Benchmade Folder

Hi,
Merry Christmas folks and thanks once again for visiting my little world.

       I used to sharpen knives like the Benchmade in the photo above using the Edge Pro exclusively.  I still use the Edge Pro on certain shaped knives, it is very nice for getting at those little curves in and making everything nice and even and of course sharp.

       However, if the knife is in good shape, if I am the only one to have sharpened it after it was purchased, I like to sharpen them freehand.  Some folks ask for a mirror finish and there was a time when I really fussed about that and also a time when I could only achieve a mirror finish using the EP.

       I really do love my EP however I love sharpening freehand much more, so I decided to tackle folders that came to me freehand, it only made sense since I have all the water stones and more to put any type of edge on the knife I want, or the customer wants.

       This is not to imply that having an abundance of water stones makes one a better sharpener,  I had to work very very hard on just a few water stones before I felt comfortable opening a business. What I mean to say is that you don't need to go out and buy a lot of stones to be a good sharpener. 

   
        Speaking of mirror finishes, I can remember a time when every folder I got had to be completed with a mirror finish, it was a goal of mine to first of all be able to create one and then basically I thought I would just impress the hell out of people by doing it on every knife :)

        I sharpen smarter now, a 2k to 3k edge on these knives is all that is needed and it will still have a very nice looking bevel, in fact that knife here was sharpened up to 2k on the Naniwa Aotoshi, (Green Brick of pure Joy) and then I just applied some very very light trailing strokes to clean the edge on the 8K Kityama, the one in the picture.  It is funny how we often think we need to go all the way up to 10k on these knives when they come from the factory at about 800 or 1,000 grit. I could be wrong but I just don't think there is a little old bald guy sitting there fretting over the edges of these knives like I do.

       People that sharpen professionally or just sharpen a lot often believe that edge retention is improved with a 1-3k edge over a 8-10K edge for example.  I am not one of those people, I have a different view on edge retention.

      I was asked to write articles for Knifeplanet and I have placed a couple of links in my previous posts to those articles I have already written. The article on sharpening with water stones was very well received and has about 90,000 views. (I'm over myself now :) )

      Speaking of Edge Retention, I mentioned it because that is going to be the topic of my next article and some of the things I put there may be surprising to you but it is something I think about a lot, I mean A LOT.

      Please remember that my posts are just my opinions, I didn't go to Sharpening University and write a Thesis on sharpening. However,  I do sharpen knives every single day so it is my experience that I am basing the things I write about on.  I am sure that many folks disagree with some things, which is cool.

    There is one thing we can all agree on, one thing we all have in common: the topic/process of sharpening knives and knives themselves fascinates us. The method we use is our method, it works for us, we can make knives sharper, whether it is on stones, belts, Tormeks, Edge Pro, Wicked Edge, KME and other devices created by intelligent folks, it is all the same basically, we are driven to make things sharp. 
 I just happen to drive Japanese Water Stones :)

   I'm no better than you,  I am probably just a little more obsessed with the art of sharpening, it doesn't mean I am better at it.

Thanks for taking the time to visit my Blog.

Peter Nowlan

Grinder vs Water Stone

Hi again,
It is common for me to be approached by someone who tells me "my husband just sharpens the knives in our basement"  or "I sharpen my own knives" and when I ask how (and I ask how not to be ignorant, but because I think it is cool, we may have something in common). However, in the majority of cases, Japanese Water Stones don't come up.

I do realize that you can sharpen knives on oil stones and belt sanders, of course, I don't criticize anyones method unless it is a grinder, a wheel that may be good for doing quick work on an axe of lawn mower blade but not a knife.

So if you use an oil stone to sharpen your knives, cool, in fact, I started on oil stones about 35 years ago.  I just happen to use water stones, I don't enjoy using anything else but that doesn't mean you don't.


Back to my grinder issue.

Here is a picture of knife that I did today on a grinder, a real expensive one, I get these about once a week.
The shot on the left is the "grinder edge"






It takes me about 3 times as long to do these knives, yes I suppose I could sharpen the edge and not worry about the hideous industrial looking bevel but I just let something like that go from my home.

