recs for knife sharpening gear?

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I have a Chef’s Choice knife sharpener and a steel honing rod that came with a knife set.

I’m thinking about going manual and getting a ceramic honing rod. Any thoughts or recommendations?

FYI: My main knives are a nice french style double bevel high carbon chef’s and a cheapish but pretty effective Rapala filet knife. I also use various inexpensive paring knives and stainless chef’s knives like you’d see in a decent consumer knife set. I use a pinch grip with a tendency to come down a bit too vertical, I use both plastic and wood boards, I hone the chef’s knife every time I start cooking, I cook a wide variety of foods, but I am just a home cook.

Thanks.

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Edge Pro

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This my opinion, and people will have their preference:

I use a fine ceramic honing rod. This is for touchups. It actually does remove metal unlike steel rods, so don’t go batsh*t crazy using the ceramic like you would with the steel. Don’t copy what you see on TV or at the butcher.

I have a norton 1000/4000 combo waterstone. This satisfies 98% of my sharpening needs.

Then I have a 8000 grit King waterstone with a nagura stone. This makes the edge shiny and mostly only for looks unless I plan to cutting sushi or something.

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Muuray Carter has a great video:
http://www.cartercutlery.com/knife-sharpening/%20and%20supplies

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Good stuff, keep the reqs coming.

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I am an edge pro user. great for keeping the 15 degree angle exact for my japanese knives

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Any particular reason you need such a sharp set of cutlery?

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Edge Pro is definitely the Cadillac in the world, but for a fraction of the cost I have used Lansky for 20 years without a complaint.

http://www.amazon.com/Lansky-Deluxe-5-Stone-Sharpening-System/dp/B000B8IEA4/ref=sr_1_1?s=sporting-goods&ie=UTF8&qid=1412871572&sr=1-1&keywords=lansky+sharpeners

If you need to, they also offer diamond stones.

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I posted a thread on this a few months ago here and got some good recommendations. See if you can find it. I then bought some plain stones at the local Japanese import store and my knives are so sharp I keep cutting myself just looking at them. There is a knife BB and the people there are just as crazy about knives as we are about wine. They led me to some Youtube videos on how to sharpen so my technique would improve.

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Ok, here is my LONG rambling input.

A lot of people love the EdgePro and a lot of people really don’t like it. It is definitely great for maintaining a consistent bevel, and if you ever want to do major work on a blade (thinning, fixing chips, tips etc), they can be exceptionally good tools. There are other gizmos too, like the wicked edge that I have no information on really.

I was all prepared to buy an EdgePro long ago and went onto the old KnifeForums ITK and everyone talked me out of it. In the end, I think stones were a better fit for me. A friend of mine went the edge pro route (and liked it) but eventuality switched over to mostly free-hand stones after a few years.

With that said, either method (free-hand or gizmo) will likely improve your knife sharpness significantly – and they both have pros and cons; however, I find that one’s personality is often a good determinant of which route might be best. If you feel you are an attention-to-detail person, who likes more control, has a steady hand, and enjoys mastering tasks for the sake of mastering them – stones might be better. If you are more utilitarian and just want a sharp knife and don’t care so much about the zen-like process of steel on stone and tactile feedback, then an edge pro might be a better route – albeit initially more expensive. Also, if you don’t trust your steady hands or precision, and edge pro (or similar gizmo) might also be better.

With that said, I often recommend a couple routes (1) pay for pro sharpening and invest in a good maintenance routine and set-up and/or (2) a basic stone kit.

If you pay a good pro sharpening service to sharpen your knives once a year and you maintain them well, you will have very serviceable sharp knives. I have the 1200 grit ceramic Idahone and also a borsilicate glass hone that is even finer. But before a honing rod, I use leather strops that are loaded with diamond spray to maintain my edge. They are easy to use and gentler on the knives.

After my knives are sharp, if I hone them on the diamond spray bench hone before each use, it will keep the edge a very long time – providing I don’t cut a dozen butternut squash. After the edge starts to fail more, I then go to a ceramic rod hone. After that fails, I sharpen.

The company no longer makes the bench strop/hones that I have, but there are shaving sites that offer a lot of similar products. Here is one site. They will have the bench hones, diamond slurry etc. All really good stuff to keeping metal sharp.

I can’t vouch specifically for that company’s product, but with some diamond spray soaked in and regular stropping, a sharp knife will stay extremely sharp for months just with this simple maintenance on a leather bench hone.

If you want to go higher end hones, Marko Tsourkan out of NY has very high quality products and Bob Kramer offers his own set-up too.

http://www.tsourkanknives.com/index.php/store/category/16-sharpening-supplies

https://store.kramerknives.com/product/stropping-block/

For a very cheap route, you can just saturate some balsa wood from an art store with fine diamond spray/slurry or chromium oxide paste. That works too.

If you are a real DIY guy, you can also go all out as this pro chef and well-known knife knut has done.

