Can You Sharpen at Work?

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I wish I had the time at work. There is always so much work to be done.
I would like to hold a sharpening "clinic/class" at work one day, but as a hotel, we're literally open 24/7/365, so it's tough to find any downtime.
 
As far as sharpening stations where I stage. It consists of a combo stone, a towel and a deep nine pan full of water.
 
knyfeknerd said:
I wish I had the time at work. There is always so much work to be done.
I would like to hold a sharpening "clinic/class" at work one day, but as a hotel, we're literally open 24/7/365, so it's tough to find any downtime.
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I've toured a couple hotel kitchens, I can't imagine finding a space where people are hustling through with pans full of food, to do such a thing in!
 
stevenStefano said:
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?
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there's no issue with your knife maintenance necessarily, i was referring to people i used to work with who:
a. didn't know how to even use a honing rod properly, and
b. were using it so much they could have certainly had time to properly sharpen with a stone.

i will say, with a great deal of confidence, that with no more than one minute on a splash and go medium grit stone i can bring my knife back into excellent working order and not have to worry about it for the rest of the day (should the need have arrived in the first place). there's just no way one visit with a honing rod is going to get a knife through the bulk of a day.
therefore i contend that using stones takes far less time, assuming your technique is solid, than using honing rods. every time.
this idea that they save time is absolutely a misconception in my mind.
 
i only sharpen at work after i close up shop off the clock. i always rush though because i just want to leave and grab a beer!

btw, where is that wooden sink bridge from dave? i would love to get one!
 
knyfeknerd said:
I wish I had the time at work. There is always so much work to be done.
I would like to hold a sharpening "clinic/class" at work one day, but as a hotel, we're literally open 24/7/365, so it's tough to find any downtime.
Click to expand...

I'm in the same boat. Not that it's always busy, but I suspect I'd get moaned at if I sharpened in work. I'm basically the only person that has good knives and maintains them but it wouldn't matter. I might stay after work some time, but I usually finish pretty late
 
My boss makes fun of us for sharpening too much and wasting time. My compromise with him is that if you want to sharpen on the clock, its before or after your shift, and flatten the stone each time. Before we would have guys stop to touch up during service, and turn it into a half pipe.
 
I could but I usually don't. Few times a year I will bring in my stones and do my kit plus some others in the kitchen.

Now I just use an 8K DMT I got from Marko for touchups. Takes about as long as using a steel and I don't have to go back it to constantly so overall actually uses up less time. Never taken any grief for using it nor would I if someone tried to.
 
If I have time at work no one will object, usually just 4k-8k if I'm just touching up sometimes start at 1k if I have lots of time.
 
We usually do before we start our shift, and most of us are in 30-45 mins early, and some line cooks actually show up an hour to an hour and a half early to prep and get ready for line checks. Set up is usually a 1/3 Pan with water and a towel with a universal stone holder. However the house stones are NO BUENO!!! Most of us bring our own stones. And I'm eagerly awaiting my 8000 grit Kitayama from Korin that's supposed to be here Wednesday.
 
Im lucky bc in my office I keep a diamond plate, beston500 king800,1200,6000 and a blue aoto. I sharpen after the day is done and everyone has left. Now more and more people are hanging around to see the process and I let them try it out for themselves with the little guidance that I can give. Almost every person I work with bring their own knives and they all take care of them and show an interest if its a shun(a lot of those) or something on the higher end.
 
i try not to sharpen at work, atleast on the clock. were under pressure to stay productive and knock out our prep lists asap. the pressure to hurry up and sharpen my knives causes me to make mistakes at times, nothing major, just uneven bevels and sharpening scratches. i would rather sharpen at my own pace.
 
I leave my stones at home, I rarely sharpen my own stuff at work. On the other hand, I often find myself sharpening at work, mostly showing/helping my coworkers how to do it.

I'm a tournant now so I'm roving around a lot, rarely have the free time. Even if I finish all my prep, it's very much expected I lend a hand to a fellow cook in the juice.

I did touch up one of my knives on a coworkers shapton 4000 glass stone last week. Just wanted to try it out, plus I had to mise out a few L's of scallions. We use way too much scallions at work, it's comical. We throw it on everything.

I was surprised at how fast cutting the glass stone was. It's the first truly splash and go stone I've tried that lives up to that claim. Most splash and go traditional waterstones still benefit from a 10 min soak imo. Glass stones do feel kinda dead when you're sharpening, that's the one complaint.

btw Dispossessed, where do you work? Kyo ya? Kajitsu? Sugiyama?
 
Sharpen at the Health Department? Aeehh, no. ;)

Stefan
 
I consider this the best indicator of the seriousness of my coworkers. No ****, I have two cooks on my shift that have their complete sets of Porsche and the other Global and consider themselves above the rest because they don't use the house knives. Yet they sharpen them once a season!!! by leaving them in to the local knife killer. I show up to my shift with my beatup 280 Watanabe and old Chinese cleaver and use the house paring knifes (lost too many over the years). I'm doing touch ups throughout the day. I swear the rest of the kitchen thinks I'm an ax murderer… lol.
 
those porsche knifes have really crappy edge retetntion. i couldnt survive a single day without sharpening them.
 
ExPensive and craaaap... Did I mention that they are xpnsv??
 
I stay at work after my shift once or twice a week and sharpen. On the clock there is almost always something else to do, even thought that happens every once in a while. Almost all the other chefs use a chefs choise machine. Some of them dont even have their own knives with them, which is even more sad than not using stones :/ Im doing my best to convert them though, haha.
 
i have since changed everything since my last post on this thread. all new stones and began only sharpening at home now. total opposite of what i was doing. i might leave the finishing stone at work for quick touch ups, but i probably won't use it as i like to go as long as possible between sharpening and by that point the knives need a full routine.
 
I can if there is absolutely nothing else to do. Which is never :)

Solution : I start one hour earlyer than everybody else to do things like sharpen, drink coffee etc. it's tool maintainence but also a bit of a hobby so where do you draw the line?

Hang on chef I need to check my edge under a microscope just give me a minute :)
 
it never fails, every time I go to soak my stones my station gets slamed
 
Update: No. No time. I keep a backup but my Yoshikane SKD has become my favorite. Lasts forever and even when the the small front belly fails (due to lack of sharpening expertise) the giant flat section is awesome.

The knife and I are still fighting the perfect sharpening routine battle but I'm slowly winning. It's a strange knife but I love it.
 
ChuckTheButcher said:
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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You are a nice guy Chuck.I used to do my sharpening after my shift wt wet towel under stones.After a while those still on site woud drop their knives off & would end up sharpening as many as 15 knives.Then I just did my knives at home,also find it relaxing.

When I see someone wailing away on a honing steel all night,I'll show you a dude wt. a lack of freehand skills.
 
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