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Scribe a Line Kitchen Knife Sharpening

Angles to sharpen a kitchen knife

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Eddie25/07/2011 11:34:53
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56 forum posts
Hi
It seem this is a problem all over.
as the knife is a cutting tool like a lathe tool, drill or any other tool to cut with, there are angles that form a guide to sharpen it to.
If the blade profile is parallel and not to thick, I grind in to 5 degrees on both sides 10 degree incluse angle, the blade is set to cut onto the stone, grinding it withe the sharp edge facing the grinder, this is also done on the oilstone during touch-up. if the blade has a wedge shaped profile or a thick blade a secondary angle is grinded at 15 to 20 degree include angle. with the primary grinded at 10 degree include angle. I sharpen the knifes on a water wheel for the final sharpening. Rough sharpeming of the primary angle is done on the belt. The blade must not be polished to a fine edge.
There are on thing that dull a sharp knife quick, and that is heat, from sharpening to washing. No knife is Dishwaher safe. Wash it by hand in luke warm water. This also apply to razor blades.
Eddie.
Bogstandard25/07/2011 12:17:19
263 forum posts
I occasionally use my Sharpenset for lapping my knives, but it also gets used for bevel edging small pieces of glass, as well as lapping HSS cutting tools, including replaceable carbide tips.
 
NJH25/07/2011 12:37:19
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2314 forum posts
139 photos
Hi Eddie
 
...."This also apply to razor blades."
 
I haven't done razor blades for about 35 years and I think therefore that I must have saved 10 min. each day of those years. If only I could have used this time on some worthwhile workshop project just think what I could have achieved !
 
Interesting info. on knife sharpening - thanks
 
Norman
Richard Parsons25/07/2011 13:21:20
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645 forum posts
33 photos

I know the feeling. My SWAMBO was always complaints about ‘Lack of Sharpness’. You will find the cure in Model Engineer Vol 203 No 4362 (9-22nd October 2009). She was delighted with the thing.


The 4 or so I have made so far since they are all going strong.


The problem of backing off only occurs once a year and I use a coarse ‘Stone’ cutting Diamond disk in a modified small angle grinder. This is fitted to the guard and gives an angle of 6° to the face of stone (174° angle. The diamond stone cutters is a little thin and it is backed up by a 6mm steel disk this prevents the disk ‘flexing’.


Regards


Dick

John McNamara25/07/2011 15:02:21
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1377 forum posts
133 photos
Hi All

At the risk of being accused of insurrection against the knife wielding fraternity in this forum, I am going to suggest that the solution lies not in the quality of the knife but the methodology of knife management.

I always admire the highly finished knives I see from time to time in shop windows, the brilliantly ground and honed blades and the black as ebony handles with shiny inlet rivets. In fact I own one, but prefer not to use it.

Instead around our house we use the cheap, many would say nasty stainless steel kitchen knives you pick up at the supermarket, they have a nicely formed molded on handle with no rivets and normally cost a few dollars. Ideally get Japanese made, the steel is harder and you get a keener edge.

By now you must be thinking I must have finished off that bottle of red a little too quicklyJ; not so.

All carving knives in the drawer in our house are very sharp and will shave hair. They are kept that way with two tools. Firstly a small (fine grain) silicon carbide sharpening stone it’s about an inch wide, 4 inches long and about 3/8 thick sometimes called a pocket stone. However it is mounted on a short handle with a raised stop to protect the user in case the knife slips into the user’s hand while sharpening. It is held the same way as a steel. I actually bought it that way in Bali a couple of decades ago; the locals use them for their woodcarving tools. However it would be quite easy to glue a locally made stone on a timber handle. My stone is now quite concave and the edges are rounded through 20 years use. The rounding makes it even better than new.

The other tool being a butcher’s knife sharpening steel.
They both live in the drawer with the knives.

Every time I use a knife I give it a few strokes each side, held almost flat, on the stone dry, yes you will put a few scratches on the mirror polish back, next follow up with the steel. Thirty seconds work. If you are lucky enough to have a reall butcher, notice how the butcher always gives the knife a few strokes before he cuts off your portion.

These knives are only about 1.6mm thick. You can get them in half a dozen blade depths and lengths. They actually get better after you have stoned and steeled them as the edge normally hollow ground when new is relatively blunt at the cutting tip, after a while that works down to a very thin wedge. Well under 10 degrees included. Being thin itself it will cut very thinly if required, even fresh bread does not break up. I do have a slightly heaver one for chopping.  

I have never ever used a powered grindstone to sharpen a knife, a sure way to destroy the temper. And they get thrown in the dishwasher every day. The only other caveat is to warn you partner how sharp they are.

Cheers
John

Edited By John McNamara on 25/07/2011 15:13:55

alan frost27/07/2011 00:16:51
137 forum posts
3 photos
Relevant to sharp knives. I have recently purchased I think from Aldi (could have been Lidl ) 1/ a couple of ceramic kitchen knives. If you want to face demands from your beloved for extra "husbandly duties " get her a couple next time they come up but warn her they are more brittle than steel ones. You only have to show them to the toughest vegetables ,for the vegetables to fall into neat, impossibly thin slices.
2/ A damascene steel knife from Aldi. I always fancied a good Japanese sword for use as an incentive when visiting bank officials , but could never afford a good one (the sword that is, there is no such thing as a good bank official ). I could try making one (a Japanese sword that is, no-one in their right mind would make a bank official) .
 
Making one I'm told involves years of purification , and ingredients like 3 gallons of dew collected by a twenty year old virgin (for quenching -- the steel ,not the virgin  .)  In my neck of the woods ,given time one could collect that much dew , but where would I find the collector ? Yes, I know condensed dragon's breath makes an adequate substitute , but that's only slightly easier to find than the virgin. Anyway the Aldi knife is pretty good , you can see all the layers of steel in the blade ,and I hardly dare use it its so damned sharp. I plan to show them both to a turnip tomorrow to see which one , ceramic or damascene , frightens it most.

Edited By alan frost on 27/07/2011 00:20:11

KWIL27/07/2011 14:44:00
3681 forum posts
70 photos
I use the same DMT diamond plates that I sharpen chisels on, to sharpen the kitchen knives, it produces such a keen edge I have to issue a beware sharp knives warning.

Edited By KWIL on 27/07/2011 14:44:56

The Merry Miller27/07/2011 17:33:26
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484 forum posts
97 photos
For years now I have been using the Chantry knife sharpener on my wife's Robert Welch knives.
I can highly recommend it , no mess, no fuss razor sharp in just a few strokes. It's a delight to use.
 
http://www.lakeland.co.uk/1888/Chantry-Knife-Sharpener?src=gpute
mick27/07/2011 18:23:18
421 forum posts
49 photos
although I own various oil stones and diamond laps, not to mention an off hand grinder, the only knife I use on a regular basis is the carving knife on Sundays and like my father before me I sharpen it on the back door step before I start carving the roast, it cuts like a dream.
Mike28/07/2011 12:30:30
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713 forum posts
6 photos
My grandad sharpened so many knives, chisels and plane blades on the back doorstep that eventually there was a definite dip in the middle of it. That was in the good old days when doorsteps were made of fine-grained stone. Most modern ones seem to be cast concrete, which is no good. I use a diamond-faced sharpener - about £6 from Lidl for a pack containing coarse, medium and fine grades. The medium one is best for knives - leaves a very slightly rough edge, which a deerstalker friend tells me is ideal.

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