Best sharpening angle for kitchen knives
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- Опубликовано: 24 июл 2024
- In this video, we will talk about the best sharpening angle for your specific kitchen knife. Finding an angle is easy, but how do you determine what sharpening angle you should go for? Find your best sharpening angle in this video!
Visit my website for more information about Sharpening Angles:
www.chefpanko.com/best-sharpe...
Sharpening angle guideline for home cooks:
Japanese knife with a Rockwell of 59 or lower 15° to 17°
Japanese knife with a Rockwell of 60 and above 15°
Western-style chef knife with a Rockwell of 60 and lower 17°
Chinese Cleaver with a Rockwell of 61 and lower 20° to 25°
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N O T E S: This is a guide based on my personal experience in a Japanese restaurant. Feel free to ask me any questions in the comments section below.
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TIMESTAMPS:
00:00 - Video introduction
00:33 - Basics and Rockwell hardness
01:05 - Lower sharpening angle vs. higher sharpening angle
01:39 - Knife design, style, and Rockwell
01:53 - Higher sharpening angle for home cooks
02:31 - Sharpening angle for a Japanese knives
03:45 - Sharpening angle for a Western Styled Chef knife
04:27 - Sharpening angle for Chinese Cleavers 
Хобби
*Warning:*
For the Chinese cleaver knife, there are different types of knives and I recommend the following:
*Chinese All Purpose/ Dual Purpose:* This version has a reinforced heel area and the only one I recommend 2 different angles to try.
20 degrees at the 2/3 front area and for the last 1/3 heel area 25 degrees.
(of course, this is optional and you can just do one angle across the complete blade)
*As for the Chinese Vegetable Cleaver:* 20 degrees across the complete blade.
*Bone Cleavers:* 25 degrees due to its design and intended use.
Special thanks to Vincent also known as ''UnknownTV'' on the Bladeforums.
See his threads on the forum: bit.ly/3fYbQpC
I made a playlist on ''How to sharpen your kitchen knife'' in this playlist I plan to cover everything from start to finish on how you can sharpen your own kitchen knives:
ruclips.net/video/F4Ad-hRl3G8/видео.html
TIMESTAMPS:
00:00 - Video introduction
00:33 - Basics and Rockwell hardness
01:05 - Lower sharpening angle vs higher sharpening angle
01:39 - Knife design, style, and Rockwell
01:53 - Higher sharpening angle for home cooks
02:31 - Sharpening angle for a Japanese knives
03:45 - Sharpening angle for a Western Styled Chef knife
04:27 - Sharpening angle for Chinese Cleavers
Thank you all for the amazing feedback!
I would have loved to find a video like this when I was a beginner, as a guidelinde this is great for a beginner and im glad you mention that sharpening is always a trade-off between sharpness and durability and that it needs to be something practical to use.
Since the beginning i tried a lot of angles and techniques on different knives, at this point i dont even know what angle my knives have and they definitely are not 50/50 anymore but overtime i got them to a point that i know they perform as good as i need them to and im ok with the mantainance involved to keep them that way.
I hope many people especially beginners take your advice, i apreciate the knowledge from the bladesmiths and people in the industry that know what they are doing, but kowledge coming from someone like you that knows from experience what actually works in practice is something that needs to be shared with more people.
Thank You.
I also wish I knew all this since it would have saved me a lot of trials and errors and money, doubting if it was the stone buying new stones, new knives, was it the quility of the knife was it the hardness, etc. But in the end, I'm glad that I explored most of the options and now I can share my findings with others :)
In the end, there is always something new we can learn and something we can be better with. When it comes to freehand sharpening there will be some error margin no matter what you try unless you get a complete guide system/tools to assist your preferred angle, but that is the fun part of freehand sharpening trying to be as precise as you can with your angle.
I am definitely going to try different angles based on the different types of knifes I have. Since I have two good knifes and two very cheap an bad knifes I am going to apply your advices. Thank you!
