Pizza cutter sharpening

[mushroom]

To be brief: Yes, I own a pizza cutter. And it's getting used.
But how do you sharpen it? There are some videos offering advice, but what does work? Any useful hints?

mushroom(-pizza)

 

[Rangen]

If yours is like mine, made apparently of a thin crappy disc of the world's worst stainless steel, I have no idea. I tried and failed to sharpen mine (on a diamond resin-bonded stone). I can do single bevels just fine, but not this one.

The experience of deeply interacting with its crappy self was so traumatic that I gave up and bought an expensive one instead.

 

[btbyrd]

Not to derail the thread at this early junction, but if anyone has suggestions for a pizza cutter that doesn't suck (and isn't a $3200 Damasteel model at Eating Tools) I'd love to hear about it.

 

[Rangen]

Not to derail the thread at this early junction, but if anyone has suggestions for a pizza cutter that doesn't suck (and isn't a $3200 Damasteel model at Eating Tools) I'd love to hear about it.

I definitely do, but it will require overcoming a possible prejudice. It's the Dalstrong one ($79), and I like it a lot. Turns out some heft is a real advantage for a pizza cutter.

 

[HumbleHomeCook]

Not to derail the thread at this early junction, but if anyone has suggestions for a pizza cutter that doesn't suck (and isn't a $3200 Damasteel model at Eating Tools) I'd love to hear about it.

I use this one:
https://bernalcutlery.com/collectio...kikumori-nihonkou-240mm-sujihiki-carbon-steel
Works great and easy to sharpen.

 

[cotedupy]

Probably going to be fairly tricky to do by hand, because ideally you want one aspect of your sharpening setup to be moving (i.e. automatically, not from you having to move it yourself) while you do it. You could do it with a spinning blade and a fixed stone, or a non-spinning blade and a moving stone or belt. If you've got a non-spinning blade and a non-moving stone it'll be more difficult; not impossible, just more bothersome.

Wanna know how I know...?

A couple of weeks ago a guy who runs a kebab shop brought some of these for me to sharpen:

They were very blunt, slightly rusted, covered with the grease of a million doner kebabs, and he had 35 five of them. Thirty-f***ing-five.

I experimented with a few different methods at the start, and settled on a Trizact belt running slack on a grinder without a platen, while gradually rotating the blade by hand. Then knocking the burr off the other side quickly after with a Shapton Pro 1k.

(Sorry, I realise that probably doesn't help. But if you've just got one pizza slicer you should be able to have a reasonable stab at it by hand. It won't need to be razor sharp to work well).

 

[Dan-]

Pizza cutters work by geometry and pressure. Either buy a new one or don’t bother. Try pressing down harder.

 

[btbyrd]

I use this one:
https://bernalcutlery.com/collectio...kikumori-nihonkou-240mm-sujihiki-carbon-steel
Works great and easy to sharpen.

I used to use a 300mm Takeda, but it has been sold. Worked great and was easy to sharpen.

 

[cotedupy]

Not to derail the thread at this early junction, but if anyone has suggestions for a pizza cutter that doesn't suck (and isn't a $3200 Damasteel model at Eating Tools) I'd love to hear about it.

Umm does a CCK Rhino count...?

It works pretty perfectly for it, plus you can use it as a paddle when putting pizza into/taking out of an oven or moving slices around. (Still a b*tch to sharpen though).

 

[jaydee]

made apparently of a thin crappy disc of the world's worst stainless steel

Have one like that and gave it an edge.
It cuts the produce on the pizza better now but leaves deep scars in the cutting board.

Best pizza cutter for me was a MAC pro 270 gyuto. Same knife Jamie Oliver used to wield in his Olivers twist series to cut up quesadillas. Started doing the same thing with pizzas and funnily a local pizza place does the same thing. Cheap german knife of maybe 30cm length. 4 quick whacks on the cutting board and then they push the pizza into their boxes.
A good excuse to get a cheap 27cm+ knife that you can also use for melons and pumpkins.

