Bobby2shots
Senior Member
Wow... Thank you so much for your answer.
Sorry for my general questions but as far as I deep dive in the threads, I see how 'dull' I am and need to sharpen for specific questions. I wish there will be a book for dummies like me to tell sharpening basics 101 according to our needs.
You're already on the right track Demirtasem, you just need a bit of help to refine and identify your specific issues and the remedies to those issues.
My problems occur mostly those two problems that you mentioned.
Demirtasem, two (three??) of the best tools you have to identify how to proceed are; 1. Your thumb, and 2,,,,your eyes. I use my thumb as a sharpness guage,,, and my eyes for inspecticting the blade edge.
Let's start with the thumb;,,, I VERY LIGHTLY drag my thumb across (not "along") the blade edge,,, left to right, and right to left. Ideally, you should feel the same amount of "bite" in either direction. If you don't,,, your blade edge is rolled over to one side. That difference in "bite" is even more sensitive than what your eyes can typically see. It'll tell you what side of the blade edge needs a lil more (or less) attention.
Your eyes (and a good light source), will let you know if there is pitting (tiny dark speckles) along the bevel of the blade edge. Also, by looking down along the blade edge,,, check to see if there are any light reflections along the edge, from heel to tip. A good light source is important here. You also want to inspect the edge for cracks and gouging, which would probably require a complete edge rebuild.(and by necessity,,, coarser starter-stones, or worse yet, for for a radical repair,,,,an axe file)
Well, I can call my self mostly slicer and rocker. But I don't know the way I need to sharpen the edge according to those information.
Now, I don't know what knife you have, nor the type of knife, but I'll presume it's a Victorinox santoku, since that's what this thread started out as. If you're talking about a chef's knife, the only thing that would change essentially, is your sharpening angle,,,, You'd want roughly 15 degrees on each side of the bevel for most Vic knives, and between 10-12 degrees on a santoku. That specific angle is irrelevent really, it's a matter of what works best for YOU, and your specific needs. The steeper the bevel, the sharper you'll be, but the trade-off will be how long you go between sharpenings.
I'm not going to get into a long-winded discussion on proper sharpening techniques here, but I'm going to give you two video links that should be quite helpful. This first link is a very short video by a Victorinox rep, sharpening a Vic chef's knife. I want you to pay particular attention to "feathering" an edge. He also mentions the 15 degree sharpening angle.
https://www.webstaurantstore.com/video-3033/victorinox-knife-sharpening.html
This second video is by Peter knowlan, and is probably one of the best and most thoroughly explained approaches into sharpening for beginners. Pay particular attention to Peter's guidance on how much (or how little) pressure is required. Peter has a complete series of sharpening videos, so you'll probably want to check those out. I believe they're posted on Youtube and KnifePlanet.com