Thread: Shave sharp kitchen knives

Originally Posted by JimR

How do you keep your angle? Do you use a shim or what? I'm trying to hone my kitchen knoves on a diamond plate I got, but I just dull them...I've got a cheap little King shim, but...

There are many ways to keep a reasonably consistant angle. Many use a gizmo of some sort that clamps the blade in and has a rod with a stone attached. The rod being set at a given angle... and walla consistant edge.

I just free hand all my sharpening and with practice I can keep a reasonable angle now. But it is not an exact angle, always going to be a bit of wabble in there. I have used the same hold now for a few years and it works well for me. I practiced many different angles untill I settled on the one I use now.

When starting out on free hand, picke up a cheep knife about the same size as the primary knife you wish to work on. Practice keeping a good consistant hold and practice sharpening it. You don't need to worry to much about a proper edge yet, just get used to getting a consistant hold while you run the knife over the stone.

There are some great videos out there (and some scary bad ones) that show how to sharpen. "U" tube has many good and bad ones, just read the comments and you can see if they are good or not.

I also might add that sharpening a western steel knife vs a Japanese knife will require very different systems. The edges required are just to different to use the same technique on.