Sharpening a chef's knife

Options
corrarjo
corrarjo Posts: 1,157 Member
in Recipes
Need some advice on the use of a wet stone. My knives are dull to the point they won't hold an edge. No amount of honing works anymore.

Replies

  • acpgee
    acpgee Posts: 7,628 Member
    Options
    Not experienced with using a wet stone. I have one of these which I find satisfactory.
    https://www.amazon.co.uk/Andrew-James-Electric-Sharpener-Grinding/dp/B003LY6TIO
  • corrarjo
    corrarjo Posts: 1,157 Member
    Options
    My sister has something similar, but I worry about removing too much material.
  • orangegato
    orangegato Posts: 6,570 Member
    Options
    Invest in a new set of knives.
    Victorinox ftw
  • acpgee
    acpgee Posts: 7,628 Member
    Options
    An old college boyfriend was a professional chef, who recommended honing using the back of a porcelain plate, the unglazed rim. He would slowly rub in small circles, about an inch in diameter along the length of the blade, one side at a time. This was apparently a technique he learned from a Japanese sushi chef.
  • acpgee
    acpgee Posts: 7,628 Member
    Options
    He would hold the knife at about 10 degrees.
  • corrarjo
    corrarjo Posts: 1,157 Member
    Options
    crazyravr wrote: »
    Invest in good knives for life. You dont need many.
    - 8" chefs knife
    - small paring knife
    - serrated knife for bread and some fruit / veggies
    - boning knife if you eat fish
    This is close to $500 worth of professional knives. What do I do when they become dull, and honing doesn't restore the cutting edge?
  • swirlybee
    swirlybee Posts: 497 Member
    Options
    crazyravr wrote: »
    What sort of knives do you have? If its cheap stuff, not worth the trouble.
    Even cheap knives can benefit from a whet stone. I concur with the advise of looking up videos on youtube on how to sharpen your knives.
  • corrarjo
    corrarjo Posts: 1,157 Member
    Options
    Thanks, all. I'm gonna look for some video.
  • rheddmobile
    rheddmobile Posts: 6,840 Member
    Options
    corrarjo wrote: »
    crazyravr wrote: »
    Invest in good knives for life. You dont need many.
    - 8" chefs knife
    - small paring knife
    - serrated knife for bread and some fruit / veggies
    - boning knife if you eat fish
    This is close to $500 worth of professional knives. What do I do when they become dull, and honing doesn't restore the cutting edge?

    If they are expensive professional knives, why not have them professionally sharpened? It only costs a few dollars to get them back into shape, and it's much easier to keep them there through regular maintenance than to restore a truly dull knife.
  • corrarjo
    corrarjo Posts: 1,157 Member
    Options
    The knives i have are "cheap" but the have served well. I just want to restore the cutting edge. I'll find a video that instructs on sharpening techniques. Thanks, all.
  • sytchequeen
    sytchequeen Posts: 526 Member
    Options
    My local butcher is happy to sharpen my "good" knife for me when it needs doing. it's worth asking, if you are a regular customer
  • French_Peasant
    French_Peasant Posts: 1,639 Member
    Options
    There is definitely an art to whetting a knife, but even if you do some basic whetting following a video, you will generally get it into better shape than it was. I somehow got pulled into being a cub scout den leader and had to teach my den knife safety, including whetting. Fortunately our pack leader is trained as a professional chef, so he did the bulk of the demonstration. I couldn't when my knife quite to his professional standard (the whetting was inconsistent along the blade; I couldn't even begin to see what he could see/feel, lol) but it still had a much better edge on it.

  • jgnatca
    jgnatca Posts: 14,464 Member
    Options
    I have myself one of these.

    https://www.walmart.com/ip/Grosche-Zweissen-Ceramica-Sharpening-Steel/39891435

    It only takes a few swipes to hone my blades again.
  • corrarjo
    corrarjo Posts: 1,157 Member
    edited February 2019
    Options
    I have a good steel but it's my understanding that a steel only realigns the microscopic "feathered" edge of an already sharp blade. Once that sharp edge is dulled from continued use no amount of honing will restore it, and sharpening is required. I give a few swipes as well before each use and it works great. Now, not so much.
  • jgnatca
    jgnatca Posts: 14,464 Member
    Options
    I love restoration videos.

    https://youtu.be/ev0ZW2CyDMw
  • French_Peasant
    French_Peasant Posts: 1,639 Member
    Options
    jgnatca wrote: »
    I love restoration videos.

    https://youtu.be/ev0ZW2CyDMw

    Aw, I love the care and craftsmanship that went into bringing that beautiful baby back to life. I wonder what happened to it to get into that state. Poor little guy!
  • corrarjo
    corrarjo Posts: 1,157 Member
    Options
    Looks like it was buried in the backyard for around 25 years.
  • dmkoenig
    dmkoenig Posts: 299 Member
    edited February 2019
    Options
    This is a really good video for sharpening with a whetstone. This guy has a ton of videos about knife sharpening, choosing a knife, whetstone, etc. Very informative and interesting.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4XgLgvqjYk.
  • DX2JX2
    DX2JX2 Posts: 1,921 Member
    Options
    If you have a proper stone it's really not that hard. It's more intimidating than difficult.

    Even if you don't get the angles quite right at first, you can just keep redoing it until the results are satisfactory. Most likely case is that you sharpen to too acute an angle and just need to resharpen sooner than you would have otherwise.

    Keep practicing - sharpening by hand doesn't do much harm to your knives even if done incorrectly and it's so nice to be able to keep your knives super sharp all the time once you get the hang of it.
  • DX2JX2
    DX2JX2 Posts: 1,921 Member
    Options
    corrarjo wrote: »
    I have a good steel but it's my understanding that a steel only realigns the microscopic "feathered" edge of an already sharp blade. Once that sharp edge is dulled from continued use no amount of honing will restore it, and sharpening is required. I give a few swipes as well before each use and it works great. Now, not so much.

    Your understanding is correct. Even the ceramic 'sharpening steels' only hone, and don't sharpen (though the ceramic types can remove a little bit of the knife blade, it's still effectively a hone. They're nowhere near as effective as a true sharpening).

Categories