# Who sharpens their knives on whetstones?



## smokininidaho (Jan 30, 2021)

Just bought some whetstones for sharpening my kitchen knives. Any tips would be appreciated. Found this video helpful.


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## BandCollector (Jan 30, 2021)

This guy seems to have you covered.  Great tutorial.

John


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## phathead69 (Jan 30, 2021)

I use automotive high grit sand paper. but the advise I have still applies, favourite beverage and big chunk of meat in smoker and solid table outside near smoker. 
brisket is usually when I sharpen once a year. start smoking in wood burner early am. sometime that morning I start. I just take my time progressing thru the grits, 800 or so up thru 2000 and coffee thru bourbon. all day adventure just like the brisket but by end of cook I'll have 4 to 5 sharp ass knives and 12 to 17 pounds of meat to test on. by the way i try to make it fall time of year then i get bonus of college football on tv.


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## Chickenwings (Jan 30, 2021)

Burrfection is indeed great.   I've been doing this for a couple of years now after having moved on from a Lansky.  I find freehand on the whetstone produces better results faster and I really do like it but with that said, THIS guy learned and recommends:
- Don't get hung up on technicals.  19 v 17 degrees won't matter.
- Pay attention to how things feel.  You can feel when you're not on the bevel and it sounds a bit different too.
- Go slow and go light - you'll remove a surprising amount of material if you really dig into it, especially with a medium coarse stone.  Of course you can get more aggressive once you get the hang of it.   Bob Kramer (look him up if you're not familiar) recommends about 4-6 pounds of pressure.  Check this with a scale if you need to but it's not that much.  
- I HIGHLY recommend buying a cheap chef's knife and learning on that until you really get the hang of it.  I was pretty hard on my Wusthof until I bought a Kuma from Amazon...I can't find it now but I recommend a Mercer to get you started.  If you grind the heck out of a 50 dollar knife the experience feels so much better than losing your 300.00 hand crafted Japanese Guyoto......

I don't work hard (I'm an underachiever?) to get the kind of edge that Burrfection does in his videos but I can cut tomatoes with my Chef knife  without any pressure or crushing.  That's my standard and is plenty sharp.

Hope that helps, let us know how it turns out!


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## poacherjoe (Jan 30, 2021)

phathead69 said:


> I use automotive high grit sand paper. but the advise I have still applies, favourite beverage and big chunk of meat in smoker and solid table outside near smoker.
> brisket is usually when I sharpen once a year. start smoking in wood burner early am. sometime that morning I start. I just take my time progressing thru the grits, 800 or so up thru 2000 and coffee thru bourbon. all day adventure just like the brisket but by end of cook I'll have 4 to 5 sharp ass knives and 12 to 17 pounds of meat to test on. by the way i try to make it fall time of year then i get bonus of college football on tv.


With my luck sharpening knives all day with bourbon would equal several sharp knives and one less finger!!


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## SmokinAl (Jan 30, 2021)

I think most of the knife makers & professional knife sharpeners use abrasive belts. They give the best edge, and only take a couple of minutes. 
Al


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## noboundaries (Feb 13, 2021)

SmokininIdaho, I noticed you watching the responses on another knife thread. I'm about to pull the trigger on a couple Suehiro Cerax whetstones. Still deciding on the grits I want. One recommendation; pick up a cheap 60x lighted jewlers loupe on Amazon to examine your edges.  You will be amazed at what you see. Your results will improve immediately.

The cheapie whetstone set I bought works fine, but the two 7"x 2 3/8" stones are smaller than what I want. Bigger than the 5" stone I learned on, though, decades ago.

Been working with the 400/1000 two-sided stone. Plus, the supposed "3000/8000 grit polishing stone is actually a 300/800 grit stone. I could tell the instant I opened the set and rubbed my fingers on it. Thought about returning the set, but it does work. Oh, well. Gave it a 3 star review for the false listing information and markings on the one stone.


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## noboundaries (Feb 19, 2021)

S-in-Idaho, how's the whetstone sharpening going? I'm relearning quickly. That little $8 coin loupe (microscope) has helped me find a push-pull technique that has cut my sharpening time significantly per knife. I was spending almost an hour per knife. I've adjusted my technique with what I've seen through the loupe to eliminate both edge flaws and shavings. I'm now down to about ten minutes per cheap knife with better results. 

I never was big on shaving my arm for results. I just want smooth thin slicing of magazine paper.


