Rehash on knife sharpener


 
Jay D in Jersey said:
A handy skill for sure, but low on the list of priority life skills for sure. There are dozens stacked in front of it.
Or she just gets a decent, easy to use knife sharpener that makes the task a simple and quick one.
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And I hope she finds one. A hone or a steel is pretty much necessary equipment for a chef or butcher to keep their knifes sharp and many of them pay to have their knives professionally sharpened when needed. But if someone prefers to sharpen every time before a knife is used instead of steeling or honing there is nothing wrong with that, other than it's kind of a waste of a good knife.

I hope there is an understanding that honing or steeling is a way of maintaining an edge and sharpening is a way of creating an edge. Again, if a knife is properly cared for it won't need to be sharpened often. Larry has made the best choice for his situation so I think we can move on now.
 
So last year I bought the Ken Onion Worksharp at the advice of a bunch of folks here. OK, it sat in the cabinet all this time. Yesterday I had to break down a strip loin and my knives were pretty sad. So before I started on the loin I broke out the KO, and started with the KO. IDK, I gotta be doing SOMETHIG wrong. I don't get it how people go on about razer sharp knives and such. I was so impressed by what others said about it (even though I had not used it yet) I bought one for our oldest daughter. But, me? I ended up with huge rollover on the blades, and needing copious time with a steel to get them "reasonable". Yeah they cut "better" but I gotta say what a HUGE disappointment. So bad in fact I don't understand how there can be all the testimonials. I gotta be doing SOMETHING wrong. Gonna go back and watch videos again. Because really all I got was a lot of "dust". Yeah knives are "better" than they were but I ain't shaving with them :D
 
Hopefully you can get it sorted out to work favorably. I started out with the KO in 2015 but have not used it in several years. If memory serves, it sharpened my knives to my satisfaction but I lacked the interest in pulling it out and changing belts throughout the process.

I use what several of you dislike: Chef's Choice. I have the 130 and the Trizor XV. Mostly, I use the 130 and to this untrained chef it works beautifully and quickly.
 
BFletcher said:
Hopefully you can get it sorted out to work favorably. I started out with the KO in 2015 but have not used it in several years. If memory serves, it sharpened my knives to my satisfaction but I lacked the interest in pulling it out and changing belts throughout the process.

I use what several of you dislike: Chef's Choice. I have the 130 and the Trizor XV. Mostly, I use the 130 and to this untrained chef it works beautifully and quickly.
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I have the Chef's Choice 110 IIRC. It's a 2 stage unit. Got it WAY back in time (around 1988 or so). It disappointed me so it still sits on the shelf. It had those "diamond" coated vibrating blocks. If CC had one with diamond wheels I would be interested in that.
 
Larry, I think it's all in the technique you use while sharpening knives that makes the difference but don't ask me what that technique is. I have been using a chef's choice sharpener for years and sometimes I'm super impressed with how sharp they get and other times not so much. That's why I'm pretty sure it's me and not the machine.
 
This is what I use. I prefer the manual ones as the remove less metal. It does a good job.
But to Larry’s point, sometimes i get the “meh… no so sharp” problem but not real often. I can cut tomatoes once knives are sharpened!
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I have used stones but for me, a bit to much effort to sharpen a knife…..
 
Larry did you use the RH side first then the left?

Here's my steps on the MK2 with the bands that came with it.

Start with the sharpening band. (Red P220 - medium )

Two or three passes on the right.
Two or three passes on the left.

I work through all the knives I'm sharpening then move honing.
Using the honing band ( Purple P6000 equivalent - fine )

Five passes on the right,
Five passes on the left.


( edited to clarify the bands on the MK2 )
 
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To add to all of the other advice.... yeah, I'd suspect a technique issue. Rolling the edge over sounds to me like you're working it too hard. Light quick passes for me work better, and as others have said, keep passes equal left & right.
 
I have the KO edition and it certainly puts a razor edge on knives. I initially found I was being way too delicate when starting with a dull knife and I had to get more aggressive to start with the coarser belts to get it into the proper initial shape. I was scared about ruining them. On already "sharp" knives, like mentioned, you do need to be gentle.

Go to the thrift shop and pick up a few $3 knives to experiment/learn on. You should be able to work up a burr that you can easily feel on one side and at that point you know you have it. Once that burr can be felt, gentle....

I was also pulling too fast initially, and learned to slow down to the 1" per second pull rate.
 
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Yeah I did notice the one knife I did the best with was the one I was most aggressive with. IOW using the coarse belt, then the medium and then the fine. I never did use the purple one. Maybe practice will make perfect LOL
 
@LMichaels I updated my post above to clarify. I sharpen with a P220 "medium" belt and hone with 6000 "fine" belt that came with the MK2



The Ken onion may have has different belts

edit:

yeah the KO belts are different from the MK2.

