/ck/ - Food & Cooking

>>20026480
Hahahahaha no. I am probably better at sharpening knives than 98% of all people on the board. Funny little cope you've got.

>>19958620
Japanese sushi chefs mostly use rubber cutting boards. Clearly ignorant about that.

I use Japanese natural whetstones, which take more skill to use than just about all other stones, and no it isn't because they are bad stones. It wouldn't be difficult for me to use any material with abrasive in it. Not really impressive to use the bottom of a coffee mug or anything like that.
Extreme levels of refinement and a great control over the quality of the edge is much more impressive.

Please observe this edge I produced on incredibly hard vintage white paper steel. It's at roughly 200x magnification.

I've probably spent hundreds of hours sharpening knives, polishing knives, and honing straight razors because I make knives professionally, and I also love sharpening knives.

>>19756738
Imagine being this confident and stupid at the same time.

>>19607689
Well first and foremost I'm a knife/sharpening autist, and Japanese natural stones are the pinnacle of all whetstones imo, especially for straight razor honing.
The second thing about them is they are all unique and have a different feel and quality to them. Really good ones can take a lot of effort to "unlock" or understand their full potential. I'll often choose a stone to use based on how I'm feeling in the moment.
I also think it's cool that they are just rocks from a mountain.

This is a 200x magnification image of a knife I sharpened using a 1500 grit synthetic and then 2 natural stones.

>>19479437
No I will not buy that. I enjoy using my stones and prefer the control I get when using them. If I need a knife sharp quick I can get it done in less than 3 minutes. If I need a knife extremely sharp then I can spend more time on it. There are knives I have that need an extremely sharp edge. Mainly my single bevel blades. Otherwise I recommend a 1.5k splash and go stone for a first stone.

Uncooled abrasives damage the temper of a knife at the apex also.

Pic: finished freehand edge on one of my knives at 200x magnification. Only achievable natty.

>>19353287
Wrong. The meme is that you need a sharpening jig to make sharp knives. It is really easy, and only take a couple hours at most to get results good enough for the home cook.

200x magnification, 100% free hand on natural stones.

>>18938821
Learn how to do the fingernail test.

I'd consider myself quite proficiently at sharpening. Here is an edge off my jnat at 200x magnification. Super super hard warer quenched old school white paper steel. The knife is a 270mm kato sujihiki, which is why I refined the edge so much.

>>18725620
Any sort of magnification will be helpful to show you the edge and a better view of the scratch pattern. I used this weird handheld microscope thing when I first started and I learned what to look for with what I had.

The edges I eventually got were outstanding. Jnats create extremely sharp edges that cut through beard hair with very little resistance, but feel dull or soft when running against your skin. Basically no redness after a 2 or 3 pass shave.

Ultra high grit synthetics create an edge some people find feels too sharp and harsh. If you're really into honing razors I would consider getting into jnats. The right stropping compound after a good hone will "soften" the edge, but it doesn't compare to a proper jnat edge.

Keiths economy shoubodani stones are really great beginner jnats, but they're still very expensive compared to synthetics. He sells some really great looking pastes. The ultra fine ones need your edge to be there before working properly tho.

Keith is a great dude. He gave me a free Japanese paring knife(>>18725498 this knife) with one of my orders around xmas. I've spent many thousands on super high end jnats over the years, and they never dissapoint. Unbelievable, godlike, stones. He hasn't dropped any super stones for a while, which is a bit of a bummer, but I can't really complain.

https://www.etsy.com/shop/TomoNagura

Look at this freehand knife edge I got from one of his stones. 200x magnification.

>>18676608
The japanese white steels will do it.

Check out this jnat finish on a charcoal heated/water quenched old stock white steel.

That's at 200x magnification.

>>18639792
Here is a finished edge under 200x magnification using my epi microscope. This is a very very hard carbon steel. Completely finished on my high end jnats.

>>18245918
And the final stone a nakayama hatanaka kiita iromono with a bit of koma slurry, and then the same tomo nagura. A bit slower, but incredibly fine when used correctly.

Notice how there are very few visible scratches right at the apex. This image is actually higher magnification than the previous.

This steel was water + charcoal quenched, so it was more difficult than usual to refine the edge this much.