CableReady
Member
Hey, novice sharpener here, with some probably naive questions about testing my work.
We go through a lot of Roma tomatoes in my household. (Just for one example, nearly every week I make pico de gallo as chips with pico de Gallo is one of my favorite snacks.) I first slice the tomato in half longways, take out the core, slice longways into strips, then dice. I do this with anywhere from 5-15 tomatoes at a time. I always want my knife sharp enough to go through the tomato skin with virtually no resistance, so there's no squishing.
I (perhaps naively) reckon there are two dimensions along which one's sharpening job can be evaluated: (1) how sharp the edge is and (2) how long it retains that sharpness (abstracting from the quality of the blade itself, and just considering the sharpening job all other things being equal).
It seems to me that these can come apart. One might be able to get a wicked sharp edge right off the stones, but (e.g., because of improper deburring?) it loses it quicker than it should. That is to say, the knife loses its sharpness quicker than it would have, had one done a better job. On the other hand, one might fail at getting the knife as sharp as one could have, but at least it's a strong edge that will retain its sharpness. So, these two things can come apart. Now I have a question about evaluating my sharpening job in the case of each.
(1) Is it safe to suppose that if my fruit/vegetable knife is cutting through tomatoes without any resistance from the skin that I've gotten it sufficiently sharp for the purposes of any other (fruit&veg) kitchen tasks I might use that knife for?
(2) If so, then how long (very toughly), in number of Roma tomatoes diced, should I expect that edge to last? That is, an edge that cuts through tomatoes without any real resistance from the skin. What ballpark number would tell me, for example, that I might not have deburred properly, and what ballpark number would tell me that I did a good job?
I understand that these estimates will depend on the knife (e.g., its steel and heat treatment) and the cutting board surface. I'm using a Boos Block edge grain maple cutting board. The two knives I use are a Shiro Kamo Aogami Super Nakiri and a Tsunehisa Ginsan Nashiji Gyuto. (I know I can expect the Shiro Kamo to have better edge retention than the Tsunehisa—but how many more tomatoes better?)
If you really have no idea what sort of estimate to give in the case of my knives, how about for one of your knives that you've spent time with and have had success sharpening? How long—how many decided tomatoes—after sharpening would you expect it to keep its edge?
We go through a lot of Roma tomatoes in my household. (Just for one example, nearly every week I make pico de gallo as chips with pico de Gallo is one of my favorite snacks.) I first slice the tomato in half longways, take out the core, slice longways into strips, then dice. I do this with anywhere from 5-15 tomatoes at a time. I always want my knife sharp enough to go through the tomato skin with virtually no resistance, so there's no squishing.
I (perhaps naively) reckon there are two dimensions along which one's sharpening job can be evaluated: (1) how sharp the edge is and (2) how long it retains that sharpness (abstracting from the quality of the blade itself, and just considering the sharpening job all other things being equal).
It seems to me that these can come apart. One might be able to get a wicked sharp edge right off the stones, but (e.g., because of improper deburring?) it loses it quicker than it should. That is to say, the knife loses its sharpness quicker than it would have, had one done a better job. On the other hand, one might fail at getting the knife as sharp as one could have, but at least it's a strong edge that will retain its sharpness. So, these two things can come apart. Now I have a question about evaluating my sharpening job in the case of each.
(1) Is it safe to suppose that if my fruit/vegetable knife is cutting through tomatoes without any resistance from the skin that I've gotten it sufficiently sharp for the purposes of any other (fruit&veg) kitchen tasks I might use that knife for?
(2) If so, then how long (very toughly), in number of Roma tomatoes diced, should I expect that edge to last? That is, an edge that cuts through tomatoes without any real resistance from the skin. What ballpark number would tell me, for example, that I might not have deburred properly, and what ballpark number would tell me that I did a good job?
I understand that these estimates will depend on the knife (e.g., its steel and heat treatment) and the cutting board surface. I'm using a Boos Block edge grain maple cutting board. The two knives I use are a Shiro Kamo Aogami Super Nakiri and a Tsunehisa Ginsan Nashiji Gyuto. (I know I can expect the Shiro Kamo to have better edge retention than the Tsunehisa—but how many more tomatoes better?)
If you really have no idea what sort of estimate to give in the case of my knives, how about for one of your knives that you've spent time with and have had success sharpening? How long—how many decided tomatoes—after sharpening would you expect it to keep its edge?