Enough about grinders.
(having said this, there may be folks out there with grinders and special sharpening wheels that can perform magic, I am sure that there is. I am just talking about what I see on a weekly basis)


Peter

Comments

Hi,
OKAY now I feel stupid.

I have never seen a Comment left by anyone and I just found the Comment section and located some questions from folks, some a year old.

I apologize, I'll check out my settings and see why they are not showing up.

For those who have left comments only to find them ignored, my apologies.  Here I thought no-one ever left a single comment.

Peter

Daily Routine

Hi folks,

If this is your visit, thanks for finding my Blog, and if this is not your visit, you already know how grateful I am that you are here.

In case anyone wonders how many knives I sharpen a day, I will tell you.

Todays Haul

This is a little more than a daily average of knives and I won't get through all of them in one day. I don't know what is in store for me when I open the packages, each package has anywhere from one to eight knives. I will spread this bunch over 3 days, in the meantime more knives will arrive.

I think it is pretty cool that folks get their knives sharpened and I never take it for granted that they trust me with them.

I've only every had once unfortunate incident where an individual accused me of doing something to his knife. Fortunately I had plenty of photos to back me up and the sad thing is, that individual has lost access to a pretty good knife sharpener.  I always take a photo the knives when I get them and before I start work just to be safe, but I never need them.

Each knife takes me about 15 minutes to do, of course there will be some that take much longer but on the average it is 15 minutes.


I go through a coarse stone, 400-500 grit in about 3 months.

500 Shapton Glass that I can see through.

Just sharing some info here, now I have to get to work on these knives.





You're wondering what this picture has to do with knife sharpening......wait for it.


I just think it is cool, these toys are 23 years old and belong to my son, his son now plays with them. The X-Wing fighter in the background still make sounds after all these years.


So why am I putting this picture here.......my grandson (grasshopper) is the one that will take over my business someday when I am too old to sharpen. When they pry those water stones out of cold dead hands.....20 years from now if I am lucky..

Video of me sharpening on a Japanese Natural Stone.

Nothing serious here, just having fun.

Until yesterday I did not know that posting videos on YouTube in the vertical mode was a faux pas but some nice folks told me about that. Hopefully that issue is corrected here.

Feel free to fast forward any pieces you like. Thanks for looking.

You should have me told earlier :)

The Essence of Knife Sharpening

The Essence of Knife Sharpening


This is an article I wrote for Knifeplanet.

If you read it, thanks.

Peter

Learn to Sharpen

how-to-sharpen-knife-on-japanese-water-stone/



Folks, as some may know I was asked to write an article or two for Knifeplanet and I did write an article on how to sharpen knives using Japanese Water Stones.
The link is above and also it is on my website.

I was informed that the article was picked up by a very popular site in Europe, they are very pleased with the article and got permission to post it and it was read by over 20,000 people in a few hours.


So, with that, I am just mentioning this because I think a lot of folks want to learn to sharpen and perhaps the article will assist you. Of course there is nothing like a hands on demonstration but we all don't have access to that. If you do, if you can get a lesson from a pro who uses Japanese Water Stones I do highly recommend it.


Peter

Remember, it is not about the brand of water stones you use. I have an obsession with sharpening and water stones but in all honesty I could make it work with 2 or 3 stones and if absolutely necessary with 1 stone. 

Just don't go to a hardware store and buy that grey oil stone for 8 bucks, please don't do that. Also, don't go buy a knife at the Dollar Store and try to sharpen it, it will be poor steel and hard to sharpen and will shake your confidence. 

Yesterday I taught sharpening to culinary students for a couple of hours.

Like I told them, to be a successful sharpener, i.e. to make your dull knives sharp enough to use on a vegetable without crushing it, you do need to have some passion. Now that passion can begin with an interest,  a desire to make the knife sharp. 

