sharpening a knive (basic movements)

[optimist4212]

can i get a titanium knife?

[Fuel1979]

wow... in a world of sound!

[icychillgrill3]

honestly i think the all around best edge and best blade care come from using wetstones not diamond, steel rod or whatever stones sometimes take longer but not much and the edge in my experience lasts longer

[w4k4]

i think this is bad for a knife you "striped?" the superfice not good :)

( sorry for my bad english )

[HCDDWarhero]

cool, but this is alot more complicated then it needs to but, alot harder to keep an EVEN edge as well. Not trying to offend you or anything, jsut giving advice.

[M4DEinCH1N4]

where did you learn this... and what country are you from?

[Bruins90210]

I just bought a Santoku Ken Onion knife and a few weeks later it already has a dent on the blade I only honed it with a steel,can you tell me what went wrong?

I did it with 20 degree angle.

[MrGung]

One should NEVER steel a japanese-style knife. They are made from harder steel (sometimes called high-carbon steel) which easily chips being abused by a honing-steel.

You should only use stones with a knife made from harder steel.

[Bruins90210]

Thanks for replying but why do they sell the steel with it then? Unbelievable! $200 knife messed up,thanks again for the info man...Should I get German knife instead?

[MrGung]

Western-style knives usually are made of "softer" material which will not be damaged by a honing steel.

You could get your santoku to your "local" knife-craftsman. He should be able to re-build the knife.

[notredame2191]

What should I use to sharpen a ka-bar? I just got it and it isn't very sharp from the factory.

[Whirry]

It's not messed up, it just needs a tiny bit of work with a stone. You can use ceramic hones on these knives just fine, just be careful and gentle (You use it as a more convenient waterstone, almost).

Anyway, I would not worry, it's very hard to really wreck a knife.

[Bruins90210]

Ya it finally got fixed with the waterstone 220 grit I believem Im just angry the salesman sold me a steel with 2 Shun's,now I know better.

[MisterBaz1]

The knife he is talking about is not a true Japanese style knife. The Ken Onion knife is a Eurpoean style Japanese blade; meaning it is double-beveled. It isn't even hardened to the same Rockwell that Japanese knives are. Using a steel on the knife won't harm it.

[kragier]

@MisterBaz1 Are you saying nakiris aren't true Japanese knives? Not ALL Japanese knives are single beveled, and don't go associating Japanese knives with a single bevel, but instead, associate a single bevel with Japanese knives. But you are right about the steel not damaging the knife!

[1997LT1Camaro]

What went wrong with the shun ken onion is that you steeled on the wrong angle. The factory steel has a angle beveled into the steel handle.

[7688491]

Well, usually one use water when sharpening the knife to a stone.

And the old-school way is to swipe the knife let say 20 times on the left side back, and about 5 times on the opposite side. Using water constantly so the knife will get sharpened smoothly.

[Whirry]

Hi, your technique looks fine to me. I have a few questions though.

This is this to hone the blade, yes? You're using a finishing stone there?

If it's to hone the blade, what is the reason for the figure 8 pattern?

By doing this aren't you are destroying your micro-serrations?

I've heard of Japanese techniques where nagura stones are used to create a paste which minimizes these uniform serrations (to create a tougher edge). Is this basically the same idea?

[MrGung]

That's a rather coarse chinese stone - with two sides. I don't know the actual level of their coarseness - but it's working all right for my western style kitchen knives and my tooling knives.

Whether I want micro-serrations or not depends on what I am planning to do with the knife and what material the knife is made of.

If I plan on slicing tomatoes with a western style knife - which is made of softer steel than the japanese ones - then I'd rather have more serrations.

[MrGung]

As for the figure 8 pattern I think it is more abrasive while working on the whole length of the edge and - as you said - removes the bigger serrations more quickly. Those bigger serrations may cause early dullness if not removed cleanly during sharpening.

