cjb80202
@cjb-80202
active 6 years, 3 months agoForum Replies Created
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My 12 year old daughter outed me in front of friends recently, that I listen to AC/DC while I sharpen. I guess that’s true, even though it wasn’t really a conscious choice. Back in Black is the best. I’m sure this goes against the grain with others’ musical choices, that may be more zen like…
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I vote for the 800/1000. I think it’s the best addition to the grits that come with the GO.
For me, over time, I’ve added stones at both ends of the spectrum, going down to the 50/80 grit, and up to the 1200/1600. And, I’m not a very scientific or sophisticated sharpener. But the range of 200 – 1000 gives amazing results on my kitchen knives.
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I’m more of a lightweight sharpener, so I don’t lap. I do want a really sharp knife, but it seems I can get it so sharp just with the diamond stones that I stop there. But I am curious if you test the sharpness at each step, or at least prior to the stropping; and, if so, how much difference does it make?
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The biggest risk I’m trying to prevent, in wearing gloves, is that my fingertips seem to protrude as I’m gripping the stones. And so I’m mainly worried about them hanging over onto the blade. As for the gloves I wear, I don’t notice that they detract at all from my sharpening; but then again, I’ve worn them pretty much from the time I started sharpening, so I never got used to the bare hands experience.
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Just like sharpening a knife (I’m stretching this analog…) it’s the geometry of cooking a bird, particularly a turkey, that makes it more challenging. When roasting, the breasts tend to cook quicker than the dark meat around the legs and thighs. That tends to create a dried out breast as you try to eliminate the bloody, raw effect on the dark meat. Spatchcocking helps eliminate this by making the bird 2-dimensional, which helps the sections cook closer to the same rate. Even with that, I like to a) set out the bird at room temperature before cooking (30-45 minutes) and b) put bags of frozen corn on the breasts while it’s sitting out, to help keep them relatively cold (and I pre-brine the turkey as an insurance policy).
When it comes to carving, spatchcocking definitely makes life easier, IMO. Mainly because the backbone is gone, and you’re not struggling to cut away the legs at those big joints, particularly with a very hot turkey releasing steam onto your hands!
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That does look like a newer version of my knife! And it bolsters my thought that my current knife would probably sell second hand for about $1, but that makes me enjoy it that much more. I think I do have to sharpen it more often that my more expensive kitchen knives, but that’s part of the fun.
The only problem I’ve run into by spatchcocking with a knife instead of shears is potentially puncturing the underside of the breast by poking the knife at too much of an angle. With this long knife blade, that’s not a problem, it cuts right through while pretty much horizontal.
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I do prefer using a long, sharp knife over shears. When I’ve used shears, the cut rib bones are really sharp and it’s easy to scrape or cut your knuckles.
The thing that amazed me is that I get such amazing use now out of that big, cheap butcher knife. It’s the kind of knife you can buy for a buck at goodwill, but wow does it work great now!
On a related note, I have a pair of shears, but I don’t have the scissors adapter. So I thought I’d just free-hand the edge of the shears a bit, with my 600 grit stones. I think I hurt instead of helped, I created a burr and had a tough time getting it smoothed back down, and the shears wouldn’t close correctly.
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This butcher knife. I don’t remember when/how we got it, but it was years ago, and it was dull, dull, dull before the WE treatment.
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That’s a great looking setup – I love your custom base and stone holders!
Just to stick my nose into one thing I see missing from your picture… I recently received some great advice from Clay, and I used a lighted loupe magnifier to look at my blade. Wow – it blew me away the level of detail I could see with a ~ $15 device, showing all the scratch patterns. I highly recommend getting one!
https://www.amazon.com/Illuminated-Magnifier-Construction-Kare-Kind/dp/B00YBHQ7X2