Have fun! :)
very nice video panko
Thank you very much for the info 🙏
My pleasure, keep in mind as for the Chinese cleavers (I completely forgot to talk about the diffrence in Chinese cleavers):
For the Chinese cleaver knife, there are different types of knives and I recommend the following:
Chinese All Purpose/ Dual Purpose: This version has a reinforced heel area and the only one I recommend 2 different angles to try.
20 degrees at the 2/3 front area and for the last 1/3 heel area 25 degrees.
(of course, this is optional and you can just do one angle across the complete blade)
As for the Chinese Vegetable Cleaver: 20 degrees across the complete blade.
Bone Cleavers: 25 degrees due to its design and intended use.
I have 3 Chinese cleaver style knives to dress. All are hardness 57-58. My stones will arrive tomorrow and I appreciate your recommendation of 20 degrees. I am going to start on an old Joyce Cheng vegetable cleaver before I work on my new Shi Ba Zi Zou. Wish me luck.
I used to own a cabinet shop and custom ground bits and blades. Been a while but it will come back. Also did my own tempering for some cutters.
Good luck and have fun! You even did your own tempering that is awesome wish I had the skills to make my own knives and more! (I do watch ''Alec Steele'' on RUclips, not that I will attempt to try but it is very interesting to see the progress of how certain things are made).
I noticed at a certain arm angle you automatically put your finger on the spine at one point for stability. That's the good stuff 👍
Dear chief, I follows your videos carefully and I really think they are very instructive. I look forward for your new video where you explain how to sharpen knifes. I would like to ask you to explain how and when you use honnig rod especially on damask pattern knifes because using it, knifes can be seriously stratched. Thank you in advance and best regards.
Noted, as for when you use a honing rod it is basically when you feel that the knife id getting dull or is dull. So you straighten the knife with a rod. As for scratches that means you were a bit to low with your honing angle so you should try a slight higher angle to avoid scratches. Hope that this helps a bit I will figure out how to make a video about it thanks for the suggestion :)
To the point, clear, practically useful video.
Many amateur home cooks find it easier to use sharpeners with slots for pulling the knife through. So, to complement the video, I’d like to have your opinion on those.
Do you recommend them? For what blades?
What angle do they use? Can you affect the angle?
While I don't recommend them it is an alternative way of convenience to those that have zero knife knowledge or sharpening knowledge.
That product solves the problem for many home cooks effectively on cheap knives.
So the target audience is the key factor for who the products are targeted at.
There are a lot of limitations but one thing is sure a dull cheap knife that can't cut will 100% benefit from a pull-through sharpener.
If you modify those types of products you sacrifice convenience, which you can see with electric sharpeners which come with a few angle guides (ie knowledge of what angle to use is important but those manufacturers will market to the masses and generalize the angles as in 15 degrees Japanese knives 17 degrees western knives, etc).
Now we have an entire sharpening system that is also removing the convenience aspect but is still highly knowledge-based.
The problem with that is that if you remove the ''skill'' aspect you will never get better since the system does it all for you. In return, you are stuck with an entire system that you need to setup every time and you need the knowledge of what angle to use on what knife that fits your preference. Not only are you stuck with the system the parts that come with the system such as the sharpening material will fade away and you are sucked into the ecosystem so you can only replace it with their products.
So there may be some middle ground but I will say #1 is learning how to sharpen on a whetstone. The rest is a modification to make it more convenient or solve a problem of the #1 whetstone sharpening/maintenance.
Just like the pull-through sharpeners some have multiple angles on them while not very effective it is 100% better than a dull knife and therefore convenient to use and even I recommend them over a cheap dull knife. However, if you go for a more expensive knife the reality is that you will invest time and effort to learn how to use the knife and to take proper care of it and you will know what not to use as the high premium thin hard Japanese knives, for example, I will never recommend a pull-through sharpener but those target audience will eventually invest time and money to learn how to maintain it.
So to answer your questions:
Do you recommend them?: depends see above.
