Your Kitchen Knife Sharpening Option and Suggestion

[DaBadger (Григорій Стрічко)]

Sharpening Supplies. Thanks for the rec. I look at their stuff.

[CCE (Keyrock the unfrozen caveman lawyer; your world frightens & confuses me)]

Ah, I understand now. This is much like the one I mentioned above - two AK stones plus a coarse synthetic. I’ve been using it for about 25 years and really gotten good results with it, but it’s knicked up and dished so I decided to give the Benicci 4-stone (all synthetic, water stones) a try.

Your version looks better in some ways, worse in others. I like the corncob ears for easy grab and rotate, plus the rubber feet for stability (mine’s a wood cradle and slides unless I put a dish towel under it). But with these stones at 5 inches long I think I’d have trouble doing larger knives well (my old one has 8-inch stones).

Edit - there may be some confusion about the actual product. Up near the top it states

About this item

• 2 Arkansas stones (Fine & Medium) & 1 Coarse synthetic stone.

But then down below it states

What’s in the Box

1 Course Synthetic (400 grit)
1 Medium Synthetic (600 grit)
1 Natural Fine Arkansas Stone (Approx. 1000-1200 Grit)

Quite a number of the unhappy reviews related to their belief the were getting 2 natural stones (from the up top description) when they actually got 2 synthetic.

[Chemicalkinetics (For the Horde!)]

Use your AK stones as soap. They will smooth out your skin and make it smooth, bright and red all over.

[CCE (Keyrock the unfrozen caveman lawyer; your world frightens & confuses me)]

Hey, exfoliation is for plants, not peeps!

[DaBadger (Григорій Стрічко)]

Exfoliate the pores. Good scrubbin’. Where I went to high school, we always washed with Comet to avoid acne. Even though we didn’t have acne, rosacea was very common.

[shrinkrap]

I finally took another stab at sharpening my knives! It wasn’t a disaster.

According to Amazon Ibought this stone in 2016

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01HFI2KIE/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Wrecked the tip on a knife or two

Sharpening A Japanese Knife

Hope it’s okay to hitch a ride! I believe I read that thread when I got a new knife. I had Chefs Choice electric sharpener, but got this whetstone, used it once, bent the tip of one; no TWO knives, and have been scared to try again. [IMG_20190807_175847] [IMG_20190807_175852] [IMG_20190807_180117] [IMG_20190807_180142] I don’t remember if it’s got a western edge or Japanese. I have another, from a friend who visited Japan, and I don’t know what kind of edge IT has either. [IMG_2019…

Bought this guide in 2021 as mentioned here by @Eiron

How often do you sharpen your knives?

[Note: I have not use the Edge Pro!] I would think you’d need at least two stones to start, maybe three, depending on what your angles are from your sharpening guy. From my understanding, the Edge Pro has a limited range of bevel angle adjustment. If your sharpening guy has created bevels outside the range of the Edge Pro, then you’ll need to do a bit of regrinding to set new bevels. But why? As a sharpener/maker, to me the Edge Pro seems like an overly complicated and expensive way to go. (E…

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00I6H92BC/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Here are the directions on the back

I’m not sure how to use it.

[Chemicalkinetics (For the Horde!)]

@shrinkrap

According to Amozon Ibought this stone in 2016

Yes, sometime it is nice that Amazon reminds you what you have bought. To be honest, I have accidentally bought the same video games twice (I guess I like the idea of playing it, but bought it and forgot I bought it, so I bought it again).

Yeah, the Naniwa angle guide is to help set the angle. Most people find the “setting the angle” part to be the most difficult part, so there are many tools for it.

[ScottinPollock]

I don’t see the angle this is designed to maintain described in either the Amazon description or on the packaging. Knife edges vary anywhere from 20° to less than 15°. If you don’t know the edge angle of your knives, contact the manufacturer.

As for the angle of this helper device, you can measure it using a smart phone app that uses the sensors to measure the angle of the phone placed along the knife edge when mounted in the helper device. If it is not within a degree or two of your knife’s actual edge angle you should find something else.

[shrinkrap]

@ScottinPollock

using a smart phone app

Thank you! Do you know how I would search for such a device? Is there a key word?