If you are just doing it to get it over with and don't take the time to enjoy the moment, realize how cool what your doing it, then I think you're better off having someone else sharpen for you.  That is if you have zero interest but of course this does not apply to anyone reading this, what the hell would you be doing here if you didn't have the desire.

I'm working on another video by the way,

Stay cool :)

Peter

my email

Hand Made Japanese - Really that good?

Howdy folks and thanks for looking at my Blog.

A while back I was given a new Fujiwara with a custom handle, a truly remarkable gift for someone like me. I have sharpened many many hand made Japanese knives but I never actually used one in the kitchen, that is until now.


I was one of those fools who kept that wonderful knife in the box, almost afraid to touch it's pristine edge, knowing that Fujiwara san himself was the last one to sharpen it. It is beyond razor sharp and that is not uncommon with these knives.

Now not all hand made Japanese knives are equal of course, the steel used and the maker are naturally very key factors but this one is special, as are all of his knives.

So I decided to cut up a pepper and some carrots for lunch, I was not prepared for the sensation that unfolded. I expected it to be sharp of course and have no issue slicing effortlessly but I was absolutely thrilled with the experience.

I can go on and on about these (Japanese) knives and you can read all sorts of good things about them but until I used it, I did not fully appreciate their worth.

Of course, you need to keep them sharp, the edge won't last forever and that sensation will dissipate over time if you don't have a sharpening plan.  The purpose of this little blog article is to confirm that the slicing power of this knife is beyond comparison in my opinion and if you are on the fence, jump off.

By the way this knife came this sharp, I haven't touched the edge yet and I cannot wait for that to happen.

Cool eh

Video - just some pictures nothing serious.

I was just having fun with some relevant photos. Hope you enjoy and sorry if not,
Peter

Passionate sharpening

Hi folks, thanks for being here.

       There is so much more to knife sharpening than just sharpening a knife, for me there is.
I was asked to write some article for Knifeplanet and hopefully I will be able to share my latest one which was just provided to them.
In it I explain how the passion behind the process elevates the enjoyment level and hopefully the skill level.

      There are knife sharpening services that simply sharpen knives, the people go home at the end of the business day and don't think about the "work" until they go back at it the next day.  There is a need for those type of services which I will explain but in my case, we may as well be on different planets.

     For me, when someone brings me a knife or knives to sharpen, and this happens daily, I don't take it for granted. I'm not the guy behind a counter saying "next". I completely understand that in the majority of cases, the act of handing me a knife is the final process for what could have been a number of steps people have taken. They may have taken the knife to another sharpener and were not happy, or they were but want to get the best sharpening service available so they try them all out.
They had to accept the fact that the knives are dull and they have to pay money to someone they don't know to sharpen them. That person (me)  could ruin the knives that they spent a lot of money on or were given as a gift. Then they have to check out my site or do some research, they have to overcome their apprehension and give me a knife to sharpen.

   I completely understand this, I'm grateful and nothing is taken for granted.

     For me, to truly appreciate the process of sharpening it is not just a matter of making it sharp, I can do that pretty quickly, if that is all I thought about, I think they enjoyment level would deteriorate.

I never forget the fact that my skill is based on many things, it started as a memory of seeing my dad sharpen a chisel when I was young and that memory inspired me to do what I do today.

    Sharpening knives on Japanese Water Stones and doing it well is an art, I don't take what I can do lightly, I'm continuously testing myself and setting higher standards so that people are thrilled every time they get their knives back.

Every knife I get is cool to me, I love seeing old knives, some have been rescued from an old shed but is still and awesome knife.

This is the rough side of my precious natural stone, the sharpening side is pristine.

Knives are cool, sharpening them is cooler :)

I think is very cool that people visit my Blog.. So grateful.

Passive Repair

I got these two very old MAC knives to sharpen, oldest MAC's I have seen, the only ones with wooden handles I've had to sharpen.


As seen in the top picture there is a significant bite out of the edge.

Normally, to repair that edge I would need to remove metal along the entire edge up to the deepest part of the damage, until if disappears. This would entail the removal of a lot of metal and not only that, it would bring the entire primary edge up into the thicker part of the blade so I would have to do a lot of thinning

SO why not just remove the metal from the damaged part back towards the heel and leave the rest of the edge untouched?
This came to me about 3 a.m.

