New Knife

I got my GF a set of two knives for Christmas, she loves to coook and we had recently sent a few our knives over for their annual sharpening at Molly Stones (at $4 a knife it is a deal).  So I loaned her my short chef's knife and she loved it, to the point where she didn't want to give it back.  So this got me to thinking and I found a set of Heinckles knives one 5 inch Santoku, and a pairing knife off of E-bay.  Let me start off by sauing I am not a chef and Alton Brown has nothing to fear from me, but after using that Santoku, I felt like I could measure my slices with a micrometer.  I sliced a carrot so thin I could see through it!  I could never do that with a chef's knife.  Now we fight over who gets to use that.

I also picked up a used Cleaver and have to send that over to get sharpened as well.  I can sharpen stuff, if it isn't totally dull, but this meat hacker won't cut butter right now. I wanted the cleaver for when I do pulled pork on the Weber.  Of course the cleaver presented another challenge, where to store it.  Standard knife blocks don't normally come with a cleaver slot.  GF had found a Henckle knife block some one was tthrowing out.  I cleaned it up, sanded it with some 400 grit and then some 1000 grit sand paper, it looks much nicer now, I still have to oil it to finish it. 

But I still needed a slot for a cleaver, I took my dremel and started to cut it the split between two slots to make them into one slot.  Of course the dremel was to short, tried using whole cutting saw but the auger wasn't right, I then remembered I had my cordless sawz all.  so I said what the hell, and tried it.  It actually did a decent job, but I had a slight lip halfway down that would wedge the cleaver.  I tried sanding it but it didn't seem to work well.  So I took a very thin blade knife and wrapped it in 40 grit sandpaper and just worked it in and out.  It took a while but now it is done.  Cost: $0  cheap is good, free is better! I will post a pic of it shortly.

I've found that diamond sharpeners are way-er than even top-of-the-line Arkansas Stones.

Check out:  http://www.dmtsharp.com/products/diafold.htm

I strongly recommend the "diafold" package.
I strongly recommend you get the GREEN and RED combination diafold.

The RED "grit" cuts metal quickly but still will bring the edge to where it will cut hair.   The GREEN "grit" is ultra-fine and will bring that blade to surgical sharpness.

If you're dealing with really dull knives whose edges are so blunted and so
rounded that that a lot of material will have to be removed to "get them right"...then you either need DMT's BLACK "grit".....or if you already have a carborundum stone laying about, use it to bring the edge into rough-shape.

Diamond sharpeners (WATER only, never oil) will bring a blade into perfect sharpness with only about eight passes, per side.   They are fabulous.

Judd

Hmm, I have never used one of those. I will keep an eye out for it.  Thanks

very nice!

I keep my kitchen knives relatively sharp...mostly for safety's sake, as super sharp knives cut on accident and relatively sharp knives cut what is wanted...

on the other hand, I keep my wood-working tools (planes, chisels, knives) wicked sharp, and have accidentally cut myself without knowledge several times...DOH  only discovering to wound when I see blood on my project   

for that level of sharpness I use a slow speed grinder followed by wet sand with a jig of 600, 1000, 1500, 2000 grit sandpaper  (soon st be diamond hones to 3,000)  it leaves a mirror finish and I knock off the tiny burr for even greater sharpness...ouch 

If yu'ever need to sharpen an axe, splitting wedges, or any heavy rough "cutting" tool (shovels, hoes, machettes)......the perfect tool for this is a belt-sander.

You dump the sander upside-down in your lap with the on-trigger set to LOCK.

With 30-50-grit...you can "get the shape you want" really quick.
With 120 grit...you can get a very nice edge.

If you want an axe-you-can-section-an-elk-with ....rough it in with the belt-sander and then chuck a 400-grit sanding-disc into your hand-drill and ....wow...

If you want an axe-you-can-do-surgery-with..?..after the 400-grit...???...you lube the rubber-sanding-disk-holder with automotive "rubbing compound" and polish the steel, throttling the drill to    s l o w    turns.

OK.......you say:  "That's crazy..."
But consider that hi-polished steel is far more impervious to rust.

Judd