Tag Info

You should use both. Knives have a very thin ragged edge (the burr) that is too small to see, which gets pushed over from use, and which makes the knife seem dull. A honing steel straightens this burr out. I use a honing steel before I cook every day. Over time, the burr wears down, or can no longer be straightened. At this point, you will need to use the ...

The most readily evident way of determining if a knife needs to be sharpened is when you notice that you're having to apply more force than normal. When you start out with a sharp knife you will become accustomed to how it glides through food. Over time you're going to notice that you are having to apply more pressure than normal and that's when it's ...

I usually notice when cutting onions and tomatoes. With a very sharp knife cutting an onion doesn't cause much tears at all. As it dulls though it does more crushing than slicing which releases more gas into the air, which makes you cry more. Ripe tomatoes help because they are so tender. If it becomes difficult to slice a tomato without crushing it, your ...

Yes, I've heard this suggested, using wet/dry sandpaper and a mousepad. It is a very inexpensive way to match a whetstone, and you can use sandpaper with the same grit to produce an excellent edge. You duct-tape the sand-paper together so it wraps around the mouse pad, and then pull the knife along the sandpaper with the edge trailing. This is to say, you ...

Allow me to help you fast forward through my years of pain trying to get my knives sharpened. I looked all over to find a local sharpening service. I called fancy restaurants, chain restaurants, and restaurant supply stores. I found one who said they performed the service and promptly had three knives really scratched up. I tried doing the sharpening ...

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 ...

I'd recommend checking with a reputable cookware/cutlery store in your area for a recommendation--ideally a local one, as they're more likely to have recommendations than a big national chain (though places like Sur La Table may still have some). You might also check with restaurants in your area--some of them might have a service they use.

I bought my (Chinese) whetstone for 7,5€ and I've used it for the last 20 years. You could spend some money on a honing steel, but even these are not really expensive. I got mine for free at a fair, and it receives regular action. Make sure you buy cheap vanadium steel knifes for your kitchen (shameless self-promotion).

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 ...

Depending on the type of honing rod and the technique you use for honing, you will remove more or less metal from the blade. You can confirm whether your rod removes metal by wiping the blade on a white tea cloth after honing. If you see a grey residue on the cloth then metal has been removed and you can decide yourself whether you want that in your food. ...

It will really be down to each individial company. Be specific about the type of knife when you enquire and when you drop it off for sharpening, get a receipt/job sheet detailing that, and specify the one-sided sharpen: 'Japanese knife, sharpen one side only'. That way you have some comeback if they f%^& it up.

Absolutely. A honer, or even better a sharpening steel removes a minuscule amount of material. Or knife will last a lifetime. The honer only realigns the blade, it doesn't remove material and reestablish a true bevel. Eventually, you'll use the honer and it won't do anything, thats when you use the sharpener. Realize though, that the electric ...

Learn from the masters :) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5opGmTnaxg&feature=related http://www.fine-tools.com/G10002.htm http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZj0I3mpBGg&feature=related

While you can learn how to sharpen on almost any straight blade knife, my recommendation is to start on one that: Isn't expensive, (try yard sales, thrift stores, and pawn shops) Isn't very long, (6 inches max) Is wide enough that wearing the blade away won't be a big issue, (chef's knife would be fine) Is not too thin or too thick, (not a boning knife or ...

dmckee is right - that you can use a rod & file to fix - but that's a HUGE pain and very difficult to do. not preferred unless absolutely necessary. michael has a point, that some electric sharpeners allow you to hone serrated edges. this is because those machines use a flexible rubber wheel on the honing stage. this doesn't correct misaligned ...

Sort of. There's a trick to fix up peeler edges: rub the back side of a paring knife along the blade, at roughly the same angle as the peeler blade's edge. Use the tip of the knife if needed. You may need to do this with both sides of the peeler blade. I suspect the result is closer to honing the edge, but the trick works well enough that I haven't bought ...

Standard grooved metal steels don't ever really become unusable. The ridges will get dinged up over time with abuse, especially with cheap steels that are not of good quality; however, I've seen some seriously (ab)used steels and they are still quite usable despite looking like Rocky at the end of a fight. In the worst case, the steel will become smooth... ...

Oh boy. Be careful. Knife sharpening isn't a easy as people think. There is a ton of information out there, all of it giving different advice, different techiniques, diffent tools. I've been a professional chef for 9 years and devoted countless hours to trying to master the art of sharpening.... The reality is- for the average person, you have to be ...

In my experience, serrated knives are sculpted from one side of the bevel only. The other is flat. I just hone mine on a fine oil-stone, using a stream of water at the sink faucet for lubrication. My stone's mounted on a wooden paddle so it's easy to use for sharpening kitchen knives. Yes, I'm probably just sharpening the tips of the serrated edge, not ...

Yes, you should clean after sharpening, which is not the same as honing. No, after honing, it's not necessary. By sharpening, you take some metal off the edge of the knife to create an edge. By honing, you realign the edge of the knife. See this answer for more details.

The material of the honing rod (called a steel in the UK) doesn't matter, it is the cut that matters. Most of the sharpeners that come with knife sets are coarse or medium cut, meaning that the ribbing on them is very aggressive and will take off lots of metal when used. If you use a coarse or medium rod on a professionally sharpened knife you'll actually ...

I own several Global knives and use a generic ceramic honing rod, which was a lot cheaper than Global's own rod and works perfectly. Remember, you pay for the Global design as well. Also, you should know the difference between using a honing rod and actually sharpening the knives. The honing rod is used only to deburr your knife, keeping it sharp. This does ...

Polished steel honing rods have no teeth and are less abrasive than ceramic "honing" rods. There are some types of steel rod that are abrasive. They have grooves cut down the length of the rod, sometimes in a shallow spiral and sometimes cut right down the length. These rods will hone a knife, but they will also shave off an amount of steel. If you want a ...

I can't speak to Global knives specifically, but my local knife sharpening specialist recommends maintaining newly sharpened knives with a ceramic honing tool instead of stainless, saying "A metal steel may be too aggressive in the first couple of months after I've sharpened your knives and can cause more harm than good." I haven't tried it, but basically I ...

For the honing stage, I have found an article regarding belgian natural stones: How does a Belgian Blue Whetstone compare to a Coticule (without any reference to a specific steel type) In summary: the yellow stones (Coticule) are much better than BBW if using slurry using just water, without slurry, BBW is almost useless and Coticule is very slow

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: Chopping Knife (deba) Tuna Fish Knife (maguro-kiri) Knife for Cutting Frozen Foods (reito-kiri) Poultry Knife (gara-suki) You can grind the rest of the kitchen knives with a ...