I absolutely love the Chef's Choice because it's a "workhorse" tool that puts a fantastically sharp and polished edge on blades quickly and effectively. I believe it's pretty popular in many commercial kitchens with professional chefs for that reason, and remember that a sharp edge on a cheap knife is better than a dull edge on an expensive one. Stones are great and can do an even better job to be sure, but they are "craft sensitive," a bit fiddly/messy, and indeed require time & work. A further reality, often a sharpener such as the Chef's Choice, people won't let knives get in such awful condition before sharpening, i.e. the day to day maintenance is better such that sharpening is more re-finishing than repairing the edge. Also, chips of that size would likely be best handled on a belt sander and then finished with stones. In addition, Japanese knives are likely easier to sharpen effectively on stones than European styles; with European blades one has to ensure the edge is in the middle; something the "alternating pulls" of electric knife sharpeners do fairly effectively. Example: "Wavy" along the X-axis for perhaps the electric but wavy along the Y-axis perhaps sometimes for stones depending on how much care witht he blade the person sharpening it takes. But again, perhaps also more a "workhorse" tool vs. the finest job one's ever seen.
Thanks for your honest, unbiased review. You sold me on not investing my time and money on wet stones. I am a very average knife owner. I don’t own any expensive knives and an electric sharpener will work just fine. In my opinion investing the money in stones and the time to learn how to use them would not be worth it to me.
Yes, I think you are biased due to whetstone sharpening experience. If you were to hand a sharpening device to an inexperienced person that nether has the desire or the time to learn the proper technique then an electronic sharpening device is much better than trashing all the knives in the house and buying new ones. It would also be less time consuming than the whetstone especially in the short term. Cost of a electronic sharpening system might be worth the higher price if it means the cheaper knives in most homes have a decent enough edge to slice tomatoes or anything else the home cook might cook. I can't ever say that a master or even a novice whetstone user should use an electronic system, but a quick and simple electric knife sharpener might be the best option for most homes.
Frequently sharpening moderate quality knives for 30 seconds in the Chef’s choice is a better day to day sharpening and CUTTING experience than painstakingly taking expensive knives to the wet stone. Hell, sharpen between tomatoes.
Kai Shun - 61 Rockwell - I use the Chef's Choice electric sharpener (The Wustoff is merely a re-labelled Chef's Choice), It does a very good job. No gouges etc. Yes, it does not get quite such a fine polished finish as a whet stone... But, its so easy to use I sharpen far more frequently. Love your videos BTW - Thanks Oh, and the middle slot is NOT stage two. It is set at 20 degrees angle for older European knives. A Japanese style knife should go from the first slot to the third slot.
Hey Burr, doesn't seem biased at all. Great video, and I'm sure their electric sharpener is a good tool for a certain job, but in my experience (though short), whet stones are a better tool for more jobs.. as long as you have the skill to use them (as you know). Like you said, for a large kitchen with chefs that cant sharpen knives, it would do great. But for quality restoration of a broken knife, they will have to turn to an expert like yourself to fix it right.
Question: I have randomly stumbled on this channel and been bingewatching a bit. It gave me the idea to get into sharpening a bit. Not on my expensive japanese knives (obviously), but to learn something new and maybe restore some old cheap knives. I have found 2 potential stones that are readily available for purchase and within my budget: Kai Shun 300/1000 and 400/1000 combination whetstones. Is there a drawback to combination whetstones over buying "normal" ones? And is there a noticeable difference between the 300/1000 and 400/1000 for a complete beginner?
Ryky, have you ever heard of Misen knives? It's one of those Instagram ad companies but they show the person horizontally thin slicing a grape that is on a table. Looks intriguing
really like your videos, I have questions about leather strops. is the smooth side of the leather better than the rough side? most of the stropping videos i have seen use the rough side. also thin leather vs thick leather and microbevels. sorry for all the questions, these are just things that I don't understand. love to see a video on these topics. thanks!
I have an older set of Wusthof knives, (Wusthof Classis- 1000.00 set 25 years ago) and a Chef's Choice non Wusthof branding. I am not an expert, just grew up cooking and cleaning in commercial kitchens for my young adult life. I have always enjoyed Wusthof cutlery for most average applications. I used to hand sharpen my own knives- there is a real zen to it. But when I purchased my Chef's Choice knife sharpener for my kitchen I was pleasantly happy with purchase. I think what you say is 100% spot on. I would never use it for Japanese knives of that caliber. But for quick sharpening in my kitchen, it works well for me. I use my zen practices' on other things now, not hand sharpening with a wet stone. I was never really that great at it, 🙂
Hey Ryki! I just managed to get my knife sharp enough to shave hair from my arm. I went from 400-1000-3000-8000 and did leather strops in the end. Question: how much time would you spend on each stone proportionally? And could you incorporate cutting hair in your videos as a way (like 1000*) more difficult test than cutting tomatoes or paper?
What is the best place to pick up damaged restoration knives life the one in this video? I’m looking to practice honing an edge and sharpening and it would be nice to start at the bottom of the barrel for practice.
It's a great beginning tool for the hobbyist, and those wanting to get a fine edge on a knife. However you will find that the system is inconsistent because it is difficult to apply the same amount of pressure on each stroke.
Hi! I am pretty much binge watching all of your videos in last days. Thing is, i still haven't figured out what starting stones to buy. i have Wusthof 8 inch. My budget is around 80-100 dollars. Should i buy just the chosero? Or buy one lower and one higher cheaper grinds? Thanks very much for the answer!
Question: I bought a King delux 300 to re-profile with. New it felt great. After a couple of jobs it feels much smoother. It seems to have loaded up. I've cleaned it with a nagura and a rust eraser. It is still much smoother when I compare it to the other side of the stone. Is there a way to rough it up again or is it what it is?
Great video. I have BOTH sharpeners (Whetstone and Trizon 15 which is the same electric sharpener under a different name). For the average family, the electric sharpener is superior. Most people aren't using $500 and up...super high carbon knives that chip so easily. For a professional chef, a Whetstone makes more sense. But for the average person, a good German Wustoff knife and electric sharpener is more practical for their needs. I've been using German steel for decades, and never had any major chips.
Definitely. I sharpen on stones and have lots and.lots of knives but it's a hobby! You don't need a scalpel in the kitchen. This electric sharpener will give you a sharp enough edge to do everything in a kitchen the average person does. For me, sharpening the knives is part of the fun. Most people don't care, they just want a sharp knife to cook with.
I bought my electric sharpener, at the start of my learning how to sharpen knives. I found that the knives with bolsters loose about an half an inch of sharpening at the heal of the knife, I also think the electric knife sharpeners takes to much material off, so the Chef choice knife sharpener sat in the closet for many years. Saying that, I recently gave my Chef's choice 130c knife sharpener to my mom, who is 72 yrs old . She loves the chef choice knife sharpener. She thought It was fast and very simple to use, and in her eye's it gave her knives outstanding sharpness. Without the electric knife sharpener, she wouldn't have gotten her knives sharpened. MY mom didn't care about the edge by the bolster not getting sharpened , since her knife are free knives or super cheep Chinese knives. Out of all this , I was very happy, seeing her excited sharpening her own knives.
Hi, I use a Chef's choice. Agreeing, I would not use one with a bolstered knife. However, when I occasionally empty the filings I am always surprised how little metal they remove. I am using it with high Rockwell knives. Very little steel is removed unlike the older kind if electric sharpeners.
