How far are you from Las Cruces? I was there for Thanksgiving, ans I wish I had brought the sharpener.

The stone comes first.

The steel is used to maintain the edge by straightening out areas that are sharp but have been bent out of alignment. It isn't able to make a dull edge sharp. The grooved steels, if used hard enough, can create a sort of fake sharpness by tearing up the edge into jaggies that cut effectively but wear away quickly.

I steel my knives after every use. I don't use it like the usual guides recommend.

Interesting. I may try this technique. I really need to get my wife a different set of knives...

The custom when giving knives as a present is to include some money - like a nickel. The recipient uses this money to "pay" you, thus making it a purchase not a gift. This is in the West, not sure about the East.

The Cruces is muy south of here. You missed us by 300 miles, but next time we'll grind some stuff for beer or champagne...

mj

Do you sharpen your Shun with it? Shuns are sharpened to 15-16 deg., German knives, 20-25 deg.

Found this interesting page when I was looking up the angles:

Knife sharpening: Coin Trick & Magic Angle Finder | An Edge in the Kitchen

James, try using the steel this way:
- Take a knife that is nice and sharp, use it for a couple of days' worth of meal prep.
- Place the steel flat on the counter. Place the knife blade flat on the steel. Slide the blade gently along the steel, so that steel moves from tip to heel of the blade as the blade moves from tip to heel of the steel (or the other way around, doesn't matter). Feel for any slight resistance. That is a spot where the edge has been bent pretty far out of alignment. You've found a spot that looks like

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1263158545.jpg

- Gently work that part of the edge over the steel until the resistance goes away. Keep the blade flat on the steel. Experiment with moving the blade forward, backward, etc.
- Flip blade over and repeat with other side.
- Then increase the angle between blade and steel slightly, to maybe 5-10 degrees. Repeat feeling for resistance and working those spots, gently, on both sides.
- Increase angle again, repeat, until you are at the same angle to which the bevel was ground. With your machine, I'm guessing 20 degrees?
- Finally, move edge to the little band of smooth (ungrooved) steel (if it exists, it'll be right at the hilt) and slide the edge along that, gently, a couple of times per side.

This method avoids pressing the edge too hard on the steel and tearing it up, which is a risk with the traditional butcher's method. I don't know if it will work any better than stage 3 on your machine.

Strange. This is news to me. I have always sharpened all of my knives the same. (every month or so with the sharpener and steel + almost every use with the steel) Never thought about angles—but just hold the steel the way I was taught in a knife-skills class years ago.

I haven't sharpened the Shun yet. It hasn't seen any really hard use—unlike the others. As I said, I don't like the handle.

The Victorinox Forschner chef's knives are the chef's knife used by the Cooks Illustrated testing kitchen. Incredbile bargain.

I'm digging the pics of Shuns... My wife and I own three and I lust for more!

That's the way I do it too. I never did learn how to use a steel in the traditional manner used by professional cooks and butchers to my satisfaction. This method works well for me and is much kinder to the blade.

..

Quite possibly I bought a wrong handed one.

So what's "right" and "left" in Japanese???

Possibly? Easy to check - the handles are bulging triangles in cross section; thumb on one bulging side, apex across the bend of your fingers as you grasp it.

Same as in English; "left" is side heart is on.

I'm too stupid to understand this. But what are yours in the first picture? If they're right handed, then so is mine (they're the same).

BTW David, the Shuns are lovely, and I did not intend to rubbish them in any way. They're so beautiful, that they're worth having around in any event. And if you like working with them—brilliant!

I just love that big Wuesthof. As a side note, that's also the knife I instinctively reach for whenever my MIL sets foot in the house.

Mine are RH Mark, but it's hard to tell from that pic. This quick & dirty Photoshop pic of my Santoku shows it better (altered knife w/sloppily aligned blade on left):

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1263180179.jpg

I thought I was the only one who would go to people's houses for dinner and sharpen their knives for them.

A few months ago, we stayed w/ some old friends in LA. They are in their 60s, total foodies, three ranges and a big refrigerated wine cellar built into the garage, cook excellently and a LOT and give dinner parties all the time, etc etc.

Over the years they've accumulated tons of kitchen knives - I mean 40+ chefs and slicers, I'm not counting the little paring and bread and cheese and utility and steak knives and whatnot. Everything from old stained and nicked carbon steel butchers knives that look like scimitars, to some very nice Japanese knives, and dozens of German blades.

But - here's the horror - they throw all but a few of those knives in some drawers where they rattle around on each other and so they are all dull as hell. Even the beautiful Japanese ones, which they received as gifts and never used (he's left-handed and had been given right-handed knives).

I was bored, nothing to do, so I went out, bought a couple of stones, and set about sharpening their knives. I sharpened about 35 knives before we left. It was an interesting way to compare lots of different blades at one time, by sharpening them all on the same stones in about the same amount of time.

What I found - most of this isn't a surprise, it was just nice to confirm it - was:
- Those old butchers' carbon steel blades sure do sharpen easily and get sharp as hell too. Don't know how long they hold the edge but who cares, it is so easy.
- Some of the stainless knives were a pain to sharpen, while some were not too bad. I didn't find any particular correlation to brand.
- The Japanese blades got the sharpest of them all. Scary sharp. Even though what I was doing would have been called butchery by a real Japanese knife aficionado.
- The long flexible slicers are a real pain to sharpen. The blade flexes and it is hard to apply even or sufficient pressure. I figured out how to keep my fingers on the stone, pressing down on the blade as it slides between fingers and stone, it helps if your fingers are oiled.

Those knives are probably all dull again now. Except the Japanese ones - I oiled those blades, wrapped them in paper, and put them at the back of the drawers.

Next time I visit them, I'll give them one of those knife sharpening machines as a present.

For all the Knifeholics
 

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1263193937.jpg

T9