A theory of whetstones

[Edward J]

Many professionals use "belt sanders" or some form of motorized abrasive to establish a new bevel on the blade. This is rapid metal removal,a.k.a "Grinding", and it doesn't matter if it is done with a belt sander, a motorized grind stone, or any othter abrasive. It should be noted that a motorized abrasive has the opportunity to overheat the metal, and this can be avoided by dipping the item in water, using water cooled stones, slow speeds, etc.

I have a 1" "belt sander" at home, and use this for, you guessed it, rapid metal removal primarily for establishing new bevels, reshaping broken blades, etc.

Some of the virtues of 1" belt sanders are:

-The belts can be changed very quickly.

-The belts come in many grits, some as fine as 2 microns (3M abrasives).

-Belts are comparitevly cheap--$3-$8 as compared to much higher priced wheels or stones

-A leather strop can be subsituted for a belt--which is what I have, charged with Lee Valley green honing paste

-The belts don't "shrink" as 6" or 8" wheels do with use, and don't produce a "hollow grind".

There's a saying that " All's fair in love and war" and for sharpeners, whatever abrasive or technique works, works.

[paulraphael]

Many professionals use "belt sanders" or some form of motorized abrasive to establish a new bevel on the blade.

That's true. And some will use it even for the final sharpening, on certain knives. Last I spoke with him, Dave Martell at japaneseknifesharpening.com uses a belt sander and nothing else on European stainless knives and on Globals. On Japanese knives with better steels, I don't know whether or not he uses the sander for reprofiling and repairs. But on these knives he does the regular sharpening and polishing on a long succession of waterstones.

I had him do some work (repair damage and grind down the bolster) on my German Schaaf chef's knife. He did the whole thing on the sander and the work was perfect. As good as can be expected for that type of steel and for the kind of abuse I give the knife.

[Chef Hermes Blog]

Still have the golbal whetstone & holder bought 20 years ago, have gone through several makes of knives but now moving towards the japanese style with MAC, Shun & Kin in the current collection. It's fine to put an edge on but to get that razor sharpness just finish with a very fine steel.

Cant recommend anything that drags the knife through rollers or anything else.

[paulraphael]

If a steel is improving an edge after you've sharpened on stones, then it's working by deburring. It's the only way that a steel could improve a freshly sharpened and polished edge. And there are better ways to deburr. Knives that past a certain hardness or that are sharpened more accutely than a certain angle will actually be damaged by steeling, so I'm not a big fan of the steel for my better knives. I'd rather use something like cork or felt for deburring, and a strop for touch ups between sharpening sessions.

[qrn]

for my boning?meat cutting knives I use a very course stone so I get an edge that has some grain/tooth to it,

seems to cut meat much easier than a smooth, tho sharper edge...

Bud

[paulraphael]

for my boning?meat cutting knives I use a very course stone so I get an edge that has some grain/tooth to it,

seems to cut meat much easier than a smooth, tho sharper edge...

Some people disagree with me on this, but my limited experience playing around with grits suggests that sharpening to somewhere between 4000 and 6000 grit gets into a nowhere-land where the blade doesn't have enough tooth to be aggressive, and doesn't have enough polish to be refined ... so it does't do a great job at anything. But once you take above 8000, to a mirror finish, the blade starts slipping through the food.

That said, my boning knife is a cheap forschner, sharpened to 1K or 2K, and banged into shape on a steel. It gets used around bones (and for cutting sandwiches, opening packages, etc) so it needs to take abuse without a lot of fuss.

[Edward J]

I know and have worked with guys who were professional meat cutters--guys who would do nothing other than making 3 or 4 cuts on the same primal cut for hours on end. Thier preferance was to have as highly polished knife surface as possible--minimum 8000 grit and better.

Why?

The more "tooth" the blade has, the more resistance it has, and for cutting meat hours on end, this translates into more effort. Also, the higher polished the edge is, the longer the edge lasts, and those guys didn't want to stop and get a fresh knife every couple of hours, they wanted the edge to last 8 hrs.

[Dakki]

My experience is also that a highly polished edge lasts longer, but that could just be my imagination.

[paulraphael]

My experience is also that a highly polished edge lasts longer, but that could just be my imagination.

I've heard that a lot ... the theory is that a polished edge doesn't have spindly, unsupported teeth that bend or break easily. Seems plausible to me but I wouldn't know how to test it in a meaningful way.

On the other hand, knives made from softer steels don't stay sharp long no matter what, so they may do better with a toothy edge. An aggressive edge can cut reasonably well even when it's lost much of its sharpness. This is why few people bother to go past 2K or so on German knives.