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Sharpening stone

8K views 38 replies 15 participants last post by  kolokotroni 
#1 ·
Hi, hopefully this is the right category. I just got me self a pair of wusthof classic ikon. Now i'm thinking of getting a sharpening stone so I can give them the love they deserve and serve me for many years to come. However, I'm not sure what to get. I'm looking at wusthofs own stones, trying to figure out if 1000/3000 or 400/2000 is the better one to get. Help please?
 
#4 · (Edited)
Hi Totte.

I would encourage you to contact your knife manufacturer or do some research on your knife's blade style i.e. what sort of edge it has and its metal makeup. Some of the more expensive knives are made up of a softer inner core wrapped by a harder outer layer of steel. The metal composition will determine what sort of sharpening stone should be used.

Having said that, the style of your knife's edge will determine how it is sharpened when using the sharpening stone. The edge of the knife will also determine the exact angle in which the blade makes contact with the stone when it is being sharpened. Sharpening the blade at the wrong angle will likely damage your knives or possibly ruin them. Here is an image of some different knife edges. As you can see, the edge is going to determine how the stone is used.


Using the stone itself is not something just anyone can do right off, especially with quality kitchen knives. Different knife edges call for different sharpening techniques. Otherwise, the blade can be damaged, as I have already said. It takes practice and skill to properly sharpen a quality blade with a wet stone.

If you are not familiar with sharpening blades with a wet stone, I would highly recommend that you have your knives professionally sharpened at first and practice with the wet stone on lesser quality knives.

Good luck!

-V
 
#5 ·
Hi Totte.

I would encourage you to contact your knife manufacturer or do some research on your knife's blade style i.e. what sort of edge it has and its metal makeup. Some of the more expensive knives are made up of a softer inner core wrapped by a harder outer layer of steel. The metal composition will determine what sort of sharpening stone should be used.

Having said that, the style of your knife's edge will determine how it is sharpened when using the sharpening stone. The edge of the knife will also determine the exact angle in which the blade makes contact with the stone when it is being sharpened. Sharpening the blade at the wrong angle will likely damage your knives or possibly ruin them. Here is an image of some different knife edges. As you can see, the edge is going to determine how the stone is used.



Using the stone itself is not something just anyone can do right off, especially with quality kitchen knives. Different knife edges call for different sharpening techniques. Otherwise, the blade can be damaged, as I have already said. It takes practice and skill to properly sharpen a quality blade with a wet stone.

If you are not familiar with sharpening blades with a wet stone, I would highly recommend that you have your knives professionally sharpened at first and practice with the wet stone on lesser quality knives.

Good luck!

-V
Thanks for the info. I was actually thinking of practiceing on less expensive knifes first, I got a whole bunch of those who need some love and a few I don't really care if they get completely ruined.
 
#18 ·
Hum, I've been doing some more reading. So many options. Lets say I just want to maintain my blades sharpness and keep them in mint condition. What's the best way to go? Honing rod or wet/sharpening stone? (With practice on less expensive knifes first.)

How does them electric sharpeners work? Any good?

I got a ceramic honing rod from IKEA at the moment, tho I haven't dared using it on my new knifes yet, is there a big chance of ruining the edge? I've managed to make my other knifes sharper at least, so I believe I'm using it correctly.

We also got this service in Sweden called knife letters, you send the knifes in some special letters they send you and you send them back to professional sharpers once or twice a year and they sharpen them and send them back to you. It costs about 13,88£/knife.
 
#19 ·
Stones are the better option if you want this knife to still cut well for you in the long term (after a few months). They are certainly the better option for improving knives' sharpeness. Understand that new knives can be improved upon a good deal with the right tools.

After 2-3 usages of those knife letters you could have purchased a stone. If you are willing to learn and plan to keep your knives for more than 1-2 years, stones are pretty convincingly a better option.
 
#20 ·
Ok. Here goes.

You have purchased some quality knives made from relatively soft stainless steel. During normal use, the still sharp edge will roll slightly and become wavy or out of true. In order to keep the blade straight and cutting well, you'll need to 'steel' the knife on a honing rod, and your ceramic rod is fine for that. A few gentle passes on each side of the knife whenever the knife seems to not be cutting quite as well will straighten everything up and you find that knife will feel sharp again.



After a while, you'll notice that you need to go back to the rod more and more frequently, and the results will seem not as good as they were. This is when you need to sharpen the knife and a stone is best for that. As long as the knife has no chips, or significant damage (inspect the edge with a loupe) all you'll ever need for that knife is a medium grit stone (800-2k) to sharpen on. A 400 grit stone will be good for removing chips and fixing damaged blades, but are not necessary unless you need to do this. Also, being new to sharpening you'll want some practice before taking a very abrasive stone t your knife because you can alter the profile easily and quickly and if you don't know what you're doing cause damage. Conversely if you polish a softish knife too much (3k+) you'll find you're taking away too much bite from the edge and the blade will slide on tomatoes for example instead of digging in.

For how to sharpening instruction check out Jon's videos on youtube Japanese Knife Imports channel.

 
#23 ·
I am in a simular situation. I'm looking for a set of sharpening stones for my Zwilling knives.

I’m currently looking at:

“Bob Kramer by ZWILLING J.A Henckels 6-pc Glass Water Stone Sharpening Set”
Looks nice. 3 different grits (400, 1000 and 5000)
But definitely not cheap.

Or

The combination of TWIN Stone Pro (250 grit and 1000 grit) and TWIN Finishing Stone Pro (3000 grit and 8000 grit). Both by Zwilling.
Also not cheap but less expensive than the first set. I have no idea about the practical impact of the different grits. How much more coarse is 250 compared to 400? Is 8000 overkill?

Any help in explaining the pro’s and con’s of both choices as well as alternatives would be more than welcome.
 
#24 ·
Also hadn't read the threads that suggested to start with a cheap carbon steel knife for practice :(

Is the Wusthof steel drastically different than 440A? My practice knife was a CrapCo (bad life decisions, I know) and with a bester 500 and a tendency to press down harder when nervous, I did feel like I took a significant amount of metal from that knife.
 
#26 ·
When I started sharpening I hadn't run across the threads that said 'coarse stones have consequences' and accidentally reprofiled my practice knives...I'm not so sure it's the best idea for a brand new sharpener to use something sub 800-1000 grit.
This can happen... ask me how I know. I have 4 Henkels 4-star paring knives that got re-profiled that way. But I don't think it matters if the knife is carbon or German steel... the most important thing is to do the homework on the principles of sharpening and start with a knife that is relatively expendable, just in case.
 
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