Keeping sharp knives sharp

[croakey]

Basically as the title says, looking for some advice on the best option to keep my selection of knives sharp? They were all varyingly sharp when new but some of them regardless of being honed on a steel regularly are becoming less so.

This could be the fact i'm using the same honing technique on different knives (european/japanese?)or it could be my girlfriend and her insistence on using my knives on some bloody glass chopping board she prefers (over a number of wooden ones!)

So the options as far as i can see is... spend more time using the steel, get a wetstone setup and learn that technique, get one of these wheeled wet cutter things, or just get someone to do it for me?

Knives in question range from cheapy sabbatiers (hers), some more expensive Stellars (mix of standards and the forged range), and a very nice Hattori HD i treated myself to

So any help much appreciated

[zakelwe]

If you want the easy life one of these

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Chefs-Choice-Electric-shar...

I'm the worst knife sharpener ever, steels, stones, prayers to the god of sharp knives, nothing worked until I got one of these and within 3 minutes .. knives sharp enough to slice a tomato into 1000 slices. And I'm even crap using this to be honest, far to pre-occupied with breadmakers....

Love the lady who only gave it one star because it only lasted for 2 years




Andy

[croakey]

Cheers, best keep working hard to buy one of them badboys

But i guess its money well spent (thats what i told the missus after spunking £100 on my Hattori)

here she is (knife not the bird!)

[Taita]

Is there a risk of knives falling into the same trap as the £400 power cable that plagues Hi Fi discussions?

Is a £100 one TONNES better than a £30 one?

[croakey]

i have no opinion on whether its better than the much cheaper Stellars i've got... but it looks bad ass, and i had a good month at work so figured why not

Edit: plus it does genuinely seem amputation spec sharp

[Taita]

It looks good though

[zakelwe]

Good point from Taita about cost over performance. As well as the looks and sharpness you need to take into consideration other facts such as the weight of the knife and also the curve on it.

My Globals are my sharpest knives but my Wusthof's have a better curve for point work and also more weight for my big hands. End of the day I use my Global for carving and my Wusthof's for all kitchen work, but that is just my preference.

Andy

[macar]

I've had a few Globals but won't buy any more after one snapped after 2 years of normal usage.

[croakey]

TBH i use the general stellar chefs knife for 70% of the things in the kitchen...Just need to find the right way to get it back to the sharpness it once had

[Mermaid]

I was told (by a German kitchen appliances expert!!) that if you want to keep your knives sharp, don't wash them in the dishwasher - the salts blunt the edge.

[Roger645]

I would get rid of the glass chopping board as a good start. You could have them all reground to the same angle and then buy a minosharp or similar to keep them in good shape as well at steeling them.

[croakey]

oh trust me, come house move time...the glass chopping boards getting binned, ghastly, ghaslty thing!

[Tyngwndwn]

Buy youself a good steel and learn how to steel a knife, that the only
thing a butcher will say.

[VeeFour]

Taita said:

Is there a risk of knives falling into the same trap as the £400 power cable that plagues Hi Fi discussions?

Is a £100 one TONNES better than a £30 one?

Commercial butchers 'steaking' knives (ie. fecking sharp, 12" long jobs) are around a fiver if you're buying in bulk.

One of my customers uses them - and sharpens them on a similar sharpener to the one linked up there...

In a commercial environment, they last 3-6 months before they're replaced.

[uncinqsix]

Taita said:

Is there a risk of knives falling into the same trap as the £400 power cable that plagues Hi Fi discussions?

Is a £100 one TONNES better than a £30 one?

Yes. And no. Depends on the 30 quid knife you're comparing it with. I have a Hattori HD like the OPs and a Hiromoto HC (carbon steel) that was about a quarter of the price. The Hattori is better, but the Hiromoto comes closer than it has any right to. On the other hand, the Hattori (and the Hiromoto for that matter) is miles ahead of the Henckels it replaced.

OP: As you have a Hattori, you don't really have any sharpening options other than going down the Japanese waterstone route. They don't respond at all well to steels, and any sort of "sharpener" will simply not do the job - most will put the wrong bevel angles on the blade (the possible exception being the Global one), and they will never get it close to how sharp it is now.

I would suggest a 1000/6000 combination stone to start with, and practice on your older knives before you tackle the HD. Plenty of vids on youtube on how to do it.

[Tyngwndwn]

VeeFour said:

Commercial butchers 'steaking' knives (ie. fecking sharp, 12" long jobs) are around a fiver if you're buying in bulk.

One of my customers uses them - and sharpens them on a similar sharpener to the one linked up there...

In a commercial environment, they last 3-6 months before they're replaced.

I am a high street butcher I have this 12" steak knife, which I have had 20+ years.

[lawrence567]

This topic came up yesterday in this forum aswell, a lot of chef's who buy from us generally tend to use whetstones, or a knife steel.
However some swear by these: http://www.allsopandpitts.co.uk/product.php?id=316...
My parents use one & they swear by it aswell.
If you need anything like that drop me a PM & i'll see if i can work out a PH discuont from the showroom!

[alfa pint]

The reason for glass chopping boards over wooden ones is that wooden ones store bacteria and are completely unhygienic. Restaurants use plastic boards, which won't wreck your knives.

Anyway, I use a kitchen devils tool with a rotating tungsten head inside a set of guides that puts a decent edge on all my knives, more than good enough for culinery purposes.

[LordGrover]

lawrence567 said:

This topic came up yesterday in this forum aswell, a lot of chef's who buy from us generally tend to use whetstones, or a knife steel.
However some swear by these: http://www.allsopandpitts.co.uk/product.php?id=316...
My parents use one & they swear by it aswell.
If you need anything like that drop me a PM & i'll see if i can work out a PH discuont from the showroom!

I just don't like the look of that!

[Bonefish Blues]

zakelwe said:

If you want the easy life one of these

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Chefs-Choice-Electric-shar...

I'm the worst knife sharpener ever, steels, stones, prayers to the god of sharp knives, nothing worked until I got one of these and within 3 minutes .. knives sharp enough to slice a tomato into 1000 slices. And I'm even crap using this to be honest, far to pre-occupied with breadmakers....

Love the lady who only gave it one star because it only lasted for 2 years

Andy

...is the right answer in the first reply. Make sure to keep it on the work surface & plugged in so that it can be used regularly to maintain the edge.

Much cheaper from the US, even with import costs: http://www.amazon.com/Chefs-Choice-110-Professiona...