For what blades?: Cheap blades
What angle do they use?: Depends on the product/brand/manufacturer usually around 20/15 or 17 degrees.
Can you affect the angle?: Depends on the product/brand etc. (in most cases no they are fixed angles).
i know it may seem weird and laughable,but at what angle should i sharp a 54hrc multi-tool knife ? i guess it is at 25-30° for the edge retention but i prefer to ask
as it is for multi purpose,i could beating it up against a stick and cut paper with it the same day i am a bit confused lol
Direct and to the point, (pun intended). Well done, sir. 👍
Good video brother
Thank you :)
If you already have a high-quality chef's knife - such as a Wusthof Classic 8" Hollow Edge - what would be a good Santoku to complement that knife for use in mincing, thin slicing, etc? Is there one with a factory angle and hardness that would give additional usability for fine slicing while giving a design that is going to last for a while without constant maintenance (other than honing)?
I've used my Mercer Santoku for 8 years everyday. EXCELLENT knife for the price. I recently purchased a smaller USAhand made brand gyuto for me than twice the price and I'm not sure it's any better.
Do these angles apply to all types of kitchen knife designs like paring, carving, and utility knives?
Did not try those angles on hem as I usually keep the factory angle on paring knives.
Since those knives are used differently I think you can get away with lower angles without sacrificing the edge retention.
I have a Yaxell zen knife (vg10, 61 HRC), i believe that angle is near 15 or even a bit less. So after some usage like 3 mounth twicely in a week - it is started to form a small microchips all over the blade. I can see them only with a magnifuing glass. Also i believe that treat it well - no salt, frozen stuff, bones, only plants. I cut only on soft polyethylene cutboard.
So is it normal to get microchips on vg10? Or may be there are some banned actions with this steel like actions u do with already chopped grass to do it smaller chopped (actions that not like back and forth but kinda side direction ).
Or may be its enough to do a bit higher angle?
Do you wash your veggies before cutting? It can be sand that is causing the microchips since some people cut it first and then wash it (like lettuce).
VG10 can get microchips or bigger chips when used incorrectly (forcing your way through something with speed and force is not recommended), AUS10 is slightly more forgiving. But the sharpened angle might be the other reason since you can only see it under a magnifying glass.
After reading the Yaxell website they state 10 to 12 degrees as their sharpening angle, so you might want to change it to 15 degrees first and if that does not fix it try 17 degrees.
@@chefpanko Its more likely that im doing something wrong with cutting. Thanks for your advice!
Hi chef, I've been sharpening my Zwilling chef's knife at 15 degrees, would sharpening at 17 degrees now cause too much wear on the knife in the sharpening process? I'm envisioning shaving off a lot of metal to re-profile at 17 degrees.
I would suggest using the 15-degree angle untill it can't be honed back to its sharpness and then add a maintenance session and sharpen at a 17-degree angle.
In this way, you at least got some usage out of the 15 degrees angle.
What ChefPanko said - use the knife until it needs sharpening. It is much, much easier to put a more obtuse angle on a knife - you'll reach the actual edge (with almost minimal removal of material) and form a burr earlier/easier than at the shallower/more acute angle. The hardest is to try to put a shallower/more acute edge on a knife - that needs to take a lot of material off. But there are diamond stones - use those for profiling - then finish on the water stones.
Hey ChefPanko, any recommendation for sharpening angles for Ceramic Knives? I got one Ruixin Pro Knife sharpener system with some diamond stones and now I'm able to sharpen my ceramic knife properly, but there's some micro-chips in the blade and I'm still trying to get rid of them, but I've improved its blade by at least 80% since I've first tried to sharpen it, now I'm trying to get to the sweet spot where the knife gets all sharpen and without any micro-chips.
Thank you :)
Unfortunately, I never used or owned a ceramic knife, due to its hard material and brittleness. The problem with ceramic is the microchipping due to the ceramic material.