[ScottinPollock]

My phones are Android… and I have used an app named “SmartTools”. If you’re on iOS maybe just search the App Store for “angle measurement”.

[shrinkrap]

I’m android. I’ll try smart tools. That could be quite helpful!

But I am hoping this won’t distract me from sharpening at least one knife.

[Chemicalkinetics (For the Horde!)]

To be honest, such device has no true angle because it is more about setting a “height” at your knife spine. So depending on the width of your knife blade, the angle changes.

[shrinkrap]

Of course! Thank you. The length of the knife seems relevant too. I have had to move the guide or change the angle.

But it does make me a bit more confident, so there’s that.

[Chemicalkinetics (For the Horde!)]

For a given knife, the Naniwa blade guide will help make the sharpening consistent, and it will move along your knife. There are these fix angle chips, which help check your knife angle.

Amazon.com: Wedgek AGM Angle Wedges for Sharpening Knives 10 to 20 degrees, Blue : Tools & Home Improvement
The downside is that they do not move with your knives, they are set at the end of a sharpening stone, so you can check once awhile.

[kaleokahu (Kaleo)]

I have this set of angle wedges. They are better than nothing. But no one should kid themselves–once the blade moves away from the wedge, it’s still freehanding. At the far end of the stone, no one should bet the farm on knowing the difference between, e.g., 15 and 17 degrees.

[Chemicalkinetics (For the Horde!)]

Agree. The hope is to at least not deviate too much for too long.

[CCE (Keyrock the unfrozen caveman lawyer; your world frightens & confuses me)]

@kaleokahu

once the blade moves away from the wedge, it’s still freehanding.

I’ve never used a wedge or other device but this makes sense. I’ve been sharpening knives since I was maybe 7 or 8 years old, freehand. I think most people, if they just were patient with it, would get the hang of keeping a (fairly) consistent angle and get good results in time.

I can’t see up close well anymore so I just kind of rock the edge around on the stone until it feels like I have the bevel flat against the stone flat, and it goes well from there.

FWIW, y’all here at H.O. (in the many knife threads) brought me back to frequent use of a honing steel again, and I only now sharpen about once per 6-8 months on my most used (every day, often a couple times per day) knives.

An evil little devil sitting on my shoulder suggested to me that this might make me eventually forget how to sharpen due to disuse of the skill… but hopefully it’s more like bike-riding than rocket science.

[Chemicalkinetics (For the Horde!)]

Consistent angle is important, but it does not have to be perfect. Small variation of the angle will yield something close to compound bevel or a small convex edge at the tip.

[CCE (Keyrock the unfrozen caveman lawyer; your world frightens & confuses me)]

Thanks. I think that hollow edge type in particular would give the home sharpener (me) some problems!

Or, I’d probably just grind it into a regular V edge over a few sharpening sessions, not really knowing what I was doing.

Do you have a feel for, say, mass market knives like Zwiling or Wusthof - how many of that type have an edge other than standard V-edge? And are the other varieties like the convex edge or hollow edge very common?

I do understand from reading here in the past that some or even a lot of Japanese knives have the chisel edge (maybe more specialty sushi knives, but I got the impression it was fairly widespread).

P.S. Sorry, I’m on US East coast, so I’m heading to bed for now. See y’all tomorrow.

[Chemicalkinetics (For the Horde!)]

The Kiwi knives (beloved by many as the great-cheap knives) are hollow grind. Here is a photo I took. The top knife is a Kiwi knife. Not sure if you can see the hollow grind.

I believe many of the German knives like Zwilling and Wusthof has a compound bevel. Here is a statement from a Wusthof knife:
“Our unique compound angle is not seen in many knives. This angle tapers from the spine of the knife to the edge to allow for a sturdy”

Wusthof Ikon 6" Cook's - Cutler's Wusthof Ikon 6" Cook's

While Global knife has a convex grind. Here is a statement from Global website.
" * The blade is constructed of a single piece of steel, with a unique convex edge for unsurpassed performance."
(https://www.globalcutleryusa.com/classic-g-2)

Yes, many traditional Japanese knives have a chisel like blade grind. The “flat” side is not entire flat, but slightly hollow out. Here is a schematic diagram.

Here is a photo I found on internet