I bought a knife a couple of months ago, a Virtonix, recommended on some cooking website, about $45. When I first got it I put my finger to the blade to see how sharp it was and pressed a little too hard and almost cut myself. It’s not that sharp now. I have what I used to think was a sharpener but found out was a honer, but also have a sharpener, a little one about 3 inches wide with a coarse and fine tracks. I’ve used both. I was watching Gordon Ramsey once and he said you should sharpen the knife every time you use it. Funny thing is, he was using a honer, wonder if he knows the difference?
Anyway, I would not think the honer would cause the knife to be less sharp, but maybe the sharpener I have is the wrong “size”? The knife is still plenty sharp for me; what should I do going forward?
both a steel and your typical “sharpeners” are really just blade straighteners; the cutting edge of a sharp knife will start to fold/bend over pretty quickly. what Ramsey was doing was just straightening out the edge. Real, actual sharpening needs a grinding wheel and set of stones to restore a dull edge.
the key things to keeping a knife sharp are 1) never use a glass cutting board, and 2) never throw a good knife in the sink.
If you looked at the edge of a new blade, it would be a nice, sharp point. But as you use a knife, the leading edge curls back a bit. This is because that leading edge of a sharp knife is so thin that the metal is weaker and bends backwards. The honing steel is used to straighten out that thin part at the leading edge. Watch some videos to learn how to do it properly. Use the the honing steel each time so that the leading edge is at a point.
But as you use the knife over and over, that leading edge wears away. What used to be a fine edge becomes thicker and more blunt. When this happens, the leading edge needs to be ground down so that it is once again a sharp point. You can do it yourself if you have a bit of skill and patience, but most people take their knives to a local knife sharpener. Try to find someone who sharpens knives as their business rather than taking it someplace like a kitchen store where some random cashier uses an automated machine.
Honing the knife will straighten the soft edge of the knife.
Sharpening the knife will ground down the edge so it comes to a point.
You need to buy a whetstone. You can buy them online pretty cheaply. It should have a fine and a coarse side. There are plenty of good YouTube guides on how to use them properly.
I’m not familiar with Virtonix knives but for $45 I can’t imagine it’s made of good quality steel that is able to hold an edge any longer than a few day’s use. It will get dull faster and become more difficult to sharpen as the steel chips away, compared to a better quality steel.
So if you’re happy with your current knife and don’t want to upgrade, you’ll have to keep sharpening it until it wears away.
I have a similar one, it’s still more or less a honing steel meant to straighten out a curled edge. to actually appreciably sharpen a blade you need a whetstone as Fiendish Astronaut said, like this:
Whetstones are a big pain in the ass to use effectively. Not as big a pain in the ass as this site is to use now on mobile, but close. Maybe you can hold a constant edge on a Ouachita stone. I can’t, and I’ve the screwed up knives to prove it.
Use a steel everytime you want to use the knife, for honing. Get a sharpener to reform the edge, every once in awhile. When honing doesn’t work anymore to reestablish the edge. I have a plastic, waterstones, pull the knife through contraption that works meh. Honestly, just cruise Yelp or such, and find someone who knows what they’re doing. The steeling everytime is pretty important though.
Is that meant to say Victorinox? They’re good knives, I have had one of mine for more than 20 years and it still cuts like a dream. But you have to steel the knife every time you use it, like it was your religious ritual.
Can you detail exactly what is the problem here? I place knives in the sink all the time. They typically only touch the sink on the handle and sometimes the tip. I don’t stack a lot of dishes in my sink. I don’t see a problem with this?
Most of the time putting a knife in the sink means that something else is going to hit the edge of the blade and dull it. The same with putting a knife in the dishwasher. Anything which hits the edge is an opportunity to bend the edge back. I’ve also heard you shouldn’t keep the blade wet because the water can affect the metal. If you always immediately wash it and put it away, there’s less chance for something to dull it.
Yeah, Victorinox knives are fine instruments. But you do need to steel them (or any knife) regularly, and sharpen it periodically if you want it to function properly.
The gizmos do an adequate job of keeping them sharp enough for use, although not razor-sharp.
Dishwashers are the big knife edge-killers. So are glass/ceramic cutting surfaces. Putting them in the sink isn’t that big of a deal though. If you get your knife professionally sharpened and hand wash it, I bet you’ll only need to steel it every now and then, and maybe get it sharpened once a year.
that’s true. Stainless steel is rust resistant, not rust-proof. if it’s left in contact with water and anything potentially an electrolyte- or even a dissimilar metal- it will rust.
My best friend’s family business is knife sharpening. Be aware that professional services will remove a lot of the metal to set a new edge. It is not remotely like what you do with a sharpening stone. They use large motorized grinders and honers. Possibly you could ask them to just hone the blade as you don’t really need the angle re-ground.
A SpiderCo Sharpmaker is easy to use and does a pretty good job. Not as good as a whetstone and expert, but pretty good.
've got everything from the Sharpmaker to water cooled slow speed grinding wheels and most of my kitchen knives hit the Sharpmaker several times a week.
Get a whetstone or a decent waterstone, Lee Valley sells King stones, I use the 1000 grit in my kitchen. Sharpening takes a bit of time to learn but once you get the hang of it you will not worry about a knife getting dull. Just pull out the stone, soak it for a couple minutes, spend a couple more putting the edge back on and back to slicing veges.
You can’t ruin a knife by doing it wrong, it just won’t be sharp, ensure you are holding at the correct angle and keep going. Call it practice time
A knife getting dull from use is just how sharp tools work, just like chisels and saw blades. A knife getting dull from careless edge management against other knives, metal etc. is the bane of the knife sharpener.
Once you get good at sharpening stainless, delve into the land of the carbon steel knives and enjoy slicing 24 atoms thick tomato slices just like they do at Pizza Hut.
My knives get sharper and sharper the longer I own them. If yours don’t, you’re doing something wrong, which may include buying the wrong kind of knives. The stainless steel cutlery that’s razor sharp right out of the package is very difficult to sharpen and most people who buy it never get it anywhere close to that sharpness after the first year. I buy knives that are designed to be sharped on a whetstone to a very impressive sharpness. They aren’t stainless. I like the a lot better.