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## chef jimmyj (Feb 19, 2021)

I've  had one of these 30 years. Ive not seen it since my oldest graduated from the CIA and moved out!...JJ









						Norton 3 Stone IM200 System
					

Compact and easy-to-use, this Tri-Stone System is versatile enough for home or commercial kitchens.  The 3 Stone Norton IM200 System features 8" x 2" oil stones.



					www.sharpeningsupplies.com


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## noboundaries (Feb 19, 2021)

chef jimmyj said:


> I've had one of these 30 years. I've not seen it since my oldest graduated from the CIA and moved out!...JJ


Kids.   Think of it as them taking a bit of you with them.

I learned on an oil stone that had a weird name, like Carbonundrum. I think they are still being made. It's packed away somewhere. Easier to relearn from scratch with something cheap, new, and bigger.


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## mosparky (Feb 19, 2021)

Work had the big brother to Chefs 3 stone, called a Norton Tri-Hone. Stones were closer to 3 x 10. 
These days they have cheap knives that are maintained by a sharpening service. 
Soon I hope to get a tri-hone for myself. The knives I have, were all sharpened on one and trying to re-set the edge with anything else but a stone, will be a major PITA.
I'll offer an observation for those using a steel. Meat cutters told me this after I started noticing it myself (tho I never mentioned it) A smooth steel will true most edges but will not remove metal. If using a smooth steel. you don't have to re-sharpen on a stone near as often. A serrated steel does remove metal. It's great and often necessary when you have a rolled edge. If you use a serrated steel often, you will find yourself at the stone more often.
Personally I only use the serrated steel for the turned edge, then back to the smooth until I'm faced with another turned edge.


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## smokininidaho (Feb 20, 2021)

noboundaries said:


> S-in-Idaho, how's the whetstone sharpening going? I'm relearning quickly. That little $8 coin loupe (microscope) has helped me find a push-pull technique that has cut my sharpening time significantly per knife. I was spending almost an hour per knife. I've adjusted my technique with what I've seen through the loupe to eliminate both edge flaws and shavings. I'm now down to about ten minutes per cheap knife with better results.
> 
> I never was big on shaving my arm for results. I just want smooth thin slicing of magazine paper.


It's going really good actually. Muscle memory is an amazing thing, have been practicing a lot on cheap knives I bought from Goodwill. I've got a lighted magnifying glass I use to inspect the edges.


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## old sarge (Feb 20, 2021)

Here is a good source for stones.  Great selection:









						Shop Sharpening Stones | Woodcraft
					

Dull tools are dangerous as they require more force to cut. Work safe, keep tools sharp with our variety of manmade and natural stones in grits galore, tool honing guides and sharpening kits.




					www.woodcraft.com
				












						Tormek - T-4 Water Cooled Sharpening System
					

The Tormek T-4 is a second generation compact sharpening machine. Unlike the previous T-3, all the vital functions of the T-4 – including the motor, main shaft and mounting supports for the Universal Tool Support – are now integrated in a zinc casting. Functions as grinder and sharpening machine.




					www.woodcraft.com


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## noboundaries (Feb 20, 2021)

I am almost OCD-like when it comes to details. It serves me well the vast majority of the time, enabling me to gain levels of insight most pass on by. Sooooo, I took delivery today of a Japanese Suehiro Cerax 1000 grit whetstone. I haven't sharpened with it yet, but one swipe of a finger indicated how smooth it was.

I pulled out the tiny 60x jewelry loupe, figured out how to line up my phone's camera, and snap a pic of the surface of the Cerax and my two cheap Chinese combo whetstones. The combos are 400/1000 grit (650 grams weight) and 3000/8000 grit (785 grams weight). Both have the same size dimensions. The Cerax is a larger stone and weighs in at 910 grams.

I could tell the instant I opened the Chinese package that the 3000 grit was not a 3000 grit stone. The magnifier and a few swipes when wet revealed it is probably a 300 grit stone, just packed more densely than the 400 grit.

I have only sharpened about a dozen knives on the 400/1000 grit, using the 1000 grit side the vast majority of the time with a leather strop to get clean paper cuts. The 3000 and 8000 grit stones have only had a few swipes on each side. My guess is the 3000/8000 might actually be a 300/1000-2000 grit. The Cerax is unused. I can barely wait to use it on Monday.

Below are the pics, and yes, the 1000s and 8000 grit stones are in focus. All the stones were dry.


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## smokininidaho (Feb 21, 2021)

That is one smooth stone. I'm going to look into getting one.


