my brother is a meat cutter … outside of specialty shops there aren't many butchers left … at grocery stores they're at best meat cutters, at worse they're meat wrappers …
all that to say this, he uses a basic 3 sided wet stone system, plus a steal for final touch up … his knives ARE sharp and stay that way
one of these days I'm going to make him take the time to show me some of his technique … minus the steal (I don't need that)
I haven't gotten into the water stones. I do have a nice set of whetstones from my grandpa that are hard and dense. Find a good provided of proper whetstones and you'll be amazed at that difference.
I recommend Dan's http://www.danswhetstone.com/
Me and my 30 year old knives that will slice 1/8 " off a ripe tomato will continue with the steel, thank you. I'm sure there are ways of making a more glorious edge, but the ability to cut what I want, when I want, with no effort is enough for me.
I have a 1 ft thick Arkansas stone about 12 ft underneath my house. No idea on it's other dimensions, but try boring a hole through one of those some time. It laughs at tool steel. Carbide just pisses it off. Anything you put down the hole looks like you turned it on a lathe with emery cloth when you pull it out. If I could dig that sucker up, I'd be rich selling it to knife sharpener guys.
My dad gave me a knife made by jerry stone with s#415 and stone on the other side, i was offered 4k for the knife by a guy sharoing knifes at a gun show he said if i never used it it be worth 2x that
D2W
HalfDork
1/6/20 4:21 p.m.
Apland09 said:
My dad gave me a knife made by jerry stone with s#415 and stone on the other side, i was offered 4k for the knife by a guy sharoing knifes at a gun show he said if i never used it it be worth 2x that
So is a custom knife considered "art" beings that it could be worth 2x if it has never been used? Seems crazy to me to never use a fine knife for what it was meant for, cutting stuff.
D2W
HalfDork
1/6/20 4:25 p.m.
I personally buy mostly Buck Knives for kitchen, hunting, and pocket knives. That is mainly due to their factory being a couple minutes from my business, but I think they also make a very good knife for very reasonable prices.
During their Christmas sale this year I bought a hunting knife, and three pocket knives for under $60.
Ill post something up over on Multitool.org. I post over there from time to time and those guys are pretty knife informative.
I'm a fan of Victorinox kitchen knives. I recently got a serrated paring knife and nothing but good things to say about it.
This is the most amazing necrothread I've ever seen. Obscurity knows no bounds!
This is my Uncle who made this knife. Yes he is currently alive. And still makes knives. I am 47 and he has been making knives as his profession since before I was born .
This is his current trade mark on the knife. I do believe he used to use js intoals on them for the older makes.
johndej
SuperDork
11/16/23 6:23 p.m.
Dang, have any pics of his other work? Did he ever mention testing for possible canoes?
Get yourself one of these. A handheld belt sharpener. I get shaving worthy sharpness at under 10 minutes per knife.
I take out all the knives I want to sharpen, put them all through it, change to the next finer belt, repeat until the last belt - the leather strop w/polishing compound. Works great on the stainless types of steels that are harder and require more time on the stones to get the edge.
Work Sharp Knife and Tool Sharpener Ken Onion Edition