Thanks for the great review! ... may i suggest you consider reviewing the Smith's Arkansas TRI-HONE Sharpening Stones System that is selling for $24 on Amazon? ... Would you consider sharpening expensive $200-$300 Japanese knives on this sharpening stone system?
I own both wetstones and a chef's choice 1520 sharpener (diamond abrasives). I think this is a very fair and accurate review. I use this electric device at home. For practical kitchen use there is no beating it. But stones win in terms of flexibility and for repair/polish. Both can have a place one's arsenal whereas if we go back a few years I'd have said 'kitchen sharpeners' had no business going near a knife.
Ryky, I recently purchased the Naniwa “#400 Grit Super Ceramic Water Stone” off of amazon and it is infact the original/japanese version. Virtuovice mentioned in a video once that chosera means “super ceramic”. It’s a fantastic stone, head and neck above the professional 400 (which I also own) none of that “against the grain” feeling you mentioned. I’ve been wondering this since I started subbing you if your actual name is Ryky Tran or if that’s a reference to the triad boss from rush hour? “Ricky Tan”
You being on Wusthoff's "Do Not Communicate With" list just got you a follow. I've become kind of a big Mercer fan after watching one of your comparison videos from a few years ago (thank you for saving me a lot of money!). That said, I'm finding that overall, I don't care a ton for the ergonomics of western-style knives. BUT I still have a ton to learn about sharpening before I invest in expensive Japanese knives. Stones are a particular problem for me. as I find the guesswork of maintaining a very specific and consistent angle by hand to be elusive. Apparently many people do, which is why there are so many sub-par sharpening systems on the market.
Use the marker technique by marking the cutting edge of the knife, then pull it about half way through and check the mark and them note the contact point on the top of the machine so you know where exactly it is.
You've got me addicted to stones and knives. Just acquired some chosera stones and these things are waaaaay better than the setup I had. My new knives are insane also. I've been trying to find that akazawa gyuto online. They seem to be unavailable now :( You make great content man. I'd love to get in touch with you about some of the products that you have.
Hey Ricky, what do u feel about I.O. Shen Knives ? Any ideas ? I already have 5 of them and thinking to get one of their new models, the Suraisu Slicer, is it a good buy or should i switch to shun or tojiro ?
I love this video thank you for it! I’ve been a big fan of Wusthof for 20+ years. I recently bought that electric sharpener and so far I like it more than taking it to my local sharpening gig. However I get what you’re saying, you are approaching this from a craftsman’s perspective who is skilled with a Whetstone, so of course you get better results, especially when there is the need for a serious repair like those big divits.
Hey man, could you review the Bearmoo 400/1000 whetstone from amazon? This is an amazon best seller and I think many people would like to know if it is a decent starter stone.
Hello ! I really enjoy your sharpening videos. Can u make a video of how to sharpen serrated knives? Like bread knife and so on. Keep up the awesome work. Cheers!
👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼Bias for stone, yes; but, you provided evidence along with having a few years of experience sharpening knives. This would be a type of video I would make. I would make the same recommendation: great for a team of chef in a kitchen (time is money), hand sharpening is more versatile and can re-profile.
When I worked in a kitchen we always had several knives on hand, of several types, sharpening happened at the start and/or end of the day. Knife dull=get a new one, no time wasted, just pick one up from the rack and keep going :) Certain things like cleavers we did sharpen/hone on the fly, with a steel..
Your criticisms and recommendations on this are still pretty valid. This kind of machine is ok for quick but not very refined sharpening jobs for a lot of softer steel blades like in a kitchen, or for domestic use for people who don't want to invest the time to learn on a stone. It's not a replacement for a stone, but it can handle the base functions well enough if you're not critical of it's performance.
I am an utter novice with a question. For Christmas my wife has purchased me a Yoshihiro SG2, 120mm chef knife. I have never owned a Japanese knife and am not a chef. I have been told that some knives need to be sharpened straight out of the box. Is it likely that that will be the case with this one? Additionally, what is your general opinion of this brand of knife? Your videos are impressive and helpful. Bill
I have a question for you which has nothing to do with the video sorry, but i do value your opinion. I am looking to get a polishing stone, this will be my first stone above 3000 grit so i have no experience with the stones i'm considering . the stones i'm looking at are the Rika 5000, the Kitayama 8000, Naniwa "super stone" 5000 or 8000, how would you rate these stone agenst each other?
Have you ever tried a double sided sharpening stone like the ones on ebay. 600/1000 800/1200 grit soaking stones or double sided diamond sharpening stone also from ebay. Would like to see a video of you trying them out to see if they work and if any good. Thanks.👍
Hi mr burrfection, my knife got a scratch when I sharpening with 1000 grit whetstone, but I want to remove the scratch, what should I do for remove the scratch from my knife, and knife is (yaxell ran 10 inch )
I went with the electric sharpener for my cheap Henkel knives. They're way better than what they used to be. I'd never use it for high end blades but it is perfect for the average kitchen knife. Thanks so much for covering this topic.
hi, question, is there any point to buy a Shapton glass with grid around 3000-4000 if i already have King kds 1000/6000 and leather strop with green compound ?
A late reply but may help someone in the future. A 3000-4000 is not needed. However, maybe you don’t want to go up to 6000 grit. You could just go to 3000 or 4000 and still have a great edge. I believe it’s easier to have a stage in between 1000 and 6000 and I think it could make it a bit faster.
Hey Burrfection, I was wondering we all know the warning of washing your knives with hot water, now what I've been doing when washing my new knives is actually finish it off with very hot water then dry off and immediately take them to the strap then put them away for next use and well they have remained razor sharp for the past year. useful technique or not?
hey. do you temper your stones with vaseline in paste or just use the stones right off the box, all fresh? i'm asking because there is a method that a brazilian knife-maker uses wich he puts vaseline in paste in water bath, then he sinks the stone in the liquid untill all the pores of the stone have absorbed the vaseline, and then he takes the stone out. actually this gives the stone more time to be used because the material of the knife wont get into the pores of the stone. well. do you temper or not? xD
I also have some other questions. why did barbers use a flexible leather strap instead of using leather fastened to a block like most people do today? thanks
i bought the chefs choice, and its great for all my knives but I also feel that i cant see the stones, i have no real control on whats going on, and for my favorite knives i rather have a whetstone as well.
This is a fair review. Bottom line use the best tool for the job.. The elec. sharpener has it's place out there, but not on high end cutlery. Good video as usual.
Nice... I really like how you put it to the challenge. And even am kinda impressed it did as good getting the knife as well as it did. Need the right tools for the job I suppose. I personally couldn't use it no matter what with the scratches left on the knife. Deal breaker for me.
ColePlayZ the only reason I ever used an electric sharpener was one when I was not educated about sharpening and two when I had a serrated edged knife I basically ground the scallops off of and made it into a flat profile slicing knife. (Was a cheap 20$ trash knife) just to play around and see what I could do. That’s about the only use I got for an electric sharpener. I have a 100$ who knows what brand one just sitting on a shelf collecting dust...
When it comes to heavy repair you have to try a belt grinder. Get yourself a 1x42. Get a ceramic belt in 80 grit and 120 grit. Heat shouldnt be a problem once you get the feel for it. Once you grind past the damaged portions you can sharpen with your preferred method. Some people might ask what makes me qualified to give advice. I have had a professional sharpening business for the last 3 years.
