Kitchen knife sharpening

[Brian Holcombe]

Also, I advise real cooks to stay away from Japanese knives. They are way too fragile. You can't even put them in the dishwasher. I gave away two Shuns for this reason. Someone put one in the dishwasher, and it came out with a big chip in the blade. They are junk.

My favorite knives are my Chinese cleavers and a Forschner chef's knife. I also use Mundial knives. All of these knives sharpen up fast, they're tough and cheap, the handles are nonslip...you just can't go wrong with these. The most expensive one was about $14.

I have a $200+ Masamoto cleaver. Looks real nice sitting in a drawer, but I would never use it. I consider it useless because of the risk of damaging it.

I will probably be burned at the stake now.

I'm fetching the lumber for the stake

All due respect to Shun, but you may find that they're low on the list for most users of Japanese knives.

I do not put knives in the dishwasher, many have wooden handles that would be destroyed, so the blades are rinsed and wiped clean. I use soap if cutting meats.

Japanese knives, just like Japanese tools are very specific to their purpose. You cannot hammer a paring chisel in the same way you cannot chop with a yanagiba. A chef would have a variety of knives for different purposes in the same way that we have different chisels for different purposes.

Western knives are just the same, but probably a bit more capable of being used improperly since they are heat treated to a lower degree and often have phenolic resin handles.

[Steve H Graham]

I agree about dulling the knives. Dishwashing detergent has an abrasive in it. To me, the convenience of using the dishwasher is well worth the few seconds of effort it takes to restore the edge. Hand-washing a drying a knife takes a couple of tedious minutes I could otherwise spend sitting on the couch.

Also, I don't have to wet my pants and deliver a lecture every time a guest borrows a knife.

I feel this way: you can concentrate on cooking and entertaining, or you can fall in love with your knives and be considered strange.

[Steve H Graham]

I'm fetching the lumber for the stake

All due respect to Shun, but you may find that they're low on the list for most users of Japanese knives.

I bought three of them a few years back. Back then, people were raving about them. The santoku chipped, the bird's beak knife was inferior to a $5 Forschner, and the cleaver was unbalanced, short, and clumsy. I bought some other Japanese knives--other brands--from the guy at the Japan chef knife site. I still have a nakiri and a chicken-boning knife, as well as the pricey cleaver mentioned above. The bird's beak knife may be in a drawer somewhere. I never use any of them. It's a hassle, and they don't really work that well.

I have told people the same thing you did, pretty much, explaining that you won't get the real high-end stuff at the mall. You wouldn't believe the yammering. It was as if I had egged the Popemobile. I guess when you have $1500 in knives that aren't particularly good, you have ample motivation for denial.

If I had unlimited money, plus slaves to wash my knives, I might want a few Japanese knives. No, probably not.

I have never seen anything that compares to my $10 cleaver. If you own only one kitchen knife, that should be it. It slices better than a chef's knife. You can use the side to peel garlic. It minces like...some sort of special mincey tool. You can tenderize meat with the back side. You can use it to transfer food from one place to another. And the edge is beyond belief. It's actually worth hand-washing.

Japanese knives, just like Japanese tools are very specific to their purpose. You cannot hammer a paring chisel in the same way you cannot chop with a yanagiba. A chef would have a variety of knives for different purposes in the same way that we have different chisels for different purposes.

I would put it another way. I would say they're not versatile.

Please make sure the lumber for the stake is highly figured and that it was cut with Lie-Nielsen tools.

[Joel Goodman]

It takes a few seconds to wash and dry a knife by hand -- I am not in that much of a hurry! In fact it saves time as the knives stay sharp. And of course a few are old school carbon steel....

[Brian Holcombe]

Highly figured....hmm, birds eye or curly?

I suppose if your dishwasher is hourly then use the dishwasher, but whatever you do don't use the machine under the countertop.

To each there own, you'll find the same thing with the tools here, some find them fiddly, some (such as myself) really enjoy them. Paying money for something doesnt change my opinion of it, I have one set of chisels that I paid alot for and waited a long time for....and dont use. They're pretty though, so I keep them (for now).

[Steve H Graham]

Now that I think about it, mesquite would be a good choice.

[Brian Holcombe]

LOL! Gallows humor I see.

[george wilson]

For Pete's sake!!! NEVER put sharp knives in a dish washer. Never use hot water to rinse a sharp knife. If you do,the microscopic edge will be dulled. Professional butchers never rinse their knives in hot water. I only use cold water and a sponge with a bit of detergent to get grease or oil off of my kitchen knives.

My favorite knife(other than the HSS knives I made from power hacksaw blades),is my Lee Valley 6" Japanese knife. It has a very thin layer of high carbon steel sandwiched between stainless steel outer layers. I think I mentioned this before. The whole blade is ionly 1/16" thick. It is NOT to be used for twisting,hacking bones,or any purpose other than normal,sensible food slicing. For it's intended purpose it is quite an excellent knife.

