Whetstone for kitchen knives

[mikromicke]

Can anyone recommend a good whetstone for putting a new edge on my Global chef knife? It's been heavily used for 10 years and the edge is starting to wear off a little

I saw that there is a bunch of twin stones out there but I have no idea what would be good and what would not.

thanks!

 

[luvmysuper]

Can anyone recommend a good whetstone for putting a new edge on my Global chef knife? It's been heavily used for 10 years and the edge is starting to wear off a little

I saw that there is a bunch of twin stones out there but I have no idea what would be good and what would not.

thanks!

Smiths Tri-Hone works well for me.

Available at Cabelas and other locations

http://www.cabelas.com/p-0006709610002a.shtml

 

[expatCanuck]

I'm not a fan of combination stones.

I use a Beston 500 for a rough stone (which you'll want if the Global has really lost its edge),
a Bester 1000 or 1200 for a medium stone, and a Naniwa 5000 fine stone.

 

[mikromicke]

Is there something particular about the combination stones that are bad compared to single stones?

I'm not a fan of combination stones.

I use a Beston 500 for a rough stone (which you'll want if the Global has really lost its edge),
a Bester 1000 or 1200 for a medium stone, and a Naniwa 5000 fine stone.

 

[Bruce]

I'm a bit of a kitchen knife hack and use the hone I've had in my tool box for years - a Norton Giant India Combination. From memory here, the stone is 11 12" x 2 1/2" and is the India aluminum oxide coarse (brown) and fine (tanish orange). Some may prefer a finer edge on a knife, but if the knife has been waiting ten or so years to be able to slice a tomato into paper thin discs, the wait is no longer, the India combo will do just fine.

 

[Alacrity59]

You may want to look at a kit like this from Gatco ($40 - $60 depending what stones you want in your kit). One of the most difficult things about sharpening is learning how to find and hold a knife at the right angle. A kit like this takes the guess work out of it and allows almost anybody to develop a very sharp edge with relatively little effort or skill. If you want sharper then you have to develop the skill or have someone else sharpen your knife.

 

[expatCanuck]

Is there something particular about the combination stones that are bad compared to single stones?

IMHO, they don't wear evenly. And you'll end up working with a thinner stone sooner than you might otherwise like. If you've got the space and the money, I think it easier to cough up (say) $150 now for a 500, 1K & 3K (Beston 500, Bester 1000 or 1200, Naniwa 3000) and be done with it for some years, if not a lifetime. Three (or, if you're more hardcore, four) waterstones -- simple and effective.

 

[Casey]

I'm a fan of the basic Norton Pike combination stone. 150 and 320 grit, so fairly coarse, but it can still deliver a nice smooth edge.

 

[Emmett]

600 grit diamond stone for the bad cases, and 1/4 K waterstone. If you've never sharpened knives before, it will take a little while to get the correct angle and the 600 grit is good insurance in case you ruin a bevel and have to start over. Once they're in good shape, I only need the 1/4 K.

 

[ouch]

Knives and sharpening stones have a symbiotic relationship, and it's easy to collect as many stones as knives. I know that sounds a bit silly, but a knife without a stone will be useless pretty soon. If your Global hasn't been sharpened in 10 years, it's going to need something pretty aggressive to bring it back to life.

Combo stones are a low cost entry to sharpening, but they tend to be on the small side and are prone to separating where they are joined (you can glue them back together, though). I would imagine that most folks starting out would rather not commit to a large expenditure on something so unknown, so a lot of them will go the combo route. One thing is certain- you'll either like sharpening or you won't. If you don't, the point is moot. If you do, you'll welcome a better selection of stones, and you can always sell the combo to help finance the upgrade.

 

[mikromicke]

I have played aroudn with sharpening knives before, back home in Sweden, but never had any decent whetstone. I used some extremely fine wet sand paper (2500 grit) for putting a better edge on some not so fancy knives and realized quickly that having the right angle is pretty key

This is really tricky. There are so many solutions out there and you read everything from that you can do it decently yourself to that you should never touch your Japanese chef's knife unless you want to ruin it. I was thinking to send it away and let someone do it but then you read that they basically just use a machine on it and that it's not uncommon for them to ruin the knives either.