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## noboundaries (Feb 21, 2021)

I picked up a $15 holder, too. The Cerax comes with a silicone base but I like the adjustable holder. 


I cannot avoid the following analogy. Stoning knives reminds me of playing golf. A cheap golf club works fine. A better club won't produce better results until you've practiced enough to know what the heck you're doing. And the most expensive club is a waste of overspent money for the VAST majority of golfers who will never play to the club's professional abilities. 

I spent $40 on my starter set that included two combo stones with two silicone bases, a flattening stone, a nagura cleaning stone, an edge guide I never used, and a bamboo stone holder. With a couple weeks of practice, experimentation, and YouTube videos, my muscle memory returned and I achieved the sharp results and quicker timing I wanted for one set of our cheap knives. 

I still haven't figured out the softer steel Chicago Cutlery edge, but I will. I'll use the new stone ($41) on our better knives. I can't play golf anymore for health reasons, but stoning knives is almost as rewarding, fun, and a LOT cheaper.


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## smokininidaho (Feb 21, 2021)

noboundaries said:


> I picked up a $15 holder, too. The Cerax comes with a silicone base but I like the adjustable holder.
> 
> 
> I cannot avoid the following analogy. Stoning knives reminds me of playing golf. A cheap golf club works fine. A better club won't produce better results until you've practiced enough to know what the heck you're doing. And the most expensive club is a waste of overspent money for the VAST majority of golfers who will never play to the club's professional abilities.
> ...


I sharpened  an old  Chicago Cutlery 62S today came out razor sharp, I'm getting better. 1000 followed by 3000 for polishing the edge, then leather strop. If you don't have a leather strop do yourself a favor and get one. I can always tell the difference when I strop.


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## noboundaries (Feb 21, 2021)

Yep, gotta leather strop and I agree it does make a huge difference. I'm also about to make one, or three. Saw a YouTube video about making a wood-mounted leather strop using old leather belts and scrap wood. Got plenty of both. Looked like a quick fun project to play with that won't cost me a penny. Might buy some more polishing compound.


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## noboundaries (Feb 21, 2021)

smokininidaho said:


> I sharpened an old Chicago Cutlery 62S today came out razor sharp, I'm getting better. 1000 followed by 3000 for polishing the edge, then leather strop.


That's good to know. Thanks. I have a C.C.44S 10" chef's knife and a 4" pairing knife, both from the early 80's. They are my Monday project.


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## noboundaries (Feb 22, 2021)

I have a 3"×8" wood-mounted leather strop by Hutsuls I bought from Amazon ($18). It works great and will be my main go-to strop. That said, like I mentioned above, a YouTube guy made a leather strop out of scrap wood, an old leather belt, and glue.

Checked the garage. I have 24 feet of pressure treated 1 3/8" x 5 3/8" wood of various lengths left over from repairing trim on my house when we painted it a few years ago.  Found a package of new tack cloth. Plenty of sandpaper, too.

Checked my closet. My belly has expanded over the years, so lots of leather belts I wore with jeans that no longer fit (both the belts and the jeans).

Checked the household cabinet and found a practically brand-new 4oz bottle of Elmer's carpenter wood glue ($2.75 at HD).

LET'S MAKE A STROP!

Measuring took one minute.
Hand cutting a belt-width piece of 10" wood took 10 minutes.
Hand cutting one piece of leather from the belt 3 minutes.
Sanding (100 grit) and tack cleaning the belt piece took another 5 minutes.
Hand sanding and tack cleaning the rough wood piece with 100 grit sandpaper another 10 minutes.
Applied the glue to the correct side of the wood and belt, then put them together in 2 minutes. I glued what was previously the outside of the belt. I'll strop on the inside. Used more glue than I needed but that's no problem with lots of wipe rags.

Total time invested to this point: 31 minutes.

Put the strop on the remaining wood piece base, spread three 1 lb weights on the leather to let the glue set. Wiped any drips that appeared over 30 minutes as the glue hardened, then replaced the three 1 lb weights with two 5 lb weighs for a couple hours while it set further.

Sanded the block again (5 minutes).

I wanted to apply excessive amounts of green polishing compound to this homemade strop then heat-treat it and rub it into the leather. Reason? The 60x microscope often reveals metal shavings of various sizes after using whetstones, even with a harder stone for stropping. They are completely invisible to the naked eye , nor can I feel them with my fingers. They are apparent when slicing a piece of magazine paper as the paper catches on the shavings. I Loaded the strop with compound, heated it with a  high-heat hair dryer (don't need one of those anymore either), and rubbed the compound into the leather with the rounded handle end of a screwdriver. Took about 10 minutes.