I have a Chef's Choice 15 and while it's ok (I'm simply too lazy to use stones to sharpen) the biggest issue is the 15 degree angle. I have a bunch of random kitchen knives and resetting them all to 15 degrees is really time consuming.
Try ebay or any other local auction e-platform or local adverting platform. Loads of used stuff, some really good just used, from regular consumers, at amazing prices. So once you've restored it you will do really well price wise and have a knife with more character than new. Also auctions can work although quite high commission fees, maybe sales tax to, to add on top of the sales price. Auctions can be a bit harder to find although they are on the web these days too.
didn't know if you were being too biased on the last video, but after seeing that look on your face when you hear no extra sounds when rocking your restored blades back and forth i'm sure you were not.
Watching this in 2020, I was wondering if you ever tried the Work Sharp Ken Onion sharpener. It’s a belt sharper and it seems like a better option than the e-sharpener in this video. Same price range too.
The Work Sharp is a better tool to me but it's also considerably less user friendly and it's far easier to really screw up your knife on belts. I use stones, but I use a Work Sharp for axes, shovels, shears, and everything else. It will definitely sharpen knives but it can also be super aggressive and if you aren't careful you can mangle a knife.
Bad Timing for me, I just ordered yesterday that chef choice machine ! Yet I am a beginner, or not even , so the learning curve would take some time to say the least. I have a son and daughter both into cooking like me,and we need to keep our knives sharp. I do have a cheapish stone, 2 Japanese chefs knives, which I used the stone, not too bad.
Ryky, an electric will wreak havoc with a western style bolstered knife intended for chopping or dicing and mincing, because it tends to leave a concave edge profile - it will not reduce the bolster, so that will hit a cutting board and the knife "won't chop chives". Those knives you show are Japanese style without a bolster. The only thing worse than a concave edge is a bent blade.
Chips are the bugger, so do not chip your knives! A lot of folk that use a cutting board will like this sharpener. I like my Wüsthof knives and my Shun. The one knife I ever chipped took hours to get right by hand then used it for decades. I keep an old Chicago Cutlery ($25) beast of a knife if I have to do ugly things with. Sharpened at 25-30 degrees the beast works wonders on some things. I bring it to picnics to slice BBQ safe and sound in a blade protecting case. Big watermelon... hammer to crack some very hard big winter until I learned the trick.
This might be a bit off topic: I have bent the tip of my blade, it did not chip off, it is just bent. I wonder how I can fix that. I don't think I should just grind the tip of? I tried to just bend it back by pressing it on a cutting board, it helped a bit, but it's still a bit bent, has been that way for months now.
Hi Ryky, I ordered a couple Chosera stones (800 and 3000) to handle the bulk of my sharpening needs. Do you think they will be ok for sharpening my tougher steel EDC knives like S30V/S35V/CPM Cruwear etc, or should I use something like DMT plate for them? (I would definitely use diamond for reprofiling/repair type work on them) I'd love to get your opinion. Great videos man, thanks!
FreekoSwaheez… I have both stones and they work beautifully with my Yaxell Dragon Fusion nakiri, which is BD1N steel (63 HRC). Would be interested to hear how they work for your harder steels. Tom Riddle… I go straight from the 3000 to a strop loaded with green compound and then finish on a bare leather strop. If I wanted to go to the next level, I'd probably get an 8000 stone and finer compounds.
Bradley Gong both hose stones will wrk perfectly together for pretty much any RWH knife. You can go from the 3000 to a strop or even run it on a higher polishing stone like a Snow White 8000 or I use the shapton 12000grit. Be careful on that Chosera 3000. Mine started cracking after about 6 sharpenings. I never soaked it. Make sure you dry it after each use with a paper towel. That may help prevent cracking.
b H… I never soak them, and just clean them after use with a medium Sabitoru rust eraser under cold water, then let air dry standing on end in the dish drainer. So far, so good!
Bradley Gong I do basically the exact same! But my 3000 Chosera cracked. And I’m not talking one or two. There are cracks running the entire length of the stone. Never dropped or abused. Debating if I’m reordering another 3000 Chosera or just gonna try out a 3000 shapton... I’d love to get the suehiro guycomio or however it’s spelled but u have to order them from Japan and they are like 200$+
Hey! Can anyone tell me if there's any reason beyond aesthetic ones, that the Dalstrong has those bumps in the blade? I've seen the same kinds of bumps in other knifes too so it got me wondering if there's something going on with that.
Hey!! We are waiting for the Victorinox Fibrox Pro 8-Inch Chef's Knife rope test !!!! I think there will be many waiting to see this since its a affordable ok/good chef's knife that falls under an average persons budget 😁😅
I don't think it's necessarily a bias, because what you're saying is true actually, especially in your position. The electric sharpener is most definitely for the layman, who doesn't have the skill nor the knives to make use of the whetstone. The skill would be obv. but what do I mean by the knives? I mean for you Ryky, you're dealing with a lot of knives, from knives in the range of the electric sharpener, and to knives harder than what is recommended for the sharpener. It's kinda like a game, where there is a trade off. Stone = high skill high scaling, sharpener = low skill, low scaling. The sharpener gives a lot more convenience in trade of versatility. Because I'd say if I just wanted to sharpen a knife a little bit before cutting, I'd be more inclined in pulling out the electric sharpener instead of a whetstone (if it was just limited to those 2).
and the reason that the knives are chipped is because the users think they can just spend money and they'll be a master chef. This comes from people without skill or discipline mistreating their knives. This is NOT a defect in workmanship or materials. But you guys should view this as a retailer (cutlery and more) going above and beyond normal customer service. Dalstrong also has superb customer service, above and beyond what they are legally required. This does NOT mean that you are guaranteed they'll do it for you. They did it as a COURTESY, not because they were required to do it If you crash your car, you don't return it to the manufacturer as "defective". It's not. This is NOT just limited to shun. But the demographic that is likely to buy a shun is also the demographic that is likely to misuse a knife so even though it can happen with any brand, the likelihood of a shun being damaged is higher, NOT because of the company, but because of the user. You guys have heard me say it before. Don't think that hammering your knives like you see it on TV is "real life"> Most of the TV chefs get free knives to use on screen. Don't cut at 85 degrees to the board. Don't twist your wrist at the end of a stroke. Don't scrape product off your board with an edge. Don't cut bone. Don't cut frozen food. Don't pry open a lid. Have a cheap "beater" knife for when you go on a picnic or you are going to cut hard squash.
Harrison… so many good points, as usual! It's also terrible when someone like Gordon Ramsay puts a TH-cam video up called something like How To Sharpen A Knife, where he abuses his knife on a steel then proclaims it sharp. If that's true, it's probably because it's some low level guy's job to _really_ sharpen/maintain his knives each day.
Harrison Hamada Mr Dennis Epstine of dragon cutlery (apogee) said it best! In America we simply don’t have the ability to say I broke the knife. We always blame the knife for being defective.
A lot of the knife damage I see comes from people using knives with rigid edges like they’re cleavers, likely due to poor knife handling skills. I suspect they also clear their cutting boards with the knives, scraping them across the board. Of course, you still have some people buying Shun or Miyabi knives and insisting they want glass or marble cutting boards because they don’t want to use boards that take marks, not realizing that the stress goes back into the knife instead of the board.
