The Steps to Sharpness

I'm heading to AZ for a week and I'll finally get to visit the Phoenix House of Knives. It is a mecca for kitchen knives of all different qualities and also a place to buy water stones so I really look forward to it.

In the meantime I will share some common mistakes, all mistakes I made when learning to sharpen and while none of them are serious just being aware may help you out. I also believe it is important to make your own mistakes and learn from them, you will, I promise


1. Higher grit stones mean sharper knives.
This is not true at all. When I first started collecting water stones I focused on the ultra fine stones, I thought my key to success was 8,000 grit and higher. The truth of the matter is that your coarse stones  and medium grit stones are the most important, they get your knives sharp, everything else refines the edge.
So concentrate on a good coarse stone, a Chosera 400, a Shapton Glass 500 or anything else in that range, there a lots and lots of great coarse stones.  You should focus on getting your knives sharp, I mean sharp enough to slice telephone book paper beautifully coming off the first stone you use.  This is the real key to sharp knife.

ENSURE you raise a burr with that first stone on both sides of blade and from the tip to the heel and you only NEED to do this with the first stone. This represents the removal of that fatigued metal and the removal of the burr exposes the fresh new steel underneath, the new cycle begins with this.

You may be starting with a 1k stone that is fine, the same applies though. When I say you only NEED to raise the burr once, it is OK if you keep raising it,  just ensure it is gone when the sharpening process is complete.

The basic setup is the way to go, coarse (220-500), medium 800-2k and fine, 3k and up.
If you have the 800 King stone for example that could be your coarse stone,  your first stone to use when starting with dull knives.

Coarse stones create scratches in the bevels, subsequent stones remove those scratches, refine and "clean" the edge, you want a nice clean edge but some "teeth" are fine. You will have to experiment with different levels of refinement to get the edge that works for you.  A 500 grit finish can be made to perform quite will in any kitchen, a 1k edge is perfect.

There is nothing wrong of course with having an 8k or 10k stone, use them and see what you think, all I am saying is that if you have not put in the time with the first stone, pulling out a 6K Arishyama is not going to change much. Now if you have a really sharp knife off that first coarse stone, then the 6k will do very nicely.

Also try jumping in grit, a 500, 1k and 5k edge is fantastic.

King 800

PATIENCE

Do not move to the second stone before the burr homework is done, that could take 15 minutes, even more, so if you need to put the knife down and take a breather do so, believe me, your patience will be rewarded and a lack of patience will result in punishment in the form of frustration and an inferior edge.



SHARPIE

Use it often, even on the same knife.....Sharpie On,  Sharpie Off. Use the painted edge to  guide you successfully along, your goal is to bring the two sides of that knife together perfectly at the Apex. (That is much easier said than done, don't worry about it too much, just strive for it, anything less doesn't mean your knife cannot be razor sharp)


FOCUS

When I sharpen freehand, I picture in my mind those two sides of the knife coming together at the Apex of the knife and making that area (the primary edge of the edge) as perfectly joined as I can and a continuous line all the way down the length of the blade. This takes a lot of practice but it helps me to picture this so I need to focus.

PRACTICE ON CHEAP KNIVES

I don't agree with this, (remember these points are based on mistakes and observations). Cheap knives, I mean crappy steel and so on are difficult to sharpen, so even though you may be doing everything right, the properties that are lacking in that steel are prolonging the process. This is breaking down  your confidence by deceiving you.
Practice on a decent knife, TAPE the blade if you want to,  the tape will protect if from any scratches that are a result of carelessness......it happens, I've been there.

MANAGE EXPECTATIONS

Lets say you get yourself a beautiful set of Naniwa Chosera Water Stones and  a good knife and after 30 minutes the knife feels no better. 

First of all,  be proud of yourself for taking the steps to sharpness and now remind yourself that it just takes time, it takes practice, 20 knives later you should see some improvements. Watch videos on YouTube, what Jon Broida's from Japanese Knife Imports, that guy is brilliant and his videos are first class. 

Don't get discouraged, the process will work, the abrasive nature of the stones will do the work. 
IF you are not able to raise a burr, remember the sharpie trick, you are doing something simple, and often times it is a tiny adjustment of your angle that does the trick.

Don't be worried about ruining your knife, you won't, unless you are driving the edge into the stone. Experiment, add or ease up on the pressure, In almost every case the use of pressure is an issue, people are using too much. 

I will be back in a week.


Thank you for being here, I will take some cool knife pictures in Arizona