Could you sharpen a dull knife?

[SSSnail]

Spit + wetstone + slow strokes.

Amidoingthisright?

Wetstone not necessary.

 

[Zodiark1593]

Japanese steel>German steel.

I buy my knives on www.korin.com I find the Togiharu brand to be a great deal at a reasonable price point. I have a 10" Gyotu, a 7" Santoku and a 5" petty of theirs.

Anyone who uses a decent knife on a glass cutting board should be strung and quartered. Or puts them in a dishwasher. oye. Horrible.

A Former friend decided to make a pair of shorts in the woods by slicing his sweat pants on a large pane of glass with my fixed blade. The blade actually held it's edge pretty well, but regardless, I was none too pleased.

And yes, I recently ground new edges into both my fixed, and my pocket knife, the latter being honed to the point where it can shave hairs off my forearm (or that other place if I so choose ).

 

[SandEagle]

buy a cutco knife. free lifetime sharpening

 

[irishScott]

Yep.

This: http://www.amazon.com/Lansky-8-Ceram...arpening+stick

Then this: http://www.amazon.com/J-A-Henckels-9...arpening+steel


I'm no knifesmith, but I can put a decent edge on a dull knife. It's all a matter of practice and getting the angle consistent.

 

[Howard]

Certainly I could. I did a knife once wherewith I was able to Christmas-tree a hair off my head. Granted, I have very coarse hair.

 

[biostud]

Just got a ceramic knife sharpener.

 

[Aikouka]

you could just throw everything in a crock pot and shred with forks. no need for knives.

here's a good recipe for you guys:


http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/2011/01/peperoncini-beef-sandwiches-slow-cooker.html

Hmm that looks interesting. I bought a slow cooker, but along with my stand mixer, I almost never use it. As an aside, I hate that stand mixer. I don't understand why people glorify Kitchenaid mixers so much -- they're a chore and a half to use for anything but bread!! Anyway, I wanted to ask... have you tried those slow cooker bags that they make? I tried one once, and my stew meat just ended up under cooked. :\

 

[DrPizza]

Hmm that looks interesting. I bought a slow cooker, but along with my stand mixer, I almost never use it. As an aside, I hate that stand mixer. I don't understand why people glorify Kitchenaid mixers so much -- they're a chore and a half to use for anything but bread!! Anyway, I wanted to ask... have you tried those slow cooker bags that they make? I tried one once, and my stew meat just ended up under cooked. :\

Those bags are decent for some types of things. E.g., meatballs and sauce, if you're making meatball sandwiches. That's actually about the only food that I'll ever cook in a slow cooker - toss the meatballs in, pour some sauce over them, and come back in from a day on the lake 8 hours later. Otherwise, I don't purchase food that requires slow cooking to be tender enough to eat.

 

[MagickMan]

Yup, I have an electric knife sharpener.

 

[Squisher]

Just bought the Lansky knife sharpening system. If you want to repeat your knife sharpening strokes on the stone at exactly the same angle every time this system is for you. For the first time in years every knife in the house is hella sharp.

 

[Cerb]

Japanese steel is generally not hardened to the point where it can be called brittle. Definitely harder means easier to chip, but they generally produce their steel at levels harder than ze Germans to where they hold an edge longer while still being durable if you follow very basic rules - cut only on plastic or wood cutting boards, don't put the damn thing in the dishwasher, don't hone on cheap steel honing steels, simply wash and dry after each use and put in a safe place.

Pretty simple stuff. That hardness does come for free if you follow those basic rules, which also mostly apply to German steel as well.

And don't accidentally twist while cutting, always watch where the edge is if you set it down for even a second, and be extra careful cutting anything that might have hard bits in it, like a pit. Most Euro steel, except Messermeister, won't chip at all.

Simple and easy to do are very different things, and it takes dedication that most people don't have to make it work well.

 

[Cerb]

Just bought the Lansky knife sharpening system. If you want to repeat your knife sharpening strokes on the stone at exactly the same angle every time this system is for you. For the first time in years every knife in the house is hella sharp.

Too bad they don't make one that's that cheap in a decent size .

 

[Muse]

I can, but I'm surprised how many people lack this crucial life skill. I think everyone should be able to grind a new edge, and then hone it to razor sharpness. It makes food prep much more efficient and safe.

It's debatable if a super sharp knife is safer in the kitchen. A tiny slip and the blood may run! Ouch! When I get my cleavers extra sharp I try to be even more careful than usual.