I do value my own time spent on labor though... and my Chef's Choice paid for itself the second time I turned it on. I can't help it if the tomatoes are embarrassed by micro scratches.
I'd be pissed if a sharpener scratched my knives up like that. I think Ken Roman (in his glowing (and LONG) review below) said the reason for the scratching is that metal filings stick to the plastic guides that scratch the knife as it is drawn through. So it _might_ be possible to reduce the scratching, but I ENJOY sharpening and maintaining my knives by hand. It's a cool cross between science and art that is both challenging and satisfying. #whyyoutryintotakethatawayfromme
The main problem here is that the electric sharpener doesn`t really REMOVE those divots, it just moves them farther up on the blade. Manually sharpening allows you to change the blade`s profile, and get rid of the divots. Good video, thanks for sharing !
I can sharpen regular knives pretty well with wet stones, often make them even sharper then they were as new, but I think I would definitely buy a good quality electric sharpener. Because sharpening knives with wet stones takes time, especially if you have to sharpen 2-3 of them, so I think, if you're a professional, you might prefer wet stones for heavy duty sharpening, but for a regular day to day sharpening, good electric one is better, especially if you lack the technique.
Not biased at all. I was surprised to how positive you actually talked about the electric sharpener. (German here) But I was a little disappointed that you were talking down German knives as those with cheap steel, then you showed knifes from Wüstenhof themselves. Of course the sharpener is made for their own knifes. But don't you forget Solingen? Some of the best knives are made there. And we also have/had some reputable and not cheap knife manufacturers like Puma and Othello.
Yes, you are being biased. Does that mean you are wrong? No. You are correct in your assessment of these different methods for sharpening knives. However, you are not accounting for the level of expertise and the needs of the people that are watching your videos. Most of the time I just need a sharp enough knife to get the job done. I don't care if it does the job in the most efficient way possible. I just need to get dinner on the table. At some point, when I have the time for it, I will use the stones to properly sharpen my knives (at least once a year). The rest of the time, the electric sharpener will have to do! I don't have your skills, nor the time to learn those skills. I love your videos and I learn a lot from them them, for when I do use the stones. But, most of the time, I will be using the electric sharpener.
thanks Bill, for the input. i believe i did mention that there is a steeper learning curve with whetstones, and that within a few minutes on the e-sharpener, ANYONE can get a good edge.
I value your opinion quite a bit. I would much rather use a stone set. Whetstones are awesome and it takes a lot more skill to use one compared to just blindly putting faith and pulling your knife in those pull through sharpeners.
The knives get chips in the blade due to my wife chopping stuff up and then scooping it up and adding it to a pan with a fairly heavy double or triple tap with the sharp edge on the pan rim . No matter how many times I tell her that's not good for the knife. I have resigned my self to buying her crap knifes and sharpening them almost dayly😳😟
My wife has her set I have mine. Mine are sharpened only when required always hand washed after use. She puts hers in the dishwasher and I then refused to sharpen them
I was also wondering how these knives get damaged. Just this morning an angry hornet got in the house and my wildly swinging fly swatter caught my 10" Shun on the knife rack. We got the hornet but the Shun stung the ceramic tile loosing it's tip. Could you repair it?
I dont want to use my real name you could repair it yourself depending how much of a tip is broken. But I “think” shun will replace it for free! They have an amazing “we don’t care who’s fault it is warranty”
I did fix it myself. I remembered making knives as a child. Elders made me use files and stones to make carbon steel blades. For the past 40 years it's been strictly power tools and throwaways. Thanks to your inspiration I now have a three stone set which turned my broken tip into a razor sharp blade with a little stropping. Used the printed Shun warranty form for a sharpness test... Smooth!
This is good stuff because I'm doing a magazine piece in a month or so on buying a decent kitchen knife for yourself or as a gift. One thing I want to stress for this general-public audience is that no knife stays sharp and you have to have a plan for sharpening it _somehow._ Me, I sharpen on stones and I'd bet most folks who follow this channel do too, but a lot of my own readers just aren't ever going to learn to sharpen freehand. So if I can beg them to learn to use a ceramic honing rod, and then either take the knife to a local sharpener or use an electric unit when needed, they'll at least have a sharp knife handy most of the time.
A single atoma 1200 diamond is worth almost as much as a 2 step chefs choice electric sharpener. If you want to go for 1 low grit, 1 medium grit and 1 high grit stone, the stones are more expensive (sky is the limit). Generally the offbrand stones that are sub 50 bucks aren't very good. If you want a good 1 stop stone, atoma 1200 will be enough but you also want a stand for it, that's 20 bucks extra.
I am very anti-pull through sharpener. I have a couple, actually, and have used them. I never got my knives sharp enough that I was satisfied. I could tell you were hesitant about blade sharpness on your last video on this. They just don’t do a good job. I went with an edge pro clone and nicer stones and am happy with the results.
Dreamy, yeah, it looks like it! I was just doing it on a budget. $129 for a ruixin pro, shapton glass 2k, and suehiro cerax 6k. I wanted to spend my money on the nice stones
Dreamy, nice I wouldn’t be complaining about that! But heck, I am happy with paying $129 for the results I get with no skill vs the combo stone I had before
sd mahoney the only reason I’d use a pull thru sharpener is for the ceramic honing side on something like a fillet knife when I was not at home to properly sharpen it. They do have their place in sharpening but to me it’s a very small window.
I absolutely love the Chef's Choice because it's a "workhorse" tool that puts a fantastically sharp and polished edge on blades quickly and effectively. I believe it's pretty popular in many commercial kitchens with professional chefs for that reason, and remember that a sharp edge on a cheap knife is better than a dull edge on an expensive one. Stones are great and can do an even better job to be sure, but they are "craft sensitive," a bit fiddly/messy, and indeed require time & work. A further reality, often a sharpener such as the Chef's Choice, people won't let knives get in such awful condition before sharpening, i.e. the day to day maintenance is better such that sharpening is more re-finishing than repairing the edge. Also, chips of that size would likely be best handled on a belt sander and then finished with stones. In addition, Japanese knives are likely easier to sharpen effectively on stones than European styles; with European blades one has to ensure the edge is in the middle; something the "alternating pulls" of electric knife sharpeners do fairly effectively. Example: "Wavy" along the X-axis for perhaps the electric but wavy along the Y-axis perhaps sometimes for stones depending on how much care witht he blade the person sharpening it takes. But again, perhaps also more a "workhorse" tool vs. the finest job one's ever seen.
Thanks for your honest, unbiased review. You sold me on not investing my time and money on wet stones. I am a very average knife owner. I don’t own any expensive knives and an electric sharpener will work just fine. In my opinion investing the money in stones and the time to learn how to use them would not be worth it to me.
Yes, I think you are biased due to whetstone sharpening experience. If you were to hand a sharpening device to an inexperienced person that nether has the desire or the time to learn the proper technique then an electronic sharpening device is much better than trashing all the knives in the house and buying new ones. It would also be less time consuming than the whetstone especially in the short term. Cost of a electronic sharpening system might be worth the higher price if it means the cheaper knives in most homes have a decent enough edge to slice tomatoes or anything else the home cook might cook. I can't ever say that a master or even a novice whetstone user should use an electronic system, but a quick and simple electric knife sharpener might be the best option for most homes.
yes, you are right, not everyone has the will or the skill to learn sharpening. However there is NO comparison between the quality of output.
