Testing my knife

[Racescort666]

So I finally got around to buying a tri-stone and I spent some time sharpening my kitchen knife. I think I did a pretty good job getting her back from the brink of disappointing bluntness.

Pro-tip: don’t whack your knife edge on a ceramic bowl, it takes a long time to grind the damage out. 

I do want to point out that when I sharpen my knives, they’re usually sharp enough to shave with when I’m done.

Edited October 1, 2018 by Racescort666
Edited title ugh

[qzgy]

Pretty sharp there.

[p1t1o]

8 hours ago, Racescort666 said:

I do want to point out that when I sharpen my knives, they’re usually sharp enough to shave with when I’m done.

I dont want to be like, the knife-nerd-guy, but you posted the video....A kitchen knife with the edge of a razor will make a poor kitchen knife.

Unless you need to shave your ingredients a lot?

Edited October 1, 2018 by p1t1o

[YNM]

9 hours ago, Racescort666 said:

sharpening my kitchen knife.

If you're using it for meat then it makes sense. Not sure if you want to peel or cut vegetables and fruits though.

[Nuke]

as much time as i spend in the kitchen i barely use knives at all. i use some kitchen shears to cut meat, and i use a slap chopper for most of my veggies. thus ive never really had a need for fancy cutlery.

[Racescort666]

11 hours ago, p1t1o said:

I dont want to be like, the knife-nerd-guy, but you posted the video....A kitchen knife with the edge of a razor will make a poor kitchen knife.

Unless you need to shave your ingredients a lot?

Why is that? Every chef I've heard talk about knives have all said they should be very sharp. Albeit, sharpness is kind of hard to quantify and there's probably diminishing returns to sharpness but what would be the downside?

4 hours ago, Nuke said:

as much time as i spend in the kitchen i barely use knives at all. i use some kitchen shears to cut meat, and i use a slap chopper for most of my veggies. thus ive never really had a need for fancy cutlery.

To each his own for a preferred tool. I personally never use wooden spoons but I use silicone spatulas for almost everything.

[0111narwhalz]

38 minutes ago, Racescort666 said:

Why is that? Every chef I've heard talk about knives have all said they should be very sharp. Albeit, sharpness is kind of hard to quantify and there's probably diminishing returns to sharpness but what would be the downside?

I'm told blades with a concave grind are popular with sushi chefs. They're incredibly sharp, but don't stay that way if you try to cut anything but the softest of foods. I suspect this is what is meant. A sharp blade is all well and good, but only if it stays sharp.

[p1t1o]

12 hours ago, Racescort666 said:

Why is that? Every chef I've heard talk about knives have all said they should be very sharp. Albeit, sharpness is kind of hard to quantify and there's probably diminishing returns to sharpness but what would be the downside?

There's sharp, there's very sharp, and there's sharp enough to shave. A literal razor's edge is delicate and will need honing even after just using it to shave hair. Honing is the process of flattening out damage caused to the cutting edge, not sharpening it, because at the edge it is so thin that the metal just folds over:

 

I suspect "every chef" means "very well sharpened" rather than "every knife must have the exact same edge and be as sharp as physically possible".

A filleting knife has a thin, flexible blade and is used for fine work and needs to be extremely sharp, but would be useless for deboning where it would blunt very rapidly, and nicking or chipping the blade would be quite easy.

Something like a chefs knife is an all-purpose tool somewhere in between the two, durable enough to chop slabs of meat and not be blunted on a bone, sharp enough to slice vegetables cleanly. 

"Sharp enough to shave" would just mean you need to sharpen it pretty much every time you use it.

There's a reason that barbers dont use knives to shave you! Different tool for a different job.

***edit***

Not directly relevant but just for interest - I had the opportunity once to play around with an electron microscope once and put a piece of razor and a piece of broken glass in it to compare. In comparison to the glass, the razor looked like a dull rusty spoon, whereas I couldnt actually magnify the edge of the glass high enough to discern any imperfection, the difference was massive. Next to the edge pictured up there, broken glass would just look like a perfect wedge down to a point, without any finings or burrs, appearing razor sharp even at the magnification that makes a metal blade look like a badly abused spade.

