What Cuts What?

[NorCalQ]

Let’s say, for a chef knife, would I want a toothie edge or a polished edge?  How toothie?  What cuts meat well and what cuts veggies well?  For an everyday carry, is it better to go toothie or mirror?

[Marc H]

You ask very personally subjective questions.

Marc
(MarcH's Rack-Its)

[NorCalQ]

Ya, you’re likely right, as everyone has different needs.  That said, I do have knives that I use for meat cutting and ones that I use for vegetables.  I’m wondering which I should apply what edges to.  My inclination is that a polished edge would cut meat better than a toothie edge, where vegetables would cut better with a toothie edge.  I’m wondering what other’s experience has been?

[Marc H]

I personally sharpen evey knife the same…to achieve as sharp an edge as I can.  I haven’t found the need to sharpen an edge for specific duties.  That’s not to say others don’t do this.

You might try to sharpen your knife and not strop the edge for the edge you feel would serve you better, toothy.  For those polished edge duties, strop the edges.  This is an easy way to test it out.

 

 

 

Marc
(MarcH's Rack-Its)

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NotSharpEnuff

[Organic]

For kitchen blades I like high polish for vegetables and meat both. Butchers tend to go for a more coarse edge, but that may also be because they are really hard on their knives and don’t want to spend a ton of time getting a refined one. I don’t break down a ton of proteins, but a highly polished edge melts through raw chicken. For vegetables I think the broad consensus is higher polish is better. Some of this depends on your preferred cutting style as well. I chop and glide cut more than rock cut.

EDC knives get an 800 grit edge that I strop with the 2/4 micron set. That extra bite is good for cutting rope, zip ties, and other fiberous materials. If I just wanted a letter / package opening edge on a gentleman’s folder then I’d probably go for high polish again.

Play around with the finish and see what you like. You have all the tools you need to try any combination you want.

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Brewbear, NotSharpEnuff, Marc H

[NorCalQ]

Thanks.  That helps a lot.  I do a lot of chopping as well, almost straight up and down.  Thanks for narrowing things down for me.  I also break down chickens a lot.  I smoke meats, so you can imagine.

As for EDC, I just watched Clay’s vid on micro beveling at 200 grit…blew me away.  I gotta try that one.  It just seems counter intuitive to get a great polish, then micro at 200, but if Clay says it works, it must.  Having tried to cut zip ties with a polished edge, I see that a toothy edge would give better bite and an easier cut.  Of course, the fear for newbies is losing that sharp edge..  That said, I have tried it at 800 grit and it worked nicely.  I’m just so new to sharpening that I’m still trying to understand what sharp means.

Thanks for your input.

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Haffner

[tcmeyer]

Like Organic, I sharpen for a polished edge every time, but I know it’s not always the best.  We like very crusty breads and the polished edges work beautifully, but not at the start.  The polished edges will glide right over the crust.  It may take ten or fifteen passes of a sawing motion before it breaks through the hard stuff.  Even very acute edges do it, although they are clearly better.

[Organic]

For bread I have one of these:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004LVIO3O/ref=oh_aui_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

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Marc H

[NorCalQ]

Interesting on the bread crust.  I would have thought a polished edge would be best.  In that case would a toothy edge be the answer?  Tomatoes, celery…toothy or polished?

[Marc H]

Here’s a video on sharpening a toothy edge with the Wicked Edge:

Marc
(MarcH's Rack-Its)

[Marc H]

Here’s a YouTube discussion on this subject:

Marc
(MarcH's Rack-Its)

[NotSharpEnuff]

NorCalQ,

Your original question concerned Chef knives and the type of edge.  Personally, I go up to the 1500 diamond and stop there for the two knives my wife uses for everything.  I’m also touching them up every two weeks or so.  For those with an edge tester, they leave the WE around 130gf and when I take them back to touch up they are around 350gf.

For my PM2 work knife, I originally took it to full mirror polish.  I found that it was terrible at opening up taped boxes.  The start of the cut was great but it started riding on top of the tape really fast.  Looking at the edge, the tape glue had covered the edge to the point it stopped cutting.  I also watched Clay’s  video about adding a course micro bevel.  I tried it and it worked well for boxes etc…

Currently, I only put the course micro bevel on the forward part of the blade – maybe one inch or so back from the tip.  I increase the angle 2 degrees and very softly use the 800 grit stone.  So far, that combination has been the best for my usage.

Ed K.

 

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Organic, Marc H

[Organic]

NorCalQ wrote:

Interesting on the bread crust. I would have thought a polished edge would be best. In that case would a toothy edge be the answer? Tomatoes, celery…toothy or polished?

I would prefer polished edge for both.

1 user thanked author for this post.

Marc H

[NorCalQ]

Thanks for that comparison vid.  Just the kind of thing I need to see.

[NorCalQ]

Well, so much for mirror polish not cutting tomatoes skins and the like.  Hmmmm…

[Author]

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