Frequently sharpening moderate quality knives for 30 seconds in the Chef’s choice is a better day to day sharpening and CUTTING experience than painstakingly taking expensive knives to the wet stone.
Hell, sharpen between tomatoes.
Your videos are the only ones i watch throughly without skipping ahead.
Kai Shun - 61 Rockwell - I use the Chef's Choice electric sharpener (The Wustoff is merely a re-labelled Chef's Choice), It does a very good job. No gouges etc. Yes, it does not get quite such a fine polished finish as a whet stone... But, its so easy to use I sharpen far more frequently. Love your videos BTW - Thanks
Oh, and the middle slot is NOT stage two. It is set at 20 degrees angle for older European knives. A Japanese style knife should go from the first slot to the third slot.
I have arthritis, I will buy a electric sharpener.
@@arnoldgood1 Get something like the Chef, you won't regret it. :)
Hey Burr, doesn't seem biased at all. Great video, and I'm sure their electric sharpener is a good tool for a certain job, but in my experience (though short), whet stones are a better tool for more jobs.. as long as you have the skill to use them (as you know). Like you said, for a large kitchen with chefs that cant sharpen knives, it would do great. But for quality restoration of a broken knife, they will have to turn to an expert like yourself to fix it right.
Question: I have randomly stumbled on this channel and been bingewatching a bit. It gave me the idea to get into sharpening a bit. Not on my expensive japanese knives (obviously), but to learn something new and maybe restore some old cheap knives. I have found 2 potential stones that are readily available for purchase and within my budget: Kai Shun 300/1000 and 400/1000 combination whetstones. Is there a drawback to combination whetstones over buying "normal" ones? And is there a noticeable difference between the 300/1000 and 400/1000 for a complete beginner?
Ryky, have you ever heard of Misen knives? It's one of those Instagram ad companies but they show the person horizontally thin slicing a grape that is on a table. Looks intriguing
really like your videos, I have questions about leather strops. is the smooth side of the leather better than the rough side? most of the stropping videos i have seen use the rough side. also thin leather vs thick leather and microbevels. sorry for all the questions, these are just things that I don't understand. love to see a video on these topics. thanks!
I have an older set of Wusthof knives, (Wusthof Classis- 1000.00 set 25 years ago) and a Chef's Choice non Wusthof branding. I am not an expert, just grew up cooking and cleaning in commercial kitchens for my young adult life. I have always enjoyed Wusthof cutlery for most average applications. I used to hand sharpen my own knives- there is a real zen to it. But when I purchased my Chef's Choice knife sharpener for my kitchen I was pleasantly happy with purchase. I think what you say is 100% spot on. I would never use it for Japanese knives of that caliber. But for quick sharpening in my kitchen, it works well for me. I use my zen practices' on other things now, not hand sharpening with a wet stone. I was never really that great at it, 🙂
Having recently bought a $200 Shiki gyuto, 1:32 pained me so deeply!
Hey Ryki! I just managed to get my knife sharp enough to shave hair from my arm. I went from 400-1000-3000-8000 and did leather strops in the end. Question: how much time would you spend on each stone proportionally? And could you incorporate cutting hair in your videos as a way (like 1000*) more difficult test than cutting tomatoes or paper?
The key to consider is really in the relatively small diameter of the sharpening wheel . It will follow the divots.
What is the best place to pick up damaged restoration knives life the one in this video? I’m looking to practice honing an edge and sharpening and it would be nice to start at the bottom of the barrel for practice.
what are your thoughts on the lansky stone knife sharpening system? i'd love to see a video on that
It's a great beginning tool for the hobbyist, and those wanting to get a fine edge on a knife. However you will find that the system is inconsistent because it is difficult to apply the same amount of pressure on each stroke.
Love the repair on the wall. I wonder what you think if the Lansky knife sharpening system?
Hi! I am pretty much binge watching all of your videos in last days. Thing is, i still haven't figured out what starting stones to buy. i have Wusthof 8 inch. My budget is around 80-100 dollars. Should i buy just the chosero? Or buy one lower and one higher cheaper grinds? Thanks very much for the answer!
Question: I bought a King delux 300 to re-profile with. New it felt great. After a couple of jobs it feels much smoother. It seems to have loaded up. I've cleaned it with a nagura and a rust eraser. It is still much smoother when I compare it to the other side of the stone. Is there a way to rough it up again or is it what it is?
Great video. I have BOTH sharpeners (Whetstone and Trizon 15 which is the same electric sharpener under a different name). For the average family, the electric sharpener is superior. Most people aren't using $500 and up...super high carbon knives that chip so easily. For a professional chef, a Whetstone makes more sense. But for the average person, a good German Wustoff knife and electric sharpener is more practical for their needs. I've been using German steel for decades, and never had any major chips.
Definitely. I sharpen on stones and have lots and.lots of knives but it's a hobby! You don't need a scalpel in the kitchen. This electric sharpener will give you a sharp enough edge to do everything in a kitchen the average person does. For me, sharpening the knives is part of the fun. Most people don't care, they just want a sharp knife to cook with.
I bought my electric sharpener, at the start of my learning how to sharpen knives. I found that the knives with bolsters loose about an half an inch of sharpening at the heal of the knife, I also think the electric knife sharpeners takes to much material off, so the Chef choice knife sharpener sat in the closet for many years.
Saying that, I recently gave my Chef's choice 130c knife sharpener to my mom, who is 72 yrs old . She loves the chef choice knife sharpener. She thought It was fast and very simple to use, and in her eye's it gave her knives outstanding sharpness. Without the electric knife sharpener, she wouldn't have gotten her knives sharpened. MY mom didn't care about the edge by the bolster not getting sharpened , since her knife are free knives or super cheep Chinese knives.
Out of all this , I was very happy, seeing her excited sharpening her own knives.
James Miller 👍🏼
Hi, I use a Chef's choice. Agreeing, I would not use one with a bolstered knife. However, when I occasionally empty the filings I am always surprised how little metal they remove. I am using it with high Rockwell knives. Very little steel is removed unlike the older kind if electric sharpeners.
Love your videos man!
Thanks for the great review! ... may i suggest you consider reviewing the Smith's Arkansas TRI-HONE Sharpening Stones System that is selling for $24 on Amazon? ... Would you consider sharpening expensive $200-$300 Japanese knives on this sharpening stone system?
I own both wetstones and a chef's choice 1520 sharpener (diamond abrasives). I think this is a very fair and accurate review. I use this electric device at home. For practical kitchen use there is no beating it. But stones win in terms of flexibility and for repair/polish. Both can have a place one's arsenal whereas if we go back a few years I'd have said 'kitchen sharpeners' had no business going near a knife.
Ryky, I recently purchased the Naniwa “#400 Grit Super Ceramic Water Stone” off of amazon and it is infact the original/japanese version. Virtuovice mentioned in a video once that chosera means “super ceramic”. It’s a fantastic stone, head and neck above the professional 400 (which I also own) none of that “against the grain” feeling you mentioned. I’ve been wondering this since I started subbing you if your actual name is Ryky Tran or if that’s a reference to the triad boss from rush hour? “Ricky Tan”
You being on Wusthoff's "Do Not Communicate With" list just got you a follow. I've become kind of a big Mercer fan after watching one of your comparison videos from a few years ago (thank you for saving me a lot of money!). That said, I'm finding that overall, I don't care a ton for the ergonomics of western-style knives. BUT I still have a ton to learn about sharpening before I invest in expensive Japanese knives. Stones are a particular problem for me. as I find the guesswork of maintaining a very specific and consistent angle by hand to be elusive. Apparently many people do, which is why there are so many sub-par sharpening systems on the market.
