Loading…
6
Appreciation post: finally nailed my knife sharpening after 15 years of doing it wrong
So I've been sharpening my own knives forever, probably since culinary school back in 2008, and I always just used a cheap pull through sharpener because it was fast and I didn't think it mattered much. About 6 months ago my sous chef watched me hack through a case of tomatoes and just said flat out, "Chef, that's not cutting, that's crushing." So I finally bought a 1000/6000 grit whetstone for like $35 and made myself learn the real way. The first few tries were rough, I actually made my 8 inch chef knife duller because I couldn't hold a consistent angle, and I almost gave up and went back to the pull through. But I stuck with it, watched some videos, practiced on an old beater knife I didn't care about, and now I can get a knife to shave arm hair in about 10 minutes. Last night I sliced a case of romas paper thin for a bruschetta special and the line cooks actually stopped to watch, which felt kind of ridiculous but also great. Anyone else make the switch from a pull through to a stone later in their career? How long did it take you to stop messing up the angle?
1 comments
Log in to join the discussion
Log In1 Comment
wadecooper19d ago
15 years on a pull through is rough lol but better late than never. One thing though, the 6000 grit side isn't really what's getting you that shave sharp edge, the 1000 is doing most of the work and the 6000 is mostly polishing at that point. If you're spending 8 of your 10 minutes on the fine side you're kinda wasting time, flip it and spend more passes on the 1000 then just a few light strokes on the 6000 to finish. Also once you got that angle locked in muscle memory you'll stop thinking about it, mine took maybe 3 or 4 months of weekly practice before my hands just knew where 15 degrees was.
5