For the finish I get a nagura-like handling by not removing the slurry that accumulates during the last phase of a sharpening session.

Thanks for asking intelligent questions - I hope I could match with my answers (and my english).

[kai110788]

alot of you leaving comments seem to know alot about sharpening knives, what are you guys looking up how to sharpen a knife for?

[snizzle515151]

genocide

[fcarabat]

@snizzle515151 how the f--- does your comment get 4 thumbs up? lol

[SanitySource]

i dont think you should drag the knife backwards on the stone

[MrGung]

Is there a reason to your thinking?

[SanitySource]

i just heard it somewhere, but i think its supposed to only go one direction because it directs the metal fibers in one direction only, and that way you can get a razor finish

[kragier]

@SanitySource Going forward does a much faster job at sharpening, but for refining the edge (stropping) you go backwards. It doesn't hurt the blade to go backwards.

[MaskedPhenom]

LMAO

[MrGung]

What does that mean?

[KonstantinKuehn]

L stands for laugh, M stands for my, A stands for Ass, O stands for off...

u get it?

[nnet3]

thats isnt the right way to sharpen a knife it should be at a 23 degree angel... what you are doing dulls ther knife and it messes up the sharpener

[nicosnas]

Oy, this looks like a zero degree angle to me and to many others. Either post another video with better lighting or stop getting mad at people for stating the obvious.

[littlegoobie]

There are some traditional japanese knives that are sharpened flat down on one side. and on that one side only, it's never flipped over so it's kinda like a chisel shape when it's done. I'm not if that's what this guy is doing

[jedirifleman]

if you would like to see various other techniques for sharpening, i have a knife sharpening playlist with about 30 vids or so...everything from pocketknives to traditional japanese swords and everything from oil stones and waterstones to grinding machines and grinding wheels..

[fatboyz4202000]

I've never seen a knife sharpened at a 0 degree angle before. What's up with the figure 8 motion? I bet that knife is duller than a turd and more scratched than a litter pan.

[MrGung]

0 degree - in respect to what?

I'd consider this a 90-degree movement (the knive 'cutting' into the stone). The figure-8 thing reduces that a bit - but still more 90 than 0 degree.

When you sharpen a straight razor - if you ever did - would you consider that 0 or 90 degrees?

If you've never seen sharpening like this you should have a look at one of Leonard Lee's books on sharpening - the pictures suffice to see that the serration run in 90° as seen from the edge.

What was your point?

[fatboyz4202000]

90 degrees would be straight up with the blade perpendicular to the stone and my point is stated in the rest of my statement. By the way you sharpen a razon a about 18 degrees.

[MrGung]

Now I see your point. It's a pity the angle of the camera does not make it obvious that I used my thumb to hold 21.5°.

So, no, that's really not 0 degrees - that would really be dumb.

[fatboyz4202000]

Yeah, it's a pity, that mean ol camera clearly shows both of your thumbs on top along with your fingers pressing the blade flat to the stone.

[MrGung]

You should afford yourself some new eyeglasses. Maybe cleaning them will also do it - seems like they got fatty. ;-)

At around 0:12-0:14 one could - if one would be inclined to - clearly (don't forget those glasses of yours!) see that my thumb is NOT resting on the blade but on the back of the blade and that the blade does NOT lay flat on the stone.

One could, but one does not have to.

[66smerk66]

yeah it would, this guys clever

[ZuluComander]

the earth rotates on a 23.5 degree angle so thats what hes really sharpening at

[bobsamurai]

someone dosent know what there doing.

[MrGung]

You are right.

[HolyPastie]

He's doing it wrong, any one watching this thinking they going 2 try it like this, DONT! It will make the knife un even, so some parts will be sharper/blunter then other.

[MrGung]

Since my reply is rather long - I've posted it at my blog - you could find the link in the description.

[lifecanbebetter]

are you sure about that

[MrGung]

What do you mean?

[DanKmOnkrOn]

Do you play with yourself that way too?