A diamond abrasive is basically the only solution to resharpen a ceramic knife, I would suggest a course 400 diamond for repairing chips, 1000 to reprofile/add a profile and probably a 3000 finer grit to remove microchips. (however higher diamond grit plates are expensive and this are just my speculations).
Due to the material, there is not really an angle that I can think of that would benefit the ceramic knife. A twist can chip the knife, so I suggest a higher angle of 20 degrees to add durability.
The above information is just speculations since I never used a ceramic knife or sharpened one before, but I know how hard they are and the downsides and that's why diamond abrasives are currently the only solution to repair it to sharpen one.
Sorry for not having the information you seek.
Unless you got a machine and experience the answer is:you don't. Chef panko already said why. If you Google ceramic knife tomek you can find some videos on the topic.
hi so if you use 15° on one side and 15°on other knife edge will be 30° right?
total 30° indeed
Ref the angles you discuss from 2.40...are they the bevel angle or the edge angle, which is twice the bevel angle on double beveled blades?
Edge angle per side so double for both sides. more about it on my website it should be in the description but will add in another reply just incase RUclips delete the links since they don't like links in the comments.
The link to the article explaining it more: www.chefpanko.com/best-sharpening-angle-for-kitchen-knives/
Hello what is the best Chinese cleavers, cck is good? What are their prices? Make a video about that please
Hi, I did a review about the Chinese cleaver they are from Shi Ba Zi Zou.
The version I recommend Shi Ba Zi Zou - F208-1:
ruclips.net/video/feaXHT4yuLM/видео.html&t
The version in the video above Shi Ba Zi Zou - P01:
ruclips.net/video/-Qmpo8_Lv14/видео.html
I have not tried any CCK Cleavers so I don't have an opinion for them, as for Shi Ba Zi Zuo their knife line-up is extremely different for different usage I do recommend the F208-1 and is currently my fave Chinese vegetable cleaver.
@@chefpanko thanks bro!!! I will check that instead of the Victorinox fibrox
Интересно и познавательно
Спасибо за ваш комментарий
Захватываем комментарии!))
Would most chefs and cooks care if their knives are sharpened with a convex edge (matching original angle of course)? I’m wondering how sharpening services could maintain the flat edge when they generally use belt sharpeners which are faster than doing it by hand.
The short answer (nope):
It depends on the person but they most likely won't care at all (unless it is a premium knife which in that case they won't give it to a sharpener or only give it to specialized sharpening shops that use a whetstone wheel or hand sharpen the knives).
Long answer:
It is all about convenience, and how easy it is to maintain the edge, and since in most restaurants, you have to work with health safety rules using a grinding belt is not an option.
So a whetstone and a honing rod are the easiest and best solutions for maintaining the edge.
However, during the lifespan of the knife in a restaurant, the edge gets thicker and thicker with multiple sharpening and maintaining sessions.
At that point, they have a few options like thinning it with each sharpening session (at this point they won't care about the looks of the fancy Damascus pattern, etc since they are working in a restaurant after all and don't have time to take out each stone, powder, sandpaper, polisher to maintain the look of the knife since the goal is to thin the knife over time so that it maintains its performance).
So options are simple they don't care if it is convex since the knife will get sharpened/maintained every day or if the knife edge retention is good every other day.
If the knife gets too thick after multiple sharpening sessions they can bring it to a specialized shop that will hin the knife to you which also maintains the look they even remove all the scratches and repolish it to a factory look (if there is a printed logo that will be gone).
Or they need to thin the knife themself at each sharpening/maintenance session.
For home use, I would not even bother thinning the knives since most Japanese knives will be fine even after a decade or 2 without ever needing to thin the knife (except for a big chip in the blade which means it needs repair, and proper thinning if the chip is too big).
Maintaining the knife bevel is the easiest part, so if they do it every other day and don't neglect the knife edge, a sharpening session on a whetstone should not even take longer than 3 min at that point. However, if they have neglected the edge a sharpening session will take longer.