My plan was to remove the metal painted in red, yes it would change the profile of the blade but the collateral damage to the knife would be very much reduced.

I'm not thrilled with the new look but I am very happy I went this route and I am quite positive the owner will be.

I think it is better than the alternative, i.e. cutting away years of life from the knife. 

Peter Nowlan

Naturally Sharp

Today was my first really good experience with a natural water stone, it was one I won't forget.


The firs thing that hits you when you use a natural stone is the smell, the earth smell that rises up and just takes you into a whole new sharpening sensation, it was very cool.

Even though the stone I have is a finishing stone, so very high in the grit range, it does not leave a polished edge that I am used to with stones like the Kityama 8k. I knew this though, this was not an issue of any type.
In the Yanagiba above, the primary edge has an 8k Kityama finish while the blade road has the natural stone finish, the misty, kasumi finish. It clearly defines the area of on the blade road where the different metals meet, the Hagane and Jigane as they are termed in Japanese. (Hagane being the hard inner core that extends to the edge and the Jigane the softer cladding.


It really was a fantastic experience, I will really enjoy using this stone and naturally I will end up with more natural stones..


Take Care
Peter

Japanese Natural Stone

Finally, I have my own natural stone, it comes after a lot of research and I am thrilled to own one now, it is a Yaginoshima asagi finishing stone.

Now these stones don't come like Synthetic stones in regards to their grit level. There is a grit equivalency and this is 8k-12k. The Nagura beside is it cut from the same stone. I've only tried one knife so far, a Global.

I immediately noticed the incredible earthy smell of the stone, this thing is millions of years old and it comes from a cave or quarry in a certain area of Kyoto Japan. The finish is unlike synthetic stones, not as polished as the Shapton 5k for example but that is the nature of this natural. They produce a hazy, misty, Kasumi finish.

In terms of sharpness, absolutely amazing, but again, I expected this. Edge retention will be improved as well, these stones react differently to the carbides in the steel, or I should say the carbides react differently.

I am new to Natural stones, I have one but that doesn't make me an expert with it of course.  However, just having one is something special for me and I truly look forward to discovering what it has to offer especially on hand made knives.

Thank you so much for visiting my little Blog and reading my ramblings.

Respectively

Peter

Miscellaneous but cool stuff

Yesterday I tried something a little different.

I sharpened two Zero Tolerance folders with two techniques, one with the Edge Pro Professional (black blade) and the one on the left by hand. I used the same type and grit stones.
Naniwa Chosera 400, 1k and 3k.

At the end, they both had a very nice polish but the EP bevel had a slightly higher level in my opinion. In terms of sharpness, I had to give that to the one I freehanded but they were both quite satisfactory.

Both very enjoyable to sharpen and not difficult.


I use a lot of water when I am polishing the bevels, I make sure that there is not grit particles on the knife that could scratch the bevels.  These were sharpened at 23 degrees, well the EP one was, I did the other freehand but I'm sure it was close to that.

Thank you.

TIP repair challenge

Tips are rarely this bad when I get them, it is normally just a little piece at the very tip, not this bad.

The problem here is the repair work will cause one of two issues, if I do the work from the spine the tip area will be very weak as a lot, and I mean a lot of metal would be removed.

Working from the edge and curving up towards the spine where it broke off leaves the tip very thick, it is now up in the thickest part of the knife.

I chose the latter though, this would leave the tip very strong but I would have to remove a lot of metal from that area after the work is done.

I was happy with the result, at least the knife is a knife again. 

I used a very coarse belt on a belt sander (1x42) to very carefully and very slowly do the majority of the metal removal. It  would take an eternity on a coarse stone and wear it out.

I finished it off on a Nubatama 150, Chosera 400 and then sharpened it on the Chosera 400, 1,000 and  finally the Naniwa Aotoshi 2,000.

