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Sharpening Knives

Colten_77064

I currently own these stones: 600 grit/800 grit/1000 grit/4000 grit. I don't have a problem with sharpening my knives, but just would like to know if taking my knives to all of them every week is bad in the long run?

I just want to make sure I'm taking proper care of my knives.

Thanks!

Colten

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Comments

johnbonds

Seems excessive to me. I sharpen maybe once every 6 months and I'm a moderate user of my knives. I hone all the time though.

Michael_Logan__20367

Definitely unnecessary, but it depends on your usage. Your work horse might just need a few minutes on the the 1000 and then the 4000 to bring back the edge. Probably every other week or so. It makes no sense to take a reasonably sharp knife, run in on a rougher grit, just to bring it up to a fine grit. I work in a restaurant and use my knives all the time and as long as I keep my ceramic steel around, my knives get touched up on a fine grit once a week.

Patrick_alfiero_142975

it depends on youre knives. if you have japanese knives you wanna just touch up your edges with the higher grit stones. slicing knives you can go right to the 4000 most of the time. thats if youre picking your edge up before service everyday. if your knives have chip in them i find that doing a sharpening every week or so starting at your low grit and working your way up works well. its better to continue to work with your knives as you fix the chips rather then try to grind the blade all the way down at once. chef knives/gyutos/santokus can just go right from the 1000 to 4000. keeping up with sharpening is the biggest thing though, if your using your knives alot sharpening atleast once a week keeps you off of the lower grit stones. also honing japanese knives is not the best idea. the steels chip much easier and hone steels dont really go well with them.

Mareko_Maumasi_81372

I'm definitely a bit late to this party, but do you mind my asking what kind of steel your knives are made from? Do you own a hone? What style? Steel? Ceramic? Diamond? Other? My initial impression is that it's probably more work being done on the knives than is needed. When ever you're sharpening a knife, you are quite literally removing material from your blade. Unnecessarily doing so effectively reduces the life of your knife. Firstly, if your knives don't seem to be cutting the way you feel like they ought too (like when they're fresh off the stones), then that's when you bring you hone into the picture. I own and use a fine ceramic hone which has an abrasive equivalent of 1200 grit. This grit finish is commonly considered most ideal for a good working edge. I own american made high-carbon blades, so after a few passes across the hone, my edge is easily back to working order. As mentioned in another member's comments, if you own knives of Japanese manufacture, it is very likely they are quite hard, much harder that American or European made knives, so you'll want to be gentle with your honing.

If even after honing, the knife still doesn't feel like it's cutting like it ought too, then it's time to hit the stone. Unless you're needing to reset or correct the blade's edge geometry, say from a overall 40º bevel to an overall 20º bevel, then you shouldn't need the lower grit combination stone. If your geometry is set, then all you need to do is make a few passes on the 1k side before taking it to the 4k side of the stone. Once my burr is good and polished off, I like to clean my 4k side with a Nagura stone, then follow with a few gentle stropping passes to bring back some fresh 4k scratches that'll give the knife a nice aggressive/toothy feel to it.

When anyone is over sharpening their knives and removing more and more material, you are effectively drawing the cutting edge up into thicker and thicker correction of the blade. As the the material behind the primary cutting bevel grows thicker, the knife will fell like it is not performing as it should, either by wedging, or the user experiencing a lot of friction or resistance while cutting. This tells the user that the knife is dull, even though the knife may have a keenly sharpened edge.

Though the difference in thickness at a blade's edge in it's original fresh from the store condition, to even only 1/8 of an inch behind the edge is very minuscule, it makes a world of difference in how a knife performs overall. When even sharpening doesn't' seem to be doing the trick and your knife still doesn't seem to be performing the way it should, that's a sign that it's time to have the blade thinned. While it is possible for one to accomplish this themselves, unless one has a lot of practice, I would strongly advise seeking the help of a highly recommended and seasoned professional.

While there is great pride to be taken in maintaining ones most prized tools in the kitchen, when it comes to knives, it is possible to over care. Happy slicing and dicing! I hope your eye's are still in your head after reading all my ramblings. Cheers!