Ok bit of an fetish

 

What’s cool about Japanese knives is I know  the name of the blacksmith and sharpener of all these knives ( other than the token German bread and petty) 

I recently got a couple of knives from these local guys for my 50th: https://www.cutthroatknives.com.au/knives

 

Very nice stuff. The 8" chefs knife and the 12" Pitmaster knife (for brisket) will last me a lifetime I think from their build quality.

27 minutes ago, BugPowderDust said:

I recently got a couple of knives from these local guys for my 50th: https://www.cutthroatknives.com.au/knives

 

Very nice stuff. The 8" chefs knife and the 12" Pitmaster knife (for brisket) will last me a lifetime I think from their build quality.

Interesting and local. Nice. 
Here’s a few of mine. Funnily enough the cheaper ones are generally my go to. And you can’t go wrong w a few disposable Kiwi Brand choppers.  Never have to worry what you’re chopping through with those.  

 

After a good period of time trying to develop knife sharpener skills, I only reached "mediocre" standard. Just couldn't get a consistent angle manually with a stone. So I ordered the "precision adjust" (below) from Amazon, to my surprise the "Ken Onion" was delivered! Works great. I'm now known as "the knife sharpening guy" by the neighbours and have little hair left on my forearms 🤣

 

https://www.worksharptools.com/products/precision-adjust-knife-sharpener

 

 

https://www.worksharptools.com/products/ken-onion-edition-knife-tool-sharpener-mk-2™

 

On 16/08/2024 at 4:44 PM, zenikoy said:

and have little hair left on my forearms 🤣

and likely never again if the neighbours talk 🙂 

 

looks like a good rig!

 

Mike

I have a 20cm Masterchef cook's knife, which remained blunt after a touch up on my diamond honing rod 😞 

 

Having been frustrated numerous times trying to use this knife, I decided it was time to pull out the water stones and give this knife, and all the others in the knife block, a sharpen.

 

Given I'm such a bumbly at hand sharpening, and that I haven't used my water stones for ~2 years, I thought I'd refresh my memory via YouTube...most useful!

I still suck at manual sharpening - especially large cook's knives! - but all my knives cleanly cut paper again!!

 

During my YouTube refresher journey, one of the YouTubers I looked up again had a video on what honing steels actually do - which I found very interesting.

A honing steel is not meant to take material off a knife, but to stand up a rolled edge up again...

...Turns out honing steels don't stand up a rolled edge very well! - only straighten out a burr...

...and burrs should have been removed through the sharpening process!

 

 

 

I'm not going to bother using my steel ever again!

 

Touch ups - diamond honing rod.

If better sharpening is required - pull out the water stones.

 

Mike

I saw that YT clip and a few others that chap does. I may have confused myself but I got the impression that a diamond honing rod is not the same as a steel honing rod? it makes sense that standing up a rolled edge is no simple job and the old wishy-wishy chef's trick is not going to fix much in this regard.  however, not that my knives are top tier sharp but i do find 3-5 methodical runs on each face with the diamond rod does smarten it up a little when it's not zipping thru tomatoes etc with the finesse i like. 

am i missing something here? 

I bought one of these sharpening steels for weekly touch ups and have been very happy with the results.

https://www.amazon.de/dp/B07H7YMJL5?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title&th=1

 

I use the belt sharpener I mentioned in a previous post about every three months, batch sharpening all the knives in the kitchen. Then when I feel the need, I'll use the steel to bring a knife back to paper slicing sharpness. Works for our useage needs. Also aware that the steel is creating more of a micro serrated edge than a razor, but that's OK.

On 30/06/2025 at 2:11 PM, wasabijim said:

I saw that YT clip and a few others that chap does. I may have confused myself but I got the impression that a diamond honing rod is not the same as a steel honing rod? it makes sense that standing up a rolled edge is no simple job and the old wishy-wishy chef's trick is not going to fix much in this regard.  however, not that my knives are top tier sharp but i do find 3-5 methodical runs on each face with the diamond rod does smarten it up a little when it's not zipping thru tomatoes etc with the finesse i like. 

am i missing something here? 

A diamond rod is nothing more that a diamond 'stone' in rod shape. It abrades the steel knife like any other sharpening stone. How much they abrade depends on how coarse the diamond particles are.

 

A steel 'steel' can also be more or less abrasive depending on the surface texture. Very smooth steels do a bit of straightening and burnishing, and are often used routinely during a cutting session, more like a leather strop.

 

Usually steels are not much of a hone, because they're meant for that frequent use. A 'real' hone removes more metal and is for touch-ups. Flat stones or diamond hones are for forming a new edge.

 

The new very hard stainless steels don't respond as well to steel stropping and are harder to sharpen than similar hardness carbon steels. They are also more brittle. The higher pressure commonly used to get results from a steel on hard stainless can result in chipped edges.

Edited August 21, 2025Aug 21 by GregWormald

On 30/06/2025 at 2:41 PM, wasabijim said:

I may have confused myself but I got the impression that a diamond honing rod is not the same as a steel honing rod?

agreed - as @GregWormald says, a diamond honing rod takes material off the knife, and a steel honing rod is not intended to take material off a knife, but to "stand the edge up" on a rolled edge...which the video disputes...

...a steel honing rod may stand up a burr - which will cut...but the burr should have been removed through the sharpening process.

 

On 21/08/2025 at 9:42 PM, GregWormald said:

A diamond rod is nothing more that a diamond 'stone' in rod shape. It abrades the steel knife like any other sharpening stone. How much they abrade depends on how coarse the diamond particles are.

agreed

 

On 30/06/2025 at 2:41 PM, wasabijim said:

i do find 3-5 methodical runs on each face with the diamond rod does smarten it up a little when it's not zipping thru tomatoes etc with the finesse i like. 

agreed - but when I use my diamond rod to touch up a knife, I do 5 one side then 5 the other side, 3 one side then 3 the other side, 2 one side then 2 the other side, then numerous 1 side then the other side...always conscious of attempting to maintain a consistent angle - which is the critical bit!

 

Muck up your angle - and freehand on a diamond rod, it's very easy to muck up your angle - and you won't achieve a good edge.

 

Some day I may invest in a sharpening setup that maintains the proper angles...but I'm currently enjoying the process of learning sharpening with water stones when a proper sharpen is required, and using a diamond honing rod in between - both requiring good angle management.   

 

I'll never bother using a "honing steel" ever again!

I'm completely fine that my diamond rod and water stones remove material from my knives in order to keep them sharp - I won't wear them out in my lifetime! 

 

Mike