/ck/ - Food & Cooking

I'm decent at sharpening and my knowledge is fairly solid but I'm still learning/practicing
>apply water to whetstone/ water stone or let it soak for 10-15 mins
>to sharpen the blade put the cutting edge on a 20 degree angle
>go from heel to tip when sharpening
>apply even pressure and even amount of strokes to each side of the edge
do this also creates a burr on the edge or in idiot terms, metal shavings from grinding the edge
to remove this burr: use a strop (with/without a compound), a steel, or just use the whetstone/water stone but this time the edge is the trailing instead of the leading and only do one or two quick even stokes to remove the burr
if you practice your sharpening skills you can get a dull edge to paper cutting sharp or more with in 20-40 mins depending on the condition of the blade

when sharpening a knife with a stone, work up the grits for obvious reasons

>400 or below grit
for removing chips and forming a new edge but it wont get it sharp
>500-750
this is produce a sharp edge but it isnt paper cutting sharp
>1000
you can get it paper cutting sharp
>anything after 1000 grit - 10,000
razor sharp, can give it a mirror finish (food items will stick to mirror finishes), can create a fragile edge if you're an idiot but going this high isn't really necessary unless your edge needs to be this sharp

>strops
leather strop + compound refines the edge gently and removes burr

>steel
removes burr and re-hones a edge

also, free feel to ask any questions