Sharp blades

[ChaserAlpha]

Have you ever been to a friend's home and picked up their prized kitchen knives and found them to be so dull that you felt a sense of disgust? Ever since I've taken interest in knives and sharpening, I've come to expect a level of sharpness when I pick up a knife. Regardless of what steel is used or how pricey the knives are, I expect them to be capable of satisfactory performance. I've yet to find a set of knives at someone's home that I would call "sharp". And then trying to cut a thin slice of lime for my gin becomes more acceptable to just lightly squeezing the half because their so called "sharp" knife is practically mashing the lime . Or how about cutting a tomato? Even my cheap $12 Wilshire 8" Chef's knife from Walmart has a scarey sharp edge that compares to my Henkels Zwillings Four Star 9" Chef's knife. Once I was at a friend's party and had to cut lemon slices and wedges with his expensive Global Chef's knife that he bragged was so sharp. I ended up pulling out my Kershaw Black Out because his knife was about as sharp as my finger nail.

 

[brewthunda]

That's when I usually do the coffee cup sharpening trick. For a Global I'd probably wait until no one is looking, of course.

You'd be surprised at how well it works. That unglazed circle of ceramic at the bottom of a mug makes a great impromptu sharpening stone. My wife saw me do it once at a rental house in Mexico and her jaw dropped. After she saw how sharp the knives got she couldn't stop telling her friends about my skills.

 

[shaldag]

Although the coffee cup trick does work, my sisters-in-law have such dull knives that when I go down for a visit, I bring along a sharpmaker (I usallly need the diamond rods). Than for awhile afterwards, I get to listen to them whine about thow the knives were so sharp that they were afraid to use them.

 

[WadeF]

Than for awhile afterwards, I get to listen to them whine about thow the knives were so sharp that they were afraid to use them.

This is why I'm often hesistant to offer to sharpen other people's knives. If they aren't used to a sharp knife they are probably going to cut themselves if I put a killer edge on it. I watch other people use their dull kitchen knives and cut up fruit. They tend to pull the blade through what they are cutting and stop the edge with their thumb! Their knives are so dull they can put a lot of force behind it and press it fairly hard into their thumb without getting cut. If I sharpened their knife and they continued this they would get sliced.

 

[Jeff Clark]

I let people try my sharp knives and let them ask me to sharpen their stuff. Usually they are so dull that I take them home and use my belt grinder on them before I can even hone them. I usually have to start with 80 or 100 grit to reprofile them. Typically the knives haven't been sharpened since the couple got married, say 20 years.

 

[neetones]

I have to say that I'm a really reticent knife snob. It just pains me to see people put any cutting tool in a drawer with a bunch of forks and spoons...knife edges just aren't designed to take that kind of damage and stay sharp.

My roomates had this gigantic hideous metal "kitchen" "knife" that wouldn't cut anything, it just pushed the pieces of whatever you pressed it down on apart. Well, now they own a hand-forged Japanese laminated, damascus steel Nakkiri....thanks to me.

Nitin

 

[Lee48]

My wife is afraid of sharp kitchen knives so I don't try to get them really sharp. The way she uses them, the edge wouldn't last very long anyway.

I'll have to try the coffee cup trick.

 

[ErikD]

That is a very common problem for me too. I think the most extreme case was one Thanksgiving at my grandparents house where they didn't have a knife sharp enough to slice the turkey without shredding it so I ended up carving it with a SERE 2000.

At my house we have two sets of kitchen knives, the family set and my set. The family set is a cheap import Henkels set that is dull beyond belief, but I will sharpen every now and then. They get used cutting on ceramic plates, and then washed with brillo. Some of them even have some nice cuves to them, as in the blade looks like an 's'. My set is a Murray Carter set that nobody but me touches and stays very sharp.

 

[mycroftt]

That's when I usually do the coffee cup sharpening trick. For a Global I'd probably wait until no one is looking, of course.

You'd be surprised at how well it works. That unglazed circle of ceramic at the bottom of a mug makes a great impromptu sharpening stone. My wife saw me do it once at a rental house in Mexico and her jaw dropped. After she saw how sharp the knives got she couldn't stop telling her friends about my skills.

Yeah, it's great for a quick touch up - leaves a fairly "toothy" edge though. I saw Jacques Pepin do it on TV once on the bottom of a ceramic mixing bowl so I think it might be an old chef's trick to touch up a dull knife.

 

[GarageBoy]

My dad and mom cuts and SCRAPES across the board. My Opinel, with factory dull edge was sharper

 

[voppa]

My dad and mom cuts and SCRAPES across the board. My Opinel, with factory dull edge was sharper

your opinel had a factory dull edge? Mine came sharp as hell.

 

[tim8557]

As I've become the sharpening king at work (thanks to this forum), I had one of the ladies ask me if I could sharpen her kitchen knives. I said bring them on.

They were cheap to begin with and hadn't ever been sharpened would have been my guess. I spent a couple of hours with the Edge Pro, Sharpmaker and in the worst case, I had to begin with my cardboard grinder wheel with the coarse grit.

When finished, they were razor sharp and of course 3 of the warehouse guys all had to shave arm hairs. I warned her to be careful and mentioned to her, that this maybe the first time her husband had ever had the opportunity to eat a "sliced" tomato versus what has undoubtedly been "shmoosed" tomatos all of his life.

She was thrilled.