Knife Sharpening
OK guys here it is! The second part of my series on Knife Sharpening Part 2. Whew! I am sorry that it is late but I caught some kind of bug a few days ago and it stopped me from getting this Knife Sharpening video done. In this second part video I go a bit deeper into the Knife sharpening process and I go over my patented method of how to find the angle of your knifes blade so that you can perform the chore of Knife Sharpening correctly!
In this second part of Knife Sharpening I was going to continue using Japanese water stones but, I didn't. Why? Because one of my subscribers on my Youtube channel sent me an email and asked me a very pointed question. "How do I sharpen my knives?" This person was not interested in me showing my readers and subs how to use Japanese water stones, he was interested in how I do my sharpening and thought that it would be in my best interest and the interest of my readers and subs to see how I myself do Knife Sharpening.
I gave this request a lot of thought and in the end I decided to forgo the Japanese water stones and show you how I do Knife Sharpening in my home. Yes! I own many Japanese water stones but in truth I try to avoid using them. I do this basically because when it comes to Knife Sharpening I am lazy! Yes! I am lazy! I do like to do Knife Sharpening with Japanese water stones but, I don't like to do the maintenance necessary to keep those water stones in peak performance! The fact of the matter is that Japanese water stones are most often very messy to work with as many of them create a slurry that you have to contend with. Also the issue of "lapping" the Japanese water stones to keep them as flat and level as possible can be quite a time consuming chore at best.
I am a bit more modern in my Knife Sharpening when I use sharpening stones. For about 98% of all my Knife Sharpening chores I use DMT Diamond Whetstones in various mesh/grits. I do this because DMT whetstones don't need to be "lapped" in order to keep them flat or level for use as the diamonds are impregnated into steel plates. This means very low maintenance! I use the DMT Duosharp Benchstones in various mesh/grit ratings. I have in succession a DMT Duosharp coarse/extra coarse 220/325 mesh/grit benchstone. I use this whetstone for quick metal removal for a blade that is really deformed and in need of reshaping. Then I use a DMT Duosharp fine/extra fine 600/1200 mesh/grit benchstone. This whetstone helps me with micro beveling and reducing the scratch patterns from the coarser grits used to sharpe the edge and helps to refine the edge to a finer degree.
After I use the full gamut of diamond plates for my Knife Sharpening I then move on to my polishing steps and I use synthetic ceramic stones to do this for me. I rarely ever go beyond 3000 grit for my polishing needs whether I am sharpening Japanese knives or western knives. Some people want to sharpen their knives upwards of like 8000 grit or more and my answer to that is how sharp is sharp? How sharp do you need your knives to be! There are times that I will take a particular knife like a Japanese Yanagiba that is ground at 100/0 degrees and I will put a final polish on it from a King Japanese water stone 6000 grit but that is a rare occasion. So usually when I am done Knife Sharpening using my diamond plates I will finish my polishing on a Spyderco 302f ceramic bench stone. This ceramic is a synthetic ceramic rated at 1800 grit. It will not gully or dish like other clay based or resin based ceramic stones so they will last for years and years and this is a true value. I have been using mine for at least 8yrs and they are still level. Then I will finish my polishing on a Spyderco 302uf ultra fine ceramic benchstone rated at 2200 grit. This stone puts the final razors edge on my blade on the primary cutting edge when I am done with the knifes back bevel and then lookout my blades are wicked sharp!
There are other things that you can do when performing the chore of Knife Sharpening in order to refine your edge ever further if that is something that you want to do. One of the things I do is make my famous "poor man's strop." This is done by rubbing some form of metal polish onto a piece of cardboard and making a nice thin layer to cover the surface of the cardboard and then letting the compound dry and then lightly stropping your knife on it to get an even higher mirror polish on your knifes edge. Most metal polishes are at a minimum 6000 grit and up. Don't quote me on this however as I am not an expert on metal polish. I do know however that if you have a good quality leather strop you can get liquid green compound rated at up to 60,000 grit if that is what you want. So please watch this video and enjoy it! If there are any questions please contact me and I will get back to you ASAP!
Gr8 tips to sharpen knives !! Thanks for sharing :D Cheers
ReplyDeleteI am glad you like the tips! I know in your business you have to have sharp blades. Thanks for stopping by! Cheers!
ReplyDeleteI have been watching your you tube videos on knife sharpening and they are great! Very informative. I have always wanted to learn how to sharpen my knifes to a razors edge. I have some knifes that couldn't cut butter and have kept them around to see if i could bring back the edge my self. The one question i have for you is that i am willing to spend a good amount of money on the tools neccesary to sharpen a knife. I would say about ~$600.00 or so. I do alot of mountain activities fishing and hunting and a good sharp knife is very valuable to me. I also have the Shun Santuku and Chefs knife with the Damascus steel that i would like to learn how to keep very sharp. So getting back to my question,.... What tools should i buy??? and where do i find them to buy them??? What grits???
ReplyDeleteThank You for your time!! and knowledge!!!
Hi Ray! You know that is a hard question to answer. As you can see in my videos I use diamond plates and a ceramic finishing stone or two. I even use a poor mans strop with cardboard and metal polish. It all depends on whether or not you want to do manual sharpening as I do or whether or not you want to use a "system" type sharpening device. Now you don't need to spend $600.00 to get the gear you need. Now if you do alot of stuff in the field then I would strongly suggest learning how to sharpen manually. In the home I use DMT diamond plates at 220, 325, 600, 1200 and sometimes even 8000 grits. I also use Spyderco Ceramic stones both the fine and ultra fine models. I also use a Surgical black Arkansas stone as well. Now when I go into the field I have mini versions of my DMT plates in all the same grits that go with me so I can create almost any kind of blade I need. I use a DMT 600 grit diamond steel for my kitchen knives and a Mac ceramic white and black rod for polishing the kitchen knives to! I just buy all this stuff online cuz I can't always find it locally! I hope this helps! Any more questions don't hesitate to ask!
