I bring mine to the guy and the Farmers market, he also has an industrial shop for saw blades and anything else you want sharpened. I can even drop the knives with my blades if want!
He uses and slack belt that is mounted to his tailgate, available every Thursday evening to sharpen while you shop.
I LOVE good, old carbon steel knives. I have several that were my moms, and maybe someones before that. Eventually they will get sharpened down too far, but for now I can slice a tomato you can see through, or spatchcock a chicken with ease. We also have some Japanese Damascus from Shun that are a joy and please the loml's aesthetic sensibilities. My old carbon steels are not really lookers, and I get testy if they are left to rust with the stainless in the sink.
here's a better link: https://v-sharp.com/
Looks like they are going out of business though! Could get a pretty good deal. Anyway, this is a cool style. Just slide it thru a few times.
Whoa! These guys are getting bad reviews left and right. Maybe they gave up. I'm not sure if this is the brand I've used before at my parents house. Here's a different brand, same idea:
https://brodandtaylor.com/knife-sharpening/
Last edited by andrew whicker; 10-24-2017 at 9:23 PM.
When tthe house and shop burned down, Mrs. and I decided that because we were "starting over" we would buy better quality to replace what we had. The cheap paring knives are Henckles and the good butcher knives are the better quality Wusthoff. I have two very old very fine oil stones of unknown source that survived the fire and do better then any other sharpening I have found or tried. I figure if I can slice a dead ripe tomato so thin, I can read through it, that is plenty sharp for kitchen work. And speaking of kids. We have 2 grown children who know better then to touch the good knives. Despite the stainless steel for the kitchen, I still prefer the old hollow ground carbon steel knives for butchering. And so do many other farm families in the area. One "plain goods" store in the region still sells the carbon steel butcher knives and does a good business in that line of merchandise. They cater to Amish and Mennonite populations and carry a great many odd items, like replacement parts for kerosene lamps and lanterns.
Paul Sellers has a YouTube video on How To Sharpen A Knife. I haven’t tried it yet, but looks like it would work well.
There are many methods of achieving a sharp edge and once one becomes competent in any one method, it will work just fine.
For many years, I sharpened kitchen knives either by hand on stones, or quick and dirty on a 1" belt sander.
Now, I have settled the Apex system for kitchen knives. There are several packages available price wise, as well as differing types of water stones available. It is a jigged system somewhat similar to the Lansky, but much, more accurate in duplicating the original factory bevel and doing so quickly.
https://www.chefknivestogo.com/edgeproapex3.html
For field knives, I sharpen to a convex edge by hand and use SiC paper on an old mouse pad, and then strop.
Tormek with their knife jig. Keeps a better edge than I could do by hand alone.
+1 on that.There are many methods of achieving a sharp edge and once one becomes competent in any one method, it will work just fine.
Kitchen knife maintenance is about the only use for my diamond stones. The diamond stones stay in the kitchen. When a knife gets a few nicks or about twice a year they get taken to the shop.
If they need a touch extra a Veritas Mk II Power Sharpening System gets the heavy lifting.
For the handwork my water stones are preferred.
If the water in the shop is frozen, then the oilstones are put to the task.
My wife once complained about the knives being "too sharp." It turns out she hadn't realized the knives had been sharpened. She didn't notice me carrying all the knives out to the shop and then washing them after bringing them back in a little while later. So now she gets told when the knives are freshly sharpened.
Over in the Neanderthal Haven there is a discussion of measuring sharpness. To me, as it seems to be with some others, thin slices of a ripe tomato is good enough for in the kitchen.
jtk
Last edited by Jim Koepke; 10-26-2017 at 11:01 AM.
"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
- Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)
Same here- we've experienced a few cuts since I started sharpening our kitchen knives.
Now I put a sticky note in the knife drawer that says SHARP! after I sharpen them to remind us both. I'm still learning but when I get it right you don't feel a thing until it's too late.
A sharp-sharp knife is a safe-safe knife...
--
The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...
It sounds like I'm a total hack compared to everyone above. We have Henkels knives I got at Target 20+ years ago when I had my first apartment. I have one of the worksharp knife sharpeners and think they cut really well after I use it.
Further to your point, in one kitchen where I worked, the sous chef used to grab the nearest ceramic bowl and give her knife a few strokes across the unglazed ring on the underside of the bowl and voila. The light bulb went off and I realized there was no difference between what she was doing and the ceramic knife sharpeners that people buy.
Chefs Choice 1520 Fast and easy
https://www.amazon.com/Chefs-Choice-.../dp/B001CA5LZ6
Rich
ALASKANS FOR GLOBAL WARMING
Eagle River Alaska
We're both keen cooks in our house (hardly ever eat out) so sharp knives are a must - we use an Edge Pro Apex 3 system. Only needs doing about once every 3-4 months and then using the finest two stones. In between we use a ceramic steel to keep the edge aligned http://www.edgeproinc.com/Apex-Model...Pro-System-c3/
I've tried it, and it does in fact work well. However, it does make a lot of nasty scratches on the blade of the knife.
For the past year, I've been using the Chestnut Tools Universal Sharpener that I bought from Lee Valley. Costs about $20, is easy to use, and works very well.