Sharpening a chef's knife for the first time

S

str8gr

Joined
Oct 21, 2013
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Hi all,

I tried to sharpen my chef's knife today.

It didn't go very well.

I started honing on a 1000 grit Norton waterstone. I honed

for a very long time but I didn't get a burr. I looked for a burr

using my finger nail approximately every ten strokes.

I also tried to slice a printing paper sheet but it failed the test.

I kept a 15 degree angle approximately.

I really don't know what I did wrong.

I also have a 4000/8000 Norton waterstone, a Naniwa 12000 waterstone

and a sharpening steel rod.

I know how to hone straight razors so even though straight razor honing is different

I didn't use much pressure and I kept the same pressure throughout the process.

Any advice would be highly appreciated.

Thanks.
 
Sounds like you weren't hitting the apex but may have instead been thinning behind the edge. Mark the entire bevel of the knife with a permanent marker such as a Sharpie. Then make a few passes and closely examine the edge to see where you are removing the marker.

Helps if you have a good magnifier and bright light to look at the edge, but you may still be able to tell.

If the edge is pretty dull in the first place, 1000 may be too high of a grit to start out with.

What brand and model of Chef's knife is it?
 
str8gr said:
Hi all,

I tried to sharpen my chef's knife today.

It didn't go very well.

I started honing on a 1000 grit Norton waterstone. I honed

for a very long time but I didn't get a burr. I looked for a burr

using my finger nail approximately every ten strokes.

I also tried to slice a printing paper sheet but it failed the test.

I kept a 15 degree angle approximately.

I really don't know what I did wrong.

I also have a 4000/8000 Norton waterstone, a Naniwa 12000 waterstone

and a sharpening steel rod.

I know how to hone straight razors so even though straight razor honing is different

I didn't use much pressure and I kept the same pressure throughout the process.

Any advice would be highly appreciated.

Thanks.
Click to expand...


Nortons are somewhat soft, emphasize the trailing component of your pass on the stone. Or only use a trailing pass till you feel a burr and switch to a leading pass just enough to remove the burr and finish with a couple of backhone/stropping type passes.

The Sharpie advice is good too, use one.

A good tutorial:
https://suzukitool.com/tools/japanese-home-kitchen/how-to-sharpen-japanese-kitchen-knives
 
Use the sharpie, a coarser stone, and spend more time with that. A burr doesn't matter in the polishing stages if you didn't get the initial burr while setting the bevel.
At 15 deg I expect its a Japanese knife and not a Western.
Be sure to straiten a reverse bevel its there. It comes from improper use of the honing steel.
 
Bazzle said:
Be sure to straiten a reverse bevel its there. It comes from improper use of the honing steel.
Click to expand...

What's that? Maybe I've seen this and didn't call it "reverse bevel". Or maybe this is something I've never seen before. I'm very curious.

Brian.
 
I think 'reverse bevel' might be a reference to the honing-induced recurve seen in the belly of some chef's knives, which makes it difficult to chop cleanly with the knife on a cutting board, because the recurved portion of the edge never makes flush contact with the surface. I've heard of this being a relatively common issue to look out for, on chef's knives, to be straightened out when found. Example pic below:

( image found at: http://www.chowhound.com/post/knife-trouble-sharp-edge-879281?commentId=7736662 )
853993_p2191878.jpg



David
 
Last edited:
Ah right, good call! I've been told that you normally need to grind down the bolster too in these cases. I guess otherwise you can't get all the way to the heel of the blade while sharpening and the bolster would also interfere with chopping.

Brian.
 
bgentry said:
Ah right, good call! I've been told that you normally need to grind down the bolster too in these cases. I guess otherwise you can't get all the way to the heel of the blade while sharpening and the bolster would also interfere with chopping.

Brian.
Click to expand...

That picture came from another forum (linked above the pic), in which the poster mentioned doing just that, as a matter of fact. You can see in the pic how the bolster was part of the problem on that knife. He also had an 'after the fix' picture there as well.


David
 
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