Buying Global, will I need more stuff?

[Jfd986]

I tried maybe 8 knives in the last week or two before settling on the global G-46. Amazon hates me. Anyway, I have thus far "gotten by" for sharpening my cheapo free kitchen knives with a ceramic rod from Ikea for pre-use honing and this thing here for reprofiling (https://www.amazon.ca/Premium-Sharpening-Waterstone-Whetstone-Sharpener/dp/B01FZZUL30)

I honestly really did try looking my question up, and found a bunch of posts about non-even edge and single bevel and sharpening with sandpaper or diamond. I just wanted to know, let's say I use the stone I currently have (and let's say I even out the stone with idk a coarser stone or the pavement, so that it's in good working order) and let's say I only try to sharpen the thing when I've mastered this approach of:

Trailing strokes at the original angle 1000, deburring with leading strokes elevated angle 1000, then original angle 1000 trailing to clear the micro bevel, then polish with elevated angle passes 6000, then strop at original angle 6000

1)Will that procedure and the whetstone I have likely suffice for reprofiling? I know I won't get the same edge as the factory gets, I heard that's impossible to do unless you have the right equipment and training that they have, and I've accepted that my knife will be sharpest when out of the box, I just wanna know if I'll be "missing out on a lot" if I stay with my current gear, or if I'll be "just fine" with it.

2) Will I be able to use my ceramic Ikea rod to hone the knife daily before use or is there something blatantly wrong about honing a Japanese knife? (that I tried to research,but couldn't verify as to whether or not it applies to a Global)

EDIT: I found a video where Global says you can hone their knives with their honing rod. Would mine be "just fine" or do I need a specific rod ?

3) I know I'm not supposed to rock chop with Japanese knives...but can I rock chop a little? To mince cilantro or garlic?

 

[Craig James]

Wow, lots of questions... let’s try and answer them.

• There is absolutely not reason why you shouldn’t get the same keenness on your knife as received from the factory or better. This is obviously a question of technique and practise there are a huge amount of posts on this forum that will help you get started. Bgentry’s secrets of sharpening is a great place to start (sticky in this forum).
• I’d avoid all the unbranded crap you see on Amazon and go for a King for a stone in the range you have suggested as a starter. In reality the 1000 is a great stone for maintaining an already sharp edge. Don’t try to do too much work on the 6000 side until you have mastered the 1000. Remember that if your knife isn’t sharp off the 1000 then rubbing it endlessly on the 6000 isn’t going to change that. There will be a point when a lower grit stone will be useful to have, especially when you try to sharpen knives that have been abused and have a very rounded apex. The issue with learning to sharpen on a 1000 stone is that at the outset it can be difficult for the beginner to identify what will be a very small burr.
• Your ceramic rod should work fine and you certainly don’t need a global branded one. The rod will both realign the apex and remove small amounts of metal. There will become a point where the apex will become fatigued/damaged and it will need to be put on the stone to sharpen it, I.e reset the apex.
• There is no issue with rock chopping a Japanese knife, your not going to hurt it. The main reason to avoid this is that a typical Japanese profile is not optimised for this particular action where as a European chefs knife with a long curved belly is.

Good luck! Be prepared for an initially frustrating sharpening journey as all fave when starting. To minimise this really try to understand the theory behind it first and your technique will follow with practise.

 

[Ourorboros]

Well people do get much better edges than the factory gave. No reason why you can't. You've heard wrong from people who accept their own mediocrity.
If you have a good whetstone and practice, you can get there. Shouldn't even be a year.
Now whether or not that stone can do it is another issue.

Reprofiling is easier if you have a decent coarse stone. You could do it with extremely fine abrasives, but there are times in life when stepping on the gas is just the right way to go.

I think you'll get more consistent and faster results with a scrubbing motion (edge leading-trailing-leading-etc) than just trailing.

Yes you can rock chop. Globals first became popular with chefs and those guys rock chop all day. If you move up in the knife world and get something harder it wouldn't be ideal, but you can.

I don't know if that is a good stone or not. Even if the abrasives are the size stated, it may not have that much. I'm also not inclined to try one and find out.
But you will need something to keep it flat. Even if your eyes tell you a stone is flat, it may be bowed out enough to affect your sharpening.

If you have the time, I think it will be better to strop on the fine side of your stone, if only for consistency of angle.

