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steevjp

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Hi All

I’ve a set of global knives and they have a very dull edge. I don’t have the money to buy global recommended stones so bought a shanzu 1000/6000 waterstone to try and sharpen them up a bit, no idea how good or bad they are is ive never used stones before.

After soaking the stone for 10 minutes and trying multiple times the knives seem duller than when I started. I think I should have maybe bought a stone below 1000 but also having a problem maintaining the 15 degree angle suggested.

I have the global knife guides and have used those too but I still cannot get these knives sharp and I am not sure why, and tips would be appreciated.
 
Use a permanent marker and a loupe to find out where you're actually abrading steel. Quite likely you're far from having reached the very edge.
As the Globals come out of the factory with a very convexed edge — almost without a bevel — the first stone sharpening requires the removal of a lot of steel if you want to make straight bevels of it. You will need a very coarse stone and a lot of time.
Better send it out for this first sharpening. So you get edges you can easily maintain. That being said, the steel is one of the most unpleasant to sharpen. Burrs popping up, carbides breaking out. No fun.
 
haha, I did have a little cry, feel like i wasted money on the whetstone now, i had them sharpened some time ago, a guyu came around with a machines and they were razor sharp, they started to dull again quite quickly though.
 
steevjp said:
haha, I did have a little cry, feel like i wasted money on the whetstone now, i had them sharpened some time ago, a guyu came around with a machines and they were razor sharp, they started to dull again quite quickly though.
Click to expand...
That’s a new element. So, you're not dealing with the factory edge any longer. That's rather encouraging. If you want to give it a try, a few suggestions:
You may follow the existing bevel. Colour it with permanent marker and start a very low angle to abrade steel behind the edge. Little by little, you raise the spine and get closer to the very edge. Verify with a loupe. It wouldn't surprise me if you were to reach the very edge only at a far higher angle than the 15° you had in mind. Go on until all the paint has gone. You now should feel a very obvious burr on the opposite side.
Go on at the other side and start again at a low angle, behind the edge.
When you've reached the very edge from the other side, again, all paint should be gone. Both bevels meet, and now a clear burr has appeared on the other side — the one where you started.
Now comes the most important point: getting rid of the burr.
It has to get abraded with a very light pressure. Otherwise, it only folds without getting reduced. Or, even worse, it gets abraded but in the same time a new one is being raised side. So, very light strokes.
The quality of the deburring is by far the most important factor in edge retention. And the steel used by Global doesn't help much.
Sharpening is no rocket science. A century ago, almost every man sharpened his own razor. Farmers used to sharpen their own scythes.
There're plenty of videos about sharpening, some good, most of them not so. A very reliable source:
https://www.youtube.com/c/JKnifeImports
 
Ah, this is encouraging then, I will do this a bit later today. I could feel no burr yesterday when i tried it but i was probably doing it wrong,

What is a loupe? and ill check out that youtube channel
 
steevjp said:
Ah, this is encouraging then, I will do this a bit later today. I could feel no burr yesterday when i tried it but i was probably doing it wrong,

What is a loupe? and ill check out that youtube channel
Click to expand...
benson-benson-juweliers-loupe-loep-40-x-25mm-met-l.png
 
i sharpen lots of globals. i usually start with a coarse stone, shapton glass or pro 220. or coarse diamond like atoma 400.
or just a 150-240p sandpaper on a piece of wood (dry). this is where 90% of the work is done. then off to the 1k then 2 or 3k. if i strop i strop on cardboard.
 
I'm being honest here: sharpening knives is very simple, but it isn't easy.
It sounds like, according to your opening post, that you are very new to hand sharpening. If you had a little panic moment (little cry) after you didnt improve your dull knife, that might be because you underestimated how hard it is to get a good edge for the very first few times.

Although what benuser says is 100% true, i feel like (as a starter) you can read and watch as many info that you can find, you simply cant reproduce what they are saying.

'Raise a burr' --> Why the .. am I not seeing a burr?
'Important to keep angle consistent' --> yeah ofcourse, how the .. do I do this?
'sharpie helps you see where you abbraded' --> I see i was on too high/low angle, but I thought i was at the same angle... what the f...

etc etc

You have to start. Start practising. You will make multiple unintended edges on your knife. Go back, start over. Sharpening is also a game of patience.
You don't have to make hours, you have to make weeks, months. Sharpen every knife you can get your hand on.
When the knife is sharper then before you sharpened, you succeeded. You will improve over time and what you find is sharp to you now, is badly sharpened to you in a year.

