Seeking Specific Knife Sharpening Advice

[Porthos]

I recently bought this very used Dexter S29114 knife, which I assume is a cheese slicing knife, at a thrift store. Cheese slicing in my ren faire kitchen will be its intended use.

 

I have a question about sharpening. I sharpen all of the knives for my ren faire kitchen to an 18/18 degree angle. For some reason that seems like it might be a bit more acute than it should be for cheese slicing. Does 18/18 make sense or should I go 21/21 or something else? This knife will be used by volunteers, not professional cooks.

 

[daveb]

For a cheese knife I would establish more of a chisel edge than a synchronous one. 

20ish degree on the fall away side and almost flat on the back side.  This will provide a sharper, robust edge with better food release.

 

Ensure that blade is also thin behind edge or it will be a wedge monster on med to hard cheeses.

 

The 1st thing  I do when restoring a vintage knife is send it off for professional thinning (life is to short for me to do this myself)  Sam at Buttermilk Supply is my current vendor of choice.  He can also put a good edge on knife so that it only needs to be maintained.

 

I was told early on that a consistent edge is much more important than any absolute angle.

 

Good luck and pls update.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 22, 2016 by daveb (log)

[Porthos]

daveb, thank you for your response. Since I am unemployed pursuing professional thinning would be a prohibitive luxury at the moment. Since I am no so much about restoring this as a vintage knife as I am about making this knife useful in my ref faire kitchen I will be doing all the work myself. It looks like I will be spending a bit of time with the 220 stone on my EdgePro for the basic reshaping. Time I have.

[paulraphael]

For cheese, the edge really doesn't matter much. It's helpful to have a fairly robust edge, as Dave suggests, because cheese can be tough and grabby and can damage a very thin edge. But almost all of the resistance you feel when cutting is friction with the side of the blade. That's why shavers and wires work so well ... very little surface area. With any standard blade, and a tough block of cheese, you end up using force. That's why that knife has a handle on both ends. So you can lean on the thing. Sharpening might help a little if it's very dull, but I wouldn't sweat the details.

[daveb]

10 hours ago, paulraphael said:

For cheese, the edge really doesn't matter much. It's helpful to have a fairly robust edgel.... But almost all of the resistance you feel when cutting is friction.... Sharpening might help a little if it's very dull, but I wouldn't sweat the details.

Can't argue with the "edge" being less important for cheese than other applications.  But the "details" I suggested are to optimize the geometry of the blade for cutting cheese.  Thin the blade.  Thin behind the edge.  Blend the edge into the blade. Sharpen to a chisel or asymmetric edge.  This will result in a better cutter with better food release (and reduce friction).  And having done that, may as well make it sharp.

 

Looking at the knife it appears to have been a pizza cutter in a previous life.  The blade under the helper handle could not be used on a tall product.

[Porthos]

daveb, yes, I have found out since this post that it is a pizza cutter. I do think it will serve my needs with cheese well, however. I will know in a few weeks.

[paulraphael]

I'm not convinced that a thin blade makes a huge difference. If you're trying to cut thick slices from a wheel of cheese that's so stiff that it will actually wedge the knife, then yeah, it probably will. But for most cheese cutting I don't feel much difference between a very thin gyuto or fillet knife and a fat German knife.

[Porthos]

This knife will be used (where a chef's knife has been used in the past) to cut 2 lb chunks of cheese into "cocktail party" cubes. We cube 8 lbs of cheese each weekend morning during run of faire to put on cheese platters. The rest of the year the knife will be stored away. I like the idea of being able to use both hands to do the job; that was the reason the knife appealed to me.

[paulraphael]

Before reshaping the edge, why not compare its performance to a thin sharp knife you already have? See if the the thinner one requires significantly less force. If it does, compare that one to a sharp knife that has a fat blade. You can see which if any of these factors makes a difference, and potentially save yourself some trouble.

[AlaMoi]

I would be leery of the chisel edge suggestion.  the chisel tends to "steer" the knife. 

given (1) used by non-professionals and (2) on blocks of cheese, it may not produce "straight cuts" / results of expectation.

fwiw.

[daveb]

@Porthos. Sounds like a fun project to optimize the knife.  Some friends are into a local ren faire here and it's a highlight of their year. 

 

Have fun and post pics.