Sharpening Knives/Keeping Them So

Well that sux

Basic Sharpening Info here

Something a bit more advanced here

Very interesting. Thanks for posting.

Wusthof Trident, manufacturer of great blades, recommends using a sharpening steel --- and cardamom scoffs at the idea.

Golly.

Whose advice should I follow?

What a dilemma!

The Basic Sharpening article goes into great detail about steeling about 3/4 of the way through. The authors don't seem to find the practice quaint. Neither do the professional meatcutters and butchers that I know.

However, the Basic Sharpening article gets it quite wrong in the discussion of carbon and stainless steel properties and in the implications of hardness generally. Quote:

"Carbon steel kitchen knives generally are a little harder and stronger than stainless steel kitchen knives. They are easy to sharpen and take a screaming edge."

In reality, stainless is generally harder than non-stainless, thanks mainly to the chrome content. That hardness makes stainless more difficult to sharpen but also makes it hold an edge better.

Everybody should have at least some idea how to sharpen a knife but the idea that it's an easy task to sharpen a stainless steel knife by hand is ludicrous. It's hard work; it's a pain. It's less hard work, less of a pain to sharpen a non-stainless knife but it still takes some time, effort and skill. Unless you enjoy doing it, the couple of dollars that a competent knife sharpener will charge is money well spent.

I have been using my present Henckels sharpening steel for 25 years. Still works fine.

There's nothing quaint at all about a sharpening steel. It's used to reset the edge on a knife -- a stone is used to put that edge on when it's been pretty much completely dulled.

If you used a stone every time a knife dulled a bit you would soon not have much blade left.

I have several pricey stainless steel knives, but my favourite is a carbon steel knife that Lee Valley Tools sells for about $23. A couple of passes with the steel and it cuts anything from tomatoes to beef.

"In reality, stainless is generally harder than non-stainless, thanks mainly to the chrome content. That hardness makes stainless more difficult to sharpen but also makes it hold an edge better. "
dave-you're out of touch with modern Japanese steel making.

"but the idea that it's an easy task to sharpen a stainless steel knife by hand is ludicrous. It's hard work; it's a pain."
You don't own many sharpening tools do you Dave?

"If you used a stone every time a knife dulled a bit you would soon not have much blade left."
Not if you owned the right stone-your ideas come out of the last century if not the one before.

Kitchen Knife Forum

Cardamom, it's hard to take you seriously when you display such appalling ignorance and bad manners.

Knife fight!