grits

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DaveRossy

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No, not the food (if you can call it that) :D I was wondering, I am just getting into sharpening and I have a 1000/6000 that I have been using but I see here on the forum people use 8000 and 10000 and I was wondering do these higher grits give you a sharper edge?
 
6000 is PLENTY. Especially if you are just starting out. In the higher ranges you start polishing more than significantly improving the edge. I find 5000 is high enough for my work knives.
 
Depends on the knife and steel really. On yanagi I'll go up to 8-12k, for gyuto, honesuki, deba, I stop at 5k. German blades never get more than 1.2k but usually just go to 500. Higher grits will give you a sharper/more refined edge but will also be more slick and suffer from failing sooner. Gyuto needs a toothier edge that lasts longer since it goes through a variety of product. Typically yanagiba only go through raw fish so a sharper more slick edge is better for precise cuts and you don't have to worry about edge retention as much since, again it's just raw fish.

That's just the basic gist of it though.
 
+1 to what Rick (ThEoRy) said. But part of this obsession is trying different things, so when you are comfortable with using the 1k/6k combo to consistently sharpen your knives to razors, consider picking up an 8k or 10k stone and seeing for yourself what a stone that fine can give you.

BTW, I'll overlook your disparaging remark about grits (the food), since you've obviously never tasted Grits a Ya Ya. Smoked gouda cheese grits topped with shrimp sautéed with bacon, shallots, garlic, mushrooms and spinach. :biggrin:

DSCN0122.preview.JPG
 
+1 to what Rick (ThEoRy) said. But part of this obsession is trying different things, so when you are comfortable with using the 1k/6k combo to consistently sharpen your knives to razors, consider picking up an 8k or 10k stone and seeing for yourself what a stone that fine can give you.

BTW, I'll overlook your disparaging remark about grits (the food), since you've obviously never tasted Grits a Ya Ya. Smoked gouda cheese grits topped with shrimp sautéed with bacon, shallots, garlic, mushrooms and spinach. :biggrin:

DSCN0122.preview.JPG

Sorry, I didn't mean to insult :dontknow: I am originally from Liverpool, UK and we are fairly ignorant to the strange American ways (although I have lived here for nearly 17 years)
To me, grits were what my chef found in culinary school when I didn't clean the mushrooms properly :D:wink::razz:
 
I'll add one more thing about higher grit stones that works well for some knives. Taking your edge up to a higher grit like 10k then dropping back down to a lower grit like 5-6k seems to produce a crazy edge for some. It can give you that super sharpness but then also adds some teeth for bite and a bit more resilience through different products. Experiment at will.
 
I'll add one more thing about higher grit stones that works well for some knives. Taking your edge up to a higher grit like 10k then dropping back down to a lower grit like 5-6k seems to produce a crazy edge for some. It can give you that super sharpness but then also adds some teeth for bite and a bit more resilience through different products. Experiment at will.

This is good advice.
 
Sorry, I didn't mean to insult :dontknow: I am originally from Liverpool, UK and we are fairly ignorant to the strange American ways (although I have lived here for nearly 17 years)
To me, grits were what my chef found in culinary school when I didn't clean the mushrooms properly :D:wink::razz:

Dave, I never thought you were trying to insult anyone, or anything. I was just responding to your remark. Living in the South, I'm always being kidded about grits. My brother-in-law lives outside New York City, and he won't eat them. Funny thing is that he will eat polenta, which is almost the same thing.

All kidding aside, grits, prepared correctly, can be a real treat.

Rick
 
Poor Will, everyone fires at him and now we experiment on him :lol2:
 
Dave, I never thought you were trying to insult anyone, or anything. I was just responding to your remark. Living in the South, I'm always being kidded about grits. My brother-in-law lives outside New York City, and he won't eat them. Funny thing is that he will eat polenta, which is almost the same thing.

All kidding aside, grits, prepared correctly, can be a real treat.

Rick

No no, just kidding
 
No, not the food (if you can call it that) :D I was wondering, I am just getting into sharpening and I have a 1000/6000 that I have been using but I see here on the forum people use 8000 and 10000 and I was wondering do these higher grits give you a sharper edge?

Generally speaking, yes a higher 'grit' can give a 'sharper' edge, but it's a variable thing...

Very sharp for me is shaving sharp, enough to trim my sideburns without wincing. But that's actually 'too sharp' for some tasks. Odd, but true.

'Grit' is also variable, and a stone of the same 'grit' compared to another identical grit stone won't always yield the same results. Heck, some stones if identical numerical 'grit' don't have the same sized 'grit' in them.

Case in point, I have several #1000 stones, and no two work the same. Ranging from a ragged edge to smooth, bushed finish to soft polish to wet-chrome polish. They're all #1000 stones, but what they give you edge wise is very different.

The stone you have should be more than up to the job of sharpening almost anything perfectly adequately for anything you're likely to attempt for now.

(Or in other words, what you got isn't broken, so don't fix it!)

Stu.

(My newest 1K stone scares me...)
 
Mmmm...this thread has me thinking about Shrimp and Grits from New Orleans.
 
Dude what's up with you people?

I've never had grits I enjoyed more than white grits with sea salt and spring butter.
 
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