@@chefpanko Thanks for the detailed reply! I was not aware about the health regulations and grinding! It seems as though many “pro” sharpeners on RUclips say that they do restaurant knives on a work sharp ken onion with blade grinding attachment. Do you have any ideas where a person could find some customers? I am interested in Pershing sharpening as a side hustle. I’m still perfecting my technique on the Ken onion and feel confident that soon I’ll be at or better than factory. I have been using a guided work sharp for years and then strop by hand for pretty good results. The only negative is I am not very good with stones.
@@strikenryken If it is a separate workshop it won't matter so if it is a sharpening service that someone else offers the restaurant it won't matter for health safety. But if the restaurant is using it at the prepping station the metal particles can fly around everywhere.
As explained above you can offer a sharpening service to restaurants that is what our local Japanese import knife shop does. He offers sharpening services including thinning of knives.
He also has replacement knives while he sharpens the restaurant knives. However, knife enthusiasts and cooks with more knife knowledge will not opt for a sharpening service of edge sharpening. Those are only interested in full thinning service which includes polishing back to factory new.
You can start small, and sharpen the knives from family or friends to learn how to sharpen, thining, and repair a knife. After that, you should get to know how to get the different factory look back since some knife comes with a mirror polish.
As I have spoken with Worksharp (Disclosure I worked with them to review their home use sharpener), their products are designed not to overheat the knives so they will also be safe to use on high Rockwell Japanese knives. The only thing is you can oversharpen and remove too much material (which is something in which experience plays a role). The home-use sharpener was designed for home cooks so limited in options, the Ken Onion is mimicking more professional sharpening tools for home/hobby use. Their products solve a part of the problems some face, such as not being able to sharpen a stone due to an injury or making it more convenient. One thing for sure is that the Inventor, Engineer (R&D department) from Worksharp ''Dan Dovel'' is a very interesting person. Since he is the one I have spoken to and if he is still with Worksharp I'm confident that Worksharp comes with very unique and interesting products that solve a problem to make things more convenient.
But many knife enthusiasts for kitchen knives will prefer a stone for the edge which is what many Japanese and Chinese manufacturers use but their stone is on a wheel where the machine rotates the wheel on a flat horizontal position where the sharpener only has to pass through it on each side once. After that, they use newspaper stropping (not sure if every manufacturer does it but the ones I have spoken to do).
As I said it's not the edge that most of us care about as that edge needs to get sharpened sooner or later but the other options like thinning something we all like since it is cheap. The sharpening service has the correct tools to thin a knife in a few minutes vs 30 min of thinning by hand etc. It is something like a new/full restoration of a knife which of course comes with edge sharpening.
I would suggest learning to sharpen on stones too since the belt grinders can do a lot of other things like polishing/buffing the handle etc. (not sure if the ken onion one has a buffing attachment). But you can also regrind a wooden handle to remove all the built-up dirt etc.
@@chefpanko thanks so much for the explanation! I really appreciate you sharing your knowledge with me.
I think Wusthof does a 14 degree angle from the factory. I will stick with that.
old version 20 degree new version 14 degree
Wusthof changed the cutting edge of Wusthof knives in 2010 and began using the PEtec technology. PEtec stands for Precision Edge Technology. Wusthof's cutlery has an edge created using precision lasers, which sharpen the blade to a degree angle of 28 (14 degrees per side)
Has anyone purposely put 15 degrees on one side and 20 degrees on the other side of the blade? I’m curious if there would be any benefit to this instead of matching angles.
There are manufacturers that do a 70/30 bevel where one side is around 10/20 degrees.
This is supposed to mimic a single-bevel knife on a double-bevel edge.
In terms of benefits, I don't find much improvement in regular tasks.
There is a slightly sharper performance on softer produce without sacrificing too much of the knife's edge durability (for example raw fish, cucumber, etc).
On things like harder produce, I find the normal 50/50 bevel performing slightly better, especially on splitting tasks like rough chopping but on the slicing task, and precision task the 70/30 bevel shaves better. (carrots, sweet potatoes, etc).