Time for a test run.

Used the new Cerax stone for sharpening my two stubborn softer-steel Chicago Cutlery knives. Used stropping strokes on the 8000 grit combo stone shown above. Wiped the knives clean and examined with the microscope.  Saw a couple edge shavings. Ran the knives lightly over the new strop 20 times a side and examined them again. NO SHAVINGS.

Stropped with the lightly loaded Hutsuls leather and the two Chicago Cutlery knives shaved magazine paper with that addicting sound of perfection.

Here's the strop I made before heat treating it. I also rubbed a little food-safe mineral oil into it after the heat treatment.

Fun project and so easy to do in a morning or afternoon. Less than an hour of active time. The rest is waiting for the glue to harden.












Edit: was sitting around bored watching TV.  Threw another one together. Glue is drying. May not load it with any compound. Also didn't rough the finish. I can make one more out of this belt but have to figure out how I would use it. Maybe a white compound.


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## GonnaSmoke (Feb 22, 2021)

I have a Norton Tri Stone with 2 medium stones and a fine stone. In addition, I have a  Hard Black Arkansas stone in 3000 grit. A good steel and the knowledge to use it is also a must....


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## noboundaries (Feb 22, 2021)

Okay, last one. The second naked strop (no compound) just replaced my steels. I've always used steels. Never used a strop. 

My 8" J.A. Henckels chef's knife was relatively sharp. It sliced magazine paper without any chatter but wouldn't shave the paper into tiny slices.  A few swipes on the naked strop though, and it shaved the paper with that effortless sound that now gives me the chills. 

Take 20-30 minutes and make one. If you have power tools, you could literally make one in less than 5 minutes. I have them, but wanted to do this by hand. 

Naked belt strop.


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## zwiller (Feb 23, 2021)

With sharpening I tend to think there quite a few ways to do it but the key is to learn how to be GOOD with the chosen method since one method isn't necessarily better than the other.   I use ceramic stone based sharpener jigs for my knives and works for me but well aware they could be sharper.  I am a rookie with meat knives and want a little protection until I get better.   Since a strop was mentioned, I agree that it is another level or so beyond stones and steels.  I am a huge fan of jeweler's rouge on woodworking gear but instead of a strop I have a disk disk of mdf on a low rpm motor and apply rouge.  I would say my chisels and plane blades are sharper than my knives.  You are probably looking at an ER run if you had an oops with a knife.  My wife is old school with a paring knife and uses her thumb as a stop...  There is sharp and there is SCARY sharp.


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## noboundaries (Feb 23, 2021)

zwiller said:


> My wife is old school with a paring knife and uses her thumb as a stop...



Mine, too. My mother also did that. When I was a kid I remember thinking, _How is that a smart thing to do? _I'll do it on a rare occasion with a stubborn onion peel, but that's it. 

My wife used my mandolin one time. When she went to wash it, three stitches, her first stitches ever.


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## noboundaries (Feb 25, 2021)

I have one cheap 9" carving knife with a reverse curve near the handle. Could not sharpen the root of the blade because it would dig into the stone. No way was I spending $25 to buy a curved stone to sharpen one knife I only use on beef roasts. A steel did not get it to paper slicing sharp. What to do? Heck, make my own sharpening tool with stuff I had laying around the garage!

1500 grit wet dry sandpaper.






1 1/4" x 15" PVC left over from a Burning Man Monkey Hut I built for our camp. A Monkey Hut looks like a Quonset hut.

Tape the sandpaper to the PVC with painter's tape.











I had no idea if this would work or not. I ran the sandpaper under the faucet, then used the sharpening tool like a steel, trailing edge, very light pressure. Swiped with a countdown like I was stropping the knife. That was followed with a few swipes on the naked strop shown above.

The knife would not cut paper before I started (no pic). Afterwards, a nice slice of the dive magazine paper! (My wife took the pic).

Sharpening knives is feeding my OCD...and it's FUN!


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## noboundaries (Feb 26, 2021)

zwiller said:


> You are probably looking at an ER run if you had an oops with a knife.


Must be the knife sharpener's curse. I was using a newly sharpened and stropped scary sharp 6" utility knife to halve grape tomatoes yesterday. I usually use a 4" paring knife. Well, one ring finger got in the way of the point of the longer knife and I stabbed myself. Thankfully, I had my Star Wars light saber band-aids to apply The Force. No emergency room trip necessary!


