpen for all the ladies in the family, time is more precious than tradition. And the edges stay good for a surprising amount of time, even when abused by cutting on glass. Hey, I made major progress years ago when MLW stopped putting them in the dishwasher. I was pleased to get that concession. YMMV Bruce Z. Des Moines, IA |
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254430 | Bruce Zenge <brucensherry@g...> | 2015‑04‑20 | Re: Field Knife Sharpener |
Yeah, that's the biggest thing that can cause damage. My other concern is the damage that occurs to wood handles in the dishwasher. Probably not a big worry for some folks, but there is a huge difference between the appearance of a knife that has been hand washed and one run through the dishwasher many times. I have rarely paid more than a little for the older knives, but I do try to keep them working well and looking good. Fortunately, MLW buys into my peculiarities. Bruce Z. Des Moines, IA On Sun, Apr 19, 2015 at 8:20 AM, Gye Greene |
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254433 | Gye Greene <gyegreene@g...> | 2015‑04‑20 | Re: Field Knife Sharpener |
Hm. Maybe I should store our paring knives blade-up, in a jar of BLO... :) --Travis On Mon, Apr 20, 2015 at 11:27 AM, Bruce Zenge |
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254438 | Jeff Oberg <jaoberg@g...> | 2015‑04‑20 | Re: Field Knife Sharpener |
As a semi reformed professional, I have serious views on kitchen knife sharpening. I had every cook in every kitchen I ever worked in pick up one of my knives without asking and say, "Hey, is this thing..." At which point they would start bleeding because just running the pad of their thumb across the blade was often enough to break the skin. I'm a little (freakishly) obsessed with sharpness. It was inevitable that I get into hand tools. So here are my two cents on kitchen knife sharpening. If you are going to use a jig realize that every kitchen knife with the exception of a Sheep's Foot paring knife has a curved blade. I have yet to find a jig that does even an adequate job on curved edges. It's also important to remember that the total included angle from the factory is usually between 40 and 60 degrees on western knives. Traditional Japanese knives are often single bevel and as little as 15 degrees for sushi knives. That said I tend to closer to 30 degrees total included angle to strike a balance between durability and fine work. My Wüsthof Chef's knife is 40ish total included angle. My MAC Slicer is closer to 20 degrees. The actual angle is less important than consistency. As you free hand sharpen a kitchen knife you will slowly change the bevel from the factory edge to the angle your hands naturally follow. I usually work a new (to me) knife on a course stone until I raise a burr the full length of the edge on one side, then do the same on the other. I lose a few thousandths of an inch of blade this way. Now the knife is sharpened to the angle I naturally use. Because it is used to my hands now it will be more consistent. I can shave my face with my Chef's knife (Rockwell 56-58, high carbon stainless) if I have no other options, and remember it's total included angle is around 40 degrees. The real test of sharpness is a ripe tomato. If you can slice a ripe tomato with a knife without deforming it, your knife is sharp. For touch ups I use an F. Dick Monocrystaline Diamond Hone/Steel. It is similar to a very fine diamond stone in that it removes and polishes out imperfections and corrects the bevel. I use it every single time I pick up a knife. Another reason to freehand, so your angles are similar. If I were to use a traditional steel I would use something that looked like a burnisher for a card scraper. The point of a steel in that case is to straighten and smooth the edge as it gets folded over through use. A smooth steel is better at that than the ridged steels that are sold so often. Jeff > On Apr 17, 2015, at 9:22 AM, Joe West |
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254439 | paul womack <pwomack@p...> | 2015‑04‑20 | Re: Field Knife Sharpener |
Jeff Oberg wrote: > As you free hand sharpen a kitchen knife you will slowly change > the bevel from the factory edge to the angle > your hands naturally follow. "The Angle"?! Singular?! My hands can (and do) work at all manner of angles, sometimes during a single sharpening stroke. They're versatile :-) BugBear |
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254448 | Steve Reynolds <s.e.reynolds@v...> | 2015‑04‑21 | Re: Field Knife Sharpener |
On 04/17/15, Esther wrote: [snip] In the kitchen I use a 2-sided synthetic stone from the hardware store a number of years ago. I suspect oil was intended but I usually use a bit of dish soap with a bit of water. |
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