So task example:
Splitting a potato in half 50/50 bevel performs better. (rough chop)
Shaving a potato so making extremely see-through thin potato slices 70/30 bevel performs better. (precision slicing).
Also at this point (thinly slicing a potato), I recommend a mandolin it is faster more precise, and better in every way imaginable including the option to set a thickness level.
Also, keep in mind which side to sharpen at what angle since it has some effect on what hand you use (but just like the above result it is a very slight performance difference).
Other than maintaining the factory angles I don't find it has many benefits compared to a 50/50 bevel for regular kitchen tasks.
However, it is an interesting way to get a steeper angle on a knife with a lower Rockwell hardness without losing much of the edge retention.
So for example I recommend an angle of 15 degrees to 17 degrees on Japanese knives with a lower rockwell of 59 or lower.
But by applying the above 70/30 bevel you can add a 12/20 degrees angle without sacrificing edge retention since a lower Rockwell knife will not be able to hold the sharpness of a steeper angle.
But for Japanese knives with a Rockwell of 63 and above those knives should be able to handle a lower angle of even 10 degrees per side. Where I don't recommend the 70/30 bevel anymore.
The benefits will be negligible.
There are benefits but also negatives and the real question is do you want to put in the effort of regrinding the knife or just leave it at a factory angle etc.
Above is my own experience, others might perceive a different experience, and if they do I hope others can add their findings to your question.
@@chefpanko makes sense, thanks! I have also been experimenting with leaving the back half of the entire blade with a courser grit and the front mirror polished for a dual purpose front for slicing and back to simulate more toothy almost like serrations in a way for rope and such since I don’t like pocket knives with actual serrations so to speak :)
@@strikenryken The 2 different edges are something I do find easy to do and actually like. but also here the difference is slight. I reckon that regular home cooks won't even notice it besides the knife nerds and knife sharpeners :P
In terms of first bite, it does not glide but bite in on certain food items so I have to say I do prefer a toothier edge. However, since I used to work in a Japanese restaurant for certain tasks I prefer a smooth edge to a toothier one but for that specific task, I use a Yanagiba or Sujihiki. (speaking about kitchen knives as my knowledge of pocket knives is 0, those knives have other different purposes hence why some are extremely thick and designed for a certain outdoor survival task).
When I first started at the Japanese restaurant as an apprentice we still were using a Usaba but that got quickly replaced by a mandolin.
Yeah but is it 15° each side (making 30°) or 7.5° each side making 15°?
15° per side so the total sharpened angle will be 30°.
@@chefpanko thanks
FIIIIIRST!!!!!!!
Interesting the 20-25 on the chinese chef knife, i would have never thought of that. The rest i basically knew buuuuut a fairly obvious question: How do I know at which angle i'm sharpenig?
I used a Dickoron sharpening rod for my Victorinoxes, when I started buying asian style knives I bought stones (cheapish Amazon ones) and I sharpened my knives but as you can imagine my experience with this is very limited.
Btw great video, was waiting for a sharpening tutorial, hope many more to come.
@@orlandolzr There is a lot of ways to give you an indication of the angle, or you can use angle guides to be more precise. But as with most manual sharpening without a tool to guide or to assist you will have an error margin in your angle. Which is completely fine untill you know what you need to do to compensate for that slight error.
The techniques used to sharpen may lower the error or increase the angle error, therefore it is mostly better to be a bit higher than lower.
The more experience you have the smaller the Angle gap.
Experienced sharpeners will be around 3 to 5 degrees off not much they can do since they manually sharpen and a human error may not be visible to the eyes but if they record themself with a high-speed camera you will see that there is an angle difference in each stroke.
So you can use pennies, angle guides, or stone guides but the error will always be there with freehand sharpening. So it is important to know what we do to compensate for the error difference.
