Well, it's been a fun weekend for me. I started the Kitchen Knife saga with Dave M at the old forum, migrated here, bought the Beston/Bester/Suehiro Rika/Felt package and a Tojiro DP Gyuto 240 mm and stalled. Facing the daunting surplus of information and how "hard" J-knives were [pun intended] I muddled along and then after Mr. T got unserviceably dull I paid a Michigan pro to revive him.
Well, I started the "what does your station look like" post to get past the gear excuse. And it worked.
Over the past 7 days I have tried to sharpen a cheap cleaver, a Wusthof 150mm utility and a Forschner paring knife and failed 6 days in a row. Following confirmation that my stones were good [both sets], setup was similar to people that can sharpen [check], I embarked.
Day 1 - spent the 45 minutes trying to created an edge on the 5K suehiro thinking it was a 500 Beston. No love until I figured it out. Put the gear away . Day 2. Call Jason B [referred by CKTG] and he spent 1.5 hours on the phone confirming the mechanics of the goal; make the two sides meet in an apex. The rest will work itself out but you can cut food again. Day 3. Find Mark Richmond's early videos where he uses the identical stone kit as I have on a Victorinox Chef's knife. I instantlyrealize I haven't spent even close to enough time establishing an edge. Now the rookie aspect of that is in ALL the videos I have watched but somehow that wasn't about me... Yesterday, establishing the angle is harder than I thought but using the reflection of the overhead light I can see where I wobbled. Today, I slow down, concentrate on the consistency of the angle and POOF - I can cut paper.
A long way to go but thank you to all those that encouraged and cajoled including Dave M (via dvd),daveb, Cheflarge, Chuckles, Jason B, Jon, and Mark R.
I don't need to invest anything more than some time and less coffee to get my skills up to where I no longer have an excuse for why my food isn't what I envisioned.
Best of all this is fun now.
