Knife guide

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pedro083

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I am looking to for a angle guide for sharpening knifes, cant seem to find much of a selection online. It is not for me but for a friend he has quite nice kitchen knifes and uses one of those run through things but it does not leave a great edge(well as good as it could be) so i am getting him a waterstone and was looking for a blade guide to make things easier for him when starting.
 
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.edgepro.co.uk/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.edgepro.co.uk/</a><!-- m -->

also ask on britishblades.com, some experts on there.
 
You should really learn to hone without a guide.

You can get a decent, functional edge with a combination carborundum stone - I used that as my only knife hone for years, and was happy enough. I now also have a waterstone. Waterstones, or similar fine stones are essential if you want a truly sharp edge. However, they do take a lot more practice and technique. Waterstones need to be used wet - thoroughly wet that is, and need to have an abrasive slurry developed before they can work their magic. Use a small, harder stone to develop that slurry before honing a kitchen knife on a waterstone.

Also, unlike the 'coarse' edge you make with a combination stone, the fine edge you want to make by final honing on a waterstone is very sensitive to pressure (with pressure, you will, instead of honing the edge, just either bend the edge or bend, rather than remove, the burr). Honing on a waterstone requires very little pressure. With too much pressure, you'll actually end up with a duller edge than you obtained with the combination stone (or started with).
 
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9Vn8RA_7zE&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]


Other videos here

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.edenwebshops.co.uk/en/ct/video-manual-sharpening-on-a-whetstone.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.edenwebshops.co.uk/en/ct/vid ... tstone.htm</a><!-- m -->
 
Right i hope you are all taking the piss. :twisted:
I know fine well how to hone a knife and have no need for a guide. Use a norton ib8 for any knife she touches and a waterstone to finish mine she can not use.
the op was for a friend(note not the type of friend you use when you say my friend has a weird growth on his willy you think he should see a doctor :roll: ) want to get him some decent stones and the guide is to get him started so he does not give in straight away thinking he can not get a good edge.
 
henkverhaar said:
But that's just for deburring, not sharpening, right? Daily maintenance basically.
Click to expand...
I don't believe so, Henk. I think the action is similar to that of a scraper burnisher, stretching the steel into something like the fin which exists (or doesn't, depending on who you listen to ...) on a straight razor. If this is the case, the steel actually refines the edge. The serrations aren't there to give a milling action, but to concentrate the pressure: that's more obvious with the old type of steel with a hexagonal section and concave facets. None of this applies to those diamond steels which are just another abrasive surface. Clearly, burnishing can't rectify a truly blunt edge, so you're right to say that it's a matter of maintenance rather than sharpening per se, which requires a stone.

Whilst we're on one of my pet subjects, I may as well lob a grenade into the thread and see what happens. It's my belief that a knife as it's generally used in the kitchen is fundamentally different to any kind of push cutting tool, and that the slicing action actually benefits from a measure of roughness to the edge (this is arguably even true for razors if one uses a slicing action - take that with a pinch of salt, please). The important thing is that the bevel is set, to use the razor honing terminology: two flat planes intersecting at the edge, usually in the form of a microbevel. (It's noticeable that the steels currently in vogue for high end knives tend to have an analysis designed to produce large carbides during the heat treatment phase, giving a granular (ie rough) texture compared to simpler alloys. Originally this was no doubt intended to improve edge durability; amongst knifemakers it's probably the "aggression" that's deemed desirable: micro serrations if you will. Absolute anathema in a chisel, but just the job for cutting a rope). Anyway, I don't want to take this too far, and it's not applicable to sashimi knives and the like, but for general dismantling of food a 600 grit diamond stone and a steel produces and maintains an effective enough edge for me.

Ah, pedro, just seen your post. Please rest assured that I'm not taking the piss :D
 
Arrowhead said:
henkverhaar said:
But that's just for deburring, not sharpening, right? Daily maintenance basically.
Click to expand...
I don't believe so, Henk. I think the action is similar to that of a scraper burnisher, stretching the steel into something like the fin which exists (or doesn't, depending on who you listen to ...) on a straight razor. If this is the case, the steel actually refines the edge. The serrations aren't there to give a milling action, but to concentrate the pressure: that's more obvious with the old type of steel with a hexagonal section and concave facets. None of this applies to those diamond steels which are just another abrasive surface. Clearly, burnishing can't rectify a truly blunt edge, so you're right to say that it's a matter of maintenance rather than sharpening per se, which requires a stone.
Click to expand...

Whether deburring or burnishing (whichever you believe ;-) ), it would still be maintenance rather than sharpening. As you say too...
 
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