Lesson - What to expect.

Hello,

You're sick of your knife being dull and wondering what to do about it.
MOST IMPORTANTLY, you feel the urge to sharpen your own knives. That is the real key, the fact that is dull and you'd have to pay someone to change that is relevant of course but you just want to learn.

Requirements

I applaud anyone who takes a knife sharpening lesson, it is a demonstration of commitment to the desire to learn.

I promise you that if you learn to sharpen your own knives from a person who uses Japanese Water Stones, and you practice, you will be able to sharpen your kitchen knives and make them as sharp or as in most cases sharper, much sharper.

You don't need a lot to get started actually, here is what you MUST have:

*desire to learn;
*good sense of humour:
*ability to follow direction:
That is about it if you want a lesson from me. Otherwise you may need a water stone(s) and a knife.

Here is what I suggest, after starting with the items above:

1. Japanese Water Stones, three in coarse/medium/fine grits. If three is not an option, then the coarse/medium stones and if only one stone the medium (1k) stone.

1. Stone Holder

That's really all you need, determination, ability to follow the instructor and really focus on technique is crucial.

The sharpie in the picture is good to have and it's use would be explained.

My lesson takes 2-3 hours and that time flies by and this is how it unfolds:

We start by talking about what makes knives dull in the first place, I don't mean what we do to cause the edge to feel dull but what is actually taking place with the edge of the knife, metal fatigue etc.
I talk about primary edge and secondary bevel and what the process of sharpening involves, what we are trying to achieve. I try to visualize that as I sharpen, i.e. bring the two sides of the knives together perfectly at the Apex of the blade (the primary edge).

I have a setup where I can sharpen beside the student so if he/she didn't bring any stones I have two 1,000 grit stones setup and I provide a demo in slow time and I continue to sharpen slowly beside the student so that he/she has a reference.  I only do private lessons at my home so it is great, I can stop and monitor the work, check angles etc. and just talk about the entire process.

It is important to manage expectations and understand that it will take awhile before your knives are really sharp, i.e. sharper than new. Having said that, you won't leave until you are satisfied that you are on the right track and that the knives or knife you brought with you is sharper than when you came.

Technique is so important, you need to establish a technique that you can repeat over and over, one that is comfortable and one that works. I show the technique I use of course, it is up to you to develop your own which can of course be the one I show you, a very common and effective technique.

Now I stand when I sharpen so no sitting and no distractions either, you need to be able to work in an area that you can focus on what you doing, not having the TV on in the background or something similar.

I also go over the importance of coarse water stones and we do some damage control on a knife with nicks in the edge.

Of course we discuss Burr Formation and Burr Removal and angles and how to hold the knife and sharpening the tip. Maintenance is another element of knife sharpening and I show you how to use the stone to do that rather than with a Steel.

It is actually a lot of fun and the 2-3 hours flies by. I really like it when the student gets back to me with questions or pictures of their work or where to purchase sharpening accessories.

I think one of the areas I will improve on is the sharpening setup, how to set your place up to sharpen. I take it for granted that all you really need is a stone, a holder and some water and  you are good to go.
After seeing my setup however people are keen to duplicate something so I will work on that. The Stone Holders I have are quite expensive but you can buy one from Lee Valley for 20 dollars.

I also invite students to come back in a month or so to see how they are doing and in case they have any questions that may have developed, I don't charge for this.

Now if you run into something like this, I don't use my coarse stones to repair something this bad.
Now the coarse stones will do the trick with patience and elbow grease and I have done it many many times. However for the sake of time, I use a belt sander with trizact belts to quickly and very uniformly work the edge so that I can get to the "bottom" of those holes and then I switch to the water stones to reset the bevels and sharpen the knife.

Basically, all you need is the water stone, a 1k stone if you only have one and a holder for it.
Now some folks just have their stone sitting on a piece of 2X4 over a container of water.  They place a cloth under the stone to prevent it from slipping and this works as well. Don't get hung up (yet) on brands of stones and all the nifty accessories you can get like ponds and Shapton holders.


Learn the basics, learn to make your knife sharp and have a setup which allows that. Then as your skill improves, and it will, you can decide how your own sharpening journey will unfold.


You need to love the process though, don't be afraid to walk away from a knife if it is frustrating you.

Thanks for reading this.

Professional Sharpening - My biggest challenge.

Hi there,

When I first decided to open my business many years ago, the process of sharpening a knife was of supreme importance, I suspected at that time that it would always be my biggest challenge.

That was then, this is now and I can confirm that the process of sharpening the knife, taking it from the dullest state possible to the sharpest condition that I am capable remains supremely important.

It is not my biggest challenge however.

