Kitchen Knife sharpening

[daoist]

I'm looking to sharpen up all of my knives and my girlfriends' too. Any suggestions of what to buy?

These are cheap ass knives so I'm not really interested in sending them out to be sharpened.

[MarcusAurelius]

i have this: http://www.amazon.com/W%C3%BCsthof-2904 ... B0009NMVRI
and i like i a lot. removes the human error of the manual honing steel. unfortunately i've never tried an electric sharpener or anything more expensive. i've had it for probably 2+ years of moderately heavy use and it still works lovely.

[nippletwister]

I have something super similar to that. Got it at Kohl's. Every home should have one.

[daoist]

Those look really gimmicky and there's enough reviews that claim they wear out quickly. Anyone have suggestions on a stone set or something?

[walk around and drink]

also have something similar; also happy with it.

[daoist]

How long have you guys had them? More than a few months?

[walk around and drink]

yes. years.

[nippletwister]

yes. years.

also, how often are you sharpening your knives? This must be the first time? Probably wouldn't work in a professional kitchen, but I think it will fill your needs okay.

[MarcusAurelius]

i've had it for probably 2+ years of moderately heavy use and it still works lovely.

by stone do you mean a whetstone? don't.

[PaulMuaDib]

hone != sharpen

a good whetstone is the best solution, but with cheap knives, fuck it. something like that will work fine. good knives are also worth having professionally done, and most good kitchen stores offer service for pretty cheap.

[Epaminondas]

Here's a nice article written by one of my instructors from when I was in school. This guy has used and abused every knife and used every sharpening technique under the sun.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/3295531/Sharpening-a-knife

[MarcusAurelius]

well that answers that. epam wins the thread.

[nippletwister]

tldr?

[Epaminondas]

I use the technique he mentions using the abrasive paper and doing the angle by eyeball, you can get the edge the way you want it.

if your steel is hard enough you should just need to readjust the edge with a steel from time to time and you'll be okay. If you want a good cheap knife I would recommend this

http://www.amazon.com/Victorinox-40520- ... 599&sr=1-1

I also bought a few dozen of these boning knives in school and have been using them ever since. They'll cut through ribs, cartilage, etc no problem. the blade is flexible enough that you can get into joints for removing pig heads or whole quarters. You can also remove a set of lungs in about 30 seconds because the curve of the blade is just correct. Really expensive knives are too difficult for me to sharpen easily because the steel is too hard. These victorinox ones are hard, but not excessively so.

http://www.amazon.com/Victorinox-Cutler ... 747&sr=1-4

Also, if you want something very sharp and easily sharpened for delicate tasks like fish/sushi, you can get one of these for 4-5 bucks as your local asian market (amazon is overpriced for these). I highly recommend this brand, except for the cleaver, it's not quite heavy enough for splitting skulls, but would probably work well for poultry

http://www.amazon.com/Kom-21-8-Chefs-Kn ... 964&sr=1-1
http://www.amazon.com/Kom-21-8-Chefs-Kn ... 964&sr=1-1