But I hope to cover that in the actual sharpening guide which I explain the steps from determining the knife condition to choosing the stone angle and how to sharpen.
this additional extra information video is what I want to use to explain everything in the final sharpening video. So it will come but can't promise when, Thanks :)
@@chefpanko
I briefly looked online for different methods to determine sharpening angle when i got the stones. Knowing your attention to detail and willingness to teach us, that's why I asked, especially cause you said about slight differences like 12 to 15 degrees. I can feel the difference between a 25 to 15 and adjust pretty easy but something more delicate I can't.
Can't wait for the video!
@@orlandolzr Keep in mind that there is no ''one'' best way to sharpen a knife my goal is to give you the information so that you can develop your own style of sharpening based on your preference. The basics are basically the same the sharpening techniques are different from each person. But I will try to narrow it down a bit since there are tremendous variations of freehand sharpening.
What are the right and wrong ways to hone a chefs knife?
There are multiple ways to hone a knife, what works for some may not work for others. Just make sure you know what knife you use and what is recommended for that specific knife. I personally won't use a Diamond coated honing rod on my personal knives with a hight rockwell. Some may say lower your angle while honing but this depends on your personal preference and what angle you have resharpend your knife with.
@@chefpanko i see. But it's generally possible to unintentionally dull the knife if you hone from the opposite directione of the blade on each side?
@@YoToddYo it is indeed possible to hone a knife incorrectly, therefore, dulling the knife more.
It has nothing to do with the direction as you can hone from tip to heel or heel to tip.
The grit rating (coarse, medium, high, etc) on your rod will have an impact too if the knife is very dull you can force it on a lower grit rating but a maintenance session is recommended with a whetstone.
What we usually do is the following, if it is our own knife we try to keep the same angle that we sharpened the knife with.
So a higher grit rating will do fine for just a quick hone before we start cutting. (removes less material)
If that does not work you can use a lower grit rating rod to add a new edge removing more material.
If the knife is very dull we can force the knife edge by using a coarse or a diamond honing rod removing a lot of material and it slightly resharpens the knife.
When do we force an edge? Usually, when the honing rod of a high grit honing rod has no effect anymore we know we need to plan a maintenance session with a whetstone.
But we sometimes don't have the time so we use a medium grit honing rod to remove more material so that we can keep using the knife during our prep.
Diamond or very coarse rod is the last solution especially when we forget our knife roll and need to use the shared knives from the restaurant where we force a new angle on the knife.
Overwriting others angle that has used the knife before you.
There is no set rule of what is good or wrong, I have used high Rockwell knives above 63 on a coarse diamond-coated honing rod with no problems but others may microchip the high Rockwell knife due to too much force and speed applied. Because of this, I don't recommend high Rockwell knives on a coarse diamond-coated rod.
That's why I usually use softer steel on coarse diamond-coated rods as you remove a lot of material and can force a new edge. (so usually for shared knives from the restaurant as I would like to extend the lifespan of my knife by removing less instead of forcing more material to be shaven off).
You may see others forcing a completely new edge by going up and down multiple times on the same spot ad slowly moving across the entire blade (like playing the violin).
They are forcing a new angle/edge on a very dull soft steel knife. (while this is not recommended and also why you usually see cooks do it on shared knives from the restaurant and not their own).
^ there is no set rule of what is good or wrong you just need to know why you do certain things, for home use I recommend a complete heel-to-tip or tip-to-heel stroke vs the violin option.
Just use the honing rod as a guide that will tell you that it is soon time for a sharpening session on a whetstone. Also never use a honing rod on a single beveled knife like a Yanagiba it destroys the function of that knife since they have a concave. Hope that this explains it a bit. feel free to ask more.
@@chefpanko thanks a lot!! I had seen someone do like a violin type honing and someone said they were dulling their knife! Thanks for the tips
@@YoToddYo It is not recommended but sometimes it gets the job done since it has a lot of drawbacks and why most won't do it on their own knife or expensive knives.
It reduces your knife lifespan, creates an inconsistent edge, profile, etc, and done incorrectly it can damage your edge and dull the knife instead of sharpening.
