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johndoughy said:
I strop my knives at home. I just take them home and deal with sharpening/maintenance/edge alteration there. If my edge can't survive a hard day's use, I screwed it up!
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Haha yeah that's true. I use to sharpen my knives once every 3 days or so, but now the edge usually lasts me at least a week, with steeling. Think it's mainly cos of Jon's sharpening vids haha.
Thing is, ever since I bought my first J-knives, I've been encouraged not to steel them on grooved steel, but since that's all that's available at the workplace, I'm thinking on weather stropping at the end of the day or an occasional few seconds of steeling on a glass/ceramic/ungrooved steel throughout the day would be a better/preferable option to most of you guys who cook professionally.
 
There have been various cheapskate substitute suggestions for honing on the run, like the bottom of a coffee mug or pyrex tray. If you go for the least expensive option (the Idahone) you will never know the difference between it and the MAC or HA boro rod. I'm not saying that they're the same, I'm just saying you probably won't miss them.

I was in Singapore a few weeks ago, btw, had a fantastic time! ION and MBS are amazing. Jumbo at Dempsey was also a highlight. :)
 
I've been wondering if a fine or extra fine DMT Diafold would be very useful in a pro kitchen. It's small enough to keep in your pocket when folded.
 
My concern with the DMT would be the same reason I don't use the diamond coated hone here at work. It chips my Tojiro all up. I use it to remove steel on cheap knives, but I don't touch my cutlery with it anymore.
 
MadMel said:
Haha yeah that's true. I use to sharpen my knives once every 3 days or so, but now the edge usually lasts me at least a week, with steeling. Think it's mainly cos of Jon's sharpening vids haha.
Thing is, ever since I bought my first J-knives, I've been encouraged not to steel them on grooved steel, but since that's all that's available at the workplace, I'm thinking on weather stropping at the end of the day or an occasional few seconds of steeling on a glass/ceramic/ungrooved steel throughout the day would be a better/preferable option to most of you guys who cook professionally.
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I use the Mac black ceramic at work. It is way more durable than other ceramic rods, it is a tube with a core inside so it is less likely to break. I keep it in my knife roll with no worries. I hardly ever use it at work however. My sous chef uses it more on his Mac Mighty Gyuto than I do on my own knives.

I actually sharpen my knives only once a week. I do a fair amount of prep, but not a ton of it is edge killing. For breaking down chickens I use a Tojiro honesuki, and that thing holds up really well. I break down whole fish sometimes, thats the only time edge degradation is at all significant. But mostly I use gyutos, and luckily for me, I have half a dozen of them, and carry 3 in my knife roll. I am like my very own knife sharpening service, when one gets dull I just swap it out with a fresh one! Then I sharpen anything that needs it on my day off. At least I have found an excuse to justify having this many gyutos.
 
JohnnyChance said:
I use the Mac black ceramic at work. It is way more durable than other ceramic rods, it is a tube with a core inside so it is less likely to break. I keep it in my knife roll with no worries. I hardly ever use it at work however. My sous chef uses it more on his Mac Mighty Gyuto than I do on my own knives.

I actually sharpen my knives only once a week. I do a fair amount of prep, but not a ton of it is edge killing. For breaking down chickens I use a Tojiro honesuki, and that thing holds up really well. I break down whole fish sometimes, thats the only time edge degradation is at all significant. But mostly I use gyutos, and luckily for me, I have half a dozen of them, and carry 3 in my knife roll. I am like my very own knife sharpening service, when one gets dull I just swap it out with a fresh one! Then I sharpen anything that needs it on my day off. At least I have found an excuse to justify having this many gyutos.
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Haha sounds kinda like me. I keep 3 chef's in my roll, but usually I do not have to swap. I'd have a go on the 2k I carry around in my case during the break in the middle of the day but I was thinking more about doing the slicing and cutting for the final presentations. Wonder if stropping my knives will make the edge last longer.
 
Strops are used in many other applications, perhaps you can find some stuff at a woodworking shop? A block of balsa and some leather will give you a good idea of what stropping can do for you, for minimal investment and no need to ship stuff halfway around the world.