I've been rather expert at knife etc. sharpening for many decades. I checked out at least one book on the subject from the local library and mastered the techniques. It's not rocket science! In fact it's largely common sense. Yes, it's silly how so many people will deliver their cutlery, etc. up to a professional sharpener and pay money to do something they could do for themselves really quickly and just as well.

I have many sharpening stones of various kinds, a Japanese 2 sided blade sharpener, which is a small longish piece of steel with different grades of diamond particles glued on each side. I have scissors sharpeners. I have a "steel" used to hone the edges of cutlery. I have a strop. At times I use various grades of wet-dry sandpaper for sharpening.

I have many files. I have a grinder to at least start the process on very dull tools, in particular hoes, axes, shovels and such.

Tip: For a quicky you can drag the edges of a slightly dulled knife against a metal object to "set the edge." It gives a short term boost, and takes only a couple of seconds.

You know what makes food prep even more efficient? Having someone else do the prep and cooking.

"Don't Look Now, it ain't you or me..."

When I think of food prep I think of Martin Yan, the Chinese cook whose shows were all over PBS TV. I learned a lot from him.

Anyone who thinks the ability to sharpen a knife is a "crucial life skill" has no fucking clue what it means to live in the year 2014.

You know, it depends what you call living. Now, Bobby Fisher, maybe the greatest chess player of all time, certainly in the conversation, when he was hungry he would just go downstairs and head into the local diner. I don't think he had any knives to sharpen, maybe never prepared a meal for himself in his life.

In terms of being a "crucial life skill," recall the movie "127 Hours" about the guy who cut off his arm to escape entrapment by a boulder in Utah. I saw it but first read the book, a fantastic read ("Between a Rock and a Hard Place"). His knife was pretty dull. He made no mention in the book of trying to sharpen it, and I had to think he didn't attempt to do so. He was surrounded by stone and could have gotten that knife pretty sharp before the self-surgery. He was so desperate and amped up by the time he went at it that he made it through anyway (of course, he had his epiphany first of breaking the bones in his arm).

Until you chip it. That hardness doesn't come for free. Most people should not use such brittle steel, because it does take care to use it well. My favs are Chinese, however, and almost as brittle.

Exactly, there's a tradeoff in hardness of steel. Tool steel, high carbon steel, needs to be hardened to achieve usefulness. The process is first to harden the steel and then "temper" it to reduce the hardness sufficient for optimal usefulness, which depends on the usage. Untempered it will be just way too hard and will break or chip readily. You can temper it to whatever extent you want. You first harden the steel by heating it red hot and quenching it quickly. You then heat the steel to temper it, the higher the temperature the softer it becomes. It's an art to temper steel, I've done it many times, hardening and tempering my own tool steel. You can even turn ordinary steel into something like tool steel by case hardening, and this is the way it was done before advanced steel production techniques were developed. I've done that on several occasions, with excellent results. I learned a lot of this stuff from books I got from the library.

There are many kinds of steel available these days. The hardening and tempering I've done is specific to high carbon tool steel, I don't know that it would be appropriate for some of the exotic steels now in production. High carbon tool steel rusts readily when not cared for, but properly hardened and tempered for its intended use it's great stuff. You can tell if it's high carbon steel by observing the spark stream when you grind it! High carbon steel gives off a huge stream of beautiful sparks, whereas a common nail gives off a very muted stream.

 

[pete6032]

Wait, you mean that crucial life skill I have never had to use in my entire life?

 

[Scarpozzi]

I sharpen my mother's knives, and she trashes them on a tempered glass cutting board. Pisses me off. I could hardly think of a worse cutting surface than tempered glass. I'd love to kick the piece of shit that invented that in the balls. She started using her old Corning cutting board as a drain tray for the dishes. Made me happy for awhile, but she soon replaced it :^S

QFT. My wife bought one of those. I have 2 really small cutting boards I bought for car camping....I use those over the board she bought. Everyone is so scared of bacteria and afraid to use wood... We had wood cutting boards for years and I'm still alive....never got sick.

 

[Blackjack200]

Anyone who thinks the ability to sharpen a knife is a "crucial life skill" has no fucking clue what it means to live in the year 2014.

Wait, you mean that crucial life skill I have never had to use in my entire life?

You have never really lived. Sorry.