Edited October 2, 2018 by p1t1o

[kerbiloid]

Spoiler

When I was a student, I was fond of Harry Harrison's Deathworld, 
Once in a campus room I've sharpened a kitchen knife like it was described in his Ethical Engineer.
I.e. front side was full-length sharp, back side was half-length sharp at the end, but dull near the handle.

It was looking exactly matching the book description and cutting nice with any side.

The problem (not mine, I was living in another building) was that it was indeed cutting nice with any side. You couldn't even notice any difference.
And one of that room dwellers had a bad habit to press the knife with his thumb...

Ah, youth...

P.S.
No, there was a happy end, After licking the blood from the thumb he had gotten a good habit to look which side is up.

 

Edited October 2, 2018 by kerbiloid

[p1t1o]

38 minutes ago, kerbiloid said:

  Hide contents

When I was a student, I was fond of Harry Harrison's Deathworld, 
Once in a campus room I've sharpened a kitchen knife like it was described in his Ethical Engineer.
I.e. front side was full-length sharp, back side was half-length sharp at the end, but dull near the handle.

It was looking exactly matching the book description and cutting nice with any side.

The problem (not mine, I was living in another building) was that it was indeed cutting nice with any side. You couldn't even notice any difference.
And one of that room dwellers had a bad habit to press the knife with his thumb...

Ah, youth...

P.S.
No, there was a happy end, After licking the blood from the thumb he had gotten a good habit to look which side is up.

 

Ummm So...you sharpened an edge, where there wasnt one before, into someone elses knife....?

(Theres also no reason that you cant assist a cut by using the spine)

[kerbiloid]

Spoiler

29 minutes ago, p1t1o said:

Ummm So...you sharpened an edge, where there wasnt one before, into someone elses knife....?

That were my fellows and was there every day.

30 minutes ago, p1t1o said:

(Theres also no reason that you cant assist a cut by using the spine)

It appeared.

 

Edited October 2, 2018 by kerbiloid

[Racescort666]

@p1t1o I see where your point of contention is and maybe that’s my fault for the hyperbole. One practice (not that I’m recommending it) is to check the sharpness by shaving the hair an your arm. (Not me pictured and this picture makes it look super sketchy)

Keeping it as sharp as a razor would definitely be impractical however I do hone my knife basically every time I use it with a honing steel:

I find it to cut noticeably better after being honed. 

[Dman979]

Perhaps that's the problem I'm having with my Dexter chef's. I hone it before and after every use, but it seems to get dull very quickly. I'll try putting a corser edge on it next time I sharpen it.

[SpaceMouse]

Slicey.
I do not have the coordination for very sharp things. I'd miss and somehow loose a arm.

[Shpaget]

3 hours ago, SpaceMouse said:

Slicey.
I do not have the coordination for very sharp things. I'd miss and somehow loose a arm.

Dull tools are more dangerous than sharp ones. When a tool is dull you use more force which leads to worse control and accidents.

Of course, you don't need a straight razor to butter a toast, but in principle you want stuff that is supposed to be sharp to actually be sharp.

[Racescort666]

20 hours ago, Dman979 said:

Perhaps that's the problem I'm having with my Dexter chef's. I hone it before and after every use, but it seems to get dull very quickly. I'll try putting a corser edge on it next time I sharpen it.

You could try a different bevel angle too. I think 15-20 deg is common. With a shallower angle the edge doesn’t keep as well but I don’t mind that much because I find sharpening cathartic.

[Random Spaceship]

If you look after your tools, they look after you. If you're cutting sushi and the knife needs to be sharp, make it sharp. If you're cutting vegetables, don't make it so sharp. In other words, use the right tool for the job and LOOK AFTER IT. Otherwise, it could break or cause someone harm.

[Dman979]

13 hours ago, Random Spaceship said:

In other words, use the right tool for the job and LOOK AFTER IT. Otherwise, it could break or cause someone harm

See relevant song here.

Not to put too fine a point on it, but not every blade needs to be razor sharp. Heck, even axes- the dullest sharp object- have different shapes and edges depending on if they are for limbing, splitting, or general-use.

 

[YNM]

19 hours ago, Shpaget said:

You want stuff that is supposed to be sharp to actually be sharp.

That's it. And also the reverse.

I don't know if anyone notices but proper shaving-knife-thing is not sharpened by a grinder, it's 'sharpened' by leather.