Hi there !
Here is a video I made on Youtube (there is french language version for those who prefer) about sharpening our knives while we use them in the kitchen.
I have build a handle for a stone and though to share the idea as it could be helpful for some of you and might be a good way to maintain you knives on the go with stones without the need for space and time that generally is needed for stone works.
In the video I also talk about Honing rods and why I don't like to use them even if I recognise their performance. In my opinion, Rods design, whatever the material : steel which are useful for softer hard steel, ceramics better for high hardness steels, diamonds for really removing steel, as I understood, a honing rod will work one very point of the blade at a time, so will be powerful on that point but also won't help the user to work evenly on all the surface, all the length of the blade. Round is more effective than flat thats it. But round won't help to touch a surface evenly, only the user, only the eyes, only the hand could compensate that, if they are aware of this behaviour. So I won't say using a honing rod will damage your blade for sure, but that only depend of your dexterity and aknowledge of how this tool works.
I am also talking about leather strops. They are quite recommended those days for those using high hardness knives. I use them and would recommend people who doubt about the effectiveness to try them. Even a plain leather with nothing on it will work great on a nicely sharpen knife which loose some cutting effect after using it for a while. And now exist all sort of pastes, compounds to make them more abrasives. You can now choose the abrasive and the grit you put on them. The main advantages of that tool is that it is very gentle : you're sure you won't damage your knife. Even with some 1k grit diamond paste on it, because it is soft it will behave like two times finer than a stone same grit for exemple. Second advantages for me : it's a large flat surface so you will be helped to use the all surface to be sharpen and you won't touch more some parts than others so you won't get that issue at the heel we can meet often on the knives that were maintained with honing rod : the very heel of the knife is not touch so you go a hollow just after it. Disadvantages : it's soft material so that can lead to convexify your edge. It's not very abrasive so it might not be efficient to give back the sharpness you need on your knife.
So in my kitchen, using my knives, I finally went back to the stones to maintain my knives on the go. I am maybe too much used to my set up in my workshop : a big sink with a sturdy sink bridge where I can set my stones confortably at the right height and set it firmly, so in my kitchen I never was confortable to set my stones on a corner of my counter, on a wet towel : I don't have such space easily available, the towel can not hold the stone the best or not disrupt my mouvement. So well, I ended holding the stone in my hand and strop my knives on the stone a bit like razor guys do on their razor. I really like the work it is doing, touching up the edge of my knives and giving new teeth to my edges. But holding the stone in my hand is not that confortable : it's a little heavy and with long blades it doesn't feel super safe.
So last week I had some time cleaning my workshop and I thought about building something I had in mind : a handle for my stone. So that's it : it's not a big revolution or the ultimate sharpening gear but now I have it and use it I think that option can be really interesting for some of us : it's not complicated to build, you can glue the stone you prefer, you can flatten your sharpening tool so it can keep working at best, it's quite safe to use as your hand is farer to the stone, it's not heavy to use as you will set the end of this holder on the edge of your counter or sink, you don't need much space to use it, you don't need to drop your knife so it's very fast to do few strokes on your stones and just continue cutting the food, you don't need to buy a second stone if you don't have the budget as you could totally use that stone with the handle while you strop, but set it on a table or bench when you want to use it normally as a bench stone.
About that tool : a stone with a handle, I think Nano hone have proposed something similar, the nano strops : they are 270mm (or 475) x 18mm x 0.8mm (thickness of the abrasive). It's not as wide as I like in my opinion and the resin used by nano hone is too soft for edge leading strops, only edge trailing will be really possible on those.
So, you guessed, I am quite curious to know what you think of such idea, would you build something similar for you, or if you don't like it and prefer something else I would also be interested to know what you would use.
Here is a video I made on Youtube (there is french language version for those who prefer) about sharpening our knives while we use them in the kitchen.
I have build a handle for a stone and though to share the idea as it could be helpful for some of you and might be a good way to maintain you knives on the go with stones without the need for space and time that generally is needed for stone works.
In the video I also talk about Honing rods and why I don't like to use them even if I recognise their performance. In my opinion, Rods design, whatever the material : steel which are useful for softer hard steel, ceramics better for high hardness steels, diamonds for really removing steel, as I understood, a honing rod will work one very point of the blade at a time, so will be powerful on that point but also won't help the user to work evenly on all the surface, all the length of the blade. Round is more effective than flat thats it. But round won't help to touch a surface evenly, only the user, only the eyes, only the hand could compensate that, if they are aware of this behaviour. So I won't say using a honing rod will damage your blade for sure, but that only depend of your dexterity and aknowledge of how this tool works.
I am also talking about leather strops. They are quite recommended those days for those using high hardness knives. I use them and would recommend people who doubt about the effectiveness to try them. Even a plain leather with nothing on it will work great on a nicely sharpen knife which loose some cutting effect after using it for a while. And now exist all sort of pastes, compounds to make them more abrasives. You can now choose the abrasive and the grit you put on them. The main advantages of that tool is that it is very gentle : you're sure you won't damage your knife. Even with some 1k grit diamond paste on it, because it is soft it will behave like two times finer than a stone same grit for exemple. Second advantages for me : it's a large flat surface so you will be helped to use the all surface to be sharpen and you won't touch more some parts than others so you won't get that issue at the heel we can meet often on the knives that were maintained with honing rod : the very heel of the knife is not touch so you go a hollow just after it. Disadvantages : it's soft material so that can lead to convexify your edge. It's not very abrasive so it might not be efficient to give back the sharpness you need on your knife.
So in my kitchen, using my knives, I finally went back to the stones to maintain my knives on the go. I am maybe too much used to my set up in my workshop : a big sink with a sturdy sink bridge where I can set my stones confortably at the right height and set it firmly, so in my kitchen I never was confortable to set my stones on a corner of my counter, on a wet towel : I don't have such space easily available, the towel can not hold the stone the best or not disrupt my mouvement. So well, I ended holding the stone in my hand and strop my knives on the stone a bit like razor guys do on their razor. I really like the work it is doing, touching up the edge of my knives and giving new teeth to my edges. But holding the stone in my hand is not that confortable : it's a little heavy and with long blades it doesn't feel super safe.
So last week I had some time cleaning my workshop and I thought about building something I had in mind : a handle for my stone. So that's it : it's not a big revolution or the ultimate sharpening gear but now I have it and use it I think that option can be really interesting for some of us : it's not complicated to build, you can glue the stone you prefer, you can flatten your sharpening tool so it can keep working at best, it's quite safe to use as your hand is farer to the stone, it's not heavy to use as you will set the end of this holder on the edge of your counter or sink, you don't need much space to use it, you don't need to drop your knife so it's very fast to do few strokes on your stones and just continue cutting the food, you don't need to buy a second stone if you don't have the budget as you could totally use that stone with the handle while you strop, but set it on a table or bench when you want to use it normally as a bench stone.
About that tool : a stone with a handle, I think Nano hone have proposed something similar, the nano strops : they are 270mm (or 475) x 18mm x 0.8mm (thickness of the abrasive). It's not as wide as I like in my opinion and the resin used by nano hone is too soft for edge leading strops, only edge trailing will be really possible on those.
So, you guessed, I am quite curious to know what you think of such idea, would you build something similar for you, or if you don't like it and prefer something else I would also be interested to know what you would use.