 

[Jovidah]

Yeah just use whatever long gyuto or suji you have... Scissors work too if you don't have one. Pizza cutters are just a waste of drawer space IMO.

 

[mushroom]

Umm does a CCK Rhino count...?

It works pretty perfectly for it, plus you can use it as a paddle when putting pizza into/taking out of an oven or moving slices around. (Still a b*tch to sharpen though).

View attachment 281624

Looks great. If it would be just for me, I'd consider it seriously. Maybe in a few years. As long as there are children around, I'll be stuck with the item with a wheel.

 

[cotedupy]

Looks great. If it would be just for me, I'd consider it seriously. Maybe in a few years. As long as there are children around, I'll be stuck with the item with a wheel.

Haha. Yes it's not a particularly child-friendly pizza slicing solution you're right, but definitely a pretty badass option for when they're not around! Unfortunately I am yet to realise my childhood dream of becoming a Chinese pig butcher, so this is the best use of the Rhino I've found to date.

For sharpening a wheel type one though; use a low to mid grit stone, and just make sure you've apex-ed the blade, knocked off any noticeable burr, and it should work grand.

 

[esoo]

Engage sarcasm mode:
1. Remove blade from handle
2. Find bolt that goes through hole in blade
3. Tighten blade onto bolt with nut.
4. Insert shaft of bolt into drill chuck
5. Engage drill carefully to ensure blade will rotate safely.
6. Apply blade at angle to pre-soaked sharpening stone.
7. Briefly watch the sparks fly as blade is sharpened.
8. Profit?

Bonus steps:
9. Enjoy watching sparks fly so much you grind away entire blade
10. Order 14" pizza sword from your favorite custom maker.

 

[SwampDonkey]

Yeah just use whatever long gyuto or suji you have... Scissors work too if you don't have one. Pizza cutters are just a waste of drawer space IMO.

Scissors are underrated in the pizza game. I always forget just how useful they are because my brain immediately goes to knife for everything

 

[cotedupy]

Engage sarcasm mode:
1. Remove blade from handle
2. Find bolt that goes through hole in blade
3. Tighten blade onto bolt with nut.
4. Insert shaft of bolt into drill chuck
5. Engage drill carefully to ensure blade will rotate safely.
6. Apply blade at angle to pre-soaked sharpening stone.
7. Briefly watch the sparks fly as blade is sharpened.
8. Profit?

Bonus steps:
9. Enjoy watching sparks fly so much you grind away entire blade
10. Order 14" pizza sword from your favorite custom maker.

Ha! One man's sarcasm is another man's 'blue sky thinking'...

While I was trying to figure out the easiest way to sharpen all those kebab slicer blades above, another guy at work walked past and said he had an idea. He quickly blowtorch-welded some stuff onto a metal rod, so it could hold one of the blades with a nut at one end, and be inserted into a handheld electric drill at the other. With the idea that you'd use that plus a grinding belt, to do the whole thing in about 0.5 seconds.

In the end we decided not to tempt fate by trying to sharpen them using a hastily-fashioned, homemade drill bit on a large, fast running belt grinder. No one wants a flying kebab blade lodged in their trachea of a Friday afternoon.

 

[JustAnotherJoe]

I have been so very tempted to pick up tojiro's 340mm nakiri for this reason.
345mm nakiri

Edit: also if using drill+ screw+nut set up to hold a pizza cutter, be sure to spin the drill in the direction that will tighten the nut while in use....

 

[esoo]

Ha! One man's sarcasm is another man's 'blue sky thinking'...

While I was trying to figure out the easiest way to sharpen all those kebab slicer blades above, another guy at work walked past and said he had an idea. He quickly blowtorch-welded some stuff onto a metal rod, so it could hold one of the blades with a nut at one end, and be inserted into a handheld electric drill at the other. With the idea that you'd use that plus a grinding belt, to do the whole thing in about 0.5 seconds.

A couple of weeks previously someone else at work had completely mangled two of their fingers under a power hammer. In the end we decided not to tempt fate by trying to sharpen them using a hastily-fashioned, homemade drill bit on a large, fast running belt grinder. No one wants a flying kebab blade lodged in their trachea of a Friday afternoon.

