Can You Sharpen at Work?

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Dave Martell

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This is a question for the pros here on the board; can you sharpen your knives at work, and if so what's your set up like? Just curious
 
I can If I've got the free time to do it. What usually ends up happening is I do one of my knives if it needs it and 5 or 6 of my co-workers. I usually keep a few stones in the truck for emergency purposes. The naniwa akamon big red brick, because I like it, and I can put a damp towel over it and use it as a stand for the other stones, gesshin 400, and king 6k, natural blue aoto, and I usually keep my little-ish nakayama karasu in my knife bag along with a small piece of the felt you sent me( for de-burring ) for touch-ups even if I don't have any other stones with me at the time. I leave a loaded leather strop in the office as well.
 
it's expected of me to sharpen at the end of my shift, everyone does it. but i'm in a japanese (kaiseki) kitchen.
 
oh and i found a shapton 1500 laying around there so i just throw it on my station and go with that
 
Sometimes I do on Mondays. The bistro is closed, but I go in ad bake while I have the kitchen to myself. Normally its just the house knives though. I like to sharpen my own at home. The setup is normally a 1/3 pan with water and a towel down under the stone.
 
Yes, if work/ cleaning is caught up. To me, tool maintenance should be an acceptable part of the job.

I usually use the upside-down rectangular metal pan with towels, ala Salty. I also usually just do touch ups at work, with quick splash and go Naniwa SS 3k or 5k....
 
I haven't at where I stage, but all the cooks do. Introduced them to a diamond flattening plate and now they won't let me have it back.
 
In my current job, in the middle of split shifts, the rest of kitchen disappear and I have some peace and quiet. Alternatively, after my shift with a pint.

My setup is just a stone on a bench with some towels, the stones I currently have at work are the JNS 800 and a Takashima Awasedo - I paired these two together for the first time last week and was super happy with the results.
 
I do under the same circumstances as nochop, mostly because he is my boss :doublethumbsup:. When there is nothing else to prep, and everything is clean. I use a naniwa green brick 2-4k and that is it. When I am at home I use the full spread.
 
I do when I have the time and space. Which isn't as often as I would like. I also end up sharpening all my cooks knives. They don't even ask me. I just get so fed up with them using such dull knives. I never understood why any one would spend the money on expensive knives and not learn or care to sharpen them. I like what TheDispossessed said about the Japanese kitchens. It should be part of the job. I spend at least an hour a day sharpening.
 
I don't currently. When I did it was a Salty clone w/ third pan and towels. I would absolutley let the cooks do it if they cared to. Looks like I should by a stone for the restaurant. I usually sharpen employee knives DMT XC to green brick. I wouldn't trust them with that. I should probably get them a king combo. (thought I had a pic of the set up but can't find it)
 
I can't. and I should be able to. Like most of the folks on here, only when we have the time. Overly busy kitchen.
 
I used to show up before work to sharpen sometimes, or after work. Every once in a while, after a lot of prep, i would sharpen before dinner service (instead of sitting down to family meal). I had a few stones at work, usually a stone holder, and a 1/3 pan to hold the stones and water. I only had a couple of bosses give me crap for sharpening... the rest were happy i was doing it, as were my co-workers.
 
I do when I have the time and space. Which isn't as often as I would like. I also end up sharpening all my cooks knives. They don't even ask me. I just get so fed up with them using such dull knives. I never understood why any one would spend the money on expensive knives and not learn or care to sharpen them. I like what TheDispossessed said about the Japanese kitchens. It should be part of the job. I spend at least an hour a day sharpening.

You don't have as much time as you like, but you still have an hour a day to sharpen? I don't get why its taking so long, how many knives are you sharpening each day?
 
at the beginning of the thread i was wondering what you guys were using pans for in this occasion. now i realized that you call your gastro norm "pans" over there. i had some weired pictures in my mind until then :D

i have a couple of stones at work and also end up sharpening my cow orkers knives every time i get em out.

btw. dispossessed. how do you like that shapton pro 1500? i like mine pretty much and its by far my most used stone at work.
 
I have Tormek 7 at work.

That being said, my knives only at home. From august Im trying to organize sharpening group, two other folks with own stones and me trying to show them how to do it. Every tuesday after work. In Norwegian reality thats actually way too often :stinker:, unfortunately. Never heard of a place where someone would do that.

But when/if it works, then 1/2 deep hotelpans, damp paper towels and some cooling liquid is all we need.
Im supplying plasters, diamond plate and strop.

Stones? One has JCK 1/4K combo, the other JNS 3 stone set and me? JNS 1K and binsui, all I ever needed.
 