Use the marker technique by marking the cutting edge of the knife, then pull it about half way through and check the mark and them note the contact point on the top of the machine so you know where exactly it is.
Also, are you planing on doing a video on Miyabi 5000mcd 67? There are no decent one and i want to know if that HRC 66 isnt overkill. Thanks
You've got me addicted to stones and knives. Just acquired some chosera stones and these things are waaaaay better than the setup I had. My new knives are insane also. I've been trying to find that akazawa gyuto online. They seem to be unavailable now :(
You make great content man. I'd love to get in touch with you about some of the products that you have.
A question about the tormek sj250 stone rated at 4000. Since I already own one, Do you think I could use it just like a wet stone?
Can you do a review of the Shun Hikari? Thinking of purchasing the set for our family :)
Ricky, are you still going to cover Jnats and other natural stones this year?
Hey Ricky, what do u feel about I.O. Shen Knives ? Any ideas ? I already have 5 of them and thinking to get one of their new models, the Suraisu Slicer, is it a good buy or should i switch to shun or tojiro ?
Very well put !
I love this video thank you for it!
I’ve been a big fan of Wusthof for 20+ years. I recently bought that electric sharpener and so far I like it more than taking it to my local sharpening gig. However I get what you’re saying, you are approaching this from a craftsman’s perspective who is skilled with a Whetstone, so of course you get better results, especially when there is the need for a serious repair like those big divits.
Thanks for sharing!
Hey man, could you review the Bearmoo 400/1000 whetstone from amazon? This is an amazon best seller and I think many people would like to know if it is a decent starter stone.
Hello ! I really enjoy your sharpening videos. Can u make a video of how to sharpen serrated knives? Like bread knife and so on. Keep up the awesome work. Cheers!
👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼Bias for stone, yes; but, you provided evidence along with having a few years of experience sharpening knives. This would be a type of video I would make. I would make the same recommendation: great for a team of chef in a kitchen (time is money), hand sharpening is more versatile and can re-profile.
When I worked in a kitchen we always had several knives on hand, of several types, sharpening happened at the start and/or end of the day.
Knife dull=get a new one, no time wasted, just pick one up from the rack and keep going :)
Certain things like cleavers we did sharpen/hone on the fly, with a steel..
Your criticisms and recommendations on this are still pretty valid. This kind of machine is ok for quick but not very refined sharpening jobs for a lot of softer steel blades like in a kitchen, or for domestic use for people who don't want to invest the time to learn on a stone. It's not a replacement for a stone, but it can handle the base functions well enough if you're not critical of it's performance.
I am an utter novice with a question. For Christmas my wife has purchased me a Yoshihiro SG2, 120mm chef knife. I have never owned a Japanese knife and am not a chef. I have been told that some knives need to be sharpened straight out of the box. Is it likely that that will be the case with this one? Additionally, what is your general opinion of this brand of knife? Your videos are impressive and helpful. Bill
Hi, Today I have 2 king's stones with 1000 and 5000 grit to sharp my knives. Should I buy a 400 ou 500 grit?
I’d like to see what you think about the Lansky system. I checked the video list and done see anything about the Lansky.
Did you make a review of the ken onion work sharp el sharpener ?
👍👍 love you videos keep the coming. ??? have you tried using the electric Work Sharp?
Hi Ricky! Such a pleasure to watch your videos! Maybe you should try Work Sharp electric sharpener?
I have a question for you which has nothing to do with the video sorry, but i do value your opinion.
I am looking to get a polishing stone, this will be my first stone above 3000 grit so i have no experience with the stones i'm considering .
the stones i'm looking at are the Rika 5000, the Kitayama 8000, Naniwa "super stone" 5000 or 8000, how would you rate these stone agenst each other?
Have you ever tried a double sided sharpening stone like the ones on ebay. 600/1000 800/1200 grit soaking stones or double sided diamond sharpening stone also from ebay. Would like to see a video of you trying them out to see if they work and if any good. Thanks.👍
Hi mr burrfection, my knife got a scratch when I sharpening with 1000 grit whetstone, but I want to remove the scratch, what should I do for remove the scratch from my knife, and knife is (yaxell ran 10 inch )
How can we find out what the Rockwell hardness of our knives is?
I went with the electric sharpener for my cheap Henkel knives. They're way better than what they used to be. I'd never use it for high end blades but it is perfect for the average kitchen knife. Thanks so much for covering this topic.
hi, question, is there any point to buy a Shapton glass with grid around 3000-4000 if i already have King kds 1000/6000 and leather strop with green compound ?
A late reply but may help someone in the future. A 3000-4000 is not needed. However, maybe you don’t want to go up to 6000 grit. You could just go to 3000 or 4000 and still have a great edge. I believe it’s easier to have a stage in between 1000 and 6000 and I think it could make it a bit faster.
Hey Burrfection, I was wondering we all know the warning of washing your knives with hot water, now what I've been doing when washing my new knives is actually finish it off with very hot water then dry off and immediately take them to the strap then put them away for next use and well they have remained razor sharp for the past year. useful technique or not?
Electric sharpening system very aggressive/ Thank you for VID :)
wow, very smart Ryky....
hey. do you temper your stones with vaseline in paste or just use the stones right off the box, all fresh?
i'm asking because there is a method that a brazilian knife-maker uses wich he puts vaseline in paste in water bath, then he sinks the stone in the liquid untill all the pores of the stone have absorbed the vaseline, and then he takes the stone out. actually this gives the stone more time to be used because the material of the knife wont get into the pores of the stone.
well. do you temper or not? xD
I also have some other questions. why did barbers use a flexible leather strap instead of using leather fastened to a block like most people do today? thanks
Question, can you please review more knives every now and then? thank you.
Have you ever tried yoshihiro knifes or stones?
i bought the chefs choice, and its great for all my knives but I also feel that i cant see the stones, i have no real control on whats going on, and for my favorite knives i rather have a whetstone as well.
This is a fair review. Bottom line use the best tool for the job.. The elec. sharpener has it's place out there, but not on high end cutlery. Good video as usual.
Nice... I really like how you put it to the challenge. And even am kinda impressed it did as good getting the knife as well as it did. Need the right tools for the job I suppose. I personally couldn't use it no matter what with the scratches left on the knife. Deal breaker for me.
ColePlayZ the only reason I ever used an electric sharpener was one when I was not educated about sharpening and two when I had a serrated edged knife I basically ground the scallops off of and made it into a flat profile slicing knife. (Was a cheap 20$ trash knife) just to play around and see what I could do. That’s about the only use I got for an electric sharpener. I have a 100$ who knows what brand one just sitting on a shelf collecting dust...
Yoo dude, is everything okay? You didnt upload for three weeks... I started getting worried (and miss the great vids).
That why i came here too, this is the longest i've seen him not upload recently, I hope everything is well. Pls come back!
Great video.
