I use a Spyderco for sharpening my kitchen knives. Should I get stones? If so, where do you get a really good set? Is there a dramatic difference? I have also considering sending them out to a pro, but I would rather be able to handle sharpening in house for convenience. I feel that my knives are sharp, but wonder if, over time you get used to them being a bit duller. Any help is appreciated.
What do you have for kitchen knives? I was looking at Spyderco 5 or 6 years ago, but was told that it was too rough for high carbon knives.
I’m not good enough (yet) to use some of the finer stones, so I have just one combination stone. I seem to do Ok with it, though I am sure my knives have much more potential.
I might pick up a combination stone (1000/6000) just to mess around with. According to the JapaneseChefKnife.com sharpening guide mine should be as sharp as butter knives by now. He said his were dull from not being sharpened for 6 months. Mine haven’t been sharpened in probably 2 years.
If you are talking about Shun knives, I haven’t found mine to get too dull from use or too sharp from sharpening. They seem to hold a medium edge very well. On the other hand, my Takeda or Tanrenjyo knives get dull quick, but can sharpen far beyond the Shun.
Yup, these are Shuns. I think there might be a slight difference between the knives I use all the time (chef and santoku) versus the nakiri. I don’t really remember how they sliced when new.
I use shun, shun ken onion, wusthof classic, and an ancient 15 or so inch henkels. Wusthof and henkels seem to sharpen well with not much effort on the spyderco. Shuns seem more difficult, that said they have stayed very sharp. In fact if those custom japanese blades are really that much sharper they sound scary. Are they single edged.
Back on topic where to get good stones ? Korin seems to sell lots of japanese steel, maybe there. Are they really hard to use properly?
Not sure if they are hard to use since I don’t own one, but if they are then this Shun set might make angle correction a step easier.
Shun Whetstone 3-Piece Sharpener
“Base allows the whetstone to be place at a 16° angle in relationship to the surface, the exact edge that Shun knives are sharpened to.”
As I have posted before, Lansky sharpening systems work well for multiple knife types as they have a variable angle guide. Also, you can choose from Arkansas, diamond or traditional stones in varying grits.
I wouldn’t use one on an ultra high end Japanese single bevel knife, but for production level knives, I don’t think there is an easier or better option out there.
Thanks bill! I’m googling lansky now.