 

[Rhinoknives1]

When you get your new Global. Take an old leather belt. And strop With trailing strokes each side for about 20 minutes. Working one side then the other side for five min intervals. This will de burr & polish your edge. Do this often, like every few days and you won’t have to sharpen nearly as often. Also. Ditch the plastic cutting boards. They are brutal on edges and your eating the plastic . Get a wooden cutting board, Ash, Maple, Walnut just like your grand parents have/had. Stay safe & have fun!

 

[Jfd986]

Well people do get much better edges than the factory gave. No reason why you can't. You've heard wrong from people who accept their own mediocrity.
If you have a good whetstone and practice, you can get there. Shouldn't even be a year.
Now whether or not that stone can do it is another issue.

Reprofiling is easier if you have a decent coarse stone. You could do it with extremely fine abrasives, but there are times in life when stepping on the gas is just the right way to go.

I think you'll get more consistent and faster results with a scrubbing motion (edge leading-trailing-leading-etc) than just trailing.

Yes you can rock chop. Globals first became popular with chefs and those guys rock chop all day. If you move up in the knife world and get something harder it wouldn't be ideal, but you can.

I don't know if that is a good stone or not. Even if the abrasives are the size stated, it may not have that much. I'm also not inclined to try one and find out.
But you will need something to keep it flat. Even if your eyes tell you a stone is flat, it may be bowed out enough to affect your sharpening.

If you have the time, I think it will be better to strop on the fine side of your stone, if only for consistency of angle.

Thanks for your reply. Following the advice of the first person who replied, I returned the stone I initially bought and purchased a King 1000/6000 instead. Then I reviewed some more sharpening videos and understood that I have misrepresented my sharpening procedure. Mine begins with more of an "abrade" procedure with edge leading and trailing, kinda like the way it's done on burrfection, in order to form a wire edge on either side of the knife before burr removal strokes and then stropping, all of which occur on the stone. I have recently learned that it can easily all occur on the 1000 stone and still lead to a great knife edge, watched that on burrfection as well and the earlier poster commented that I should stick with the 1000 until it's giving me proper good results before trying to fine polish the knife with the 6000.

I don't know if I'll be moving up in the knife world lol, when I got the knife I designed a custom single knife block/guard for it and it looks like this goofy 8th grade woodshop project, but I love it. pasteboard.co/Jk9CkEM.jpg pasteboard.co/Jk9Dwht.jpg...maybe I'll be using it as my main knife for a while. I like looking at knife videos and sharpening videos because sharper knives have enriched my vegetable rampage experience prior to firing food, but I don't know if I'm a hobbyist who collects knives. Hoping to avoid this because I doubt it's me. Bought the Global tonight, already trying to figure out where to sell / give away the free knife block I got.

Along with the king 1000/6000, I dropped another $20 or so on one of those "Diamond" stones and it's apparently 400/1000 so my plan is to mark the 1000 side of my King stone with a pencil every 4th rock session (after checking for unevenness with a steel ruler) and then I'll just go at it with this rando 400 grit stone.

I would be stropping on the finer side yes, I was saying my procedure involved stropping at the original angle (15 degrees in this case) on the 6000-grit side of the stone (now the incumbent King stone). I'm hoping that will lead to proper Excalibur-type paper shreddings and tomato beheadings (but really, I'm a home cook, so I'm just gonna shine a light on the edge to see it, and then feel for how well the thing sails through bell peppers and potatoes and judge accordingly.)

 

[Jfd986]

When you get your new Global. Take an old leather belt. And strop With trailing strokes each side for about 20 minutes. Working one side then the other side for five min intervals. This will de burr & polish your edge. Do this often, like every few days and you won’t have to sharpen nearly as often. Also. Ditch the plastic cutting boards. They are brutal on edges and your eating the plastic . Get a wooden cutting board, Ash, Maple, Walnut just like your grand parents have/had. Stay safe & have fun!

Thanks, will dig around for an old belt. Ya my plastic cutting boards are gone. I actually make my own wood cutting boards now out of maple, walnut and cherry (facepalm) https://pasteboard.co/Jk9EVSq.jpg

But I don't use them because I've learned enough woodworking to also be able to maintain a walnut and ash cutting board I bought a while ago which should last me at least 10 years (double facepalm)