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## mosparky (Feb 26, 2021)

On the bright side, a cut from a sharp knife doesn't hurt near as much and usually heals a lot faster.


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## noboundaries (Feb 27, 2021)

One more "yes, steels are necessary" story. 

Yesterday, I was slicing 3 lbs of mostly frozen petite steaks with my cleaver to make fajitas this weekend.  Washing it afterwards, I dropped the knife and the cutting edge hit the ceramic separator between the wash and rinse sinks.

Well, crap. No chips, but I could feel an edge issue with my thumb. One swipe on the naked strop confirmed it because it scraped the leather. 

8-10 swipes on the steel and I could feel the issue go away. There were no scrapes with 8-10 swipes on the strop. Sliced magazine paper without a hickop. 

So, just when I thought I could pack away the steels, nope, still very necessary.


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## civilsmoker (Mar 3, 2021)

SmokinAl said:


> I think most of the knife makers & professional knife sharpeners use abrasive belts. They give the best edge, and only take a couple of minutes.
> Al



This!  800, 1000, 1200, Leather all on slack belts.... will cut paper all day long!

with the belts you need to go slow and careful cause if you have too much belt speed or get to aggressive the heat will kill the heat treat!

A friend of mine does lathe chisels (for turning pens and such) to 3000 + for mirror finish.

Good old wet dry sand paper works perfectly as well. I will hand sand a blade to 1500-2000 then texture back to 600/800 for a semi matte finish. 

Oh and even though I have a couple of grinders in the garage, I also have a set of 8 inch stones 800, 1000, 1200 (I finish later on the leather) that I will sit down at the coffee table having a drink and watching a movie and sharpening......it’s just relaxing......


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## civilsmoker (Mar 4, 2021)

noboundaries said:


> I have one cheap 9" carving knife with a reverse curve near the handle. Could not sharpen the root of the blade because it would dig into the stone. No way was I spending $25 to buy a curved stone to sharpen one knife I only use on beef roasts. A steel did not get it to paper slicing sharp. What to do? Heck, make my own sharpening tool with stuff I had laying around the garage!
> 
> 1500 grit wet dry sandpaper.
> View attachment 486720
> ...


I tape wet dry to a polished 1 inch wide by 1/4" by a foot to fine tune bevels.   Getting these lines straight takes patience and a lot of fresh paper and most knife makers finishing with paper, most do length wise but I prefer the final lines to be transverse lines but that takes more time......... Although many these days just belt sand to 320/400 and put them out the door as done......Taking it to mirror polish is another thing all together.


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## noboundaries (Oct 15, 2021)

My cheap knives go about 2-3 months before they need to be whetstoned again when the steel becomes ineffective. My better knives are still paperslicing like a razor 9 months after whetstone sharpening, regular steel honing and leather stropping. They all get just regular kitchen use. 

I picked up a 320 grit Japanese Suehiro whetstone ($31) due to the cheap knives. It was taking too long to develop a burr with the 1000 grit Suehiro. The 320 solved that issue. 

My Santa list will probably have a couple Japanese knives on it. Hard to believe he'll be coming down my chimney in 10 weeks!


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## noboundaries (Dec 24, 2021)

I just stone-sharpened my son-in-law's J.A. Henckels knives for Christmas (they were my daughter's, actually, but like our house, he does most of the cooking). They had been sharpened with a cheap pull-through and were so dull they only crimped the paper when I first tried to slice it. Now they slice paper without a hiccup. And thank my stars I bought that 320 grit stone mentioned above. Made putting a new bevel on them a piece of cake!

I've hidden his pull-through in plain sight. One use and those sharp edges will be gone.


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## GonnaSmoke (Dec 24, 2021)

noboundaries said:


> I've hidden his pull-through in plain sight. One use and those sharp edges will be gone.


Nice of you to sharpen their knives correctly, I would've hidden the pull-through in file 13...


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## noboundaries (Dec 24, 2021)

GonnaSmoke said:


> Nice of you to sharpen their knives correctly, I would've hidden the pull-through in file 13...


Hopefully that's where it ends up!


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## 1MoreFord (Dec 25, 2021)

I use Lansky's or Smith sharpeners.  Can't use a bare whetstone.  Just can't maintain a constant angle that way.  I do use a pull thru but Only the diamond stick portion like a steel.


