So i have been thinking quite a bit about sharpening and what most people/chef don't realize is that one properly sharpened knife is a very useful tool and a poorly sharpened knife is utterly useless even if it costs an absurd amount.
For instance, i have started a local sharpening business around here nothing major but for some chefs and a couple restaurants locally. Anyways i was mentioning it to my co-workes and telling them what i charge etc and asking if anyone was interested. My chef started to ask questions and was completely dumfounded that i said id want $5 per knife(240mm+). I said well u know its done all by hand on stones no grinders or anything, and he says id rather use my pull through sharpener. He has a knife that is worth $200 and has never properly sharpened it. The geometry is ruined do to using these pull through sharpeners its rather frustrating.
Anyways i told him id take it and do it for free just to get his opinion. Took me a while to get the profile back to good condition and some thinning behind the edge before i could even start sharpening it. i went from 400-2k synthetic and then finished it on jnats. Next day i gave it back to him and later admitted he was quite surprised by how well it cut and how even the bevel was along the edge.
I also had another guy i work with start giving me a hard time about that it isn't hard to sharpen knives and that he'd never pay for it as well. Which he actually does a decent job of sharpening his own. But we got to discussing the methods and techniques. He is they type who is always going to disagree with you.
I said well if you sharpen the knife and don't fully remove the burr, then you can have a sharp edge to start but it'll quickly degrade as if a wire edge. He disagreed saying that it'll wear off by normal use and that it wouldn't affect the edge retention.
We also discussed sharpness from angles vs grit. I told him i believe that both are equally important due to the type of steel involved and of course he disagreed saying that not matter what knife you use if you use a constant angle and grit medium it should provide the same edge.
Basically whether I'm right or wrong isn't what I'm getting at but i started thinking about how much goes into sharpening a single knife...most people say its just removing metal with a stone. which I'm sure anyone can get decent results but i know that i have come an extremely long way with my sharpening since i started and since i learned and experimented. On my personal work knives i can easily go a full month without feeling like needing to resharpen my knives, last year i was doing it every three days or so. I can also get the edge much sharper as well as toothier so that it holds up better.
For instance, i have started a local sharpening business around here nothing major but for some chefs and a couple restaurants locally. Anyways i was mentioning it to my co-workes and telling them what i charge etc and asking if anyone was interested. My chef started to ask questions and was completely dumfounded that i said id want $5 per knife(240mm+). I said well u know its done all by hand on stones no grinders or anything, and he says id rather use my pull through sharpener. He has a knife that is worth $200 and has never properly sharpened it. The geometry is ruined do to using these pull through sharpeners its rather frustrating.
Anyways i told him id take it and do it for free just to get his opinion. Took me a while to get the profile back to good condition and some thinning behind the edge before i could even start sharpening it. i went from 400-2k synthetic and then finished it on jnats. Next day i gave it back to him and later admitted he was quite surprised by how well it cut and how even the bevel was along the edge.
I also had another guy i work with start giving me a hard time about that it isn't hard to sharpen knives and that he'd never pay for it as well. Which he actually does a decent job of sharpening his own. But we got to discussing the methods and techniques. He is they type who is always going to disagree with you.
I said well if you sharpen the knife and don't fully remove the burr, then you can have a sharp edge to start but it'll quickly degrade as if a wire edge. He disagreed saying that it'll wear off by normal use and that it wouldn't affect the edge retention.
We also discussed sharpness from angles vs grit. I told him i believe that both are equally important due to the type of steel involved and of course he disagreed saying that not matter what knife you use if you use a constant angle and grit medium it should provide the same edge.
Basically whether I'm right or wrong isn't what I'm getting at but i started thinking about how much goes into sharpening a single knife...most people say its just removing metal with a stone. which I'm sure anyone can get decent results but i know that i have come an extremely long way with my sharpening since i started and since i learned and experimented. On my personal work knives i can easily go a full month without feeling like needing to resharpen my knives, last year i was doing it every three days or so. I can also get the edge much sharper as well as toothier so that it holds up better.