 

[NetWareHead]

Anyone who thinks the ability to sharpen a knife is a "crucial life skill" has no fucking clue what it means to live in the year 2014.

lmao :biggrin:

 

[wabbitslayer]

Ginsu, therefore your thread is invalid.

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

lmao :biggrin:

Somehow being completely helpless in the kitchen outside of boxed food isn't my idea of "living in 2014", well unless you were a fan of the Dark Age or something. It's really sad how many people can't cook and worse many traditions are being lost. Of course if one grew up with awful food and liked it or has no sense of taste to begin with it doesn't make a difference, but for anyone else it's a loss even if they can't know it because once it's gone, it's gone. I'm off today so I'm making Korean beef and then a pork stir-fry for dinner, and yes my knives will be sharp.

 

[Muse]

QFT. My wife bought one of those. I have 2 really small cutting boards I bought for car camping....I use those over the board she bought. Everyone is so scared of bacteria and afraid to use wood... We had wood cutting boards for years and I'm still alive....never got sick.

I have a couple of wood cutting boards I use regularly. Also have a couple of giant wood cutting boards, expensive, bought from a restaurant supply warehouse that I intended to incorporate in rolling prep tables, never got around to it. Will sell them some day.

I used to occasionally sand and oil the wooden cutting boards I use daily. I don't bother anymore. I wash them under cold running water after most usage using a brush, that's it. If I cut raw chicken, possibly some other meat, I'll include a little soap in the cleaning process. To my knowledge, these practices have never made me sick.

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

QFT. My wife bought one of those. I have 2 really small cutting boards I bought for car camping....I use those over the board she bought. Everyone is so scared of bacteria and afraid to use wood... We had wood cutting boards for years and I'm still alive....never got sick.

Wood/bamboo is far better in terms of safety than plastic/glass/whatever. They have inherent antiseptic properties and test after test has shown them to be superior in this regard.

 

[Blackjack200]

Somehow being completely helpless in the kitchen outside of boxed food isn't my idea of "living in 2014", well unless you were a fan of the Dark Age or something. It's really sad how many people can't cook and worse many traditions are being lost. Of course if one grew up with awful food and liked it or has no sense of taste to begin with it doesn't make a difference, but for anyone else it's a loss even if they can't know it because once it's gone, it's gone. I'm off today so I'm making Korean beef and then a pork stir-fry for dinner, and yes my knives will be sharp.

Just based on my personal experience, I think people are much much better cooks than they were 20 years ago.

Better equipment, access to fresher ingrediants, availability of information (youtube etc.) have all contributed.

It's almost a PITA, you can't just bring hamburgers to a BBQ anymore. It's gotta involve mango salsa, cilatro, six different kinds of goat cheese, or something that was de-glazed, wilted, caramelized, or "infuzed".

 

[OBLAMA2009]

I can, but I'm surprised how many people lack this crucial life skill. I think everyone should be able to grind a new edge, and then hone it to razor sharpness. It makes food prep much more efficient and safe.

theres a difference between just sharpening a knife and doing it correctly. lots of so called professional sharpeners screw up expensive knives by doing things incorrectly and ruining the temper of a knife edge

 

[OBLAMA2009]

Just got a ceramic knife sharpener.

fyi those done work, they scrape the edge so you cant hone the knife and yet they dont grind well enough to sharpen. i wouldnt use that

 

[NetWareHead]

Somehow being completely helpless in the kitchen outside of boxed food isn't my idea of "living in 2014", well unless you were a fan of the Dark Age or something. It's really sad how many people can't cook and worse many traditions are being lost. Of course if one grew up with awful food and liked it or has no sense of taste to begin with it doesn't make a difference, but for anyone else it's a loss even if they can't know it because once it's gone, it's gone. I'm off today so I'm making Korean beef and then a pork stir-fry for dinner, and yes my knives will be sharp.

Agree. Have a buddy who doesn't really cook a bought a nice kitchen stove just so it looks good in his kitchen. Knowing how he eats and how he "cooks", I told him he could have saved alot of money if he had replaced the stove with double microwave ovens.

My mother & grandmother carried the food traditions from the old country over to usa so I grew up immersed in all of that. As far as I know, My sister and I are the only ones with any interest in the old school. I can food, grow a garden and authentically try to replicate all of the food we were fed growing up. A few months ago, my GF and I spent some time with my grandmother and took notes as we helped her make a cookie recipe which is our favorite. She writes nothing down and just mixes it all up from scratch