Hello from Charleston, SC
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Welcome to our Forum, Dan! We’re here to help. Hope your Go comes soon!
Marc
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Hello Dan, welcome aboard. There are a lot of good threads and ask questions if you have them, there’s quite a few here eager to help.
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Hi Dan, welcome! Please don’t hesitate to ask if you have any questions.
And just out of interest: what’s your profession in which you use knives professionally? Are you cooking?
Molecule Polishing: my blog about sharpening with the Wicked Edge
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Hello Dan, Charleston is a great city and foodie town. I loved it when I visited and can’t wait to return.
The 800/1000 diamond is a must in my sharpening repertoire along with the 1500, too. After you get past the little learning curve and feel comfortable with the results and your knife edges, there are many other options, too. I have a full compliment of Shaptons Glass Stones that are mounted on Wicked Edge Handles made specifically for our Wicked Edge Systems, including a 6000/8000 combination and on up to 30K. Chosera Stones are available. And we don’t want to forget the leather strops. So we have you covered for all of the new hardest steels out there. Being that you’ll now be sharpening with a repeatable “fixed angle” sharpener your chef’s knives will be re-profiled at first to a flat consistent angled bevel. The ability to set the right and left side bevel angles independently make the “Go” well suited for the often seen un-even beveled chef’s knives. Applying a micro-bevel is a breeze also if you find that one’s wanted. Then with each of the first few subsequent sharpening the edges will improve and it’s usually easier and faster than the last time. Then it’s just a quick fix, most of the time, thereafter. I’m sure you’ll be very satisfied.
I’m hoping you can share some of your knife skills and knife brand experiences with us. There’s quite a mix of knife enthusiasts here.
Marc
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Good Morning Mark, My brother and I own and operate a restaurant here in Charleston, SC. We are looking to open our second location over the next 12 months. I love using sharp knives and loathe using dull ones. We use a sharpening service for our “beater” knives however I sharpen all my knives by hand. This is why I ordered a Wicked Edge. Which brings me to my first question actually.. I’ve been currently sharpening with a 1000 and 6000 whetstone. The “Go” only comes with a 200 & 600 grits stones. I should order the 800/1000 stone as well shouldn’t I? Any other suggestions? I do love having a polished mirror edge on my knives however I don’t think it is actually necessary.
I’ll add my $0.02 as well. If you’ve been sharpening on a 1000 / 6000 whetstone, that is going to be most similar to the 800 and 1500 diamond stones from Wicked Edge (see the grit comparison table). I would echo MarcH’s recommendation and say that you’re going to want the 800 / 1000 and the 1500 / glass. The 1000 grit is also a nice finish for kitchen knives, so if you want to save some money you can put off purchasing the 1500 for a while.
I think you’d be really missing out if you didn’t get at least one set of strops. Although they take a bit of finesse, the strops can really take your edges to the next level of refinement. I’d recommend either the 4/2 diamond emulsion set or the 5 / 3.5 diamond paste set. Clay has said that the emulsions work a little better, but the diamond pastes are also a good option if you’re more budget conscious.
I think that your assessment of mirrored edges is correct; they look great and are amazing for delicate cutting tasks, but not necessary (and arguably not even ideal) for kitchen knives. This is a topic that has had a significant amount of discussion on the forum, so I encourage you to use the search function if you’re looking for more information on the mirrored v. toothy edge topic. You can also start another thread about it if you think that would be useful to you.
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Also, I recently purchased a 8″ Middleton Made Chef knife. Middleton knives are made just outside of Charleston by Quintin Middleton. He is only a year or two older than I am(36) however he makes some really nice knives. I attached a picture of the two that I jut bought from him. He is a really nice guy that is doing pretty well making knives for a living. They hold one hell of an edge an are a pleasure to work with. I am looking forward to seeing how well they will take to the Wicked Edge. It looks like many people advise practicing on some “beater” knives before sharpening the knives that are more special if you will. I also use Wusthof Ikon and some a couple Shuns in my Knife Role. I use a Shun hollow edge slicer for cutting the ahi tuna at my restaurant. It desperatley needs some love though and I just can’t seem to get it where I want when I sharpen by hand. I am still not confident in my hand sharpening.