I put the sarcasm tag on it as I didn't want it taken too seriously. But I knew hive mind thinking would mean someone, somewhere has already done this.

And doing it on a moving belt sounds like a recipe for a hospital trip.

 

[esoo]

I have been so very tempted to pick up tojiro's 340mm nakiri for this reason.
345mm nakiri

Edit: also if using drill+ screw+nut set up to hold a pizza cutter, be sure to spin the drill in the direction that will tighten the nut while in use....

I knew someone would think on this more seriously than I had.

 

[mengwong]

Assuming a horizontal grinding wheel I wonder if you could mount the disc concentrically to precess at a controlled angle and get 360° coverage.

 

[cotedupy]

I put the sarcasm tag on it as I didn't want it taken too seriously. But I knew hive mind thinking would mean someone, somewhere has already done this.

And doing it on a moving belt sounds like a recipe for a hospital trip.

Yes, you certainly foresaw the potential pitfalls of the situation at an earlier stage than we did. For us it was only after putting the whole thing together that we really properly thought about the reality of implementing it, and decided it probably wasn't such a great idea after all.



(And credit where it's due - the same person who made the abortive drill bit contraption, did then suggest the slack trizact belt method that I ended up using) for them).

 

[mushroom]

Engage sarcasm mode:
1. Remove blade from handle
2. Find bolt that goes through hole in blade
3. Tighten blade onto bolt with nut.
4. Insert shaft of bolt into drill chuck
5. Engage drill carefully to ensure blade will rotate safely.
6. Apply blade at angle to pre-soaked sharpening stone.
7. Briefly watch the sparks fly as blade is sharpened.
8. Profit?

Bonus steps:
9. Enjoy watching sparks fly so much you grind away entire blade
10. Order 14" pizza sword from your favorite custom maker.

Sounds exactly right for a weird DIY TV show with a ticker repeating "Don't try this at home".
I'm very happy with this animated discussion, seeing that pizza cutting is a worthy subject.

 

[noj]

Doesn't scale, but worked for one: a fine metal file, then a small whetstone.

 

[Bensbites]

Personally I just use a long Chef knife.

 

[Legion74]

Dreamfarm Pizza scissors are the bomb. And if needed you just sharpen them like regular scissors, though I haven't needed to with mine yet.

https://www.amazon.com/Dreamfarm-DF...7&psc=1&mcid=de79e0a6cfed3d6091d2b4d7a682cbd5

 

[deltaplex]

Ha! One man's sarcasm is another man's 'blue sky thinking'...

While I was trying to figure out the easiest way to sharpen all those kebab slicer blades above, another guy at work walked past and said he had an idea. He quickly blowtorch-welded some stuff onto a metal rod, so it could hold one of the blades with a nut at one end, and be inserted into a handheld electric drill at the other. With the idea that you'd use that plus a grinding belt, to do the whole thing in about 0.5 seconds.

In the end we decided not to tempt fate by trying to sharpen them using a hastily-fashioned, homemade drill bit on a large, fast running belt grinder. No one wants a flying kebab blade lodged in their trachea of a Friday afternoon.

You can take inspiration from vintage deli slicers the next time you are tasked with sharpening 35 of these things (it's been a little bit since I used it last, I've got to get it located more conveniently and get the carrier slide action moving a little bit better so that I use it regularly):

 

[Tekkz]

Yeah just use whatever long gyuto or suji you have... Scissors work too if you don't have one. Pizza cutters are just a waste of drawer space IMO.

You don't like my bat'leth style pizza cutter?

 

[Jovidah]

There's actually large cheese knives (to cut cheese wheels) that are vaguely similar... I suppose those would also work well on pizza.

 

[MarcelNL]

scissors, plain old standard scissors...

 

[new2brew]

Not to derail the thread at this early junction, but if anyone has suggestions for a pizza cutter that doesn't suck (and isn't a $3200 Damasteel model at Eating Tools) I'd love to hear about it.

Victorinox cimitar