So are the ceramic knives,but they are brittle,and also must be used sensibly. My wife gave an expensive Kyocera ceramic knife to a (supposed) chef who she owed a favor to. The first thing he did was snap the blade off. Frankly,I was surprised that this guy was a chef.

You'd think he would have known better. I see no need to go paying very high prices for ceramic knives myself. They will eventually get dull,just like any other knife. It just takes longer. Then,you either cannot sharpen them yourself,or have to send them away to be sharpened. Even honing them on a diamond stone just seems to get you no where fast. Fortunately,I have a 200 RPM diamond honing machine that will sharpen mine,but it still takes some time. And ,I can't get them anywhere as sharp as a factory edge unless I make some special wheels and put super fine diamond dust on them. The edge I can get works fine,though. But,if my edges were gotten smooth as the factory edge,they would last longer. So,the Harbor Freight $9.00 ceramic knives work as well as any,and are made of the same ceramic. If the store were closer, I wouldn't even bother to sharpen mine after they get dull in some months' time.

Fortunately,my wife,being a craftsman also,is not afraid of sharp knives. She appreciates them. I have sharpened the kitchen knives for some of the women who worked for us,and they got quite scared to touch them. A real EEK!!! situation.One,I found out,didn't even use the knives herself. Her husband is a cook!

[Brian Holcombe]

keeping sharp knives is an incredibly rare thing for most households.

[Stanley Covington]

I can only agree with George about hot water and quality high-carbon knives. Dishwashers can get hot enough to actually draw the temper on a good knife. There are those here that think that the steel must become very hot to lose its temper, but when you are looking at the very thin edge of a sharp knife (talking microscopic level where the cutting is actually done) it does not take much heat. Certainly hot water will do damage, as will sharpening a knife on a dry stone.

A top-quality hand-forged Japanese knife is a pleasure to use, and easy to sharpen. I am not sure you can even buy such a knife in the States, though.

My wife is Japanese, an excellent cook, and loves sharp knives, but abuses them terribly, carelessly dulling and even chipping the edges through mistreatment. The softer stainless steel knives such as those made by Heckles and Global suit her perfectly because, while they dull quickly, they do not chip, and are easy to sharpen.

But when I sharpen all her knives, the first ones she reaches for are the high-quality hand-forged Japanese knives, and her Heckle laminated powdered metal blade, which is wonderfully sharp but easily chipped. For the next few weeks while those knives are dreadfully sharp, she cooks up a storm and feeds me very well indeed. As they get duller and she switches to the softer stainless knives, the quality of her cooking drops off, until after a few months, I find myself eating hotdogs for dinner. Time to sharpen Kazuko's knives!

I have stopped sharpening her pruning shears, or buying here new ones because once she gets a sharp shear in her little hands, she immediately begins cutting the holly heck out of everything in the yard, so that the trees are all limbless as high as she can reach, and shrubs are cut back to one stem alone. I guess its the samurai heritage in her bloodline.

She can't control herself.

Stan

[george wilson]

Some think that hot water dulling knife edges is an "Old wive's Tale"(Why must every myth be ascribed to old wives?)

But,it is a fact. Hopefully those concerned will listen to Stanley and myself.

I have also resisted the powerful urge to put my handmade infill planes and back saws into my dishwasher!!!!

Why is falling in love with your knives any more strange than falling in love with your LN,LV,antique or other tools? Your vintage car(or even a new Jaguar?,Lexus,etc.) My neurologist is definitely in love with his knives,even coming to my house for sharpening lessons. And,I made him 2 HSS power hacksaw knives. No one thinks he is strange!! I am sure his wife appreciates his cooking.

[Brian Holcombe]

I have also resisted the powerful urge to put my handmade infill planes and back saws into my dishwasher!!!!

Hah!

If you dishwasher punches a timeclock.....then maybe they can handle the plane and saws

I plan to keep recycling this joke until you guys catch on.

[george wilson]

The powerful,fanatical,irrestible,mind altering urge. In they go HAHAHAHAHA.

[Brian Holcombe]

LOL, well......it will get out any lingering saw dust and wood shavings....

[Shawn Pixley]

I sharpen the knives at our our house. Generally, I take them up to the 6000 stone. Our knives are mixtures of fairly good quality (chef's knives at 100-150$ range). No knife is ever allowed in or near the dishwasher. I hate dull knives

LOML's favorite knife is the small Messermeister Fillet knife with a really thin blade (we have 3 good fish knives beyond a boat knife - sized depending upon the nature of the work (rough cleaning/filleting with a 10" blade for cleaning big fish, bone cutting - a single bevel Japanese knife with a thick blade, and a fine 6" kitchen fillet knife). I am still working on my damasquene Yanagiba.