Even catastrophic damage like this dishwasher damage is not my biggest concern..now it is not easy but it doesn't keep me up at night. (I am not kidding when I say that the damage to the Global pictured above is the direct result of the knife being placed in a dishwasher)

The Ulu, while forcing me to use a slightly different technique is not too difficult, we all face obstacles that we figure out a way to overcome, it happens daily in our lives.



My problem is convincing people that their knives, once I sharpen them,  will become dull again.  It is especially frustrating with some restaurant knives where I sharpen them and they get well used and see some abuse and the users of the knives are surprised that they get dull again in a couple weeks or so.

I cannot stress the point of adopting a sharpening plan enough. Whether it is learning to sharpen them yourself or having them professionally sharpened, it is the key to "staying sharp" happiness.


The funny thing about knives is that regardless of the price/quality of the knife, dullness is just around the corner but the really cool thing is that it is very easy to avoid. Get the knife sharpened and keep it that way by either adopting a good maintenance/resharpen regime or just have it resharpened every 6-8 weeks.  It is real shame when people purchase an expensive knife, $200.00 plus and they use it dull.  Chefs should never have to prepare food with anything less than a razor sharp knife. I know it is easy for me to say that because Chefs are incredibly busy, it is stressful life, regardless, getting sharp and staying sharp should be part of their life. I know it is with many.


So the process of knife sharpening is not my challenge, it is something that I truly enjoy and I am very confident with.  It just won't stay sharp forever and if someone ever tells you that they have completely solved the edge retention riddle and can promise eternal sharpness......well  you know what to do.

Fujiwara (left), Carter and Takeda

Now the edge retention in knives like the three beauties here will be vastly different than your average Henckels or Grohmann. However, even these amazing knives get dull, and funny enough, people who own these knives love to use them so they get a lot of action which leads to them becoming dull again. Easy and quick to get back to life though, from dull to beautiful happens quickly.



I realized I forgot to insert the After shot of the Global that was damaged by the dishwasher pictured above. Here it is, just for kicks. I did the repair work on a 320 grit Shapton Pro stone, it took me about 45 minutes in total to repair, reset the bevels and sharpen the knife.

Dream Knives and the stones to go with them.

Hey folks,
I've been away so I am sorry for not keeping up.

I have had the opportunity to have some amazing knives in my home to sell to folks, I had 10 in total and they all went without me even leaving the house, no door to door stuff which I would never do.

People that I sharpen for trust me and if I say the knife is good, there are no questions about that. Besides, I don't make a cent from them, I just did it as a favour to someone.

I am not permitted to show all of them as requested but I can honestly say that they are the nicest knives I have ever seen.

The Kotetsu above is a Bunka and it is exquisite, the maker of this knives at shibataknives.com is clearly gifted. He is a pretty nice fella too, I have contacted him on IG and told him how beautiful his knives are. I can't believe how thin it is.


The other knives were Fujiwara and Takeda.  The Fujiwara is undoubtedly the sharpest knife I have ever felt, it is sharpened at 11. 5-12 deg and is quite stunning.

Most of the knives were gobbled up by Chefs in the area.

Now.....Water Stones:


Being in Canada, it is a pain to purchase Water Stones from Chef Knives to Go, Mark Richmond has a huge collection but the cost of shipping, customs and the terrible state of our dollar right now makes that choice difficult.

Now I can go to Paul's Finest of course which I very often do and buy one of my favourite brands, the Naniwa Chosera's but is nice to have a bit of a selection and my other favourites are Shapton Glass and Shapton Professional.



I have been using Shapton Pro stones for many years, I love them, the 5k stone is superb, the edge it will produce is sharper than most people have ever seen. However, they are only available in the States......up until now that is.

One of the drop off spots for my customers is a beautiful little Japanese store called The Ikebana Shop. The owners are fabulous and I asked him about bringing in some water stones, if at all possible and I named a couple of my favourite brands, well actually I just named the Shapton Pro but I never thought he would pull it off.

320/1,000/5,000 Shapton Pro

I now have access to one of my favourite brands of water stones and I will sell some on behalf of the owners to my students.

The 320 and 5k above are mine, I got them the day they arrived.

The 3 stone combo pictured above is the perfect combination. Shapton Pro has many other stones as well, the 220, 1.5k, 8K and 15K (I may be missing one or two). I have them all in Edge Pro size but now I finally have them in full size as well. So I am very happy,


I think the Ikebana Shop is the only place in Canada, the Maritimes at least that carries these.

The other good spot of course to purchase awesome knives and stones is Knifewear, I really like what   Kevin Kent has done. He has brought some amazing products to Canada for us to enjoy and I have heard that it is a treat to be in one of his stores.

Thanks for being here friends.

Peter