Repair Job - Global

Here is a badly damaged Global veggie knife. 

Another shot from a distance

Same knife repaired. I applied a relief angle of 13 degrees on this one to hide some of the previous scratch damage. Then I sharpened the micro edge at 18 degrees. This knife is very sharp.


A closer look of the repaired knife taken at the same location on the blade.

Leave it to Cleaver

Cleaver Material

A cleaver is sharpened at a much higher angle than the average kitchen knife. The edge needs strength as much as it needs to be sharp. In fact, since it is used as a chopper in most cases, edge strength takes priority. Most of the cleavers I do are done at a 25 degree angle per side.  Some folks like to take their lobster apart with their beautiful Henckels Chef knife. That is where my belt sander comes in handy, to repair the edge that has been abused.

Now here is something you can use a knife with a very delicate and razor edge on to create if you like.

Pretty cool eh, especially considering this was a pineapple when I started :)

Serrated - The knife sharpeners bane

So how does one sharpen a serrated knife by hand? Remember that I don't use any electric "knife toasters" do do my knives except for repairs only. 
Picture here  is an older Grohmann serrated knife that I had just finished. I had a good idea on how to do justice to these knives but I knew just who to contact to make sure. The following is not my idea but something I built upon and added some of my own touches to.
I have a ceramic rod that fits perfectly into the serrations by the way but I still wanted to improve my skills.
When I asked my colleagues, (other people with sharpening fixations) how they do these knives the most common answer was: "we don't" many sharpeners will not sharpen serrated knives and will avoid them.
I would prefer to stick to the straight edge but I recognize the need to have these ones sharpened, and fortunately, they really only need to be done once a year at most.

So with a serrated you have the serrated side obviously and then the flat side of the knife.

Here is the serrated side that I have done.
Each and every single little scalloped indentation needs some attention.










Here is the flat side and some people will only sharpen this side of the knife. Doing so will definitely sharpen your knife that's avoiding 50% of the blade...it is isn't it??


You may notice that I've sharpened this side as well with a nice progression of stones to ensure it was adequately sharpened and that bread will fear this knife.


Again, with advice from my much smarter friend in the States, I decided to tackle both sides of the blade.

One of materials that are useful in sharpening and easily available is sandpaper. I am talking micro abrasives in a large variety of grits from 220 up to 1 micron.
I purchased some metal rods in various diameters and the micro abrasives and then I selected the rod that fit into serrations of this knife. Now the ceramic rod that I have fits perfectly and I also found that my screwdriver "barrels" did as well. The beauty of the screwdriver is that they have a handle. I simply cut out pieces of the abrasives, and then wrapped them around the screwdriver barrel and with a trailing motion I pulled the "rods" against the serrations. I repeated the process in every grit and the result was  a sharpened serrated blade.

Here are the SSIT's (Serration Sharpening Improvised Tools) that I used:

While they are not pretty, the result was very good.

The smaller rods are for the smaller serrations such as those found in a tomato knife.

I may have beaten the serrated knife, as of this moment, I no longer fear sharpening it.

     WHO's the MAN?

Chef's knives - My pot of gold

We all admire the Executive Chef, shows on TV like Hell's Kitchen have educated me, I have a  better appreciation of what they need to be able to accomplish in order to be successful. I'm sure that for many, the cooking part  is perhaps the easiest because it is in their blood. Organizing, time management, forward thinking and leadership are all key elements no doubt and don't come easily for all.



For me, when I think of an Executive Chef I think of two things right away:

• How great it must be to have the knowledge of food and food preparation that they do; and
• What type of knives do they own and how do I get hold of them.

       My greatest challenge thus far has been convincing a Chef to allow me to handle/sharpen their precious tools. I completely understand this and admire them for it to be quite honest. "Who the heck is Pete Nowlan and until I get proof, see some credentials, he isn't going near my Globals or MAC's".   I will get this out of the right now, I did not attend knife sharpening college, I have no degree on my wall that describes what I have accomplished in this art.  There is a very old man in Japan who has polished swords for 50 years and is famous among those who work in the field. I'm going to go out on a limb and say he has no formal education.
     I don't think that this is reason that I have yet to get hold of as many Chef's knives as I have, i.e. lack of a qualification.  Part of it is the fact that they are taught to sharpen knives in culinary school and it becomes a part of their routine. I'm not saying that I can sharpen a knife as well as an Executive Chef. What I am saying is:
 I can sharpen a knife as well as an Executive Chef. :)  A chefs priority is cooking preceded by food preparation plus a million other things, over time he or she perhaps is just too busy to spend the time on a knife that they would like. I believe the ability is there but it's just not that easy to find the time. Chefs are quite educated when it comes to knives and maintaining them with steel is something they no doubt excel at.  I on the other hand obsess with taking the edge of a knife to a level of sharpness that is well beyond what is actually required to cut food. I am focused on only one thing, sharpening , I'm not distracted by the cooking part. I spend hours watching videos, talking to other sharpeners in places like South Africa and I purchase products that have greatly enhanced the entire process of sharpening a knife. Now it is just a matter of gaining trust and that is something I absolutely, 100% understand. A person who owns a Lexus isn't going to take to someone that he doesn't know to work on it.  Also, another factor is cost, why pay someone if I can do it myself?
Good question eh. The answer is simple though, because you want that knife to be screaming sharp and if there is a chance that some old bald guy who peers into a 20X loupe looking  for scratch patterns on bevels in between grits, someone who has purchased exquisite diamond sprays with particles measured in fractions of microns. If there a chance that this man can get that knife sharper than it has ever been, and it will make my cooking experience more enjoyable and easier, and save time,  than maybe I should check it out.  If cost is a factor, than fear not, my prices are low, too low in fact for the amount of time I spend on a knife.
The bottom line is that Executive Chef's have very special talents and are learned in the art of food preparation and everything associated with that, I can't begin to imagine the myriad of skills they possess.
All I need to know however is how to sharpen a knife and Chefs are among the few who realize that it isn't like putting something in a toaster.  I will finish by saying this "I am one heck of a toaster folks, in fact,  I live and breathe toasters :)
(The picture has nothing to do of course with sharpening, it is just a unique item, like great chefs and sharpeners like me,  thirsty for steel to quench their hunger for perfection.)
I would like to take the biggest, dullest knife a chef owns home and work on it at absolutely no cost to anyone but me and my time. If the finished product is something that is impressive..cool, if not, what's the harm? I would not make this statement however if I was not convinced that anyone would be anything less that 100 percent satisfied. The stones I own and covet have magical properties that produced an edge many have never seen. I'm just the old fella that is on the other end of those stones.

