Knife sharpening

Another facet of our 100 day cook at home caper is pretty full knives. Anybody know of a good home sharpening device for pretty good quality knives?

As always - thanks in advance

Without a doubt Chef's Choice, with its three diamond 15 degree sharpening wheels will give dangerously sharp knives. I love mine. Not real cheap. About $150, if I remember correctly.

[Robin Garr]

Larry, I like to use a two-sided stone. The one I got from Amazon years ago was something like this, but there's a lot of choice in the $30 to $40 range.
https://amzn.to/2YqHV3N

I also use a steel for daily honing. You don't want to use the sharpener too often so you don't grind your chef knife down to a paring knife.

Larry, I like to use a two-sided stone. The one I got from Amazon years ago was something like this, but there's a lot of choice in the $30 to $40 range.
https://amzn.to/2YqHV3N

I also use a steel for daily honing. You don't want to use the sharpener too often so you don't grind your chef knife down to a paring knife.

Robin.... are those hard to use? I remember them from the knife shops when we lived in Japan and they seemed a little intimidating

Larry, I like to use a two-sided stone. The one I got from Amazon years ago was something like this, but there's a lot of choice in the $30 to $40 range.
https://amzn.to/2YqHV3N

I also use a steel for daily honing. You don't want to use the sharpener too often so you don't grind your chef knife down to a paring knife.

Robin are those hard to use? I remember them from the knife stores when we lived in Japan and was always a little intimidated

I also use a two-sided whetstone. I use Chinese cleavers almost exclusively, and they are large enough that sharpening using the whetstone is easy.

-Paul W.

Well, this is disheartening. My post from a few hours ago seems to have vanished into the ether.

Different strokes [no pun, intended] for different folks....

The Chef's Choice sharpener has three diamond wheels of descending grit size to form a three-bevel 15 degree cutting edge that lasts a long time. If you don't totally destroy your knife edge, all you need to do is use the third polishing wheel occasionally. Using the Chef's Choice also makes it easy to sharpen curved knives, such as boning knives.

I don't use the grinder every day, either; my touch ups are usually quite far apart. I haven't noticed any loss of metal over the last several years, and I have some quality knives that I don't want to replace. It's not like a grindstone in your garage that's used to sharpen lawn mower blades.

That said, my paring knife that I used to sharpen on a whetstone lost its curved cutting edge and is definitely narrower. Like Paul, I mostly use cleavers so I use either my grinder or a whetstone. But cleavers are relatively cheap; I have a beautiful one that was about $10, which I'll probably have till I croak.

I've also used whetstones over the years on various tools and knives. I particularly liked Arkansas whetstones for finishing. I'm aware of gadgets that will hold knifes at specified angles on a whetstone that work well. But I'm very happy with my Chef's Choice.

I quite like my Spyderco Sharpmaker, pretty affordable and can sharpen scissors as well as knives. If you're willing to sit for 20 minutes working on one knife you can get truly incredible results. Definitely requires some hand strength and a great deal of concentration. No matter which one you get, here's how you know it's working. Take a sheet of newsprint, and make a loose roll of it between your thumb and index finger. Just one layer, not actually rolled on itself. Take the knife and cut down at a 45 degree angle (away from yourself, obviously). Your typical kitchen knife that I've used in people's houses will push the roll away without cutting it. A moderately sharp knife will make kind of a messy zig-zag. A truly sharp knife will cut a nearly straight line.

This was recommended on another board by quite a few people.

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00B5UHUMA/

Dan, you might like to give this a gander:

https://www.onlinecookingschool.com/lea ... ouponcode=

Dan, you might like to give this a gander:

https://www.onlinecookingschool.com/lea ... ouponcode=

OK. I watched it. What about it?

Sorry, Dan. Got names mixed up. I meant John who asked about knife sharpening devices.

I use mostly high carbon steel knives. I never use a mechanical wheel - I always use a Japanese water stone for sharpening, a steel for turning the edge in between when needed and occasionally a ceramic honing rod for touch ups between sharpenings (they actually do sharpen, and don't just turn the folded edge like a steel does).

I use mostly high carbon steel knives. I never use a mechanical wheel - I always use a Japanese water stone for sharpening, a steel for turning the edge in between when needed and occasionally a ceramic honing rod for touch ups between sharpenings (they actually do sharpen, and don't just turn the folded edge like a steel does).

I'm also a fan of high-carbon steel knives--nothing like them for a sharp edge. I own a few, especially my #4 cleaver, my main knife.

Yes - they don't look as nice as stainless but they hold an edge and cut much better.

When people tell me they have sharp knives my test is to put one on a tomato and draw it across with just the weight of the knife, holding the handle with a couple of fingers. If it doesn't slice through the tomato, it isn't sharp!

I can tell if a knife is sharp just by looking at it.

If you hold the blade edge toward you with light at the right angle, no light will be reflected into your eye if the edge is sharp. If you see any light, that part of the edge is rounded. It's a handy test to use while you're sharpening--particularly handy for locating small nicks. And no paper or tomatoes needed.