Peter

Serration Stones

Hi,

I get a lot of serrated knives and not all of them are bread knives.  Many are folders with a small serrated section near the heel.

However, when I got a hunting knife with a gut hook, I had to figure something out so I used the pieces of Japanese Water Stones that I have and shaped them on sandpaper and the Atoma plate so that they would fit into various sized serrations.


The picture here will illustrate what I mean.

They work very well, the key of course is to raise a burr on the flat side of the knife and then remove that burr.
It is pretty simple actually and you don't need to have these water stones. As I have shown earlier, you could wrap some sandpaper around a wooden dowel to do the trick as well. I know most people don't just happen to have Chosera water stones lying around that they can cut up.

Serrated knives don't need to be sharpened too often, thankfully.

Peter
I appreciate you being here.

Knifeplanet ariticle for novice sharpeners

This is an article I wrote for Knifeplanet at their request. I think they did a nice job adding the pictures and putting it altogether for me. I just wrote it, they made it pretty.

Hope you like it.



http://www.knifeplanet.net/how-to-sharpen-knife-on-japanese-water-stone/

Convex Edge Sharpening

Howdy folks, thanks for being here.

Today I was faced with another challenge, sharpening a knife with a convex edge.

Now there are a few ways to do this, a few ways that I am aware of that is

1. A belt sander and use the slack in the belt;
2. Sandpaper on a mouse pad
3. Water Stones and free hand sharpening.

I ditched the idea of the belt sander, I don't like sharpening knives with one, I use one for repairs only but not sharpening.

I was always sceptical about the mouse pad thing, it sounds pretty gimmicky to me but I do happen to have some very nifty micro abrasives with adhesive backs in extremely high grits, so I had that in my back pocket. I went with the 3rd option of using my beloved water stones.

I watched a video by Murray Carter where he describes a rocking motion as you sharpen so I did this. I also paid extremely close attention to what I was doing, I did NOT want to change the grind on this knife, it is very special to the owner.  This is the most convex convex edge I have ever seen.

I practised on a big Buck hunting knife I was given and was very pleasantly surprised at the results Holy buck, the abrasives that you see in the picture put a beautiful polish on the bevel and the knife got sharp very quickly.

The abrasives that you see in the picture put a beautiful polish on the bevel and the knife got sharp very quickly.  Holy Buck.

So I went to work on the knife and used a combination of stones and abrasives on the pad, it turned out very well and is very sharp.


So if you want to sharpen a convex edged knife, it really isn't that hard and you don't really need the water stones, the Buck knife I did wasn't very sharp and the abrasives put a great edge on it.

Learn something every single day.

This is not a convex edge, I used the Edge Pro Professional on this one.


Thank you once again for being here.

Peter

Every now and then.

Every now and then a knife comes along that causes my nerves to rattle a little.

It is especially true when I know the individual has paid a lot of money for the knife and is handing it over to me to take care of, he doesn't know me, just found my website and trusted me with his treasure.

In this case it was a spring assisted folder, a Gerber which I could just was very important to the young man. It wasn't the fact that it was just a folder but it was Tanto blade with a damaged tip. The fella took a taxi to deliver it to me, I think it is his most prized possession.

I used a blend of technique, freehand and and Edge Pro Professional to complete the work.

The tip was crushed in a little and off centre so I repaired that by hand using a Shapton Glass 500. The original grind was imperfect as well so it took a long time to square things off so to speak.

After asking the young man what the knife was going to be used for I decided to go with a Naniwa Chosera 3,000 grit finish.

If he isn't happy I'm giving up :)

Novice Sharpening Exercise

Hi all,

I was thinking of the time I was learning and how important muscle memory is to help you stabilize your body as you do your best to hold an angle.

My setup at a local restaurant. Atoma 140 diamond plate for flattening.

Here is a good exercise for you, the purpose is to build up some muscle memory at an angle you choose, an angle that makes the knife sharp.

1. Paint the edge/bevel of one side of the knife and hold the knife at an angle that results in the removal of the sharpie when you run the edge of the knife over the stones, you can do this until all of the sharpie is gone.