 Did I mention that I polish knives too and we haven't even reached the stropping stage yet, you gotta hear about the leather and balsa strops folk..gees:)

(Oh by the way, I picked up the little blue teapot in Japan when I was there searching for that old fella that polishes swords)

Hunting knives - different kettle of fish

Hello there. This is a Grohmann hunting knife that I used when I was at sea. (They make a great seaman's knife). It didn't look like this at the time of course and this one is about 10 years old. The picture doesn't do the bevel justice but you can see what a nice polish the knife takes. It is a slightly different process that I use on the micro edge these knives. I don't put a mirror edge on  the cutting edge (micro edge) of a kitchen knife because we need to have a bit of bite on the cutting edge. On a hunting knife however, the mirror finish lends on the bevel and the micro edge lends itself to improved cutting so I use the higher grit stones on the edge of a hunting knife. I use those same stones as polishing stones on the relief angle of kitchen knives. Clear as mud eh :)

I don't get the opportunity to do many hunting knives and relish the opportunity when I do. I charge about a million dollars for these ones though :)

Here is a shot of a 20 year old Grohmann  knife, these a delight to sharpen and hold their edge very well.

New business

Hi folks.
I'll be registering my business shortly and have a name locked in for it now.

New Edge Sharpening  is the name of my business.   I also wanted to let you know about something the Manager at Paderno and I have done there to add some extra options for folks when it comes to sharpening. It is called Custom Sharpening and people will be able to choose from 3 different edges on their kitchen knives. It is important to note that each and every edge, no matter what the choice is will result in a very sharp knife which will be at least as sharp as when new and in most cases beyond that.

The Essential Edge is for everyday cooks and everyday knives, many people have average quality kitchen knives and are really only interested in getting it re-sharpened at an affordable price. Knives are finished with a 2K grit and all nicks and chips are removed. It's going to make your knives very sharp and folks thus far have been very happy.

The Performance Edge is a step above with the finishing stone being 5,000 grit, the blade will be polished and stropped on leather laden with a diamond paste at 1 micron. Precise angles on the bevels are of course part of all the packages and you can even choose an angle. I'll polish the blade, touch up the handle if need be and this knife will be returned screaming sharp and looking pretty. It is only 10-15 dollars a knife depending on the size of the blade with 7 inches being the magic number. I spend a lot of time on these knives, 10 bucks is less than minimum wage and you will be surprised how sharp the edge will be.

The Executive Edge is for professional chefs and avid home cooks  but also will appeal to absolutely everyone who just loves a sharp knife. You do not  need special knives to get these edges but you also don't NEED this sharp a knife to be honest. However, we don't need Rolex's or a Lexus, we just like those beautiful things and the Executive Edge will produce a very nice looking knife. It will be treated to some extra care with a Relief Angle being applied and a very pretty and effective mirror like bevel. The edge is sharpened at two angles with the relief angle getting a 15,000 grit polishing with the finest Japanese Water Stones on the market. The cutting edge, or micro edge if you wish will be at 5k and stropped on special balsa plates laden with very exclusive diamond sprays that I get from a gentleman in California.  This knife is intensely sharp, it looks great and is fun to use at 15-20 bucks. I will spend a minimum of an hour on a small knife.



The Essential Edge is good enough for everyone though, it's going to be nice and sharp and with regular maintenance by the owner with steel it will stay sharp and its only 6-8 bucks a pop, ridiculously inexpensive but it's important for everyone to be able to have a sharp knife and not pay a lot for it. I don't charge for a lot of little extras that I do, I treat each knife as if it were my own.

I love to sharpen....did I mention that?

These are just some extra options for folks, I have some very special sharpening products, people should be able to take advantage of  them.