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:
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
grits
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 2015
HTML corrected February 3, 2015
