Thread: How do you hone a kitchen knife?

Above said knife in action:
http://www.youtube.com/user/eceipret.../5/F1wNO6vFCI0

Originally Posted by IanS

Avatar, 25 is pretty steep. What knives do you use? My Wusthof's recommend 10-15 degrees... however, they underestimate a bit as I believe their angle is actually in the 13-18 range... they kind of assume people will undergauge the angle they are shooting for.

It's "about" 25...I don't know just how accurate the different angle settings are on the DMT kit rails, but from my math, it's probably closer to 20 than 25.

I guess I should have clarified, I have that bigger angle on my chef knife, since I basically just use it for chopping, and wanted a longer lasting edge because of that.

My paring/fillet knives get the lower angle since the edge isn't "knocked around" as much (~15 degrees.)

Oh yeah, and I use Calphalon Katana series knives.

maintaining a consistent angle is the hardest thing for me. I don't sharpen enough knives to get good at it.

The sharpmaker helped me.

I just noticed there is a coarse diamond set.

I think I need it. Some of the knives I have sharpened have been pretty dull.

Yeah if you use your knife like a lot of Chinese cooks do (A big freaking meatcleaver looking thing as your chefs) than I can definately see 25 degrees or higher.

Sharpening knives is what got me into straights. For knife sharpening newbies:

First, read Chad Ward's (author of Edge in the Kitchen) tutorial on Egullet.

http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?...nd-sharpening/

Next, Go get yourself an account at Knifeforums.com. Visit the "keeping sharp" section and the "In the Kitchen" section. Pay more attention to the "In the kitchen section".

With freehand sharpening, worry about keeping *close* to the same angle as you stroke. No one keeps an absolutely flat bevel. The video's posted by mainaman are by Curtis Chung, aka CDawg from knifeforums. I think his method is an easy and effective way of doing things.

The biggest problem that knife newbies have is not getting the bevels on each side to accurately meet in the middle. Forming a burr isn't a bad idea at all for kitchen knives. Form a burr, then remove the burr, then move on to the next grit. This way you're sure that you've got the bevel planes meeting.

What stones do you have? Low grit stones are good to begin with if you're knives are dull. If you have a DMT 325 C, wet it and go to town.

If you have specific questions after the above, feel free to ask.

Yes for spyderco, almost idiotproof tool- woks great for me

I have seen the video that mainaman showed in his post and use that method. The more you do it the better and more consistent you get at it [Practice]. I start with the D8C 325 and then switch to the Shaptons. I end up on the 4K with the knives. I also use that method for my razors setting the bevel. I am a two handed honer on the straights also.

bj