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psfred

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I finally decided after many years of cursing dull knives to get busy and sharpen up and/or replace our motley collection of kitchen knives. I've been a woodworker for many years, and manage to keep those tools in decent condition, but recently decided to get serious about all my sharp tools.

My current assortment of knives ranges from an old carbon steel Chicago Cutlery butcher knife and carving knife my father acquired (he died in 1976, should give you a hint of what we have here!), a decent narrow chef's knife of unknown parentage, a couple Rada knives I hate, six or seven stainless Chicago Cutlery knives I got off eBay recently, and a Case Early American chef knife I've had for at least 30 years. I also bought a nice Forschner Victorinox 6" utility knife on sale, nice knife.

I have a similar assortment of stones -- a set of Kings (800, 1000, 1200) of the old clay binder type, a Bester 1200 grit white stone, a 3000 grit soft artificial stone, a new Naniwa Super stone 220 grit, a new Naniwa Super stone 3000 grit, a 6000 grit King, an Imanishi Kitayama 8000 grit, and have coming a King Deluxe 300 grit and a Bester 700 grit stone. Most of these were acquired for use with woodworking tools, but I don't see any reason not to use them on knives.

I've more or less sharpened up all the knives -- quite a project on some of them as they appear to have been used forever without every having been sharpened. It's been at least 10 years, and more likely 15 since my Mother's knives that we use most of the time have been sharpened, and I cannot vouch for the quality of that job since I didn't do it.

After several nights of grinding, I switched to a small diamond hone that is fairly coarse and ground a 15 degree bevel on the knives I didn't have sharp, and kept at it until I could no longer see the edge, makes a great improvement. I suppose I will have to use all the knives and see how well they hold up, but it so far is suddenly a great pleasure to cook instead of a battle! All those "tricks" I see chef's on TV using are really easy when you have a sharp knife and the potato doesn't squirt out from underneath it when you try to cut!

Peter
 
I am new here, but would like others say "welcome" to you
 
How'd everything work out Peter? All the knives in proper shape now? I think most of the knives you mentioned would hold up well at 18 to 20 degrees. I imagine there's some sentimental value there.
 
Sounds like a good collection of stones! Welcome to the forum and sharper knives!
 

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