Kitchen Knives

[Mike Null]

I should mention my wife's knife habit. Even at 75 she cooks most every day and she is good at it but large knives are hard for her to handle and she always reaches for her 3" and 4" Henckels paring knives. Those are the knives I sharpen almost every week using my ceramic steel. The boning knife is one of my favorites and razor sharp but she refuses to use it.

[roger wiegand]

I keep a small two-sided DMT diamond stone in the knife drawer and give them quick touch-up frequently. Seems to work just fine. If I had to take them out to a shop or to an outside sharpener it would probably never happen.

[David Helm]

I have a diamond sharpening steel. I generally run a few swipes over that before I start cutting. Works well. Mike Null, why do you say "even at 75"? I too am at that age and cook every day. 75 isn't yet old, but we may be able to see old from here.

[Andrew Kertesz]

I thought a steel/ceramic rod were meant to fine tune the edge so to speak and not actually sharpen it...

[Frank Pratt]

I seem to be the designated knife sharpening guy for all my families households & have been using my waterstones. They work very well, but I'm not great at freehand sharpening & it gets pretty tedious doing it that way. So I just bought a WorkSharp KO sharpening machine, basically just a small belt sander with graduated grit belts. It's had good reviews & I see no reason why it won't work well. I'll find out in a couple of days.

As has been mentioned, there are many good ways to do the job, you just need to find the method that works for you.

[David Helm]

I thought a steel/ceramic rod were meant to fine tune the edge so to speak and not actually sharpen it...

his is a diamond steel and is used for sharpening. I also use a regular steel for edge fine tuning.
T

[Bruce Wrenn]

First, most of my knives are Chicago Cuttery (pre Walmart) rescued from thrift stores. I use an AccuSharp (about $10 at local farm store,) along with a Dexter diamond hone. The Accusharp is a couple carbide burrs. I also have a Smith's sharpener from Lowes, which in addition to carbide burrs, has a pair of ceramic rods for dressing edges. For my ULU's, use the sharpener sold by the ULU Factory

[Jim Becker]

Bruce, I have a whole bunch of older Chicago Cutlery knives and they are decent when sharp. I only keep a couple in the drawer at this point as I much prefer the Zwilling Pros and Globals as well as the Nikiri I built from a Woodcraft kit. The remainder will go to our daughters when and if they ever move out on their own.

[Shawn Pixley]

Like Jim, I have one Chicago Cutlery knife among the cooking utensils. It does get nicely sharp when sharpened. They tend to dull quickly and nick relatively easily. The Messermeister and japanese knives I have are more difficult to sharpen but stay sharp longer. Sounds like a conversation about chisels, right?

My fillet knife has been known to pass the hanging hair test. It of course, dulls on fish skin (Yellowtail and Tuna have tough skin).

[Jim Koepke]

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.

Many years ago one of my first knives was a Mac (Japanese) paring knife. The instructions indicated this was the only acceptable way to sharpen this particular knife.

Before having any sharpening stones at my disposal this was the only way the knife was sharpened. Now my waterstones or oilstones get the work.

jtk

[Bruce Wrenn]

Bruce, The remainder will go to our daughters when and if they ever move out on their own.

You recently retired, and your daughters still live at home? Something is wrong in this picture

[Jim Becker]

You recently retired, and your daughters still live at home? Something is wrong in this picture

Older daughter is special needs adult (age 22) wiht mental health issues who is not capable of supporting herself on her own...we're working on that with SSA, etc., to hopefully make that possible someday. Younger daughter is a full time university student (age 18) and lives at home because it saves us $10K+ a year in room/board. Both girls work part time outside the home for above minimum wages (older = florist at a local supermarket; younger running the host crew at a local restaurant) and are required to contribute to the household, if not financially, in helping to keep things tidy.

The Older is now covering cooking Friday night meals under my tutelage as part of that and to learn how to prepare meals now in anticipation of having to do that for herself someday. She's also charged with maintaining the cleanliness of the kitchen so I can concentrate on the meals rather than the clean-up. The Younger bakes us cookies in addition to maintaining the "public" areas of the home.

It's different but it works! Not much has changed for me since retiring from full time work a little over a month ago since my office was at home for over 20 years and I'm doing the same things in the house as previous. What's changed is that I'm doing 10,000 different projects and am busier than I was before. LOL

[Andrew Pitonyak]

I have used numerous methods to sharpen knives. I have used the Tormek, it worked. Usually, however, if the knife is appropriate for it, I just use the work sharp knife sharpener. I have an older high grit polishing belt that I have applied green honing compound to. Does a great job. I consider this fool proof if it is appropriate to your knives.

https://www.amazon.com/Work-Sharp-Kn.../dp/B003IT5F14

I have at least two different systems that hold a sharpening medium in a "V" shape. THe idea is that you hold the knife vertical, then "cut" down the sharpener. This sets your angle. It is very fast and easy to use. This is one example of one.... not one that I own, but an example.

https://www.amazon.com/Lansky-2D2C-D.../dp/B008EKY5OA

One of my "V" sharpeners has triangle shaped stones, and you can sharpen against either a flat or a point. I forget the name. I also have one with round ceramic stones. By round, I mean a long cylinder. It is simple, fast, and pretty reliable.

You want something that reliably uses the same angle.

I found that I was able to get a very nice edge using my water stones, but, it was far more work than either of the other two. If your stones are always setup up and ready to go, however, you can touch them up as often as you need to.

The knife that I usually use, I keep sharp on a steel, and then I sometimes do a serious sharpening. The knifes used by the rest of my family, well, i never know what they are doing with those. I think they are using them to cut stone or something since I cannot keep them sharp. I mean, i get them sharp, then next time I check them, they are very dull, so the steel does not work from that state.

[Jim Koepke]

I'm doing the same things in the house as previous. What's changed is that I'm doing 10,000 different projects and am busier than I was before. LOL

After retirement one often starts to do so many things it makes them wonder how they ever found time to hold down a job.

The knifes used by the rest of my family, well, i never know what they are doing with those. I think they are using them to cut stone or something since I cannot keep them sharp. I mean, i get them sharp, then next time I check them, they are very dull, so the steel does not work from that state.

One bad habit many people have is to scrape things from the cutting board into a pot. This is okay if one uses the back of the knife. Many people use the cutting edge for scraping which tends to dull it quicker. Another possible dulling action is to cut things on a plate instead of a cutting board.

jtk

[Stephen Tashiro]

I'm curious what everybody uses to sharpen their kitchen knives. I'm ashamed to say it but my are in need of serious work.

Do you do a lot of cooking?

My method is not to sharpen kitchen knives.

If I sharpened them to the fine edge that professional cooks advocate then I'd get some bad cuts. Since I don't prepare a lot of food or need to do it quickly, it's satisfactory for me to let the knives get somewhat dull and use a little extra pressure and time.