My Middleton Made 8″ Chef Knives I recently purchased. One for me(the carbon handle) and one for my father. I also got a white burlap handle for my brother. I also use mis Shun’s and MAC knives in the kitchen. My EDC pocket knife is a Benchmade Osborne 940 Tanto blade.
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It sounds like you have some nice knives in your collection / knife roll. The ones you posted remind me of Bob Kramer’s knives. I think you’ll be more than pleased with the edges you can put on your knives once you get the diamond plates broken in and get a bit of practice.
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….I do love having a polished mirror edge on my knives however I don’t think it is actually necessary.
In my experience, I’ve found that wider bevels benefit from a polished edge, as a coarser finish will increase the friction of the blade moving through the material being cut. Very thin blades (as most of the pricey ones are) will have very narrow bevels, but even here I can tell the difference between a polished edge and an unfinished edge. If you need a toothy edge, polish the main bevels, then put in a microbevel at 1000 grit or less.
Polishing for performance is different from polishing for cosmetic reasons. You don’t have to remove every scratch, you only have to polish away the rough surfaces at the top of the scratches. The deep part of the scratches doesn’t actually touch the material being cut and therefor doesn’t add to the friction.
There’s no doubt that stropping improves edge performance. But maybe you don’t need to limit your self to a WE set of strops. Rockstead (a high end knife producer in Japan) recommends that you staple a patch of denim to a both and load it with a polishing compound. Such a set-up could be used on any of your kitchen knives – not just those on the WEPS. I’ve recently been doing some polishing at my buffing wheels and found “pink scratchless” to be an excellent compound. It’s a dry stick compound, not liquid or paste, although it might be available as such. I’m going to try it on a set of my hardwood strops.
Microbevels are said to provide a toothier edge for polished blades and to reduce the chances of damage which might happen to a more acute edge. I have been putting 20 deg. microbevels on kitchen knives with 17 deg. main bevels for several years now and I’ve come to the conclusion that they don’t provide much if any protection against edge damage – dents or chipping. My microbevels are 3 very light strokes per side with 1000 grit stones and are barely visible, so maybe they’re too narrow to add much strength. If you make it wider, you just detract from the advantages of the primary bevel.
Another option for a strop… Stropman.com(Robert and Kim Barber). These are the best hand strops that you can get in my humble opinion. I have 2 of them and use them quite often. If your knives are hard steel, Osborne 940 is S30V I believe, then you’ll need a diamond compound instead of the compounds he offers with his strops. The WE strops are good, but it took me longer to get the hang of those than it did the hand strop, which quite frankly surprised me immensely. Some of the sharpest edges I’ve achieved have been with Robert’s hand strops after sharpening with the WEPS.
I do think that will want the 800 and 1000 stones as well. Then the 1500, if you find those not enough, and if you get that either the 6 or 3 micron lapping film for the glass platen on the other side of the paddle.
I really like the looks of those chefs knifes!
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The WE strops are good, but it took me longer to get the hang of those than it did the hand strop, which quite frankly surprised me immensely.
This surprises me. The WE strops allow you to set a fixed angle. If you set this, say, 1.5.- 2 mm behind the angle you used for the stones, you don’t run the risk of rounding the edge, and thus the sharpness of the knife, as you do with freehand stropping.
Molecule Polishing: my blog about sharpening with the Wicked Edge
I see a typo in my earlier post… Rockstead recommends stapling a piece of denim to a “board.”
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The WE strops allow you to set a fixed angle. If you set this, say, 1.5.- 2 º behind the angle you used for the stones, you don’t run the risk of rounding the edge, and thus the sharpness of the knife, as you do with freehand stropping.
I agree Mark76, I found there to be a little learning curve using the “Stropman” Hand Strop, more so than WE Strops. I found it’s best to maintain a very shallow angle with the Stropmans because if I attempted to match the WE 1-1/2º – 2º lowered angle it was too easy to round the edge with the free hand strop. Lower angles, (close to flat) are safer and gives good results quickly. The Stropman is a kitchen “quick fix” for me.
Marc
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