KO: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00FFSCH3A/?tag=tvwb-20
  • Belts included: P120 Extra Coarse Grit - 3/4" x 12" X65 Coarse Grit (P220 equivalent) - 3/4" x 12" X22 Medium Grit (P1000 equivalent) - 3/4" x 12" X4 Fine Grit (P3000 equivalent) - 3/4" x 12" 6000 Extra Fine Grit, 1/2" x 12"

MK2: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003UA18GC/?tag=tvwb-20
  • Assorted replacement belt Kit includes (2) P80 coarse, (2) P220 medium, and (2) 6000 fine. These abrasive belts are direct replacements for the abrasive belts that comes standard with the WSKTS, WSKTS2, WSKTS-KT
 
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I always get a little nervous when I see a knife sharpener being sold with no mention of the degree of bevel.

I wonder if Ed P's posts above are getting the attention they deserve... ?

The Chef's Choice Trizor has been mentioned a few times. We know it's for Asian knives, right? It's not going to work for a Western knife.

I have the Chef's Choice 130 which I have used for all my Western knives and it does a fine job. I keep it in the box and I haven't gotten it out for at least three years because once a knife is sharpened, honing is all that's required to bring it back unless it's been chipped or otherwise damaged.

I like the tomato test. I rest the knife on the tomato and slide it gently. I let the weight of the knife do all the work. I just pull the knife handle gently horizontally. If the knife slices through the tomato skin easily and smoothly, it's sharp. If it just wants to kind of ride along the tomato skin, a quick hone and it's back to perfection.

When a western knife needs honing, I will often use this since it doesn't take metal off the blade:


Or I'll just use a steel. My steel has a rough side as most do, but it also has a smooth polished side designed for daily use.

For my Asian knives, I use this: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07QBH6KXB/?tag=tvwb-20

I'll use either slot #2 and #3 several times or just slot #3 several times since, again, I'm not interested in taking metal off the blade. A few very gentle passes are all that's needed.
 
Mark_E said:
The Chef's Choice Trizor has been mentioned a few times. We know it's for Asian knives, right? It's not going to work for a Western knife.

I have the Chef's Choice 130 which I have used for all my Western knives and it does a fine job. I keep it in the box and I haven't gotten it out for at least three years because once a knife is sharpened, honing is all that's required to bring it back unless it's been chipped or otherwise damaged.
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I thought I understood but if you're going to ask, I become less certain, lol. Your feedback on the Trizor is why I rarely use it. As for my 130, I normally start on stage 2, omitting stage 1. And so it is that this unit is the sole device I need.

I'll never instruct an audience on how to maintain their knives because I have limited knowledge. I can only use my personal experience and my use of knives to say that the 130 works very well for me.

But now I'm going to buy a tomato rather than my usual means of shredding paper ;)
 
BFletcher said:
I thought I understood but if you're going to ask, I become less certain, lol. Your feedback on the Trizor is why I rarely use it. As for my 130, I normally start on stage 2, omitting stage 1. And so it is that this unit is the sole device I need.

I'll never instruct an audience on how to maintain their knives because I have limited knowledge. I can only use my personal experience and my use of knives to say that the 130 works very well for me.

But now I'm going to buy a tomato rather than my usual means of shredding paper ;)
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Yeah Stage 2 is kind of weird on the 130. If you read the manual, Stage 2 deliberately hones the edge with a bit of a rough surface (rather than polished) and supposedly that is what a lot of Chef's prefer because it lasts longer and it's better for cutting vegetables apparently. But I like a clean sharp edge so I will either just use slot #1 followed by #3 for a Western knife that really needs attention, or just use #3 to hone it.

A lot of people have given the 130 a poor review because of stage #2.

A lot of people like the paper test. Nothing wrong with it. I just prefer the tomato. :-)
 
I've tried the Chef's Choice trizor edge....... and hated it. My knives still felt dull after (may be operator error.) About all I do know is that I can get a nice edge with my WorkSharp device, and now get requests to sharpen friends & family knives. A few years ago, we threw a rather substantial Labor Day party, and a long time buddy (who shares my distaste of dull knives) was going to prep vegetables for dinner. I apologized that I hadn't sharpened my chef's knife in too long and he remarked "You think this is DULL? I'd love to see what you think is sharp...."

Bottom line.... figure out what works for you.
 
Have this one and it works great for not a lot of money.
knife-sharpener-infographic.jpg
 
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