ReplyDeleteHi again Richard! Thank You for responding so quickly to my questions! Well since then i have purchased the DMT 10" duo Sharp Kit that comes with the four grits, 220, 325, 600, & 1200. I had a dull inexpensive chefs knife in need of the works. So today i tried my hand at sharpening it. And it is definetly an improvement. this thing was so dull it couldn't slice butter, but now its much sharper, however not as sharp as i hoped. I can cut paper with slight rips some times when i try to feather it but it will most the time slice straight paper cuts. It will not however shave my arm hairs, which i would really like to see happen, and i have noticed that there are very tiny chips missing at the knifes edge. So with the grits that i have, should i be able to shave my arm hairs or do i need something higher like one of the ceramics or should the 1200 be capable of that?? And how do i get a nice clean edge on my knife with out the chips? Do i need to grind back further, is it my technique, or is it the inexpensive steel?? I think a long time again i but the knife for $10 or $20 . Figured good for practice before i move onto my Shun Santuku chefs knife. I would be happy to hear your thoughts on this.
ReplyDeleteThank You!!
OK! I am glad you got the diamond plates. I am also glad you got your knife to take an edge. Now here is the rub. Go back and sharpen the knife again starting with the 220 grit and work your way up again. It takes time but when the plate has "cut" a sufficient edge into your knife you will begin to feel a "sweet spot" it is the way that the stone is cutting and you will be able to feel that the plate is cutting the blade. It takes practice to get the sensitivity of it but you will. You may need to spend a little more time on the 220 and 325 grits to put shape to your edge and then the 600 and 1200 to refine the edge. That is what is sounds like to me. Then go and make a "poor mans strop" and put a mirror polish on the edge if you want it that high of a grit and then get back to me and let me know how it goes. Mind you there are "inexpensive" knives that will never get the edge you want no matter what you do. If that is the case then I always tell people to go to a thrift store and look around the kitchen section to see if you can find a decent quality name brand knife for a few bucks. Buy that and work with that and you will see a GREAT improvement. Let me know how it goes! Cheers!
ReplyDeleteHello!
ReplyDeleteAnother one of your knife sharpening enthusiasts here and I'm back for more!
I've gotten a little deeper into the knife sharpening biz, as I do dozens of knife restoration. Many of them by hand, but just like you I'm getting pretty lazy! Having hundreds of knives to work on I need to efficiently sharpen them. Could you recommend a flexible machine sharpener?
Appreciate it,
Enthanu
Hi Ethan,
ReplyDeleteOK! The first thing is first. When you are doing professional sharpening you should get a belt sander. I have my built by an outfit in Pennsylvania called Ickler. It is a 1/4 horsepower 1700rpm sander and this helps to shape/form the edge of the blade and then I can move on to using stones or diamond plates. If you can't afford the Icker at this point you can get a cheap belt sander from Harbor Freight! If you get a sander you will see that your sharpening will go by faster and you will create better edges. If I were going to go totally machine for my sharpening I would use a machine called "Tormek" it's a great machine but it is slow! Then of course there is a machine called "Tru hone" and they work great but they are limited. I like the belt sander and hand finishing. I hope this helps. If there is anything else just ask and I will get back to you ASAP!
Thank you SO MUCH for the sharpening videos Richard!!! I've watched all of them, many of them twice. I have a 4-sided diamond sharpening block (200, 300, 400, and 600 grit) from Harbor Freight that I previously thought was junk because the few times I used it, I actually made my knives DULLER. Well now I know it was just operator error. Using your videos and my cheap block I've got every knife in the house sharper than the day I bought it. However, like another one of your subscribers said, I can't quite get any of my blades to pop hair off my arm. I can remove hair with the blades but it takes a couple strokes and I am definitely not getting that clean crisp pop. Do I really need my knives to do that? No, but I want them to. =) So my question to you is, should I be able to get a knife to pop hair if my smoothest grit stone is 600? I just want to know if I need more practice, a few finer-grit stones, or maybe both? Thanks again!
ReplyDeleteTo tell you the truth Aaron you can't get your knife hair popping sharp at 600 grit so what I would do after sharpening at 600 make sure the blade is as thin as you can get it and then do my "poor man's" stropping method and then you should be able to pop those hairs! Let me know how it goes! Cheers!
ReplyDeleteWell I finally got around to making your poor man's strop and it definitely improved my edge. The hairs are popping off a little better now but I know I still have room for improvement. I'm going to keep practicing and soon I'll get a 1200 grit stone as well. Thanks again for the videos. Sharpening is so oddly addictive!
ReplyDeleteHow's it going Aaron? Glad you are progressing with the knife sharpening. Yup! It really is addictive and relaxing! Nothing like creating a really nice sharp edge on a cutting tool is there? Keep it up and let me know how it's going! Cheers!
ReplyDeleteRichard, I,ve been watching your videos on knife sharpening. I have a decent set of MAC knives, but I can't seem to get that factory edge back. You stated in your video that you sharpened knives for Bobby Flay's chefs (I actually built his restaurant here in town), I was wondering if you offer that device to others?
ReplyDeleteBilly
I used to use a high speed belt grinder to shape the edge quickly and thinly and then I would finish the knives by hand. What kind of sharpening stones are you using? Let me know and I will see how I can help you!
ReplyDelete