Depending on the grit coarseness you can sharpen very blunt objects or refine an already sharp edge. Generally speaking, one can expect that a kitchen knife is much less heavily used than say, for example, carpenter tools or a pocket knife used to cut wood. I suppose for a kitchen knife there is no need for very coarse stones (say, below 200). Am I wrong here?
Tell me more
×
Seasoned Advice is a question and answer site for
professional and amateur chefs. It's 100% free, no registration required.
|
|
||||
|
|
|
Oh absolutely, you certainly don't want to sharpen a kitchen knife on a 200 grit stone! You'll want one medium stone in case you ever need to remove a nick or something (but then you should probably take your knife to a pro at that point), and then probably like 2000-4000-6000 grits for routine polishing. (Note Japanese grit numbers are different than American oil stones). |
|||
|
|
|
really rough stones (used for tools) aren't suitable for knives. they can be used to remove chips, but really require a skilled hand to not damange the knife. most knives are sharpened with japanese waterstones (most easily available & cheap). you'll do most of your sharpening with something around a 1500 grit. if you want a real fine edge (e.g. for sushi) you can use a 4000 or even 6000 grit for polishing. but that's what it does, polish to a mirror finish - for smoothness. you won't be removing much material with a stone that fine. usually used for finishing / honing only. |
|||
|
|
|
Maybe this link will help you find a proper set of grits: Choosing the right grit size of Shapton stones. For example, a 120 grit stone is recommended for grinding of the following:
You can grind the rest of the kitchen knives with a stone of 220 or 320 grit. For sharpening it seems that you can safely use something between 1000 and 2000 grit. Follow the given link to learn more. |
|||||||||
|