Really focus on holding the angle from the tip the heel, you will need to concentrate and focus on consistency, it is really the crucial component of successful sharpening, consistency.

2. Once you have that done, repeat the process on the other side of the knife, so paint the edge/bevel and do the same.

Do this ten times per side:

- Apply Sharpie;
- Remove Sharpie;
- Flip knife, apply sharpie

Now if you just want to do the same side a few times to get the hang of it that is perfectly fine, in fact it may be even better for you, get that angle down, do it three times and then flip the knife.

You will be pleasantly surprised at the results.

Where I spend much of my day, every day.

Don't get hung up on the actual angle, i.e. the number, 19 degrees, 20 degrees. Instead, get hung up keeping the angle constant as you sharpen, on both sides. The sharpies visual clues will guide you and keep you on track.

As you do this exercise, just use minimum pressure, just enough to control the knife and you will find that the knife will become very sharp.

So grab a chef knife and a sharpie and get to work :)


Peter

I Learn Something Every Day

When I get a knife with significant damage like this, especially to the tip I always wonder and fear some collateral damage that extends into the steel, at the molecular level, stuff you can't see.

When I repaired the tip the first time I did the work from the primary edge, the cutting edge and hoped to preserve as much real estate as possible of what remained of the blade. However, as soon as I started to sharpen the knife another little piece of the tip broke off. Clearly there was internal damage from the impact.
I redid the work from the spine of the knife and re-profiled it just a little in an attempt to add some stability to that area of the knife.

This time I was able to sharpen it normally, with a good amount of pressure.

I learn something every single day.


ON another topic:

This is a seaman knife that I just did for an old shipmate, it really brought back a flood of good memories from my Naval Career. I started my sharpening on these knives many many years ago.

Just sharing, thanks for taking a look.

Peter Nowlan

Sharpening Tips by the Professionals

Knifeplanet asked me to provide ONE tip for beginner sharpeners and you will see mine in the list below (New Edge Sharpening)

However.....there is a ton of fantastic tips here, each one is important and if followed will enhance your sharpening prowess. Even if you know how to sharpen, I think you will learn something from the folks here. I sure did, it brought back a lot of memories as I was learning.




Professional Knife Sharpening Tips



I hope you enjoy them.

Naniwa Chosera
left to right:
400/1,000/2,000/3,000/5,000/10,000.

Just put this picture here because I know you all love Japanese Water Stones, this is one of my favourite brands for sure. The 1, 000 grit stone is my absolute favourite 1k stone.

Kudos to Knifeplanet for finding these sharpeners and asking the question.

Why is it so important to have a sharp knife?

Hello again,

Even though I sharpen knives every day and I get calls or emails from folks who want their knives sharpened, there are still millions of dull knives out there.

If you buy a chef knife, it comes pretty sharp in most cases and in some cases it comes very sharp. In the case of some hand made Japanese knives like the Fujiwara it comes with a breathtaking edge, seriously. (I have one)

So why not just use them for a few years or more as long as the knife is still cutting food?

I guess a lot of people think this way, otherwise I would have a million knives to sharpen.

Technically speaking, you don't need a sharp knife to cut food, in fact, you could use a metal ruler and force it through food with a hammer if you had to, so a dull knife, I mean a really dull knife will still get through a roast, it will work but yup....you will be able to hack off some slices with a super dull knife.

I know that anyone reading this Blog has an interest in knives and/or sharpening and also appreciates sharp knives. So it is foolish to think that a knife that is very dull is acceptable despite it's ability to tear something apart, force will eventually win out over the food being tortured.

This knife which did eventually come to me for sharpening was in this state for quite some time, this doesn't happen over night.

