Sharpening Global Knives

[psfred]

The difficulty with power sharpening and hard steels is probably impact with the fairly coarse abrasive at high speed. Hard steels are all more likely to crack under those conditions, even with a light touch on the belt, so you have an edge with micro-cracks. Those micro-cracks will grow under stress in use, and result in micro-chips.

Hand sharpen those chips out using fairly fine stones and you have removed the micro-cracks without adding new ones, so the edge is much more stable.

Coarse abrasives even in hand sharpening can do the same thing -- back 40 years ago I was warned to use only natural stones, preferably Japanese water stones, on high hardness Japanese chisels, and avoid hardwoods with them. Synthetic stones tended to induce stress cracking in the edge, and prying in American hardwoods could pop rather large chunks off the edge. High hardness carbon steel is brittle! Takes an amazing edge for use in softwoods.

 

[steevjp]

I am just going to give it another go with the tools that I have here and see how it goes, I am not expecting perfection, just need them to cut meat and veg realtively easily but if it all goes wrong then ill get them sharpened somewhere.

 

[cotedupy]

I am just going to give it another go with the tools that I have here and see how it goes, I am not expecting perfection, just need them to cut meat and veg realtively easily but if it all goes wrong then ill get them sharpened somewhere.

(Just one word of advice if you do go for getting them sharpened elsewhere- don't go to that place in Pop Brixton. While I'm sure they're great for sharpening certain knives, my wife took a Global to them end of last year and it came back possibly even more blunt than she gave it them.)

 

[steevjp]

noted, thanks

 

[Kawa]

(Just one word of advice if you do go for getting them sharpened elsewhere- don't go to that place in Pop Brixton. While I'm sure they're great for sharpening certain knives, my wife took a Global to them end of last year and it came back possibly even more blunt than she gave it them.)

Some sharpening services don't even see that a Global is convex at start.
Some know/see it, but can't handle it, and sharpen it in a V.

I've read stories on other forums where they told that the sharpening service said 'the global knive you sent me was hard to find an angle on'...

I was about to make an account on there to jump in on the discussion, but then I found out they advice eachother to buy Rosenbaum knives or knives of the brand Solingen, and that their knive is still razor sharp after 20 years of use, there is no bennefit between a 5,- euro or 500,- knive, or that they sharpen their knive every month on a honing steel and that it is scary sharp for all their life...
Then i thought, nah I grew out of this (hate to say it). Then again, it was a computerforum with a topic about kitchenknives....makes sense

 

[Noodle Soup]

I'm at a loss here. You sharpen Globals like any other knife. They may or may not meet your personal expectations for edge holdings but that doesn't change basic sharpening methods. By the way, I have used a couple of Globals. They were pretty average but not worth a lot of hate.

 

[D J]

Hi Steve, I'd just like to say. You are on the right track. Sharpening is a skill, it has to be learned, you have to start, you have to want to learn, I was the same, for me it took a long time, I didn't know anyone to ask for advice, I had no idea of what a burr was or even the basic principles of sharpening. When I decided I wanted to learn this skill. I went to the local hardware store bought a two sided silicon carbide stone, I asked the store attendant for any advice on sharpening, he said...hold the knife at a 45% angle to the stone and rub back and forth... I thought to myself, that sounds like a steep angle but ok. I went home and put 90% edges on a couple of knives, how sad. strangely enough the knives were sharper than before.
What I'm saying is that we all have to start somewhere. Starting here on this forum is a much better place to start. There is so many knowledgeable people here with some very good advice...my small contribution would be what I had most difficulty learning. Wrist control. If you can watch some good YouTube videos, look at the grip they use to hold the knife. Sometimes the right grip can assist in the "locking of the wrist" this is important for maintaining a consistent angle. Think of your shoulder and elbow as pivot points. When you have the blade on the stone at the angle desired, look at you hand which is holding the knife. Find like a reference spot on your hand such as your knuckle or the highest point of your hand and imagine a line running vertically up from that point. You will improve. It just takes time and patience. Anyway good luck with it.
PS It's very satisfying when you get the results you want