Anyone use a knife sharpening "gadget"?

[whiskywill]

I bought some of these when they were last in Lidl. They are excellent.
http://www.offerscheck.co.uk/ernesto-us ... w-22/12971

 

[Sheffield Tony]

I like the "back of an old plate" idea.

I have some kitchen knives made long ago in Sheffield by Richardson - when very dull they get a freehand swipe across the same Sheppach wet grinder (AKA TSO or "Tormek shaped object") as everything else. I have a cheap waterstone for kitchen knives bought from an oriental cookware shop, but these days I just use my oilstones, which give a better result. I'm sure a good waterstone would be fine too.

 

[Ed Bray]

I use my Tormek T7 with the knife jig if that counts as a 'gadget'

 

[aesmith]

I use my Tormek T7 with the knife jig if that counts as a 'gadget'

How does well that work? I don't have a Tormek but I have a cheap water-cooled wheel that I virtually never use. I've occasionally wondered how difficult it would be to make something so it would use Tormek jigs.

 

[JohnPW]

A quick and very cheap way to sharpen a knife is to use an old plate

No I've not been drinking super strength or been taking illegal substances!

My wife and sons are both chefs and have some very nice and expensive knifes, but neither of them can get a decent edge by using a knife steel, so they ask me.

What you do is to turn the plate upside down so you have the bottom looking up at you.

You then sharpen the knife the same way as if you were using a oil/water stone, the plate acts as a ceramic stone it will give you a fantastic edge!

Hope this helps
Dave

That's a great tip, ta!

 

[Ed Bray]

I use my Tormek T7 with the knife jig if that counts as a 'gadget'

How does well that work? I don't have a Tormek but I have a cheap water-cooled wheel that I virtually never use. I've occasionally wondered how difficult it would be to make something so it would use Tormek jigs.

Seems to work fine, we often end up with cuts, so it appears to work well. Will slice tomatoes very thinly without them collapsing.

 

[bugbear]

What you do is to turn the plate upside down so you have the bottom looking up at you.

That's a great tip, ta!

In fairness, most woodworkers aren't short of potential sharpening abrasives.I don't feel the need to add plates to my selection.

BugBear

 

[jaymar]

I bought an Edge -Pro clone, Chinese but it works brilliantly without need for any skill. Now I only need a couple of strokes with a ceramic "steel" and I have knives sharper than I have ever known. The Edge -Pro site has videos showing set up and use, the clone I bought is a replica of the real thing

 

[Harbo]

I've got a genuine Edge Pro - fantastic device for sharpening stuff.

Rod

 

[aesmith]

I bought an Edge -Pro clone, Chinese but it works brilliantly without need for any skill. Now I only need a couple of strokes with a ceramic "steel" and I have knives sharper than I have ever known. The Edge -Pro site has videos showing set up and use, the clone I bought is a replica of the real thing

Hi, have you got a link for that? Thanks.

 

[jaymar]

I bought mine from ebay but I can't remember the company's name. I think they are £30/5 but well worth it. I have just looked on abay and the seller is tomtop' price just over £22. I also bought an extra set of stones for less than a tenner from another seller

 

[Jonzjob]

When SWMBO takes the edge off the small veg knives, genuine Prestige and as old as the Earth, I wipe them across my white wheel in the workshop (can't remember the grit) and give them a rub on my DMT red diamond whet stone and they are like razors for the first 10 mins, but SWMBO will insist on trying to cut through the plate on which she is cutting. Therefore, I can see just how the bottom of a plate will put the edge back on just as well as the top takes it off :shock: :shock:

We also have a German diamond 'steel' and that's great for honing. I also use one of my pocket DMT whet stones for my scalpuls and Stanley knives.. :mrgreen: Tight or what :roll:

 

[bugbear]

..but SWMBO will insist on trying to cut through the plate on which she is cutting.

On a related note, I don't know of a better way to instantly blunt a knife than using one of those glass "surface protectors" that foolish people think are for chopping on,

BugBear

 

[Woodmonkey]

In Aldi on Thursday

https://www.aldi.co.uk/en/specialbuys/t ... grinder-1/

 

[JohnPW]

I would think sharpening a knife is no different in principle to any other type of blade, ie you have to abrade the cutting edge to form a burr/wire edge.

At that reductionist level, yes. But it's the long edge of the blade, the curve, and short depth of the blade (edge to back) that makes the practice of knife sharpening quite different to common woodworking tools.

BugBear

I just sharpen on an ordinary bench stone, I'm not an expert on woodworking, sharpening or anything and I can get knives sharp. You just hold the blade at the appropriate angle and rub it on the stone surface. If the blade is bigger than the stone, you just move it across as it goes along, if the blade is curved you rotate it a bit.

If one must use a gadget, then the V shaped stones seem to methe simplest type.

 

[paulm]

I just sharpen on an ordinary bench stone, I'm not an expert on woodworking, sharpening or anything and I can get knives sharp. You just hold the blade at the appropriate angle and rub it on the stone surface. If the blade is bigger than the stone, you just move it across as it goes along, if the blade is curved you rotate it a bit.

Yep, it's easy enough to do, no rocket science involved :lol:

Once sharp they can then be easily maintained in the kitchen for a good while with your choice of steel, or in my case a fallkniven diamond hone and ceramic hone. The diamond hone really does away with the need to go back to the bench stones, but I enjoy it so do so occasionally anyway :roll: :lol:

I got my daughters each a carbide v shape sharpener with a suction cup that sticks to the kitchen bench, for use in their various rented flats so they can at least get some kind of sharp edge quickly and easily on the various cheap knives they come across, but they are a bit rough to say the least for decent knives and for getting a good refined cutting edge.

Cheers, Paul

 

[DiscoStu]

We use a Chantry knife sharpener. We use them because MrsDiscoStu used to work on the Meat and Fish counter at Waitrose and that's what they had. Its a solid and robust bit of kit and does a decent job. Essentially its 2 steels mounted at the correct angle so that you run the knife through and it sharpens both edges at the same time.

 

[boysie39]

I just buy Irish meat and never have to sharpen anything . :roll: :roll: :wink: :wink:

 

[sdjp]

For a knife with a well developed bevel, I free hand it on my normal stones.

On the other hand, for knives without that, or otherwise in a bad state, I use one of the edge-pro-esque devices. Something like http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm//331216200980

The stones that come with it are … eh, alright, but I'll wager they're not a patch on the real edge pro ones.
The finer stones that came with mine worked fine, but the coarse one dished very quickly. So, for the coarse re-shaping on the harder steels, I got one of these: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm//181162344861 (the 150mm coarse one). Mounted it on a wooden base, and it chomps the bevel in nicely.

I ended up with a ceramic stone: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm//130991771795 which worked very well for final finishing, if you wanted to go that way. (Since then, I've switch to using my usual set of slips for the finer work.)