Knife Sharpening by Steve Bottorff- Sharpening Made Easy

Knife Sharpening Information and Equipment
Sharpening Made Easy

Steve Bottorff - Member: Ohio Knifemakers Association

always keep an edge on yr knife, son, always keep an edge on yr knife
cuz a good sharp edge is a man's best hedge against the vague uncertainties of life
yes, a good sharp edge is a man’s best hedge against the uncertain vagaries of life
but i never could sharpen no knife, like the one who gave the advice
and I never could sharpen no blade, quite the way he sayed.

From "Always keep an edge on yr knife" by Corb Lund

Web Sharpening Made Easy

TABLE OF CONTENTS
LINKS to other WWW sites on knives and knife sharpening equipment and services
Link of the month - EZ-Vex shear sharpener

Recommended Equipment

Tormek Wet Grinder

Razor Sharp Paper Sharpening Wheels

F. Dick Commercial
Knife Sharpeners

Belt Knife Sharpeners

Twice As Sharp
Scissor Sharpener

OTHER LOCAL SHARPENERS
Garth Proctor - Euclid
Pat Hartmann - S Euclid
Kevin Noon - Northfield
Jerry Rogers - Euclid
Mike Meder - Mentor

Other Sharpening Services in the USA and Canada, click here

Good cooks deserve sharp knives

This 5 chapter tutorial will teach you how to select equipment and sharpen any knife or edge tool to a shaving sharp edge. Table of contents is below.

If you like the web site, you'll love our best selling book. The book is substantially better than the web site with more material and better illustrations. The price is less than printing out the entire website. Click the photo for more information.

A webpage with current sharpener reviews and other new material is available for book buyers.

Consulting and teaching: We have provided sharpening expertise to the food processing, vegetable harvesting, rubber and leather industries as well as training to over 150 sharpening businesses. How can we help you? Contact Steve at bottorff dot com

Check our company’s ratings at Angie’s List.

KNIFE SHARPENING SERVICES

Our local (Cleveland, OH) schedule for 2010

Viking store
Legacy Village Saturdays 12:00 - 3:00 check with store for dates

North Union Farmers Market - Shaker Square:
First and Last Saturdays April 24 to Oct 2

NUFM Cleveland Clinic:
Wednesdays 11:00 - 2:00
June - October

Chagrin Cook, Chagrin Falls: Third Thursday 3:00 – 6:00 March - Dec. check with store for dates

And at my shop by appointment 216-382-1777

Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION, SHARPNESS TESTING, KNIFE SHARPENING EQUIPMENT
Chapter 2 KNIFE SHARPENING EQUIPMENT continued
Chapter 3 THE KNIFE SHARPENING PROCESS, HOW TO SHARPEN A KNIFE
Chapter 4 ADVANCED STUFF - Knife Steels, Sharpening Abrasives, Theory, Stropping, Electric Machines
Chapter 5 MISCELLANEOUS STUFF - Sharpening Methods, Professional Knife Sharpening machines

Chapters 1, 2 and 3 were printed in the June and July 1999 issues of Knife World as A PRIMER ON KNIFE SHARPENING.

The original February 1977 Popular Science article Sharpening Secrets of a Pro by John Juranitch.
Why a blade needs to be re-ground to maintain the proper angle, from the Tormek manual. Requires PDF reader.
Wayne Goddard's Edge Holding Tests.
Table comparing grits of stones, grinding wheels and abrasives including Scotch-Brite
Steels used by Knifemakers, by Bob Engnanth
Chart of Abrasive cutting speed vs. sharpness
Mail Order - I no longer accept mailorder sharpening, but here is a list of those who do.
LINKS to other WWW sites on knives and knife sharpening equipment and services
Arkansas Whetstones and Oilstones
Photos of knife sharpeners around the world
SUPPLIERS LIST
Bibliography
http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2007/sep/02/on-the-cutting-edge-of-sharpening/
Cleveland Magazine
Sun Press

Chapters 1, 2 and 3 were printed in the June and July 1999 issues of Knife World as A PRIMER ON KNIFE SHARPENING.

