knife sharpening.

zazelamel · 2 Apr 2018 at 23:27

Hey OCUK.

How many of you all are interested in knife sharpening? its become a new hobby of mine and I was wondering if there are people here who want to share advice gear tips etc.

I also have a YouTube channel that has a few vids and if you want some help with a certain problem you have encountered or advice on how to sharpen a particular style of knife I'd be more than happy to make a vid explaining it.

This is my channel if you are interested http://bit.ly/2F8s7Gx

Cheers.

Diagro · 2 Apr 2018 at 23:56

Watched a couple. Cool channel

zazelamel · 3 Apr 2018 at 00:26

Cheers. I appreciate that.

azibux1 · 3 Apr 2018 at 00:55

With a sharpening steel - should you only go in one direction?

I could google it but you probably know the answer and will enjoy writing a response hopefully

Just talking kitchen knives etc

Thekwango · 3 Apr 2018 at 01:04

subbed...looks like a decent enough channel.

flea.rider · 3 Apr 2018 at 07:30

ok if your going to sharpen a knife .. your blade wants to be at 33deg angle . you also only want to move in 1 direction on your stone. backend of the blade towards you. flow from handle to tip
start with 1000 grit then use 3000 finish off with a good quality diamond steel . and same with the steel always bring your blade back along it .

martin363 · 3 Apr 2018 at 08:23

Have a look at the CATRA website, - Cutlery and Allied Trades Research Association, based in Sheffield;

http://www.catra.org/

Basically, the industry body for knives, and they know a thing or two about testing and sharpening knives, have one of the best knife sharpeners on the market too. Used to work with them years ago, they invented a lot of the current Standards for knives and knife testing.

The website is a little, old fashioned, and quaint, but so much info on there if you dig. for example, in FAQ;

Q13 : What is the correct sharpening angle for my knife edge?

The answer to this is not simple; it depends on the type of knife, its particular use and your facilities/ abilities to resharpen. However through many years of Research and Development CATRA recommends these following included edge angles as the best compromise between sharpness and edge life.

Type of knife and its use Included edge angle in °
Table Knife 55 to 60
Domestic Kitchen Knife 30 to 35
Professional Cooks and Kitchen Knives 25 to 30
Commercial Meat Processing 25 to 30
Commercial Fish Processing 25
Commercial Vegetable Processing 35
Folding & Sporting Knives (High Sharpness) 30 to 35
Folding and Sporting knives (High Durability) 40 to 45
These angles are the ones to give the best compromise between sharpness and life and have been optimised by extensive testing on the CATRA knife sharpness test system.

zazelamel · 3 Apr 2018 at 08:35

azibux1 said:
With a sharpening steel - should you only go in one direction?

I could google it but you probably know the answer and will enjoy writing a response hopefully

Just talking kitchen knives etc

Yeah you always want to draw the knife with the edge trailing, using a chefs steel is the same as stropping on leather really. You want to be working the edge at the same angle as it was sharpened too else you will end up dulling your knife.

zazelamel · 3 Apr 2018 at 08:39

flea.rider said:
ok if your going to sharpen a knife .. your blade wants to be at 33deg angle . you also only want to move in 1 direction on your stone. backend of the blade towards you. flow from handle to tip
start with 1000 grit then use 3000 finish off with a good quality diamond steel . and same with the steel always bring your blade back along it .

I'm not sure who taught you how to sharpen knives but I would argue that they were very wrong. You want to work a Japanese style knife at 15deg and EU knifes 20deg. Then when finishing/polishing your bevel you want to be using a leather strop loaded with green compound .

zazelamel · 3 Apr 2018 at 09:13

flea.rider said:
ok if your going to sharpen a knife .. your blade wants to be at 33deg angle . you also only want to move in 1 direction on your stone. backend of the blade towards you. flow from handle to tip
start with 1000 grit then use 3000 finish off with a good quality diamond steel . and same with the steel always bring your blade back along it .

Just realised you are probs talking about the over all angle of the edge. In which case you are generally correct however when sharpening on a stone you refer to the angle of 1 bevel at a time which is as I stated above as you only work on 1 side at a time and to achieve the 30-40 overall bevel you want to be working at 15-20deg per side.

psd99 · 3 Apr 2018 at 10:04

Knife sharpening as a hobby!? ......mmmmmmm okay then!

who/what are you planning to attack next? Stay safe people!

I'm looking to sharpen my screwdrivers mostly.

Squid Vicious · 3 Apr 2018 at 10:21

There's a lot of useful info over in the La Cuisine sub - take a look at https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/threads/knife-thread.18382614/ for big thread on knives and sharpening if you've not seen it already

Haggisman · 3 Apr 2018 at 10:29

psd99 said:
Knife sharpening as a hobby!? ......mmmmmmm okay then!

who/what are you planning to attack next? Stay safe people!

I'm looking to sharpen my screwdrivers mostly.

What an ignorant post!

It takes a lot of skill to sharpen a knife by hand to a decent standard without ruining it, why does someone taking the time to learning & practice that skill automatically become a serial killer in your eyes?

sovietspybob · 3 Apr 2018 at 10:35

I'll try and find some time to watch them later, i've always wanted to be able to sharpen my kitchen knifes but never really knew how. I've got some random sharpener thing i got from amazon years back where you just draw the knife back through it which seems to help a bit but im sure it'd be 1000x better if done properly.

ttaskmaster · 3 Apr 2018 at 10:47

I sharpen my chisels and plane blades to 30º on a set of 250, 600 and 1200 grit diamond stones, followed by stropping to 15,000 with green honing compound.
Knives I do the same way, but at about 15º, except my Stanley marking knife which I do to 10º.

Andy__C · 3 Apr 2018 at 11:47

Nice channel and a nice hobby to zone in on, subscribed.

I'd got into a very very basic level sharpening knives this year. It started trying to bring some of my battered kitchen knives around for this year and BBQ season and after getting into a few youtube channels before I knew it I had a collection of stones and was offering to sharpen knives for the family. Its a strangely satisfying pass-time.

I need to get much better at it though.

james_2k · 3 Apr 2018 at 11:50

im going to start a channel on how to hoover properly. you know really get into those corners, like a boss

jpaul · 3 Apr 2018 at 12:35

see existing knife thread - inc below, and probably other, exemplary videos

jpaul said:
Saw a very good utube on knife sharpening

the guy wetstone sharpens two blades, sequentially, in real time, with multiple angle shots, and then shows how to check sharpness, I will be following this next time.
maybe the Kuma will be less resilient to hold its edge ?

Budget vs Premium - $20 Kuma vs $160 Wusthof Chef Knife

Andy__C · 3 Apr 2018 at 13:20

james_2k said:
im going to start a channel on how to hoover properly. you know really get into those corners, like a boss

You'll be showing people how to upgrade the filters, mod the power output, expand the capacity in the dust chamber of the vacuum etc within 6 months. This is how this kind of stuff starts

zazelamel · 3 Apr 2018 at 18:12

jpaul said:
see existing knife thread - inc below, and probably other, exemplary videos

i watch a lot of burrfection, he is really good. only thing i find with him is that he very rarely features chefs knives that the average home cook would purchase. plus he is pretty much exclusively for chefs knives, whereas im learning about all types of blades. OUTDOOR55 is a really good watch too. hes a no nonsense knife guy who knows his stuff.