I usually don't rotate through all of my gyutos in one day. I usually end up using one the entire week, but sometimes I switch it up just because I can.
 
Seb said:
I was in Singapore a few weeks ago, btw, had a fantastic time! ION and MBS are amazing. Jumbo at Dempsey was also a highlight. :)
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Give us a shout when you next come down, might be able to do a SEAG! haha. I think there are what, 3 of us? madmel, you and myself. I think I spotted a couple of outliers too...
 
Tristan said:
Give us a shout when you next come down, might be able to do a SEAG! haha. I think there are what, 3 of us? madmel, you and myself. I think I spotted a couple of outliers too...
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I miss Singapore so much already. I left 25 years ago (not my choice) but the place is still in my blood. I want black pepper crabs!! I want mamak food from Golden Mile!! I want oyster omelettes and carrot cake!! :D
 
Tristan said:
Give us a shout when you next come down, might be able to do a SEAG! haha. I think there are what, 3 of us? madmel, you and myself. I think I spotted a couple of outliers too...
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Sure, I'll bring some knives haha!!
 
Gotta make that this year tho haha. Will be going to Australia in Jan for studies.
Seb if I'm not wrong, you'r in Aus no?
 
I'm eagerly waiting for Marko to finalise his four sided strop contraption so i can up the ante with the stropping game.

Yes, Singapore for all its oddball crap really gets into your blood. I would love to have the duality of living elsewhere and here at the same time. I'm just glad the food scene here is ridiculously good - and in the last 2 years the higher end food scene is improving significantly with the introduction of big names. Just wish my paycheck was keeping pace. The lion's share of the cheque keeps going into @$%#% mortgage.

Anytime you're coming down seb, just let us know. Madmel seems pretty free (haha) too.
 
Yeah part-time stints keeps me pretty free most of the time haha.
 
Tristan said:
love to have the duality of living elsewhere and here at the same time
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Apparently, such a place is called 'Perth'. Shame about all the rednecks! LOL :D

Be nice to catch up. I am determined to come back more often, especially with the rels getting older and older. Also want my son to be aware of and appreciate his heritage. To treasure it even, as I do.

I've lived in Australia for twenty-five years (and counting) and the longer I stay here the more I realise I am a Singaporean in my heart and soul.
 
Tristan said:
Yes, Singapore for all its oddball crap...
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I am amazed that the SG general election received about 25 seconds of TV coverage in the AU news media. Incredible. It's not like Australia has nothing to learn from Asia (and Singapore in particular). Incredible natural wealth and the place is run like a brothel!
 
I haven't gone to the stones in a long time. Eight sides of strops has kept me up to snuff.

Anyone who poo poos them is missing something.

But some peoples are set in their ways.
 
Salty dog said:
I haven't gone to the stones in a long time. Eight sides of strops has kept me up to snuff.

Anyone who poo poos them is missing something.

But some peoples are set in their ways.
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Hey what do you use for stropping?
 
He uses two four-sided balsa strops loaded with various compounds.
 
Salty dog said:
Anyone who poo poos them is missing something.
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I never understood why people don't believe in using them to the point where they criticize people who do...maybe it is because they have more traditional views? The argument against is that they reward/mask bad technique, which is actually true in certain cases...but if you are already a proficient sharpener, they are a great way to further refine the edge without needing an expensive high-grit polishing stone.

Strops are so quick and easy for touch-ups and extending the life of an edge, that if used properly, they are great tools to have. My only true strop is leather/0.5 mic chrom oxide (my felt/1 mic diamond is more for deburring on)...and although I could survive without one, it plays a welcomed role in my sharpening arsenal.
 
I hit a major milestone with my stropping today. I've been using HA 0.25 diamond spray and 0.125 CBN spray on HA bovine leather and felt I was getting pretty good results. I precede those two with 1.0 micron boron carbide on balsa and 0.5 chromium oxide on leather. Last night I emailed Ken about a question I had concerning CBN and told him I was using it on leather. He said leather was fine but he preferred using it on balsa. So I picked up some balsa and made a couple of new strops. All I can say is WOW, the difference between using leather and balsa with these sprays is amazing. I have become a true believer in the ability of these sprays to help deliver a frighteningly sharp edge.

