sharpening stones

[Anonymous No.6132706]

What do you use to sharpen you're knifes?

I have an old india oil stone 100/320 grit combination. It's not very flat anymore, and I'm looking to replace it. What does /ck/ recommend with regards to sharpening stones?

Also what about honing steels? Will a cheap one suffice?

[Anonymous No.6132727]

Honing steels work pretty well. I just the one that came with my knife set and it works well enough. When they actually need to be sharpened I just go to see my father, who has an electric sharpener.

[Anonymous No.6132729]

>>6132706
King 250/1000 is a good starter stone

[Anonymous No.6132741]

>>6132706
Just to warn you everyone on ck thinks he's God's gift to knife maintenance and everyone else is stupid and wrong.

I use an 800/4000 combi stone, a big cheap "rough" Chinatown stone (unknown grit), and an idahone. I also have an edge pro apex with 500, 1000, and 4000 shapton glass, and a strop.

If you have a german cheese axe, just get a diamond steel and content yourself with micro serrations, but if you have a good knife stones and a ceramic rod would be good

[Anonymous No.6132778]

>>6132706
I have one of these

Does it get it as sharp as you can with a stone? Probably not, but it's as good as I need it to be and takes the learning curve out of the equation.

[Anonymous No.6132802]

>>6132778
>carbide knife shredder

a moment of silence for anon's poor knives ;~;7

[Anonymous No.6132809]

I rub the knives against the bones of the bodies I chop up with them.

[Anonymous No.6132819]

>>6132802
With proper use I don't expect this will happen. The process isn't much different than how professionals sharpen knives (they sure as hell don't use stones)

[Anonymous No.6132822]

>>6132819
Depends on the professional. The good professionals use stones as at least part of the routine.

[Anonymous No.6132829]

>>6132706
Get a steel and learn how to use it properly. There is no good substitute. Machines are rubbish and ruin knives, stones are too slow.

[Anonymous No.6132832]

>>6132829
A steel maintains a knife edge, it will not sharpen a dull knife. They're also of limited effectiveness on harder knives.

[Anonymous No.6132839]

>>6132819
i don't think Pacquiao manning the grinder at the $3/day knife rental company counts as a professional.

[Anonymous No.6132905]

>>6132839
anon, pls
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iricsylu5Dc

[Anonymous No.6132930]

>>6132905
>mailing your knife to some hick who'll ruin it with a belt grinder

anon, pls.
my guy uses waterstones.

[Anonymous No.6132936]

>>6132930
good for you
why not buy a stone for yourself though?

[Anonymous No.6132946]

>>6132936
i did.

i use it on my shittier knives.

[Anonymous No.6132961]

>>6132930
>my guy uses waterstones
Most don't. I bet you use japanese knives too

[Anonymous No.6132978]

>>6132961
Most don't, but most pro sharpeners aren't very good and cater to the lowest common denominator.

Japanese knives are generally among the best factory made knives you can get today, and that's fact, not opinion.

[Anonymous No.6132979]

>>6132946
it's so satisfying getting a soft blade up to a great edge in a few minutes
shit thing is it only really holds for a few weeks or months

[Anonymous No.6132986]

>>6132978

[Anonymous No.6132998]

>>6132986
And so the arms race of mindless fedora accusations continues

[Anonymous No.6133001]

>>6132998
I couldn't resist

[Anonymous No.6133010]

I use one like in the pic

my restaurant has a large one and I have a smaller one at home

[Anonymous No.6133015]

>>6132998
It was a warranted response

[Anonymous No.6133018]

>>6132706
>you are knifes

[Anonymous No.6133025]

>>6133018
lel, i missed that

[Anonymous No.6133060]

>>6133015
Accusing someone of being a neckbeard is an easy response when you don't want to agree with what someone said but you know they're right

[Anonymous No.6133081]

Best bang for buck?

[Anonymous No.6133084]

>>6133081
Your mother. Unless you mean sharpening stones.

