DYELK

[Gavin]

FYI - once you let a blade go past a certain point of bluntness you won't get it back with a steel - you need to sharpen again on a grinding stone and then use the steel/honing blade to keep it sharp.
On the same subject - sharpeners, steels and honing blades.
A steel isn't really sharpening your knife, it's straightening out the various little bends and dinks at a microscopic level on the very edge of the blade. It has a very mildly abrasive effect but its essentially negligible.
A honing blade is like a fine grade wet and dry. It's effect is primarily abrasive i.e. wearing away imperfections in the blades edge, and to a limited extent reshaping the cutting edge.
Domestic sharpeners (especially the "drag through" kind) are more like a rough grit sand paper are are primarily for shaping the cutting edge. Mostly, they have an arbitrary angle (not necessarily suited to a particular knife) and only shape the first mm/couple of mm. They also leave quite a rough edge (well, rough is precision knife terms). The combination of a poor angle and a rough hone means that a blade won't stay sharp for long.
If you want your knives sharp, you need to "sharpen" (i.e. shape) the blade, then hone it (smooth out the imperfections left by the sharpener) - ideally with progressively finer grit hones. If you've done it right, you'll have a cutting edge only a few micros thick, which is of course very easy to create lots of tiny bends into when you use it, so you use the steel/honing blade to straighten them back out again. Maintenance is far far better than repair - once your blade is properly dull, you need to remove quite a lot of material to get back to a sharp edge again.

Oh, and Sabatier isn't a brand, it's a generic moniker that can be put on anything to make it sound better. It used to indicate that knives were forged (as opposed to pressed), but I don't think there's even that stipulation any more. There are good Sabatiers out there, but there are also very cheap shite knives that add the name purely for marketing purposes.

Hmm, well there you go. I was clearing out my Uncle's cutlery drawer and had already binned a fair bit of what turned out to be silver (not been cleaned in decades) when my Mum said "oo a sebatier, keep that" and I almost never use it. I did once get told that if you get a knife of someone it will have been shaped by them so hard for someone else to sharpen/hone it up properly without presumably grinding it right down a bit more.

[McSwede]

I don't seem to be able to sharpen a knife to save my life.

I'm the same and my wife is brutal on kitchen knives she literally will use them for cutting anything.

I've probably bought at least a dozen knives over the last 10 years.

I'm going to get a 3 stage electric sharpener from Chefs Choice to see if I can revive the 5 mixed knives I use.

I've got one of these but paid nowhere near that much for it. https://ioshen.co.uk/product/knife-wiza ... 9091796875

Fantastic at maintaining a 15deg cutting edge and keeping my set super sharp with just a couple of swipes on the fine wheel..

[tim]

It's one of these I have

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00 ... UTF8&psc=1

I did have a full set of global knives, but like everything else of any value it was assimilated by The Borg 5 years ago.

[Jobbo]

I have a set of Robert Welch knives. They’re not a fancy design but they are beautifully balanced and after 9 years of use they’re not showing any signs of becoming permanently dulled.

That name rang a bell so I checked mine, and I have a pair of his knives. I still keep them in the box too, hence they only come out for special occasions

I like some of his table cutlery - though some of it is over-designed. My kitchen knives look quite normal; the ones he sells now have a slightly over-designed handle. So I think (hope) the ones I have are pretty decent as knives because they're not just fashionable. Who knows; turns out they're a bit cheaper than I'd thought. And out of a set of 6, I really only use 2 regularly and the breadknife occasionally, so buying just what you'd use strikes me as the better way to go.

What's the best way of storing knives? Mine are in a simple wooden block with slots; I guess the wood is soft enough compared to steel not to blunt the blades simply putting them back in. I've never been a fan of those magnetic strips on the wall.

[JonMad]

Having just got some new knives for Christmas I should probably look after them. Can't remember the brand, I don't think they were massively expensive - something from Robert Dyas I believe, but they're ok (currently).

[ZedLeg]

we've ended up with a mixed collection of knives. Some Globals that my missus likes, some Wustofs because I like a bit more heft and a bunch of Procook and cheapy supermarket ones.

The Globals mostly live at her work now, until they need sharpened and then they come home .

[Beany]

Amazed this guy hasn't come up yet...



The videos are quite strange and surreal and strangely calming. I watched quite a few of them.

Basically, you can make any edge (of any material) sharp as a razor if you have a decent set of ceramic whetstones, the knowledge to use them, and some patience.

Me? I just buy a cheap set of knifes once a year. I mean, they're fifteen quid a pop for a reasonably usable set and I'm too lazy to look after them properly so I don't bother.

[JonMad]

Having just got some new knives for Christmas I should probably look after them. Can't remember the brand, I don't think they were massively expensive - something from Robert Dyas I believe, but they're ok (currently).

these are our new ones.

[Barry]

I have a set of Robert Welch knives. They’re not a fancy design but they are beautifully balanced and after 9 years of use they’re not showing any signs of becoming permanently dulled.

That name rang a bell so I checked mine, and I have a pair of his knives. I still keep them in the box too, hence they only come out for special occasions

I like some of his table cutlery - though some of it is over-designed. My kitchen knives look quite normal; the ones he sells now have a slightly over-designed handle. So I think (hope) the ones I have are pretty decent as knives because they're not just fashionable. Who knows; turns out they're a bit cheaper than I'd thought. And out of a set of 6, I really only use 2 regularly and the breadknife occasionally, so buying just what you'd use strikes me as the better way to go.

What's the best way of storing knives? Mine are in a simple wooden block with slots; I guess the wood is soft enough compared to steel not to blunt the blades simply putting them back in. I've never been a fan of those magnetic strips on the wall.

I have a basic set of knives that suffice for daily stuff, so I keep the Welsh knives in their boxes. My cheap knives live in a wooden block but I tend to run them in upside down just in case etc.

[unzippy]

I can recommend these if you want to keep them in the drawer -

[mik]

Well that took rather longer than expected. The trip from Japan to the UK was quick, but it then got lost in the Royal Mail network for 3 weeks.

As expected - had to pay £15 customs fees (£8 of which was the Royal Mail fixed fee)

However - it is absolutely lovely.

Very comfortable, ideal size; and brushing it against your arm shaves you like a cut-throat razor. Hence it glides through everything like butter.

However. I NOW NEED MORE THINGS TO PLAY CHOP-UP WITH!

[McSwede]

That is lovely. Can't beat a new sharp knife and finding things to slice in the kitchen

[dinny_g]

Make soup...

[mik]

Did a back-to-back earlier with a (crap) knife I sharpened 2 weeks ago with a diamond stone, then honed with a whetstone. The difference was really quite remarkable. New knife be aaesume.

[mik]

All that said, the Tojiro R2s in your link could generate enough irrational desire to justify yet another purchase

Yes - they look epic. So.......?

[Richard]

Need to get a couple of mine professionally edged and sharpened again. Not sure where does that though

[mik]

Ask your butcher?

[Rich B]

Ask your butcher?

make sure it’s a local butcher though.

[KiwiDave]

I bought some while we were in Japan for our honeymoon.

How did you go with that getting through customs etc?

[unzippy]

I bought some while we were in Japan for our honeymoon.

How did you go with that getting through customs etc?

Packed them in the hold luggage, no bother.