Personal Knife Sharpening Information

[D & R Sharpening]

Hi everyone,

I was wondering if you folks could help me out with some research I'm doing.

If you would be so kind, could you answer the following questions?

1. How often do you sharpen your knives?

2. What method do you use to do so?

I'm looking for information from anyone and everyone. There is no right or wrong answer here, I just want the facts.

Thanks for helping....

Dave Martell

[francois]

I am a bit obsessive with my knifes.

I use a steel pretty much every time. I harpen them with a stone a couple of times a year.

[Grovite]

I use my steel before I use any of my knives.

As far as sharpening, I know an old man (87 years young!) that uses a whetstone. He charges next to nothing and can sharpen knives better than most of the "Pros" around here. My knives always have a razor sharp edge thanks to this man.

[liv4fud]

did any one of you check out the egci tutorial on sharpening knives ??

[Marlene]

Once a week or so I get my husband to use the steel on my knives. But I really want one of those electric sharpeners.

[chezcherie]

used to visit my knife guy 2x per year. got a spyderco triangle goody for christmas last year...haven't seen cy since. sharpening clickety

[melkor]

I use a steel before each use and I sharpen my knives on a stone when they need it, every few weeks for my cooks knife, every few months for the rest of them.

[oraklet]

honing: like, every second day. f. dick steel.

sharpening: dunno, would be every second month, i guess. very fine grained japanese waterstone.

[Chris Amirault]

Try to hone them every time I use them, but realistically, more like every other time.

I use the Edge Pro system (thanks to the eGCI course above) about every four-six months. It is, without question, one of the best purchases I've ever made of any kind.

[I_call_the_duck]

I use a steel every time I use my knife, and a stone about every nine months. About every other year I get them professionally done.

[jsolomon]

I steel mine with every use, and in 6 years of ownership, it has yet to see a stone.

Nice and sharp, too. I suppose the tip could use a little service, though.

[goldie]

I use my steel before every use. I get most of them professionally sharped once a year and my chef's knife quarterly.

[GSBravo]

I generally give my knives a pass before I use them, which is almost daily.

I have one those "ready made" knife sharpeners, the kind where you just pull the knife through. No muss, no fuss.

[Richard Kilgore]

I use a steel every time I use a knife, and the Spyderco sharpening system as needed...about every six months to a year.

[Octaveman]

For my most used knives, I just make a few light passes on my Shapton 8k stone then a few even lighter passes on my leather hone (thanks to some sharpening guy I know, can't recall his name <wink wink>). I do this on a weekly basis but more often depending on how much I used a particular knife (I have many to play with). I don't let my knives get dull. I have a smooth steel but hardly ever use it.

Cheers,

Bob

Edited October 7, 2005 by Octaveman (log)

[Milagai]

1. How often do you sharpen your knives?

I used to use the "iron" sporadically. My knives were decent to

begin with but got into progressively bad shape.

Now I found a neighborhood kitchen shop that sharpens

them professionally very inexpensive and will use them

frequently in future, and thus have gotten very lazy about the iron....

2. What method do you use to do so?

see above

[dougery]

I use a smooth steel after every use.

Sharpen my knives on two stones (1000 grit and/or 8000 grit water stones) about every one to three months depending on type of knife

Main gyutou once+ a month, santoku once every monthish, honesuki once every monthish etc..

... and according to the info-mercial, my Ginsu never needs to be sharpened!

Edited October 7, 2005 by dougery (log)

[Chris Amirault]

Surely, Dave, you are taking sample bias into account here, yes? No one has yet written the response that most of my family and friends would have had:

1. You need to sharpen them? Don't they stay sharp in the drawer, banging around with the corkscrew and can opener?

2. See #1.

[liv4fud]

there are a couple of more sharpeners which are not as old school as stones available, they are one hand held type. I forgot the other company but home depot in chicagoland carries norton-abrasives one that is similar to that.

some of the chefs that I have talked with use the stones say about once a couple of months, steel every day and the sharpener once a week.

[Darcie B]

Surely, Dave, you are taking sample bias into account here, yes? No one has yet written the response that most of my family and friends would have had:

1. You need to sharpen them? Don't they stay sharp in the drawer, banging around with the corkscrew and can opener?

2. See #1.

←

You forgot "I don't want it to be TOO sharp, I'd cut myself!" (My neighbors refuse to use my knives when we cook together because they are "too sharp.")

I steel mine about every other time I use it and use a two-step waterstone about 2 times a year on the chef's knife and santoku. Steel every other time for others; haven't used a stone on them yet.

[eje]

I use a DMT whetstone fine grit sharpener as needed for all my knives (well, except the serrated ones). Not sure about frequency. Mostly I guess it depends on the type of steel in the knife. Don't sharpen the Wustofs all that often. The stamped chicago cutlery knives get dull pretty fast.

I should get a smooth steel for daily use and some way to sharpen the serrated bread knife. Will have to put that on my birthday list.

-Erik

Edited October 7, 2005 by eje (log)

[JayBassin]

Diamond steel every other day, stone maybe once each year. Look here for eGullet's thread and demo on sharpening.

[jayt90]

I use a 1000x whetstone on the laminated knife, at least once a week.

I use a Sabatier sharpening steel on the Sabatier carbon knives, before use, and they get sharpened on a DMT stone once every two months.

I'm looking at the Lee Valley powered belt sharpener, but I don't think I need it, it's just very convenient.

[redglass]

True Confession: I only sharpen my knife when I can tell it's getting dull- I either take them to my mother's, who has an electric sharpener, or I use a steel, although I confess to not really knowing what I'm doing.

But then again, the only knife I use is a $15 chef's knife from Bed Bath and Beyond. There are some things that I know I should care about, but until I get my hands on some true knives, I'm not going to worry about it.

[jeffZ]

I steel the chef's knife (8" Wustoff) every usage, without fail.

Sharpen on a stone when needed (average, every other month).