[Anonymous No.6133092]

>>6133084
I just want something that gets the job done at an affordable price.

And my mother does it for free.

[Anonymous No.6133126]

>>6133092
define affordable

[Anonymous No.6133174]

>>6133126
Well I just bought a good knife from BigW and want to maintain it's edge.

I plan on getting better knives as I develope my cooking prowess, though.

I'm really looking for the most effective technique of knife sharpening. Something that I can work on, and I don't want to spend excess money on a gimick.

Help me, please.

[Anonymous No.6133211]

>>6133174
warthog?

[Anonymous No.6133286]

>>6133174
It really comes down to opinion. There are multiple good choices. I went with the chef's choice >>6132778 due to a cooks illustrated recommendation and have been happy with my purchase. I should note that while you can use it with a knife that has a bolster that extends down to the heel without much problem it's not really supposed to be.

[Anonymous No.6133299]

>>6133286
Thanx for the suggestion. I think that device might have it's limitations but I'll certainly look into it.

Thanx again.

[Anonymous No.6133332]

>>6132822

>The good professionals use stones as at least part of the routine.

Haha. No. The good professionals have a hired professional knife sharpening company come pick up all their knives in the kitchen to get them sharpened up.

Having a $1000 knife that requires a special grinding stone, is an eccentric luxury. "Good Professionals" dont have time for that shit, because they are busy cutting things up instead of worshipping their special snowflake knife.

[Anonymous No.6133342]

>>6133332

I work in a fine dining restaurant and we use a stone, it's just what we're used to and we don't mind

[Anonymous No.6133371]

>>6133332
This isn't true at all. I work Michelin star, and we all bring our own knives. When I used to work in bars and lower end places, they just had house knives that were ground down by companies. We have a nice set of stones for everybody to use.

>>6132778
Please never use this. I have personal experience with them, and I've seen them totally wreck blades.

Personally, I have a dual sided stone that is a 1000/2000. At work we also have 5k and 6k, which I use sometimes, but 1k/2k is really all you need. Korin is a great company with some very, very awesome instructional videos about knife sharpening. You can find most of their stuff on youtube. It'll teach you everything you need to know.

[Anonymous No.6133397]

would 300/400, 1000, 3000 be good for starting, or would the 3000 be too soft

[Anonymous No.6133420]

>>6133397
You don't really need a 300/400 unless you've got a really fucked up edge. That's for when you're practically rebuilding the knife. I've never had a 3k, but 1k is a good base and I use 2k to finish, but 3k might not be too bad.

[Anonymous No.6133753]

Does price really matter? Or is a stone a stone?

[Anonymous No.6134044]

>>6133332
Applebees cook detected

[Anonymous No.6134052]

>>6132706
I have a

[Anonymous No.6134159]

>>6132706
>what do you use to sharpen your knifes
>your knifes
>knifes

[Anonymous No.6134168]

I got this, it works really well imho, as long as the existing edge isn't too fucked up, it's not suited for reprofiling

[Anonymous No.6134175]

>>6134168
I must add I use a leather strop with a bit of polishing compound as the final step. Gets even the cheapest knives shaving sharp (how long the edge lasts depends on actual steel quality).
Pic related is with a $1 paring knife, the ruler markings are 0.5mm apart

[Anonymous No.6134187]

>>6134175
Looks like you're cutting with microserrations there, judging by the scratch pattern.

[Anonymous No.6134194]

>>6134187
I can cut whatever I need to cut without any effort, which is good enough for me.
It is a cheap set, and a stone would probably give better results, but a jig for constant angle with a proper stone costs a lot more.
This whole kit cost me less then as 1 'real' stone.

[Anonymous No.6134217]

>>6134168
what is differene between reprofiling, sharpening, honing, etc.?

[Anonymous No.6134222]

>>6134217
Differing levels of autism
Google with give you better answers than 4chan

[Anonymous No.6134230]

Learn to sharpen the Jap. way. It is so much faster and you get a much better result.

