Like others, I’ve given up on expensive knives and gone the Victorinox/Forschner route. I recently added a new sharpener to my arsenal, the Chef’s Choice 15 Trizor XV. It takes a standard 20 degree edge and will convert it to a triple bevel 15 degree edge. While there is obviously some material removal in the process, I am using inexpensive knives as noted above.
While the recommendations for the two came years apart, Cook’s Illustrated is to thank for my current setup and it’s working extremely well for me.
Dishwasher detergent is mildly abrasive. This helps get dishes clean, but it’s hard on fine knife egdes. You’re better off cleaning your knives by hand.
It’s already been said here that a steel is for maintaining an edge. For this, a smooth steel is better than a serrated one. Use it frequently and you can go a lot longer between sharpenings. I steel my knives every time I use them.
It used to be the case that carbon steel knives were far superior to stainless. This hasn’t been true for decades. There are stainless alloys that are almost as good as carbon steel at taking and holding an edge. Stainless is easier to care for, and is less prone to transferring flavors from one food to another. I don’t think there’s much reason to prefer carbon steel to stainless these days.
I agree with Mind’s Eye, Watering about the Work Sharp system. It puts a really great edge on a knife with very little work. You do have to be careful not to remove too much metal when using the coarser-grit belts. Also, it’s pretty easy to grind the tip off a knife if you’re not careful.
I have one victorinox and a bunch of hunting knives I’ve inherited or made myself. Always give a few swipes after you use your knife. Keep it safe, clean it straight after use and don’t put it in the dishwasher. Most important is that you don’t let just anyone use it. On my hunting knives I use a wetstone and a leather belt. On my victorinox I use a wetstone and a sharpening iron, but I also had a tabletop sharpener that worked pretty well. I used to live in a collective and no one else were allowed to use the victorinox. I sharpened up a table knife for them to use and I had to go over it every month to keep it sharp. Taking care of knives is pretty easy. Some people just don’t give a damn about it.
I recently sharpened my girlfriends knives. Two cheap knives got a new razor sharp egde. I just know she won’t put in the minimal effort to maintain them…
As a PSA, it’s “whetstone,” not “wetstone.” Whet is a verb that we commonly use with appetite, e.g., “to whet your appetite.” Its meaning is to sharpen or make more acute. A whetstone does this for a blade.
Whetstones can be used dry, and oil used on fine grain stones isn’t technically wet. Ceramic stones are traditionally used dry, although “tradition” only dates back as far as ceramics have existed.
Sorry! In Norway we call it a sharpening stone. I use water. And I’m not a snob, by the way! I prefer a functional, sharp knife over a pretty one.
I’ve started on a “new” knife. The blade was made for me by a friend who’s a blacksmith by trade. The handle is gonna be maple. I bought the piece fourteen years ago. Need to look around for leather to make the sheath. The blade has a convex edge, so I’ve worked it on leather. It’s getting pretty sharp.
The blacksmith friend has promised me to teach me how to make a blade from scratch. I need to make that happen sooner rather than later! The only time I did any “blacksmithing”, was during a sleepless night when we tried to make a spoon into a knife in a fireplace. It did not turn out great.
I’ve got a few santoku knives of different sizes (from 4" to I think 10") where the handle is the same metal as the blade (love these!), a big heavy Chinese cleaver, and a cheap mini cleaver…thing that is all that remains of some crap I bought off of late night tv a decade ago (I use it mostly for mincing herbs and as a bench knife).
I don’t use a sharpening steel. I’ve got a double sided (wet) whetstone that I use every other month or so, with maybe a few swipes in between. Thisis roughly my technique, and similar stones.
P.S. Worst cut I got in recent years was right after I learned how to get a good edge on my santoku, and I was showing off on a tomato. It was a nice clean cut, though!