What constitutes a good sharpener?

[Mrmnms]

A good sharpener is someone who can adapt their technique to produce excellent, consistent results with different types of knives and steels

 

[phan1]

I hear you but disagree.
Firstly about the finer edges lasting longer. Never happened to me guess thats why I changed 7 stone progression and 2 strops to 2 simple stones and a piece of leather.

I am not saying 1K edge is not useful, Im just saying theres much better to be taken out of the steel than just 1K. Few strokes on [even] somewhere around 3K and youre getting much much much better keener edge that slices cleaner.
If the chef expects sharpest thats respectable, but saying 1K is best for fine slicing is irresponsible. Nor it takes long time to hone a little more, and possibly be breaking of the wires.

I'm not going to say 1k or any particular grit stone is "best" for fine slicing. I'm just saying that any high-level knife cut in a high-end Japanese restaurant can be done off a King 1k stone, because I've seen it and experienced it for myself. It's more important that your knife is "fresh off the stones" sharp; what grit you finish on is not really an issue. If you've seen Jiro Dreams of Sushi, there's a segment where everyone is simply sharpening on King 1k stones. I highly doubt they're following them up with 12k stones and leather strops...

 

[xuz]

So after many decades of sharpening and cleaning pocket knives, I've got my first real bleeder recently.

Went through the whole shebang. 1k,3k,5k,8k,12k,20k,1 micron diamond, .5 and .05 micron CBN. Edge was so sharp that it could scare the whiskers by its mere presence and edge so frail it would get dull from the blow of a spring breeze.
I was cleaning the pivot, then I don't know what happened, but it snapped back on the back of my thumb.

Cut clean to the bone. No pain whatsoever. Must have cut straight through the nerves. It was about 1 inch laceration, could see slight bit of white layer, and of course the bone. Started bleeding like a fountain. Anyways, washed it down with some alcohol, put them bandage on with good pressure. Slept through the night, again no pain. Woke up next morning, opened up the bandage, and the gash was closed nice and good without any stitches. That was a nice surgical edge!!!

TBH, though, the real lesson is that a good sharpener should never get cut that badly handling a knife. From a more ZEN perspective, I think a good sharpener is the one with the alert mind.

 

[Zwiefel]

So after many decades of sharpening and cleaning pocket knives, I've got my first real bleeder recently.

Went through the whole shebang. 1k,3k,5k,8k,12k,20k,1 micron diamond, .5 and .05 micron CBN. Edge was so sharp that it could scare the whiskers by its mere presence and edge so frail it would get dull from the blow of a spring breeze.
I was cleaning the pivot, then I don't know what happened, but it snapped back on the back of my thumb.

Cut clean to the bone. No pain whatsoever. Must have cut straight through the nerves. It was about 1 inch laceration, could see slight bit of white layer, and of course the bone. Started bleeding like a fountain. Anyways, washed it down with some alcohol, put them bandage on with good pressure. Slept through the night, again no pain. Woke up next morning, opened up the bandage, and the gash was closed nice and good without any stitches. That was a nice surgical edge!!!

TBH, though, the real lesson is that a good sharpener should never get cut that badly handling a knife. From a more ZEN perspective, I think a good sharpener is the one with the alert mind.

Ouch. I did something similar with a folder, but my index finger. Cut the tendon that straightens the most distal joint..now my finger is a bit crooked

No pain at all...and bled profusely. Same thing with all my kitchen knife nicks over the past couple of years too.

 

[gregg]

:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup: Waaaah! what to do with my SS 8000?

 

[gregg]

:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup: Waaaah! what to do with my SS 8000?

(Sorry, got taken away for a plumbing incident just as I was intending to post something extra hilarious).