Get some or one stone and practice with a knife you don't care about.

Don't use anything too coarse for learning. 1000 grit will end up being your main stone; which is also a good learning stone.

If you're paying anything over ~$80 AU for a stone that isn't a finishing stone you're wasting your money.

If you are learning I would suggest a combination stone ~1000/3000

Removing the burr at the end is the most important part.

A slightly coarser finishing stone ie. 3000 will give a knife more 'bite' and generally have better edge retention. Personally I don't use any higher than this on western knifes.

My current actual stone picks are.

Coarse: SunTiger 240
Medium: King 1000 / Masahiro 1000
Fine: Naniwa 3000 / Kikuichi 6000

To strop/remove burr I use chromium oxide rubbed on a coarse leather.

As you figure it out you will have your own preferences. Different stones do different things better than others.

bla bla bla. Go watch some youtube vids.
The Korin guys are good like someone else mentioned.

[Anonymous No.6134242]

>>6134217

depending on who you ask,

reprofiling: changing the angle of the primary bevel (a very rough stone is implied)
sharpening: anything between reprofiling and honing, but usually still grinding the primary bevel, but with a medium grit stone to smooth out the primary bevel and remove large scratches created during reprofiling. sometimes used to refer to the creation of the secondary bevel
honing: this one really sets people off, but it can either mean establishing the secondary bevel with a fine stone, or further polishing of the secondary bevel with an extremely fine stone. sometimes used to refer to steeling or burnishing or de-burring or various other specific processes. point of contention often revolves around various interpretations of "removal of metal" (whether it's happening, whether this is good or bad, etc). can also mean that GMO is the same as selective breeding, tipping is for fags, wheat is murder, and red meat causes cancer.

[Anonymous No.6134253]

>>6134230
Also use a stone fixer, if you have a rougher stone that also works.

Don't waste your time with steels/honing if you're sharpening properly they will only make your knife blunt, just touch up on your fine stone or strop it.

[Anonymous No.6134277]

>>6134253
>Don't waste your time with steels/honing if you're sharpening properly they will only make your knife blunt, just touch up on your fine stone or strop it.

I used to think this way, and then I got a ceramic rod and it changed my life.

Then again I don't do dry sharpening, and I don't have any splash & go stones. It's a matter of soaking for 10 minutes and cleaning up a mess, or 2-3 quick strokes on a rod when it's not cutting as well as it should. A strop works when it's still crazy sharp, but that only works two or three times before you're going to need something aggressive (unless you are stropping with diamond paste I guess, I've never tried it)

[Anonymous No.6134416]

>>6134277
I do still hone my knives on occasion. I have a sapphire cut F.Dick steel. which does touch up a dull edge very nicely, while not taking any metal off or being as fragile as ceramics

I just assume a lot of people on here are more home/enthusiast orientated so they would have more time to touch a knife up as you really can't compare a knife off a steel to a stone.

In a professional environment you don't have time to go back to stones all the time unless you have one permanently setup like butchers.

Really; you just have to do what suits your style,time frame and budget the best though.

[Anonymous No.6134430]

>>6134416
>you really can't compare a knife off a steel to a stone.

Leaving aside your belief that all rods are the same, you sure can compare the two. I would compare my results off the ceramic rod to somewhere between a 1k result and a 4k result. Considering that 1k is adequate for most cooking situations and 4k is already extreme autismo, I'd say most people are better off stroking their rods a few times a month (or whatever) than messing around with stones every time their knife isn't cutting optimally, regardless of how much time they have to waste on 4chan arguing about bacon and gay pasta brands.

[Anonymous No.6134751]

>>6134194
I started to sharpening with the lansky 10 years ago. its pretty decent although its too small for most kitchen knives.
I got fed up with how slow it was and moved to stones after i learning the basics with the lansky. I moved to oil stones, then to water stones, and now ceramic stones, which are my fav by quite a margin. The only reason i keep the lansky is to sharpen recurve blades, which you dont find in the kitchen anyway.