And this knife in question isn't that bad really. It can still slice tomatoes really thin but since I'm starting to notice that it isn't as sharp anymore it can probably become waaaay sharper

I'm probably leaning towards some kind of combination stone after all. I can always practice on my IKEA knives before touching the Global. As I'll most likely be moving back to Sweden in about a year it's probably not worth getting more expensive stuff that I can't bring back. It already feels like I'll need a container!

 

[mikromicke]

This seems like a decent kit?

http://www.sharpeningsupplies.com/Naniwa-Japanese-Combination-Waterstone-Set-P324C97.aspx

 

[Alacrity59]

I like the 1000/3000. I have never in my life even thought of going down to 120. Perhaps if I found a piece of metal while serving time I could use such a grit to make a shiv. I have a feeling that the rough stone I use to put an edge on my garden shovel is finer than that.

 

[Jim]

If you decide to have a pro do the sharpening you can trust B&B's own edgemiester Dave to do it without harming your blade. He also has a nice selection of hones and the years of experience to go with them for good advice.

http://www.japaneseknifesharpeningstore.com/default.asp

 

[DaveMartell]

If you decide to have a pro do the sharpening you can trust B&B's own edgemiester Dave to do it without harming your blade. He also has a nice selection of hones and the years of experience to go with them for good advice.

http://www.japaneseknifesharpeningstore.com/default.asp

Thanks for the plug Jim, mighty nice of you.

Dave

 

[DaveMartell]

Knives and sharpening stones have a symbiotic relationship, and it's easy to collect as many stones as knives. I know that sounds a bit silly, but a knife without a stone will be useless pretty soon. If your Global hasn't been sharpened in 10 years, it's going to need something pretty aggressive to bring it back to life.

Combo stones are a low cost entry to sharpening, but they tend to be on the small side and are prone to separating where they are joined (you can glue them back together, though). I would imagine that most folks starting out would rather not commit to a large expenditure on something so unknown, so a lot of them will go the combo route. One thing is certain- you'll either like sharpening or you won't. If you don't, the point is moot. If you do, you'll welcome a better selection of stones, and you can always sell the combo to help finance the upgrade.

Good post - all so true.

Dave

 

[jherm77]

Heck, you could even buy some stones from Dave. Take anything he says as gold.

 

[DaveMartell]

I find Globals to be difficult to hand sharpen when new and when well used or heavily sharpened even worse. They're fairly abrasion resistant with somewhat thick bevels that are convex in shape, which makes for a tough go out of the initial work of resetting the bevels. Once that part is done they're not so bad for the following touch-ups and so on.

For the initial grind you'll need something that cuts faster than it wears and cuts FAST. In the world of coarse waterstones there's not much to choose from unfortunately. I'd love to say to get a 120x(ish) stone but they all suck,. The best that I know of for serious metal removal is the Beston 500x. Maybe a good way to go would be to get the good coarse stone (where you'll do 99% of all the work) and then go combo on the middle levels?

Dave

 

[DaveMartell]

Heck, you could even buy some stones from Dave. Take anything he says as gold.

Don't lie to these nice people.

 

[Alacrity59]

I find Globals to be difficult to hand sharpen when new and when well used or heavily sharpened even worse. They're fairly abrasion resistant with somewhat thick bevels that are convex in shape, which makes for a tough go out of the initial work of resetting the bevels. Once that part is done they're not so bad for the following touch-ups and so on.

For the initial grind you'll need something that cuts faster than it wears and cuts FAST. In the world of coarse waterstones there's not much to choose from unfortunately. I'd love to say to get a 120x(ish) stone but they all suck,. The best that I know of for serious metal removal is the Beston 500x. Maybe a good way to go would be to get the good coarse stone (where you'll do 99% of all the work) and then go combo on the middle levels?

Dave

Dang if you didn't name the 120x that I thought would only be useful for sharpening shovels. Now I'm chagrined and bowing my head in shame. The original poster clearly didn't like my idea of the fixed angle systems either so I've at least done no harm.