How often do you sharpen your knives?

I don’t use a stone. I sharpen with an emery belt sander and a rubber disc with rosin to remove the wire. Then it goes to a real steel.

Hi Pertti,

For $10, I wouldn’t be risking much on the diamond stones. It would be worth it just for occasional repairs and non kitchen knives.

but my European collaborator and friend has recently actually started using inexpensive diamond stones specifically for “toothiness” in certain applications for the first time–even suggested one possibility I might try in the future.

I’m wavering on the shapton glass: the Japanese demo on the site had a Japanese model that looked like she was sharpening in a shower.

For the diamond stones, Here is a solution that would primarily be for repairs–under $10:

Ray

This is all Latin to me. Fortunately I took one year of Latin.

I sharpen my knives, when I feel they get dull.

I own 50+ kitchen knives, so it’s not so often they get dull since I rotate between them.

One thing that will keep your knife in shape is honing.

I hone my knife every single time before using it.

I use these honing rods:

Dickoron Sapphire oval 30 cm (Rockwell 62)
Dickoron Micro oval 30 cm (Rockwell 62)
Dickoron Polish oval 30 cm (Rockwell 62)

Ceramic coarse rod oval 30 cm (Rockwell extremely high)
Ceramic mild rod oval 30 cm (Rockwell extremely high)

Then I own these sharpening stones:

Naniwa Chosera Pro
Grit #400, #600, #800, #1000, #2000, #3000, #5000 & #8000

Wüsthof Combi #1000 & #3000

Finally I own a Zwilling leather stop block for fine tuning the edge after sharpening.

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Not too expensive yes, you could give it a try with the Shapton. Those could serve you well, hope the diamond stone won’t lose the particles too quick, but if it does, it was cheap anyways.

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In a reply to my own post.

Typically when honing the knives I intend to use that day, I’ll look at the knife and decide what honing rod I’ll use.

A Miyabi MCD 5000 67, for instance, has a Rockwell of 66, so if I’m using one of my Rockwell 62 hard Dickoron steels, I might risk chipping the blade of the knife and in fact cut slightly into the honing steel, so I typically only use the extreme hard ceramic rods on my hardest knives such as my Miyabi MCD 5000 67 knives.

If I’m using a softer Wüsthof knife, I may opt for the ceramic honing rod first, then follow up with one or two of my Dickoron honing steels - for instance the Sapphire first then ending with the Polish or the Micro.

Also if I feel a knife is getting close to too dull, but still not quite ready for the stone, I’ll adjust the type of honing rods and number of strokes accordingly.

I only use my leather strop after having sharpened a knife on a couple of my stones. I don’t use compounds like Ray does, but I’m sure compounds are highly efficient. I just don’t need it with the wide range of stones and honing rods I own.

Great post!

If my knives get dull, I’m dead meat. I only have a pull through to restore sharpness–and it’s not the best choice. So, I hone–or mostly strop.

My honing started when I bought my Wusthofs, and I continue to hone them much as you do. Bringing them to my loaded strop works, but it is grueling, and I don’t get much refinement out of the process.

I never allow my VG10 or sg2 knives to get dull, by stropping with my green compound, followed by leather polishing. I believe that the edges actually get refined in the process.

It works so well for me because my home use is not very demanding–and I need them to be at least as sharp as new for comparison purposes.

My preferred honing rod is ceramic, but I sometimes use a Shun steel.

I’m reaching a point now, where I’m considering diamond stones at least for repairs. I have some very slight damage to the tip of one of my knives that won’t go away.

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Hi shrinkrap,

I’m not good enough to sharpen, but I’ve found ways to maintain sharpness–and even refine a bit–with stropping.

Unfortunately, I don’t think “strop” is a Latin word.

On the positive side, it’s almost impossible to do damage when one strops.

Ray

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I’m still not ready. Although the Shapton glass can be done “splash and play,” it’s really still a ceramic water stone at heart. If I go that way, my one stone would probably be 2000–not 1000–and I’ve gone down the rabbit hole.

The diamond stones are so inexpensive, I could get a set–but I’m not sure where to start as a repair stone, yet.

I almost bought a 400 and a 2000. I even did the order–and then backed out.