I always have my honing kit in my work bag. I pull that out now and then. Occasionally, I'll bring in a couple stones to accompany the hone. No one ever makes noise about it. Mostly they enjoy checking out the results of my honing sessions. There is a (I think) roughly 1K King waterstone in the knife cabinet which some previous @$^%*~ used as an oilstone. BTW, it is possible to reverse the damage by soaking for a week in straight Simple Green and rinsing for twenty minutes or so. Since then, it's been usable as a waterstone. Every once in a very great while when the hone isn't giving the results I need, I'll pull that stone out for an emergency session followed by a finishing session on the hone so I can get through the shift. I think I've had to resort to that twice in the last three years. Generally, if I'm going to hone or do any sharpening, I'll take care of it at the very beginning of a shift or around meal time. I'm pretty conscientious about it. I usually only take care of maintenance when we're finished and prepped for the evening or if there's an urgent need.
 
btw. dispossessed. how do you like that shapton pro 1500? i like mine pretty much and its by far my most used stone at work.

you know i'm digging it. i have gesshin 400, 2k, 4k at home and love those. purely out of convenience i've used just the shapton 1500 after my shift and it's fairly quick and pleasant to work with, the results are totally acceptable for me on a gyuto and petty.
the stone seems pretty wear resistant because when i brought in a diamond plate (150x) to true it up, it was surprisingly tough.
this is the first splash and go i've used, so far, so good.

also, as a side, i used to think it'd be fun (but probably somewhat impractical) to cut a soaking stone or combo stone in half so it could fit in a 9 pan for easier stashing in your mise so it'd be ready to pull out for a quick touch-up anytime.
 
it drives me absolutely nuts to have seen young cooks claim 'they have no time' to sharpen their knives (because they never do it, so it takes them friggin ten minutes) and then continually slam their blade on a honing rod every two minutes during prep.
thankfully, i don't have to witness this abuse anymore..
 
Depends on prep for the day. Most of the time no. If I know I'll have time I'll bring my kit in but it's easier to sharpen at home. I usually don't need a knife for much of service but if I do it either is what it is after prep or I always have a backup.

Setup is a wet towel, a 3k or 5k, and a cork.
 
whoa, i'm hogging this thread, sorry but i keep thinking of things.
from what i understand, traditional japanese kitchens have a much better system for this. the young cooks wash dishes and sharpen everyone's knives for a while before they move up (or so i'm told).
 
it drives me absolutely nuts to have seen young cooks claim 'they have no time' to sharpen their knives (because they never do it, so it takes them friggin ten minutes) and then continually slam their blade on a honing rod every two minutes during prep.
thankfully, i don't have to witness this abuse anymore..

I don't understand this. I haven't had a day off for 4 weeks so the little free time I have is spent doing a variety of things other than sharpening. I use a honing rod and it prolongs my edges a bit, I know it's not ideal but it's still a pretty good stopgap measure until I actually get out my stones and sharpen my knives again, what's the issue?

But to answer the question, no I don't sharpen my knives in work. I might actually stay behind and do it some time though, I don't have a lot of space in my house
 
yep, the last 2 kitchens ive worked in are very positive to sharpening on shift. At Tru we could sharpen before butchering and then the protein station cooks would touch up slicers during set up, most guys have a splash and go stone tucked away somewhere, a Shapton glass stone was common to get you through the day. At the hotel I work at now the chefs will do touch up before butchering or when needed and most of my staff will use a red brick or something in the 1k/4k combo stone style and set up just before or just after shift. Now, as a manager, I feel that if your responsible enough to take care of your tools and it doesn't interrupt your work, I wont stop you from doing so.
 
You could make it part of the job. Couldn't you? I would be ok with getting paid to sharpen my kit at work.

It's a family run restaurant. I still have people I need to answer to. Also the sad thing is I think most people don't even want to learn.
 
Yes i sometimes sharpen at work, usually others people knives. but i keep the gesshin 2k at work in a bucket and i keep a strop there loaded with .5 micron diamond.

i just use a 1/4 or 1/3 pan turn upside down and put a wet down on there to keep stone from slipping. works very well.
 
You don't have as much time as you like, but you still have an hour a day to sharpen? I don't get why its taking so long, how many knives are you sharpening each day?

I'll usually grab quite a few of the guys knives to sharpen at home as well as my own. I tend to take my time when I'm at home. I find it relaxing. I'd say 10-20 a night. I meant time at work before service. I think more people have time to sharpen their knives then they claim. Too many people don't have time to do basic maintenance yet go to the bar every night.
 
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I am able to sharpen my knives during service hours when business is slow, which does not happen over at the place I'm working lol. I usually turn up 2hrs earlier or go home later.
 
Yes i do when it is slow, we got 1 stone at work for every one to use.
 
i wish i had pictures of the stones at my old place. some really crazy ass shapes
 
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