And if so, why?
Thanks,
Rob
Its not so much they are bad as they dont do a good job. Im assuming you are talking about the sharpeners with two pieces of carbide or two ceramic wheels. They have a bevel angle that is way too coarse for a kitchen knife. Also they remove a fair bit of steel and change (for the worse) whatever bevel you have.
Look at your knife and right at the sharp edge you will see a area where the edge angles towards the sharp bit. that is the bevel angle. (I am talking about one angle not both added together) The angle varies as per type and use of a knife. a axe would be about about 38 degrees, a heavy hunting knife about 30, a big kitchen knife about 25, a boning knife about 20. I maintain a 17 degree angle on my Japanese single bevel vege knife. It will cut a ripe tomato using just the weight of the blade. You can see that a 35 or 38 degree angle on your prize high carbon ice tempered while virgins danced around it knife just wont cut it… heh! So either get a decent sharpening kit like this one http://www.knivesplus.com/gatco-ga-10004.html or take them to a reputable sharpening place. Once you get used to a sharp knife you will be abe to abide using a dull knife. The interesting thing is I have had red seal chefs brag that they almost never sharpen their knives beacuse “the quality of the knife is so high”. These knives are so dull I can only assume they are just used to it!
The sharpening system linked to will do a fine job. But be careful because you are pushing the stone toward the blade that you’re working on. I’ve used one for some time with no accidents. Mine was a Lansky and I had a holderthat clamped on the edge of a table and held everything in place while you worked. See the top of the linked page if interested.
What about electric sharpeners? I have one sitting in a box, I don’t know how it works. I haven’t gotten around too using it yet.
The V style sharpener usually has a very high angle to the edge…imagine the corner of a wall. Hand sharpening leaves a much lower angle to the edge, imagine the tip of a typical pen.
The high angle edge is easy to do, but it loses sharpness nearly immediately, thus requiring it to be sharpened again every few minutes or at least once per hour. A low angle edge is usually good for a long time, maybe a day or two, and much longer if you use a sharpening steel to keep the edge straight.
Sharpening takes metal off the knife, so the more you sharpen it the faster it wears out. I’ve seen cutting knives that looked like steak knives.
What’s a reputable sharpening place? I’ve heard that some supermarket butchers do it, but that they take off so much metal it’s not worth it. Who ya gonna call? Is there an online service? I’m sure there must be, but wouldn’t jamming a knife into the USB port be hazardous? (No, really, any sites that you can ship knives off to for sharpening?)
If you’re in Chicago, Northwest Cutlery does an excelent job (one of the best knives I have is a $10 slicer I bought there).
I have mostly forged knives and a sharpening at Northwest will last at least 6 months as long as I keep the knives clean and use a steel after each use (and store them properly of course), and I cook a lot. Plus I think it’s something like 3 bucks a knife
Look on boards like Chowhound for your area to get recs.
The small fixed metal or disk-type sharpener will gouge metal out of a knife.
I use ceramic rods for a 2 angle edge using this. It will put down an edge capable of comfortably shaving the hair on your arm.