>I can cut whatever I need to cut without any effort, which is good enough for me.
if this is true then you don't really need any advice from anyone here. consider yourself lucky that you didnt fall into the trap i did of wanting better and better edges.
It's an expensive hobby...

>>6134242
reprofiling, its a bitch of a thing to do, but the results are oh-so-sweet. here's a picture of knife i reprofiled over the weekend - turned a shitty knife into a laser.

[Anonymous No.6134758]

>>6134751
what knife is that? looks like some kurouchi thing, but those are usually pretty laser like OOTB except tosagata which have a round ferrule unlike yours

[Anonymous No.6134806]

>>6134758
its a Richmond GT Artifex 210mm Wa-Gyuto
I wouldn't recommend it, the steel is too soft and doesn't hold an edge for long enough (i work in a pro kitchen and the edge doesn't make it through one day.)

I've turned it into a laser for more specialized cutting jobs. I haven't polished the sides yet so it looks all scratched up, but the good news is that the "kanji" on the knife has completely disappeared and now it looks like the much more expensive Konosuke HD or Masamoto KS knives that this Richmond copied

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFrSt2kQJVk

[Anonymous No.6134811]

>>6134806
>AUS-8

Yeah I'll probably skip that one.

[Anonymous No.6134829]

I use a rod. When it gets to the point where the rod won't work (has never happened in the 5+ years I've had the knife) I just throw it away and go get a new one from the local asian market for $5. Unless you are a highly skilled professional chef, I really see no reason why you would need a knife that requires such high maintenance.

[Anonymous No.6134859]

>>6134811
yeah, its like playing with putty. im still trying to find a way to keep this edge from losing its bite after 10mins of work, but i tend to give up and grab one of my ZDP knives instead.

[Anonymous No.6134903]

>>6134751
>It's an expensive hobby...
Like most of the things I'm interested in, and I've learned to stop on time now. My bank account is grateful.

[Anonymous No.6134909]

>>6134751
>>6134903

It's not THAT expensive. Couple hundred bucks worth of stones is already considered advanced tier autism. That's not even enough for a good watch or a decent pair of speakers. It's actually a pretty affordable hobby even with minimal disposable income.

[Anonymous No.6134930]

>>6134909
nah you factor the cost of the knives into the equation when you get into top tier autism sharpening.
cheaper knives just cant hold a workable edge for long, hence >>6134811 and >>6134829

There's little use for high quality finishing stones on shitty knives.

[Anonymous No.6134931]

i meant the posts >>6134811 and >>6134859

[Anonymous No.6134941]

>>6134909
This >>6134930
My most expensive knife cost $30. I enjoy getting all my shitty knives super sharp (with the lansky) but spending much more on just the stones isn't worth the cost to me. I understand your point, but for me it's just too expensive to get top quality stones.

[Anonymous No.6134943]

>>6134941
>Opinel
>Shitty
You take that back. It may not be as tacticool as some shmuck's 100$ Bear Gryll's Bear-Stabber 2000x, but Opinel knives are amazing quality for the cost.
Also, wood handles.

[Anonymous No.6134945]

>>6134930

I'm >>6134811

The amount I've spent on knives, razors, and all my gear combined is less than the cost of one of my speaker systems (the one in my living room). It's probably about what I've spent on headphones and related accessories. It's pretty similar to the cost of the watch I'm wearing right now, which I spent three hours thinking about this morning whether I want to flip it to take advantage of the weakened Euro, and get another from Germany, or be reasonable and continue wearing this one until I die (which was the original plan a year ago). Most people I know consider my relationship with knives to be borderline unhealthy. Little do they know.

Just saying, knife gear isn't all that bad unless you get into JNats or start collecting stuff by dead smiths, which is a horrible idea unless you have no life.

[Anonymous No.6134974]

>>6134943
I know, I love them too, but that's the only picture of some of the knives I own. Most are sub $3 gifts/goodwill shit. But they take an edge and are way sharper then what 95% of the regular population is used to.