Remeber that what most people in here call 'dull' is razor sharp in the eyes of a student with his kitchen drawer knives..
1000 gritt may be too fine of a gritt to start if your knife is really dull or if you allready made multiple edges. Prepare to start over a lot of times and dont be afraid to start on your coarsed stone again.
 
steevjp said:
Ah, this is encouraging then, I will do this a bit later today. I could feel no burr yesterday when i tried it but i was probably doing it wrong,

What is a loupe? and ill check out that youtube channel
Click to expand...

Then you probably were too flat on your stone (too low angle). The very very apex of your edge wasn't grinded.
The good thing is you probably didnt hit the knife too high! Or you would have felt a burr immediately.

If you are not sure what a burr feels like: if you have a very cheap knife (10 knives for 5 bucks officeknife or so) do a few passes on an angle you are certainly off that it is way too high.
Then feel on the other side with your fingertips or thumb (move from left to right side of the blade, dont do heel to tip cause thats a cutting motion and you will cut yourself).
Better: feel both sides: one side is smooth, other side has a 'sharp feeling ridge'.
Do the same high angle shaprening on the other side, and now that side feel smooth and the other side has the ridge. Thats your burr.
 
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What @inferno said!

I spent a huge amount of time trying to figure Globals out. You really need to sort them on coarse stones. The factory bevel is horrible to sharpen.
 
yeah ive never sharpened a thing in my life, i am not even familiar with some of the terms being used here so I am proper green to this. Kinda loathe to buy a course stone when I dont even know if this is something ill continue with and may jut end up shelling out for it to be done, not as satisfying maybe but less frustrating maybe... there certainly seems to be a billion things that I never thought of. I thought ahh, kinfe, stone, sharpen... how ignorant of me haha
 
just get a few sheets of 150-240p sandpaper then. attach it to something flat-ish and go to work. it will cost you 1€£$ for 2-3 sheets at most.
 
When I read about the difficulties with Global, I always wonder why haven't I seen this. I imagine we develop edges in a very different way. At some point I even started to cut lots of cardboards just to show that they still shave hair or slice a tomato after. And they always did. Never saw such low grits in their lives, either.
There are some knives/alloys that seem to notorious for being hard to sharpen and never seen them like that.
 
the only problem i've seen with globals is that they are quite soft aus-6 steel (55hrc measured in a lab), and therefore they are likely to roll at low angles.
and they are a bit more "smeary" on the stones. i prefer steels over 60hrc but even aus-8 at 57 (mac standard steel) is quite a bit less smeary on the stones imo. it just feels better and. feels right.

i just do edge leading swipes on the fine stones with globals, alternating sides every swipe. 2-3 minutes after the C stone and its done.
 
I have sharpened some globals for a coworker and yeah it's not the best experience on the stones but there's also nothing magical about having to sharpen them. Pretty much did the normal routine:

- edge leading strokes on a 1K to form a burr (feel with finger/finger nail); flip knife and use edge-leading strokes to sharpen the other side, cut off whatever burr has formed;
- then it's just burr removal to make sure there's no burr either side combo of edge leading and edge trailing strokes depending on what's working
- repeat at 3K but with fewer/lighter strokes

End scene. Don't go too low of an angle because the steel can't handle it. Aim for something kinda conservative but still serviceable. Don't expect miracles, but you can end up with a knife that's perfectly pleasant to cut with, at least for a while.
 
Initially i was using the guides within I think are set at 15 degrees, I wanted to visually just see that angle, and then i try not to use the guides but keep the 15 degrees, I do know that when Ive been doing it i find it imposible to keep the knife at theat angle and ive watched number of videos taht show that technique, I do tend to go slowly though.

I tried cutting an onion today after sharpening one and I could slice it pretty thinly but it feel that the knife could be a bit sharper. Does have to be ultra optimal, its jsut me and my missus cooking for 2

I thought I read that the steel for them was very hard.
 
ModRQC said:
I'm so glad I've sent back this knife... sorry OP!
Click to expand...

lol, thats OK, ive had them a long time, i must admit (not that I know anything about kitchen knives) i wouldnt buy them if i had the money now, I find them stupidly expensive, although no idea how they rate price wise around better options
 
Lessons learnt I guess, I have them now so just need to make to most of them, dont think I could sell them, they have some marks on them although in realtively good condition, not chips or damage to the cutting edge from what i can tell. They have not been mistreated.
 
I guess they just have good marketing then to pull the unknowledgable in, Ill look for a thread for recommended knives, never know i may be tempted at some point to chnage
 
Marketing wise, effectively, Global and Shun have had that nailed down in good time - they've been selling like crazy since "forever".
 
Now the problem is to find the buyer, and well I guess the final amount will be just enough to buy you a real decent Gyuto.
 
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