For sharpening steels:

The 12 inch 1200k Idahone is highly regarded. This is what I have. Also, many like the black Mac 2k sharpening steel. I’m not sure you can buy borsilicate hones anymore, but I also have one of these. It is very non-agressive and mostly just realigns the knife edge. You may also want to invest in a sheath for ceramic hones as they can break.

Chef Knives to Go carries most types of popular steels including the Idahone. Bob Kramer’s ceramic hone also looks like an Idahone. And Korin sells the Mac Black 2k rod. http://korin.com/Mac-Black-Ceramic-Honing-Rod

If you go the sharpening stone route, a two-sided stone is convenient and pretty cheap to start off with. Korin has a few options, also Japanese Knife Imports has a two-sided Gesshin option. The Japanese Knife Import combo stone is probably a higher quality really good option, but at $135 is much more expensive. The 1000/6000k King combo stone is often a recommendation, and it is sub $40 for the cheapest option. It is offered from several websites.

http://korin.com/King-Two-sided-Sharpening-Stone-with-Base-1000-6000-Grit?sc=27&category=280108

Lastly, just keep in mind that if you go the stone route, it is advisable to get a stone flattener. I have the DMT XXC diamond stone, but there are other options on the main knife sites (Korin, JKI, Japan Woodworker etc.) I flatten my stones before each sharpening session.

Oh yeah, just two warnings: (1) Those sharpening steels that come in knife sets are horrible and should be tossed. They are way too aggressive and will most likely damage the edge of your knife. Spend $40 and get something good for your knives. (2) I should find a good honing technique video, but the way chefs do it on TV is not correct. You have to be careful with your bevel angles and use a very light touch, heel to tip.

OK, too much info: I got rambling. I leave with a picture of most of my honing kit.

k.
Photo-38.jpg

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chris.

I started out with an edge pro and now use stones…if you want I will ship you my edge pro…I dont use it at all any more.

i will say this, if you spend a couple weeks really learning how to use stones correctly, I can put an edge on my knives with a stone before I can even set up my edge pro.

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FYI, Japanese Knife Imports just added a stone set to their site. Three stones for $200. I have the Gesshin 4k stone and really like it. It isn’t in this set, but his stones have gotten good marks for performance.

Just throwing it out there if you go that route.

k.

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Hell of a post Karring…

I’ve seen Salty’s work on YouTube before - he’s a pro. Good stuff…Thanks for writing that.

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I second what karring says about the stone set. I am using his lower grit stones and really like them. I suspect if I am not on a jnat when my current set wears down, I will go with gesshin stones for my entire kit.

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Okay, I went with the gesshin set and used them last night…holy crap are my knives sharp. The 400 grit is super thirsty and I kept adding water. Easy to use , great results. Thanks to everyone who weighed in.

Next step…build a little angled sharpening box

Question: do you skip the 400 grit every other session?

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First of all, that is great that you dove in on the stones. Not many people would do that. Bravo sir.

400 grit is pretty aggressive. I usually use my 500 grit when fixing things (bad knife grinds) or doing something major to your blade (i.e., thinning, re-profiling, fixing major chips). Once you have your blade bevel/angle ‘set’, you shouldn’t need to use it very often at all. I normally start at a 1200-2000 grit, and rarely use grits below that. BUT it is a standard grit stone. Taking off metal with a higher grit stone will demand many many hours longer, and your fingers will likely bleed.

Just keep in mind that 400 will take metal off pretty quickly, so use it when you get to that point you want to do something different to your blade or need to fix something.

After a while you will also find how ‘toothy’ you like your edges, 1-4k is the toothier range. 6k+ is more polished. They cut differently.

k.

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Great thread and great explanation, Karring!

I’m basically in the same boat as Chris at this point but need to start slicing thinner and more consistently. The edges of my knives are not up to it. Very useful info for getting them where they need to be.

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Re the “toothiness”: Very interesting. I had never thought about it, but now that my knives are razor sharp, I get what you are talking about. It really is a different feeling and I’m having to retrain how I cut. I assumed it would just be a matter of getting used to it, but maybe there can be such a thing as “too sharp”.

I do love the hands on sharpening of the wetstones vs the machine. More control, quieter, and much much sharper.

Now I just need a new honing rod.

@Karring…what is that vice-like thing in the bottom of your pic? Is it a holder for the stones while sharpening?

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It’s an adjustable vice. I mostly use it when sanding blades to polish them up. They do have clamp-like stone holders that are meant to secure stones, but I really don’t use anymore. I use this stone bridge from JKI for holding my stones along with a plastic cambro food pan for water.

k.

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I use the same bridge, and a lexan hotel pan.

Chris I only use the 400 on heavier knives, or to set my bevels. I will use it on my left over cutch knives and finish them on a 1000. On my Jknives, once I have them sharp, I am only touching up on my 4000 or 6000 depending on the knife. Actually Karring turned me on to a bench strop from straight razor designs and I am touching up on that now.


I have seen no need for a honing rod, as of yet…but maybe that’s my ignorance.