Additional sharpening information:

CROCK STICKS

MINI SHARPENERS

USING STEELS

CONVEX EDGES

SHARPENING SERRATED KNIVES

- There are several interesting discussion groups about sharpening on Yahoo Groups
- - http://groups.yahoo.com/group/sharpnet/ - a group of professional sharpeners, very active, largely about beauty shears and clipper blades
  - http://groups.yahoo.com/group/tormekusers/ - like it says, Tormek users. Moderately active
  - http://groups.yahoo.com/group/howtosharpen/ - a group for people with general sharpening questions. Low activity
  - http://groups.yahoo.com/group/sharpeningmadeeasy/ - a group to discuss sharpening with the author and readers of Sharpening Made Easy. Low activity
  - http://groups.yahoo.com/group/sharpening/ - a general sharpening group, low activity

Quotes about our website and book from eGullet.com:
"Sharpening Made Easy by Steve Bottorff. This slim book is a good starting point if you’re just getting into knife sharpening. Give it as a gift ... to the sharpening-challenged."

"There are several different grit rating systems, and unfortunately it is very difficult to correlate these different systems. For example, Japanese waterstones are graded differently than diamond stones and both have different numbering systems than the codes found on powered grindstones. Steve Bottorff, author of “Sharpening Made Easy” has taken a stab at it here if you’re interested."

"Everyone knows you need to lubricate your knife sharpening stone with water or oil, right? So the question is which one is better. Neither. The purpose of a knife sharpening stone is to grind the edge and remove metal. Oil reduces friction and makes the process much slower. Supposedly oil helps float away metal particles that would otherwise clog the pores of the stone. You can do the same thing by wiping the stone with a damp cloth when you’re done. Steve Bottorff reports that you can clean your Arkansas stones with paint thinner. Synthetic stones clean up with a scouring pad and abrasive cleanser."

"Steve Bottorff has tried just about every knife sharpening system available. Here’s his take on the Lansky, Gatco and DMT systems. The Lansky has an aluminum guide that goes from 13 to 25 degrees in 4 steps; each angle is 3 to 5 degrees lower than indicated. The GATCO guide is aluminum and reinforced plastic and goes from 17 to 34 degrees in 6 steps, each step is about 6 degrees greater than indicated. I prefer the GATCO to the Lansky because of the GATCO's larger stones and selection of angles. The DMT Aligner guide is all plastic, and goes from 12 to 35 degrees in 7 steps, which are not marked. With DMT hones, which I do not have, the Aligner would be the pick of the litter for this size of system.”

According to Steve Bottorff, there is even one gem among all of the gadget dross.

“There is one class act in every category, and the Meyerco Sharpen-It is it for slot gadgets. Designed by Blackie Collins to be so simple that it could be used on horseback, the Sharpen-It features tungsten carbide wheels for the first stage and fine ceramic wheels for the second. The ceramic is so hard and fine-grained that it is more like using a steel. With this combination, the Sharpen-It performs well at both knife sharpening and honing.

Just as with the pull-through sharpeners, there is a gem among the electrics. Both Steve Bottorff and Cooks Illustrated rated the Chef’s Choice model 110 (since replaced by the 120 and 130) as the best electric kitchen knife sharpener available. It puts a very nice edge on knives, sets a back bevel for performance and doesn’t remove metal at an alarming rate. It does have a tendency to scratch the blade, however.

End quotes.

Copyright 2010
Updated July 24, 2010

Page description: Kitchen knife sharpening, Sharpening made easy. How to sharpen knives, scissors and other cutlery. All about knife sharpening technique and equipment - how to select a knife sharpening system and sharpen a knife to a razor sharp shaving edge. In non-English languages: French - couteau se durcissant, aiguisoir; Spanish - afilador de cuchillos, afilar los cuchillos, afilando los cuchillos,; Italian - affilamento di coltello, affilacoltelli. Keywords: knife sharpening, sharpening made easy, how to sharpen knives.