Here are my reasons why it is important to keep your knife/knives sharp:

(Yes I do realise that some people can't afford to keep them sharp, that's understandable, if you have $20.00 knife that you have been using for 5 years and you want it sharpened but just can't manage it, I get that. You should still contact me though and let me know, I can always work something out)

Why Sharp: (my reasons are in no particular priority, they are all valid)

* We all need to eat, whether it is meat and potatoes or just veggies we need to eat every day. Unless we always buy our food pre-cut that food has to be sliced up at some point in time, we don't put a whole tomato on a plate or entire chicken....you got my point. Preparing food is part of our daily lives, why the heck would we want to spend the 10 minutes prep time struggling to cut that food up?

It is very frustrating, the food prep becomes a chore, something you have to do to eat. Do we really want to face that every single day, two or three times a day when there is a simple solution. Remember when the knife was sharp, how good it felt to prepare food?

* Dull knives will eventually lead to a nasty and painful cut. Yes a sharp knife will cut you, and it will do it quickly, however, when you cut yourself with a very sharp knife it is due to carelessness. (This just happened to me yesterday, I was packing up a persons cleaver that I had just finished sharpening and while doing so I was chatting with the gentleman and I paid the price, that was my fault)

A knife that is dull will slip off of the food you are hacking into to and if your finger is in the way, well that is going to leave a mark. There is no doubt about this, it will happen. Remember, that knife is dull, you're not enjoying what you are doing, you're completing a task, you're going to get bit eventually.

* Dull knives hinder culinary creativity, you just get the job done, cut up the same ol stuff and that's it. You are not thinking of creating a new dish because that knife has to come into play, believe me, I speak to folks about this a lot. I am not making this up so that you will bring me your knife so I can get your money.  This is huge, I see a lot of dull knives in professional kitchens, it just really pisses me off to be honest, I don't get it. 

* Here is a really important reason: Dull knives can and will have a negative impact on the food at the molecular level, the cell level. As it tears and saws through the tomato for example, that is after the dull knife has crushed it, the cells are torn apart causing collateral damage that allows juices to spill out all over the place, that food dries out quickly. In some cases, vegetables will change colour.

(Now what if  you have a sharp kitchen knife, you've sliced the beautiful roast and it goes on the plate. The person eating it has a dull table knife to cut it up again into bite sized pieces. That is different, the food is being eaten before it can dry out)

* Dull knives just eliminate any of the joy that is associated with cooking. I get comments all the time from people who have had their knives sharpened who tell me that since they did they are cooking more, they are thinking of things to cook because it is joy to prepare the food. 

Now are dull knives worth having sharpened?

I will put it this way, there are knives out there that I don't care if they get sharpened. This unfortunately is true in the case of some restaurants where the house knives are shamefully dull, it really does boggle my mind but I have since given up on that.

In just about every other case, yes it is worth it. If you have eight knives at home that are dull and you paid $75.00 for the whole block why would you pay that much to have them sharpened or even more?

What choice do you have? 

Just keep using them dull or throw them away and buy new ones, and start that cycle over again.  That is very wasteful and not encouraged. If you have a whole block of knives and want to experience a truly sharp knife, just get the Chef Knife sharpened, the one you use most and go from there.

First of all I don't recommend buying a block of knives, get one good knife and you don't need a dream knife like these hand made beauties. Just get a good eight inch chef knife and keep it sharp.

Believe me, you will truly see a difference.

If I had only one good reason for  you to have a sharp knife, here it is:

Any of the senses you use while cooking will be elevated, you will see the knife as an elegant tool that enhances your food preparation. 

We are on this planet for a pretty short time and yet we spend a heck of a lot of time getting food ready to eat, why would anyone not use this time as something enjoyable?'

Thank you for reading and if you don't believe me, if you think I am just saying this to get money then that is your choice, but thanks for reading this far.

But besides all of this, sharp knives are just freakin cool :)

Guided System vs Freehand Sharpening

Hi there,

I appreciate the fact that you are here reading my Blog.
I spend a lot of time trying to think of articles that would interest people with a common interest, knife sharpening or just knives.  It isn't as hard as I thought it would be, that's because I do it so much, so I get a lot of life experience from sharpening knives.

I think it is very important for people to understand that knife sharpening is a skill that is not that hard to learn, yet is is a very essential skill. I think of what I do as an art and I hope that doesn't come across as boasting but I am very proud of what I can do.

