That's not a knife, this is a knife

the beer revolu

CJhaughey wrote: »

Do you have a steel?

Yes - I use that daily

Mike Litoris

Tips from an ex butcher.

Invest in a good steel. Cheap rough/course steels are useless on a good blade. A good steel will also mean less time using the stone.

About using the sharpening stone. Circular motions up and down the length of the knife:p holding the knife with your right hand using your three middle fingers of the left hand to apply slight pressure on the back of the blade. A 10 to 15 degree angle..maybe more depending on the design of the knife. You'll scrape the side of the knife if its too flat.

Stay away from the rough side of the stone unless the knife is completely knackered.

Use oil to clean the stone. WD40 is good.

Dont leave your knife in boiling water for too long when washing it.

Always use a wooden chopping board. Plastic will take the edge off a knife twice as quick and forget about glass.

Only use your knife for food. Cutting plastic or even cardboard can easily take the fine edge off it.

Musashi

One question; should I wash/clean the stone after use to stop it getting 'clogged' ?

If you are making a lot of swarf then you can wash it withkerosene, diesel light mineral oil etc. Only for oilstones...Never use oil on a waterstone!

If and when the stone starts to dish (develop a hollow bit) then some sand on a kerb or lintel can be used to flatten and dress your stone, exposing new grit and keeping the flatness.

This happens faster with waterstones as they are designed to wear in use exposing fresh grit all the time. Draw a grid of pencil lines on your stone and see where the low spots are. A little when first noticed saves a lot of work if it's left go too long.

Now, the purists may cringe here, but I got an India stone in the hardware shop - fine side 320.
Started off with my cheapest knives and worked up.

That is fine, I often use sandpaper designed for car body refinishing as disposable "stones". Halfords or where ever usually have packs in various grits up to about 1200. Get a pack, a can of spray adhesive and a flat tile or granite/marble block. Stick down the sandpaper and wet it, then use as a stone to refine and polish your edges.

Maybe use a stropping or edge trailing move if your worried about cutting in to the paper. Cheap and gives excellent results!

The Sweeper

Another tip - knife storage.

If you have a block with horizontal slits, ensure you sheath the knives with the pressure towards the back of the knife. If you have a block with vertical slits, store your knives with the blade towards the sky, so the blade doesn't rub the edge of the storage slit every time you take it out of the block.

Don't store your knives in the drawer with other utensils if you can help it. For starters, it makes fishing for a soup ladle into an extreme sport. Seconds, it just rough-houses the knives when you're rumaging around for other stuff.

Fabric knife rolls - my personal opinion is not to bother unless you intend on going places with your knives, but these may well be the finest way of storing your knives to preserve their edge.

Favourite for me are heavy duty wall-mounted magnetic knife strips. The magnet on the good strips is extremely strong so you really don't need to worry about the knives falling off the strip. Having a knife strip also encourages me to take better care of my knives, because the blades are on display on the wall! Not sure how knife purists may feel about what the magnetised storage strip may do to the steel in the knife?