When it comes to heavy repair you have to try a belt grinder. Get yourself a 1x42. Get a ceramic belt in 80 grit and 120 grit. Heat shouldnt be a problem once you get the feel for it. Once you grind past the damaged portions you can sharpen with your preferred method. Some people might ask what makes me qualified to give advice. I have had a professional sharpening business for the last 3 years.
What do you think obaut Tormek sharpening system?
I have a Chef's Choice 15 and while it's ok (I'm simply too lazy to use stones to sharpen) the biggest issue is the 15 degree angle. I have a bunch of random kitchen knives and resetting them all to 15 degrees is really time consuming.
Is it possible to get second hand high-end knife like that for a regular consumer? I would love to try to fix a nice knife like that.
Try ebay or any other local auction e-platform or local adverting platform. Loads of used stuff, some really good just used, from regular consumers, at amazing prices. So once you've restored it you will do really well price wise and have a knife with more character than new.
Also auctions can work although quite high commission fees, maybe sales tax to, to add on top of the sales price. Auctions can be a bit harder to find although they are on the web these days too.
didn't know if you were being too biased on the last video, but after seeing that look on your face when you hear no extra sounds when rocking your restored blades back and forth i'm sure you were not.
Is the Suehiro SKG 43 a Good stone for $35
Watching this in 2020, I was wondering if you ever tried the Work Sharp Ken Onion sharpener. It’s a belt sharper and it seems like a better option than the e-sharpener in this video. Same price range too.
The Work Sharp is a better tool to me but it's also considerably less user friendly and it's far easier to really screw up your knife on belts. I use stones, but I use a Work Sharp for axes, shovels, shears, and everything else. It will definitely sharpen knives but it can also be super aggressive and if you aren't careful you can mangle a knife.
Bad Timing for me, I just ordered yesterday that chef choice machine ! Yet I am a beginner, or not even , so the learning curve would take some time to say the least. I have a son and daughter both into cooking like me,and we need to keep our knives sharp. I do have a cheapish stone, 2 Japanese chefs knives, which I used the stone, not too bad.
Ryky, an electric will wreak havoc with a western style bolstered knife intended for chopping or dicing and mincing, because it tends to leave a concave edge profile - it will not reduce the bolster, so that will hit a cutting board and the knife "won't chop chives". Those knives you show are Japanese style without a bolster. The only thing worse than a concave edge is a bent blade.
Chips are the bugger, so do not chip your knives!
A lot of folk that use a cutting board will like this sharpener.
I like my Wüsthof knives and my Shun.
The one knife I ever chipped took hours to get right by hand then used it for decades.
I keep an old Chicago Cutlery ($25) beast of a knife if I have to do ugly things with.
Sharpened at 25-30 degrees the beast works wonders on some things. I bring it to
picnics to slice BBQ safe and sound in a blade protecting case. Big watermelon...
hammer to crack some very hard big winter until I learned the trick.
This might be a bit off topic: I have bent the tip of my blade, it did not chip off, it is just bent. I wonder how I can fix that. I don't think I should just grind the tip of? I tried to just bend it back by pressing it on a cutting board, it helped a bit, but it's still a bit bent, has been that way for months now.
Have you tried locking pliers with blue shop pad for cushioning?
Hi Ryky, I ordered a couple Chosera stones (800 and 3000) to handle the bulk of my sharpening needs. Do you think they will be ok for sharpening my tougher steel EDC knives like S30V/S35V/CPM Cruwear etc, or should I use something like DMT plate for them? (I would definitely use diamond for reprofiling/repair type work on them) I'd love to get your opinion. Great videos man, thanks!
And I have a question on how you would continue after the Chosera 800 + 3000. Which higher grid stone or directly leather strop?
FreekoSwaheez… I have both stones and they work beautifully with my Yaxell Dragon Fusion nakiri, which is BD1N steel (63 HRC). Would be interested to hear how they work for your harder steels.
Tom Riddle… I go straight from the 3000 to a strop loaded with green compound and then finish on a bare leather strop. If I wanted to go to the next level, I'd probably get an 8000 stone and finer compounds.
Bradley Gong both hose stones will wrk perfectly together for pretty much any RWH knife. You can go from the 3000 to a strop or even run it on a higher polishing stone like a Snow White 8000 or I use the shapton 12000grit. Be careful on that Chosera 3000. Mine started cracking after about 6 sharpenings. I never soaked it. Make sure you dry it after each use with a paper towel. That may help prevent cracking.
b H… I never soak them, and just clean them after use with a medium Sabitoru rust eraser under cold water, then let air dry standing on end in the dish drainer. So far, so good!
Bradley Gong I do basically the exact same! But my 3000 Chosera cracked. And I’m not talking one or two. There are cracks running the entire length of the stone. Never dropped or abused. Debating if I’m reordering another 3000 Chosera or just gonna try out a 3000 shapton... I’d love to get the suehiro guycomio or however it’s spelled but u have to order them from Japan and they are like 200$+
Hey! Can anyone tell me if there's any reason beyond aesthetic ones, that the Dalstrong has those bumps in the blade? I've seen the same kinds of bumps in other knifes too so it got me wondering if there's something going on with that.
Does it have something to do with making the steel harder maybe? Somehow altering the tension within the steel or something?
Hey!! We are waiting for the Victorinox Fibrox Pro 8-Inch Chef's Knife rope test !!!!
I think there will be many waiting to see this since its a affordable ok/good chef's knife that falls under an average persons budget 😁😅
thnx buddy
Yes but we just don’t have time for stones. Chef Choice XV is good enough and dang it, it cut my thumb.
Is it ok to go from 1500 grid to 5000grid stone
I don't think it's necessarily a bias, because what you're saying is true actually, especially in your position.
The electric sharpener is most definitely for the layman, who doesn't have the skill nor the knives to make use of the whetstone. The skill would be obv. but what do I mean by the knives? I mean for you Ryky, you're dealing with a lot of knives, from knives in the range of the electric sharpener, and to knives harder than what is recommended for the sharpener.
It's kinda like a game, where there is a trade off. Stone = high skill high scaling, sharpener = low skill, low scaling.
The sharpener gives a lot more convenience in trade of versatility. Because I'd say if I just wanted to sharpen a knife a little bit before cutting, I'd be more inclined in pulling out the electric sharpener instead of a whetstone (if it was just limited to those 2).
and the reason that the knives are chipped is because the users think they can just spend money and they'll be a master chef.
This comes from people without skill or discipline mistreating their knives.
This is NOT a defect in workmanship or materials.
But you guys should view this as a retailer (cutlery and more) going above and beyond normal customer service. Dalstrong also has superb customer service, above and beyond what they are legally required. This does NOT mean that you are guaranteed they'll do it for you. They did it as a COURTESY, not because they were required to do it
If you crash your car, you don't return it to the manufacturer as "defective". It's not.
This is NOT just limited to shun. But the demographic that is likely to buy a shun is also the demographic that is likely to misuse a knife so even though it can happen with any brand, the likelihood of a shun being damaged is higher, NOT because of the company, but because of the user.
You guys have heard me say it before. Don't think that hammering your knives like you see it on TV is "real life"> Most of the TV chefs get free knives to use on screen. Don't cut at 85 degrees to the board. Don't twist your wrist at the end of a stroke. Don't scrape product off your board with an edge. Don't cut bone. Don't cut frozen food. Don't pry open a lid.
