Knives & Knife sharpening
- Thread starter Nick the Knife
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bernie01
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https://www.knivesandstones.com.au/ might be worth a call, very extensive range.
I doubt many western chefs use Japanese chef knives, sure they the steel is harder and sharper but that makes them time consuming to sharpen and more brittle. It depends if you want a show pony or a workhorse, personally I prefer "wusthof" and "zwilling j.a. henckels" chef knifes.
Gargravarr
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I've seen many chefs using Shun knives. They're comparatively affordable, but still excellent tools.
Those I've dealt with in some manner (purchased, enquiry): protooling.com.au (sydney), chefs-edge.com.au (perth), chefsarmoury.com (melb), kazsknifeonline.com.au (melb), knivesandstones.com.au (sydney)
Not dealt with before, but has cheaper ranges: chefknivespro.com.au
That being said, if you want to get the best out of a japanese chef knife, be prepared to invest some time (and money) to learn how to sharpen it by hand.
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Watch any western chef in the kitchen and you'll see why they gravitate towards German knives; it's all about output and efficiency. Softer knives will be quick to hone and sharpen, and more forgiving for rocking cuts.
Japanese cuisine tend to prefer precise slicing and of course, sushi requires sharp knives to preserve delicate proteins. Some even swear that there is a difference in taste in carrots sliced with a sharp knife
. For me, the difference I notice is the feel of the carrot when its sliced with a very sharp knife will leave it feeling BBS, in our parlance I have both styles in my kitchen, each with preferred use cases.
Mark1966
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Secondly - I got my Chef's Choice 120 for Christmas, not my birthday. Used it Boxing Day to sharpen all my knives. Didn't take long at all, touch ups will be even quicker! Everybody has noticed and commented on the sharper knives when using them. That will now be the standard.
I got mine from here, cheapest I could find. I notice that 'Catch' have them, in silver and with a pick of the 130 but looking the same, for $298 delivered - so a little cheaper again.
Holy thread resurrection ...
Still loving my Chef's Choice
15 minutes every month or so and my knives are more consistently sharper than every before.
Stone me if you must [boom tish] but it works for me!
My tears flow for any Japanese knife you may put in there.Holy thread resurrection ...
Still loving my Chef's Choice
15 minutes every month or so and my knives are more consistently sharper than every before.
Stone me if you must [boom tish] but it works for me!
Mark1966
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I understand that BUT ...
My knives are only the bog standard Mundial -
So no need to get too concerned.
Better done regularly in this than hardly at all (and possibly poorly)
Do you mean the tears that would be flowing as you went to the police station to report a crime?
Nothing wrong with bog standard mundial work horses. You’ll keep em sharp but eventually you’ll be cracking things like firewood when over time the geometry gets blunter and blunter.
I understand that BUT ...
My knives are only the bog standard Mundial -
So no need to get too concerned.
Better done regularly in this than hardly at all (and possibly poorly)
Gargravarr
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My mother-in-law has Mundial knives which she runs through a gadget similar to yours. Last time I used one of her knives, I sliced myself. I now take at least one of my own knives when I visit her.
I understand that BUT ...
My knives are only the bog standard Mundial -
So no need to get too concerned.
Better done regularly in this than hardly at all (and possibly poorly)
Back when I was a callow youth, I used to travel everywhere with my whole collection of knives in a canvas roll (the entirety of my worldly possessions used to fit in two duffel-bags, O joy!), but since one black day when some misbegotten wight formed the opinion that he had a more pressing claim to ownership of them, I no longer do that.
Pull through sharpeners are a one size fits all solution. So it sharpens at a fixed angle no matter the knife, every time. As sharpening removes metal, and your knife does taper in thickness from the spine to the edge, eventually your thin edge is going to get thicker and thicker. This will happen over time, as you sharpen more and more, eventually you'll find that when you cut hard root veges like carrots or potatoes, the thickness of the knife will crack the veg as you slice towards the bottom. May not matter if you're a rustic type chef, but if you do delicate/precision slicing it will affect it.
Mark1966
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Pull through sharpeners are a one size fits all solution. So it sharpens at a fixed angle no matter the knife, every time. As sharpening removes metal, and your knife does taper in thickness from the spine to the edge, eventually your thin edge is going to get thicker and thicker. This will happen over time, as you sharpen more and more, eventually you'll find that when you cut hard root veges like carrots or potatoes, the thickness of the knife will crack the veg as you slice towards the bottom. May not matter if you're a rustic type chef, but if you do delicate/precision slicing it will affect it.
Ahhh yes, but that ignores the Trizor (R) approach built into the Chef's Choice sharpening system (see product page here) -
Seriously though, I absolutely get the problem you are referring to - and I've only once used the initial stage pull through to set the broad shape of the knives. Since then it has only been the stage 2 for a couple of pulls each side and then the final stage 3 for say four pulls per side. The knives will get worn down - but over time. In the meantime I have knives to use that are always much sharper than they would be if I was relying on the Edgefaux or, for me, worse option of stones.
The same reason I don't use a straight is the reason I use this!
There are a lot of pull through sharpeners. When I was hunting around for something this one, or its big brother that has adjustable angles of 20 or 15 degrees, was consistently recommended over the others. Not as good as stones but better than most alternatives.
I understand BUT ...
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Ah yup after I wrote that post I looked up the chef pro to see how it worked. Didn’t know they had a reshape stage. Whatever works for you! I suppose by the time you’ve gotten to the stage where you’ve taken away that much metal you’d have used the knives enough to amortise its cost lol.Ahhh yes, but that ignores the Trizor (R) approach built into the Chef's Choice sharpening system (see product page here) -
Seriously though, I absolutely get the problem you are referring to - and I've only once used the initial stage pull through to set the broad shape of the knives. Since then it has only been the stage 2 for a couple of pulls each side and then the final stage 3 for say four pulls per side. The knives will get worn down - but over time. In the meantime I have knives to use that are always much sharper than they would be if I was relying on the Edgefaux or, for me, worse option of stones.
The same reason I don't use a straight is the reason I use this!
There are a lot of pull through sharpeners. When I was hunting around for something this one, or its big brother that has adjustable angles of 20 or 15 degrees, was consistently recommended over the others. Not as good as stones but better than most alternatives.
I understand BUT ...
Hand sharpening by stones is definitely more time consuming but for me it’s a necessity since I have both German and Japanese knives in the drawer.
Mark1966
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The gold standard is absolutely sharpening on your own stones, and I admire and respect those with the skill to be able to do so.
That is not me though and I doubt I could learn, so I looked for alternatives.
The EdgePro and its EdgeFaux imitators was widely recommended as the next best approach, including by many here. Effectively a jig for sharpening with stones.
While the EdgePro undoubtedly works better, I found the EdgeFaux a pain, so I looked for alternatives.
There are many 'pull-through' type sharpeners, manual and electric. If this is where you land, as I did, this one is working well for me. It was also the most highly rated by credible sources I could find at the time.
The old adage about cameras, “the best camera is the one that's with you”, springs to mind for me, in this context I would rephrase as “the best sharpener is the one that's used regularly”.
While you could buy a Chef's Choice 'Angleselect' model, like this, and allegedly do 15 degrees, 20 degrees and single sided blades, if the stones work for you all power to you!
Love how there’s Machete/Ax under the Knife/Guide on that product page