[Anonymous No.6134985]

>>6134945
well just like speakers and headphones, theres a high end market to fall into if it tickles your fancy.

i wouldnt consider myself high end yet (i dont have what i would consider a collection), but two months ago i spent over $2k on two stones and two knives, and I dont even have a honyaki or a custom.

Sure its not as expensive as some other hobbies, but its sure as hell not a cheap hobby

[Anonymous No.6134992]

>>6134974
Reminds me
>just got that lansky kit
>sharpened every goddamn thing I could find
>tell my mom I'll sharpen some of her knives
>she owned these for over 5 years
>used daily, never honed or sharpened
>spend 5 minutes, shave my arm, again
>good enough
>week later visit parents again
>dad nearly cut his finger off peeling an apple

>>6134945
You can make any hobby as expensive as you want. I've learned to draw the line at $50~100 for the first few weeks, since I tend to lose interest quickly once I get the basics down.

[Anonymous No.6135027]

a good majority of professionals use cheap knives and a honing steel. When the knives aren't sharp enough anymore, they replace them.

expensive steel is for when a chef can bill someone else for the purchase.

[Anonymous No.6135053]

>>6135027
>expensive headphones are for when music producers can bill someone else for the purchase.

[Anonymous No.6135310]

>>6135027
>a good majority of professionals use cheap knives and a honing steel. When the knives aren't sharp enough anymore, they replace them.

Bullshit.

[Anonymous No.6137062]

>>6132829
>Machines are rubbish and ruin knives
Never heard of a wet grinding wheel, have we?
>stones are too slow.
Still using those ouachita stones are we?

[Anonymous No.6137138]

>>6134992
>>dad nearly cut his finger off peeling an apple

Most people have no idea how little do sharp knives forgive, even when warned.

>be carefull, honey, this one's is rather sharp
>please, be kind and don't speak to me as a child
>*cuts self*

>be carefull, mum, this one's is rather sharp
>yeah, yeah, son, I know those
>*cuts self*

[Anonymous No.6137141]

>>6134992
>>dad nearly cut his finger off peeling an apple

Most people have no idea how little do sharp knives forgive, even when warned.

>be carefull, honey, this one's is rather sharp
>please, be kind and don't speak to me as a child
>*cuts self*

>be carefull, mum, this one's is rather sharp
>yeah, yeah, son, I know those
>*blood all over the sink*

[Anonymous No.6137143]

>>6137138

Yeah, it's like the McDonalds hot coffee thing. People have a mental image of a level of danger due to habituation, and when warned, they ignore the warning. Then the bad thing happens and everyone laughs about how stupid they are, but any reasonable person in the same situation would have done the same.

Giving one of my CrOx stropped knives to my grandma to cut an onion is not something I would do, because she has a lifetime of experience of what "sharp" means and it's on a completely different level of sharp.

[Anonymous No.6137144]

>>6135027
no, a steel would keep a cheap knife sharp for about a day of any heavy use in a kitchen
you are very ignorant

[Anonymous No.6137166]

>>6135310
Its pretty common, so long they have the proper type of knives, and can resharpen them on short demand.
May involve it being one of the few items that is hard washed, because dish washer is too hard on the keen edge.

[Anonymous No.6137170]

I use DMT Extra Extra Coarse + Coarse for reprofiling and flattening other stones.
Otherwise I use 1k, 8k Shapton Glassstones and a strop with polishing compound.

[Anonymous No.6137175]

>>6137144
Shitty knifes will remain sharp for several months, even under heavy use. Unless they are used for activities that ruin the edge.

[Anonymous No.6137237]

>>6137141
Tell me about it. At least the cuts are usually thin and clean so they heal very easily. Much better than getting a cut from a burr or just a blunt knife or something.

[Anonymous No.6137242]

>>6137170
>8k

[Anonymous No.6137246]

>>6137175
>Unless they are used for activities that ruin the edge.
ie anything in a fucked up commercial environment