Have a cheap "beater" knife for when you go on a picnic or you are going to cut hard squash.
Harrison… so many good points, as usual!
It's also terrible when someone like Gordon Ramsay puts a TH-cam video up called something like How To Sharpen A Knife, where he abuses his knife on a steel then proclaims it sharp. If that's true, it's probably because it's some low level guy's job to _really_ sharpen/maintain his knives each day.
Harrison Hamada Mr Dennis Epstine of dragon cutlery (apogee) said it best! In America we simply don’t have the ability to say I broke the knife. We always blame the knife for being defective.
A lot of the knife damage I see comes from people using knives with rigid edges like they’re cleavers, likely due to poor knife handling skills. I suspect they also clear their cutting boards with the knives, scraping them across the board. Of course, you still have some people buying Shun or Miyabi knives and insisting they want glass or marble cutting boards because they don’t want to use boards that take marks, not realizing that the stress goes back into the knife instead of the board.
Wouldn't sharpen the knife further have removed the 2 divots on the damaged knife?
I do value my own time spent on labor though... and my Chef's Choice paid for itself the second time I turned it on. I can't help it if the tomatoes are embarrassed by micro scratches.
I'd be pissed if a sharpener scratched my knives up like that. I think Ken Roman (in his glowing (and LONG) review below) said the reason for the scratching is that metal filings stick to the plastic guides that scratch the knife as it is drawn through. So it _might_ be possible to reduce the scratching, but I ENJOY sharpening and maintaining my knives by hand. It's a cool cross between science and art that is both challenging and satisfying. #whyyoutryintotakethatawayfromme
Question: how can I determine if a stone of unknown origin is splash & go or should be soaked?
out it in water for 5 minutes, then splash it
The main problem here is that the electric sharpener doesn`t really REMOVE those divots, it just moves them farther up on the blade. Manually sharpening allows you to change the blade`s profile, and get rid of the divots. Good video, thanks for sharing !
??
Black Waterdogs that well could be the case. It would makes sense.
Ken Roman he means that the wheels still contacts the chipped divot. It would depend on the size of wheels.
ok thank you.. I know I have eliminated chips on paring knife and some larger blades but not on VG 10 steels. actually no divots to try..:-)
The electric sharpener acts very much like a key-cutting machine, it follows an existing profile, without changing the shape.
I can sharpen regular knives pretty well with wet stones, often make them even sharper then they were as new, but I think I would definitely buy a good quality electric sharpener. Because sharpening knives with wet stones takes time, especially if you have to sharpen 2-3 of them, so I think, if you're a professional, you might prefer wet stones for heavy duty sharpening, but for a regular day to day sharpening, good electric one is better, especially if you lack the technique.
Make a review about the sakai takayuki 180mm santoku
What's the thing on on his wrist
Not biased at all. I was surprised to how positive you actually talked about the electric sharpener. (German here)
But I was a little disappointed that you were talking down German knives as those with cheap steel, then you showed knifes from Wüstenhof themselves. Of course the sharpener is made for their own knifes. But don't you forget Solingen? Some of the best knives are made there. And we also have/had some reputable and not cheap knife manufacturers like Puma and Othello.
Yes, you are being biased. Does that mean you are wrong? No. You are correct in your assessment of these different methods for sharpening knives. However, you are not accounting for the level of expertise and the needs of the people that are watching your videos.
Most of the time I just need a sharp enough knife to get the job done. I don't care if it does the job in the most efficient way possible. I just need to get dinner on the table.
At some point, when I have the time for it, I will use the stones to properly sharpen my knives (at least once a year). The rest of the time, the electric sharpener will have to do!
I don't have your skills, nor the time to learn those skills. I love your videos and I learn a lot from them them, for when I do use the stones. But, most of the time, I will be using the electric sharpener.
thanks Bill, for the input. i believe i did mention that there is a steeper learning curve with whetstones, and that within a few minutes on the e-sharpener, ANYONE can get a good edge.
I value your opinion quite a bit. I would much rather use a stone set. Whetstones are awesome and it takes a lot more skill to use one compared to just blindly putting faith and pulling your knife in those pull through sharpeners.
Did something happen? We used to get videos regularly but it's been 4 weeks since the last update. I hope all is well. Seems a sudden drop off
Where can I buy your Brick?
The knives get chips in the blade due to my wife chopping stuff up and then scooping it up and adding it to a pan with a fairly heavy double or triple tap with the sharp edge on the pan rim . No matter how many times I tell her that's not good for the knife. I have resigned my self to buying her crap knifes and sharpening them almost dayly😳😟
My wife has her set I have mine. Mine are sharpened only when required always hand washed after use. She puts hers in the dishwasher and I then refused to sharpen them
I was also wondering how these knives get damaged. Just this morning an angry hornet got in the house and my wildly swinging fly swatter caught my 10" Shun on the knife rack. We got the hornet but the Shun stung the ceramic tile loosing it's tip. Could you repair it?
I guess that's one way!
I dont want to use my real name you could repair it yourself depending how much of a tip is broken. But I “think” shun will replace it for free! They have an amazing “we don’t care who’s fault it is warranty”
I did fix it myself. I remembered making knives as a child. Elders made me use files and stones to make carbon steel blades. For the past 40 years it's been strictly power tools and throwaways. Thanks to your inspiration I now have a three stone set which turned my broken tip into a razor sharp blade with a little stropping. Used the printed Shun warranty form for a sharpness test... Smooth!
This is good stuff because I'm doing a magazine piece in a month or so on buying a decent kitchen knife for yourself or as a gift. One thing I want to stress for this general-public audience is that no knife stays sharp and you have to have a plan for sharpening it _somehow._ Me, I sharpen on stones and I'd bet most folks who follow this channel do too, but a lot of my own readers just aren't ever going to learn to sharpen freehand. So if I can beg them to learn to use a ceramic honing rod, and then either take the knife to a local sharpener or use an electric unit when needed, they'll at least have a sharp knife handy most of the time.
What is the cost difference between the electric sharpener and a set of wet stones?
A single atoma 1200 diamond is worth almost as much as a 2 step chefs choice electric sharpener. If you want to go for 1 low grit, 1 medium grit and 1 high grit stone, the stones are more expensive (sky is the limit). Generally the offbrand stones that are sub 50 bucks aren't very good. If you want a good 1 stop stone, atoma 1200 will be enough but you also want a stand for it, that's 20 bucks extra.
also. Maybe it's a similar reason to why you do not take a corvette to a corner gas station car wash
I am very anti-pull through sharpener. I have a couple, actually, and have used them. I never got my knives sharp enough that I was satisfied. I could tell you were hesitant about blade sharpness on your last video on this. They just don’t do a good job. I went with an edge pro clone and nicer stones and am happy with the results.
sd mahoney wicked edge/etc stuff is good too.
Dreamy, yeah, it looks like it! I was just doing it on a budget. $129 for a ruixin pro, shapton glass 2k, and suehiro cerax 6k. I wanted to spend my money on the nice stones
sd mahoney i got a wicked edge for free. Im loving it.
Dreamy, nice I wouldn’t be complaining about that! But heck, I am happy with paying $129 for the results I get with no skill vs the combo stone I had before
sd mahoney the only reason I’d use a pull thru sharpener is for the ceramic honing side on something like a fillet knife when I was not at home to properly sharpen it. They do have their place in sharpening but to me it’s a very small window.