Sharpening Kitchen Knives - Youtube how-to videos

[Joel_BC]

There's a lot of good info on Youtube showing and telling you how to get an efficient, sharp edge on your kitchen knives. Obviously, this is a skill that either men or women can acquire. The videos generally show people sharpening stainless-steel knives - and the large majority of modern kitchen knives are made from stainless steel.

Go to Youtube. http://www.youtube.com/

In the Search window, put in the following search terms, which you can highlight, copy & paste (from this post):
sharpen stainless steel kitchen knives
Then click the little mangifying-glass type icon, at the right-end of the Search window.

You'll get a list of really good instructional videos, and probably find a video showing just the kind of sharpening device or stone that you own.

 

[Boogity]

Just a comment about sharpening knives.

When I was younger (a million years ago) we had a neighbor who was a butcher. He was from France and immigrated to the USA in 1952. He was probably in his late 50s when I knew him. He must have grown up in a very rural part of France because his ways and mannerisms were very "old country" and just about all of his utensils and tools were ancient. Oh what a great guy. Very hard to understand him at first but I caught on eventually.

He was teaching me the skill (art) of meat cutting and butchering. I don't think there was any animal that he did not know how to prepare for the table. His knives were the sharpest I have ever seen. One thing that surprised me was that he always held his cutting blade backwards (to my way of thinking) on his soft stone sharpening wheel. He had one of those old wooden frame soft wheels that was about 24" in diameter with a treadle. I was appointed the job of slowly pouring water on the stone as he sharpened. I always thought that you made the stone contact the blade INTO the sharp edge but he always held the blades so that the stone was rotating away from the sharp edge. He used very light pressure and checked the edge often with his fingers. His goal was to create a "wire edge" on the blade that was perfectly uniform along the full length of the blade. A wire edge is a very fine and tiny "flap" or "burr" of steel that is created by the stone as it removes tiny particles of steel. This wire edge is an indicator of the uniformity of the grind along the length of the blade. Once he had the wire edge the way he wanted it he would stop using the stone and use either a steel or a leather strop to remove the wire edge.

I have never seen such sharp edges in my life. Every one of his knives would glide through meat like a double edged razor. He explained to me that while his type of sharpening creates the sharpest knife it also requires the most maintenance. An extremely sharp edge is fragile and the extra hardened steel blade will allow microscopic chips in the edge as it is being used. Eventually these microscopic chips will require sharpening again.

I just thought I'd share an old memory.

 

[~gd]

Just a comment about sharpening knives.

When I was younger (a million years ago) we had a neighbor who was a butcher. He was from France and immigrated to the USA in 1952. He was probably in his late 50s when I knew him. He must have grown up in a very rural part of France because his ways and mannerisms were very "old country" and just about all of his utensils and tools were ancient. Oh what a great guy. Very hard to understand him at first but I caught on eventually.

He was teaching me the skill (art) of meat cutting and butchering. I don't think there was any animal that he did not know how to prepare for the table. His knives were the sharpest I have ever seen. One thing that surprised me was that he always held his cutting blade backwards (to my way of thinking) on his soft stone sharpening wheel. He had one of those old wooden frame soft wheels that was about 24" in diameter with a treadle. I was appointed the job of slowly pouring water on the stone as he sharpened. I always thought that you made the stone contact the blade INTO the sharp edge but he always held the blades so that the stone was rotating away from the sharp edge. He used very light pressure and checked the edge often with his fingers. His goal was to create a "wire edge" on the blade that was perfectly uniform along the full length of the blade. A wire edge is a very fine and tiny "flap" or "burr" of steel that is created by the stone as it removes tiny particles of steel. This wire edge is an indicator of the uniformity of the grind along the length of the blade. Once he had the wire edge the way he wanted it he would stop using the stone and use either a steel or a leather strop to remove the wire edge.

I have never seen such sharp edges in my life. Every one of his knives would glide through meat like a double edged razor. He explained to me that while his type of sharpening creates the sharpest knife it also requires the most maintenance. An extremely sharp edge is fragile and the extra hardened steel blade will allow microscopic chips in the edge as it is being used. Eventually these microscopic chips will require sharpening again.

I just thought I'd share an old memory.

For a SOFT stone his way was the right way! One little slip and the blade can cut into the stone and damage the stone and the knife. You can get away with your way with a hard stone but I use his old way on all stones.

 

[Joel_BC]

Boogity, a good story. As you described, your French-chef friend had ancient kitchen tools - so I'd highly doubt his knives were stainless steel. While it's true that there are a number of types of stainless steel, in my experience most stainless knife blades are a little challenging to put a good edge on - and they soon lose a good edge, through use.

With carbon steel, which your friend's knives probably were, there are certain sharpening habits that work well. Traditional methods from "the old world" probably are just right, for them. When I did the search on Youtube, I wanted to find out what people are advocating for stainless blades.

There are some costly new stainless knives with harder steel to the blade, and these hold an edge longer, But most of the knives in our kitchen are not of this newer sort.

 

[Boogity]

Yeah, I have a hard time with our SS knives, too. They either will not come to a good edge or they don't hold a good edge very long.

You're correct, all of Pierre's knives were steel and not stainless. He even had a few Damascus Steel knives.

Do any of our members here have any experience with the ceramic knives that I see now and then?

 

[k15n1]

Stainless in the modern (lazy) kitchen is probably the most practical solution. Example: I made a handle for a Green River blade [1] that I specifically bought because it was high carbon steel. Thought it would be a real advantage. I love the sharpening properties but it's a pain to keep it "clean" because the steel rusts. The blade came with some plating but I used it pretty hard and it's prone to rusting now.

I made myself a hook knife yesterday from a bit of mild steel. I hardened it with a propane torch and a mason jar full of water. It's probably not perfect, but I made 3 spoons with it and I'm happy with it. Now I plan to make a single-bevel butcher knife. I'll have to really keep after it to prevent rusting. But for something that's not often used, I think I can keep it from rusting.

1. http://www.crazycrow.com/green-river-knife-blades

 

[~gd]

Yeah, I have a hard time with our SS knives, too. They either will not come to a good edge or they don't hold a good edge very long.

You're correct, all of Pierre's knives were steel and not stainless. He even had a few Damascus Steel knives.

Do any of our members here have any experience with the ceramic knives that I see now and then?

Yep they can be done with diamonds they nick easily and shatter if you try to pry or drop one. They are just too hard. For the rust problem keep a light coat of cooking oil or grease. Wipe off do not wash.