I’ve enjoyed my Spyderco Medium ceramic bench stone. It seems to be somewhere in the 800-1000 grit range. Splash-n-go just like the expensive brands. I also have the Spyderco Fine but really don’t use it much any more. It’s just too fine (similar to my Arkansas black) for the majority of my needs. It works great for sharpening X-acto blades , though! :smiley:

One thing for me is I prefer keeping the ceramic stone(s) to my softer steel knives and the softer water stones to my harder steel knives. I don’t get enough feedback sharpening the harder steels on the ceramics.

Spyderco Medium ceramic bench stone

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I thought the diamond stones were about the only way to sharpen ceramic knives at home?
But I don’t own any ceramic knives, so I’m only repeating what I’ve read. :grimacing:

I agree. Ceramic knives are hard, so diamond stones are pretty much the easier tool to use now.

Hi Claus,

Just a quick correction, but I believe the Dickoron steels are all a minimum of 66 Rockwell. Which means that you could safely use them with all of your knives, even the Miyabi. Honing on a ceramic rod initially might still be preferable, of course. If you Google “Science of Sharp Honing” you’ll find a great article on the topic. Evidently new users cannot post links :wink:

Cheers,
A

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Hi Andrew,

You’re a correct indeed.

The Dickoron sharpening steels are all indeed 66 Rockwell on the hardnesses scale.

Thanks for that correction.

In fact my daily knife routine starts with a ceramic rod (coarse ceramic followed by mild ceramic), then the Dickoron steels.

I’ve found an excellent brand of ceramic honing rods, but for the life of me can’t remember the brand name.

A correction to my posts.

As am47 points out, all the Dickoron honing steels are 66 Rockwell in hardness, not 62.

The Dickoron are the hardest sharpening steels I have been able to find on the market unless you go ceramic or diamond coated.

It was Damiano, who inspired me to buy Dickoron sharpening steels.

The Dickoron sharpening steels are the overall best quality steels out there in my opinion and experience.
This is why I currently own no less than 5 Dickoron sharpening steels.

You simply can’t beat them for versatility and overall level of steel quality.

I use my 30 cm Dickoron Combi steel on our ‘everyday knives’ and I’m trying to teach my wife to learn how to steel knives prior to using them. The Combi steel has two sides with the Sapphire cut and two sides with the polished cut.

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To respond to your question, I sharpen when a knife dulls to the point that a crock stick and steel fail to bring the edge back. In other words, I sharpen when needed, not on any set schedule. Sharpening to the Nth degree or at small intervals may be fun–for awhile–but it needlessly wears the blade.

This oversharpening can correspond with a gradual thickening of the blade behind the cutting edge. If a dull blade needs thinning, I send it out. Otherwise, I use a Hook-Eye belt sharpener and hone on a crockstick.

For those home users who like living on a schedule, there’s some wisdom in sharpening once a year, using a crockstick once a month, and steeling every week. But again, it’s a bad idea to resharpen a sharp knife, somewhat like replacing all your herbs and spices at the same time.

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Hi Claus,

In addition to my ceramic rod, which sits next to my strops, I have a Shun steel with both ridges and bare sections, just a grab away in my work area.

Even though it’s probably not close to Rockwell 66, it has a great built in guide for a 15 degree angle. I’ve been known to reach for it and lightly hone a few strokes before doing my prep–even with VG 10, AUS 10, and sg-2 steel knives.

I’m sure that your Dickoron hone is great, but, IMO, the timely honing of a kitchen knife is way more important than the Rockwell # of the steel.

Ray

I actually have to disagree with this sentence, Ray, since using a too soft honing steel might damage or even ruin your knife, if its Rockwell is higher than the honing steel.

I know John/Jane Doe wouldn’t care about Rockwell hardness, but if they were gifted a knife like for instance a Miyabi MCD 5000 67, they would risk damaging the blade on their new knife, if they used it on a regular softer honing steel - and I’ve only found the Dickoron family of honing steels hard enough to use on the hardest knives out there.

So even though it’s nerdy, it’s quite important to ensure the honing steel you’re using is at least as hard as the steel on the knife you’re about to hone.

This is one of the reasons the Japanese don’t use honing steels that often. Only a few steels have a hardness high enough to be used on the harder Rockwell knives out there (60 and beyond)

Hi Claus,

The steel that I use is a Japanese Shun–at the time I purchased a VG 10 Classic. Have no idea how hard it is.

I only use it lightly “spur of the moment.” On high Rockwell knives, it might not have any effect at all, but I doubt it would harm them.