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## noboundaries (Dec 25, 2021)

The Lansky is definitely easier. For whetstone, I get a general idea of the angle using the little $13 wedge set I mentioned in another thread. I feel how that angle feels against my thumbs, set the wedge aside, then the rest is technique holding that thumb feel. 

With really dull knives like I sharpened yesterday, I just got more aggressive on the 320 grit stone and set a new bevel. There were some big dings, too, that had to be ground out. Stropped and polished  on the 1000 grit and leather. Was able to finish 7 Henckels knives in about an hour fifteen. 

I made the mistake of trying to sharpen a really cheap knife they had. The metal was so soft it thudded when flipped with my finger. It took a half hour to get an edge to hold. They had two more and I told them they weren't worth keeping.


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## civilsmoker (Dec 25, 2021)

The 320 is they way to go to set the bevel. That will give you a flat bevel to polish as 600 and above is just polishing.... and if you don’t have a good bevel it will take forever with higher grit.

Now that I’m sharpening lots of knives, I now just run them across 400-600–800-1000- then on leather strops , first with black, then green (all on the vari speed 1x30).....ps I know it’s shiny!

just for perspective this is belt sand to 400, wet sand 600, 800, 1000, then cut compound (black) then color compound (green) both airway wheels (i won’t use anything else now).


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## noboundaries (Dec 25, 2021)

My other daughter used one of the sharpened knives earlier today. She has an identical set of Henckels I bought for her at the same time as her sister. I'll give you one guess what she wants me to do.


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## MileHighSmokerGirl (Jan 23, 2022)

I have the Chefs Choice EdgeSelect 120 and love it. Less than 20 minutes to sharpen my entire Chicago Cutlery set and they are razor sharp.


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## noboundaries (Jan 23, 2022)

MileHighSmokerGirl said:


> I have the Chefs Choice EdgeSelect 120 and love it. Less than 20 minutes to sharpen my entire Chicago Cutlery set and they are razor sharp.
> View attachment 523098


I have that same electric sharpener. I do agree it will sharpen knives nicely. I used mine for many years and was happy with the purchase.  It was a great time-saver when I was working. 

Unfortunately, it started scratching my knives. The scratches did not impact the knife's performance, but I found them unsightly. Also, deep gouge-like scratches started appearing in the knife edges, especially near the tips. It was that sharpener that drove me back to whetstones. 

I have a new USB microscope that connects to my phone. It can take pics, too. I'm still learning to use it, but I'll see if I can post examples to demonstrate my points.


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## noboundaries (Jan 23, 2022)

So here's my now unused knife sharpener and the $15 (Amazon) microscope. I also had to buy a $6 pack of type C extension connectors to make it work with my Android phone. The microscope WILL NOT work with iPhone.








Below are the unmagnified scratches on the Chicago cutlery 10" Chef's knife blade made by the sharpener. It's a knife my wife received as a gift in the early 1980's, so it's old (that whole sentence will probably land me in hot water).







Those are actually kinda minor looking due to the brushed finish. They were MUCH more noticeable on my newer J.A. Henckels but I've started polishing them out with sandpaper.

Here are the gouges in the tip area of the 10" Chicago Cutlery knife.


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## noboundaries (Apr 3, 2022)

I have a set of El Cheapo knives I bought a long time ago. Like $30 for 8 steak knives, two bread knives, two paring knives, and two fillet/boning knives. Plastic handle and the tang is only about an inch deep in the handle. They are beater knives that were sold as "never need sharpening." Probably 18/10 shiny steel (HRC 52-54). They just feel cheap. No great loss if one disappeared while camping or vacation.

I can't remember ever sharpening one. Was bored tonight and took one of the 6" fillet/boning knives to the Chef's Choice sharpener. No great improvement. 10 minutes on a 400/1000 stone and leather strop and it slices magazine paper like my good knives. Two words escaped my mouth as I sliced the paper. Not repeatable here. I love whetstone sharpening.


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## BXMurphy (Apr 3, 2022)

noboundaries said:


> One recommendation; pick up a cheap 60x lighted jewlers loupe on Amazon to examine your edges.  You will be amazed at what you see. Your results will improve immediately.


Whoa! What a good idea!! I have one of those around here somewhere. $9-$10 bucks. Man, I gotta find that sucker. Thanks for the idea!

Murph


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## G8trwood (Apr 3, 2022)

Have an old EF/F DMT stone on a mount in the kitchen drawer. Routinely pull it out for a quick touch up. Hard to beat the convenience. Gave all my water stones to the youngsters a few years back.  Have to limit my rabbit holes these days.


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