You don't need to be able to get your knives to a point where they can shave arm hair and it's really important to take that in. You just need to be able to improve the edge so that what you are cutting is being sliced and not torn. Is the tomato bending a lot before the knife breaks through the skin? If so, you want it to be sharp enough not to do that, effortlessness equals sharp.

Here is a key test to see if the knife is sharp enough for you:

Is it enjoyable to use the knife, is it something that is making your work easier. If you pick the knife and cut a vegetable and think how easily the knife went through it, in other words, if  the sharpness of the knife caused a nice sensation then it is sharp enough. Conversely,  if it did the opposite, it is dull.

Lets get to the topic title, what is better,  the Edge Pro or free hand sharpening?

This is topic I feel very comfortable talking about because I have lived it for about four years now, I own the Edge Pro Professional and I sharpen free hand, I sharpen with both.

Four years ago, the edges I produced on the Edge Pro were superior to what I could do on full sized stones.

Once I became comfortable with the system the knives were sharper than anything I had seen before. The first kitchen knives I did for people were done on the EP and the customers were delighted.  It is an absolutely fantastic system, I have sharpened thousands of knives with it and it is as good now as the day I bought it. It enables, it forces you to sharpen at precise, chosen angles so the result is always going to be great if you follow the instructions.

What I like about it most is that for those difficult to sharpen knives, birds beak paring knives, boning knives or just older knives that have had their edges distorted by frequent use of a Steel and not used properly. It allows me to follow the contour of the edge and get into those hard to reach areas.

I cannot say enough good things about it.  I have not used the Wicked Edge Precision Sharpener but I am also confident when I say that it too is a fantastic system. I have the utmost respect for  the inventors of these two systems, Ben Dale and Clay Allison. There is another guided system that looks pretty good called the KME and I am sure that it too is very good.

Now..... please remember that I sharpen every day for four to five hours and these days I sharpen freehand about 90% of the time.  I find it quicker and I am able to produces edges as good or even better than I can on the EP.

This is no way means I have changed my mind about the EP, in fact, if it got lost I would order a new one immediately, it has been there for me for years and always will be.

However, with much practice and focus and obsession I am quite comfortable with my freehand edges. They are a little different, slightly convex, very slightly and I can just do more by sharpening freehand.

MOST importantly however is that I ENJOY freehand sharpening more than I do using the EP. That may be the answer because logically, the EP should produce the perfect edge but I constantly surprise myself.

Now....the EP edges are always razor sharp, there are times when I sharpen freehand that I have to go back to stone # 1 and take another shot, I may been off a tiny bit, this doesn't happen often but it has.

In conclusion... perhaps the best way for me to wrap this up is by saying that in my particular case I am happy with the edges from both techniques but I get the most satisfaction from sharpening freehand. I don't mean satisfaction from the resultant edges I mean satisfaction as in joy,  ZEN.

I used the EP today in fact on the knife in the first picture and the edge was fantastic. I really love the EP for smaller knives like paring knives and Folders.  

So what is better, it all depends on the user, I enjoy freehand sharpening a lot, I mean A LOT. I love my Edge Pro. I think the best sharpeners should eventually become familiar with both systems and get to the stage where they can make their edges razor or beyond razor sharp.  They are both tools in my sharpening system, ones that I could not live without, they are crucial to my business.

When I get the Wicked Edge Precision Sharpener I will include that in this list, I have no doubt about that.

Using the Edge Pro has made me a better freehand sharpener, that is absolutely true. I have heard this many times.  It build up my confidence, I had never seen knives so sharp so it was a crucial stepping stone for me and I am so glad I chose to buy the Edge Pro Professional.

Having said this, as I mentioned, the majority of the knives I sharpen are done by freehand, it is my favourite method by far. I am happy with the edges from both methods but freehand sharpening is truly enjoyable for me.

Yusu Shiro and a brand spanking new Naniwa Chosera 400.

Here's looking at you. (35th wedding anniversary shot at Le Caveau)