As mentioned above it is the last solution, and usually on shared, cheap knives and with a coarse honing rod mostly diamond-coated since they remove a lot of material and do sharpen (not perfectly but they do sharpen a bit).
So if he was dulling the knife or not depends on a lot of factors and why I said there is no good or wrong what works for one may or may not work for another.
The same with a knife gripping style, some will say you are holding your knife wrong but if that is what he or she finds comfortable who are we to judge others' gripping style?
As long as the user knows what he does and why he does certain things and it works for him or her then there is no good or wrong.
However, if I see someone doing that and I literally see there is no effect or he is literally dulling the knife then I will advise them to do it another way and teach him/her the why.
Once they know the ''why'' then they can learn the ''how'' part.
I like your bread crumbs.
Thank you :)
Buy a ceramic rod, stones are a meme.
Hi Chef! I received this knife last year as a gift: www.cutleryandmore.com/henckels-twin-cermax/damascus-chefs-knife-p114250
It has a Rockwell hardness of 66 and a factory blade angle of 9-12 degrees. I’m looking into getting an electric knife sharpener that sharpens to a 15 degree blade angle. Would 15 degrees be appropriate even though the factory angle is lower? I’m a home cook with home cook knife skills. Thanks!
That is a great looking knife! Miyabi MC66 is very nice.
I only have tested one electric sharpener that I'm pleased with; I never look at an electric sharpener since I know how to manually sharpen on a whetstone, including all the appropriate angles per knife design and style. So as far as electric sharpeners choices come, I can only recommend one, but that has more to do than. I only tested one and have no idea how others perform.
Worksharp E5:
ruclips.net/video/O7IJSyAXCD0/видео.html
You need an upgrade kit to get 15 degrees:
ruclips.net/video/qqfi8vkel4M/видео.html
The abrasive on the belts is save for high carbon knives. It also adds a convex, which adds extra durability.
For more information about sharpening and the angles:
Whetstones: www.chefpanko.com/maintenance-sharpening/
Sharpening Angle: www.chefpanko.com/best-sharpening-angle-for-kitchen-knives/
I would advise using the lower angle first untill it is dull, once dull, then add a new angle of 15 degrees. The higher angle drastically increases the knife's durability.
It may be less sharp, but the edge retention to sharpness ratio is better for home use. As you will see in the sharpening angle chart, 15 degrees are recommended for home use vs. professional cooks or knife enthusiasts that know what angle to use for special occasions.
You will see more and more knife brands pushing a lower factory angle since most consumers think the lower the angle, the better. (which is only there for advertisement/ marketing to sell more knives vs. other brands).
Feel free to ask more questions. Hope this helps :)
@@chefpanko Thanks for your thoughtful reply! I will definitely wait until the factory edge gets dull before sharpening then. The electric sharpener I am looking at is the Chef’s Choice AngleSelect Hone electric knife sharpener if you are curious.
@@brotherdubious Heard a lot about Chef'sChoise, but I don't know if they are good.
Only tested one electric sharpener, which changed my mind about how I view the electric sharpeners (they essentially take away all the knowledge and experience you need for manual whetstone sharpening and made it easy to use for everyone that doesn't know how to manual sharpen on a whetstone). What they can't do yet is heavy repair work like a chipped blade, etc. (but seeing how fast they advanced with the new technology and tools, it will be just a matter of time for the consumer version to be available for home use).
Another thing to note is that you should never use an electric sharpener on a single beveled knife.
Is manual whetstone sharpening better? If you already know the ins and out, then yes, but if you are just learning, then the Electric sharpener will outperform the majority of new manual whetstone sharpeners that are still trying to learn after months of trial and error (and they are so easy to use almost like a pencil sharpener).
@@chefpanko This sharpener in particular has great user reviews so I’ll give it a shot. I don’t cook enough to devote time to learning how to use a whetstone, so an electric sharpener should suit my needs just fine.