Thread: Knife honing

Originally Posted by cassady

I'm not sure what a 'slicing the sticker' means, exactly, but I was taught to start with the heel, and swipe to the tip, kind of like what you do to hone a smiling edge, without the roll.

Yep, that's what I mean. Imagine there's a sticker stuck to the stone & you're slicing it off.

Originally Posted by Ben325e

The egullet sharpening tutorial by Chad Ward is great. It's years old and the Q and A session is still going strong. He's a regular on the "In the Kitchen" Section of Knifeforums

I've read that before. It is a good tutorial.

Originally Posted by Russell Baldridge

Most western style knives won't perform any better above 4k

I believe it. In Murray's knife-shaving video, he is using one of his own knives, which is presumably why it will take a 6K edge.

Originally Posted by Ben325e

Murray Carter uses a 1/6k King combo stone, but he has very controversial sharpening theories. He purports that grit doesn't matter

And...

Originally Posted by cassady

I don't buy into the 'micro-serrations give you better bite' argument. If I wanted teeth, I'd use a serrated blade. The finer polish gets rid of the microserrations, just like a razor (in fact, the functionality is exactly the same -- do you want to shave with a jagged razor?). And a smooth knife makes smooth cuts with less effort.

These two points are related. If grit doesn't matter, why does Murray use a 1K/6K stone instead of a cheaper & more convenient 600 grit silicon carbide stone from the hardware store? I think Murray is perhaps not very articulate, and what he means to say is, you should be able to get something sharp (though not smooth) even with a crude stone. But obviously a polished edge must be better for some applications, or Carter wouldn't bother with that expensive waterstone.

This somewhat matches my experience with razors. I have shaved right off a 4K edge before & it cuts hair just fine. The problem is it's very uncomfortable. It feels more like sawing through the hairs than slicing them. But if it weren't for the comfort issue, and the fact that the shave is not BBS in all directions, an edge like this actually cuts pretty well. So it's not obvious to me that a knife needs a fine edge (especially if you're going to use it for something like cutting rope). Maybe this is why Murray believes grit doesn't matter for most practical purposes. However, watch his knife-shaving video. For that application, grit very much DOES matter.

My best kitchen knife is a German thing made of flexible spring steel. Using a drizzle of water and a flattened brick*, I can put an edge on it that effortlessly slices thin little slivers off a sheet of paper. It's a coarse, toothy edge, but it's sharp. Would this improve if I bought a 1K/4K stone? Maybe a better question is, would the coarseness of the edge be undesirable for certain applications, like meatpacking? Juranitch says, when a knife is 6" deep in cold beef, you'll know whether it's sharp or not.


* Inspiration came from Carter Cutlery's cinderblock & cardboard video