For those who like to strop their knives, you need to add some CBN to your setup.
 
Interesting. I can't say that any of the three compounds you list will give me noticeably sharper edges but then again, I only use leather. Chromium oxide gives the smoothest edges but that's about the extent of it. I like the cbn a lot but it isn't noticeably different than 0.25 micron diamond. I'd be curious to know how sharp your "frighteningly sharp edge" is.
 
tk59 said:
I'd be curious to know how sharp your "frighteningly sharp edge" is.
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That's the problem with us being on the internet and scattered all over the country. Plus it is so subjective. To the uneducated, a Shun out of the box seems crazy sharp. Even a beginner sharpener can make better edges than he has ever seen in his life, as long as he isnt living next door to Salty or yourself. I have been sharpening for a few years, and it seems like I keep getting better and better every time I sharpen, and even still am surprised at my edges sometimes. Every couple of months I reach a new "frighteningly sharp" level.
 
I consider myself to be a pretty proficient sharpener, and I've always only used a leather strop w/ 0.5 chromium oxide to finish. Are people really seeing significant differences using 0.25 and 0.125 micron abrasives? There is definitely always room from improvement, but I just still can't imagine seeing any true benefit from stropping past 0.5 micron...I'm a bit skeptical.

If there are any experienced guys who have stropped with the 0.25 or smaller and felt any significant, usable benefit over the 0.5, please let me know.
 
tk59 said:
... I'd be curious to know how sharp your "frighteningly sharp edge" is.
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Because I'm an older gentleman, I'll never live long enough to reach your level when it comes to knife skills and the ability to extract the maximum performance from a knife. I just take pleasure knowing because of the people here and the things I learn will mean my knives will be sharper than they were in the past but not as sharp as they will be in the future.

The real point of my post though was that using these sprays on wood instead of leather delivers a big difference that you will notice.
 
Cadillac J said:
I consider myself to be a pretty proficient sharpener, and I've always only used a leather strop w/ 0.5 chromium oxide to finish. Are people really seeing significant differences using 0.25 and 0.125 micron abrasives? There is definitely always room from improvement, but I just still can't imagine seeing any true benefit from stropping past 0.5 micron...I'm a bit skeptical.

If there are any experienced guys who have stropped with the 0.25 or smaller and felt any significant, usable benefit over the 0.5, please let me know.
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What's interesting is to buy (from one type compound) a series of grit sizes from one manufacturer and test them against each other. You will see a difference between the sizes and often one will stand out and it amazes me how this happens. More than the size of the particles being something to consider is the shape of the particles as being key to how these compounds work.

For instance chromium oxide is spherical which lends itself to smoother edges being created whereas diamond is blocky and make for coarser toothy type edges. You can go one step further with monocrystalline making the roughest edges.

Do I advocate buying all the compounds available and trying them out? Well sure if you've got money to burn and a desire to give it away....or......you're just a scary sharp seeking knifenut. :)


PS - I've tested over 30 manufacturers offerings (that's well over 100 samples tested - took months) in all of these compounds available (because I am that knut) and found only a couple worth consideration from all the ones I tried. The thing is that most worked great and would impress anyone but a few excelled and those are the ones I'm interested in. :)
 
99Limited said:
Because I'm an older gentleman, I'll never live long enough to reach your level when it comes to knife skills and the ability to extract the maximum performance from a knife. I just take pleasure knowing because of the people here and the things I learn will mean my knives will be sharper than they were in the past but not as sharp as they will be in the future.

The real point of my post though was that using these sprays on wood instead of leather delivers a big difference that you will notice.
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My point is simply that I've been resisting trying balsa for quite a while because I don't believe they will improve my edges. Posts like yours reinstill that urge to test everything and I don't want to have another dang strop lying around! :bat:
 
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