I’m really disappointed with myself. I thought I would enjoy, and be good at, sharpening knives. I don’t and I’m not! I have two Shapton water stones and I can get a nice edge on my chisels with a jig that maintains the angle for me, but I just can’t get a good edge on a knife. I don’t know if I’m not patient enough, if I just can’t hold the angle well enough or what, but I give up.

My wife is, understandably, frustrated with a kitchen full of dull knives and bought one of those drag through carbide/ceramic sharpeners and I can’t even make that work - I drag a blade through a few times, there is a pile of swarf in the sharpener, the blade looks sharp - but it’s dull as dull, maybe even worse than before “sharpening”.

We have a range of knives from grocery store mild steel, through decent consumer Mundial and Victorinox to one low end nice Global.

Appreciate any suggestions!

  • itsworkthatwedo@sh.itjust.works
    51·
    23 hours ago

    I tried sharpening with moderate success at best until i ran across this video (sorry for youtube). The creator does a good job going clearly explaining the process. Now my knives are sharp as hell.

    I say keep practicing!

  • evasive_chimpanzee@lemmy.world
    2·
    22 hours ago

    The problem with a lot of the sharpeners that are intended to be “idiot proof” is that they understandably have a fixed angle. If that fixed angle is off compared to how your knife has already been sharpened, it’s possible that you are basically just regrinding the edge to a new angle. That involves removing more material than you would otherwise want/need to for “maintenance” sharpening. One way to check this is by using a marker to draw on the edge so you can see where material is removed.

    Another tip is to pay attention to pressure. You can use a scale to help get a feel for the right amount of pressure.

  • Cheradenine@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    2·
    23 hours ago

    Have you tried angle guides for your knives? These can be bought, or just as simple as taping some cardboard to each side.

    You may enjoy it, you may not. If you don’t take your knives to be professionally sharpened, and in between, use a Steel. There are very nice and expensive ones, but you can also just go to a metal shop and ask for a steel rod. For years I used a rod I got for free, stuck in an old screwdriver handle.

    Steeling your knives makes a huge difference, it’s easy and takes almost no time. I do it every time I use a knife. My knives stay sharp, and I have to sharpen them less frequently.

    If you can do a nice edge on a chisel, you can do knives.

    Mundial is usually Ok, Victorinox is a pain in the ass to sharpen. They go for a high chromium alloy that has great rust resistance, but makes for a shit edge.

    The Thai brand Zebra is very good and inexpensive. I’m a big fan of cheap stamped stainless knives.

  • CMDR_Horn@lemmy.worldEnglish
    2·
    23 hours ago

    If money is no object, wicked edge.

    Also YouTube project farm for alternativs. He did a big review

    • Great Blue Heron@lemmy.caOPEnglish
      11·
      23 hours ago

      If money is no object, wicked edge.

      I thought it would be obvious from my collection of knives - money is a problem.

      Also YouTube project farm for alternativs. He did a big review

      Thanks - I find him yelling at me for the whole video a bit annoying, but his content is generally good - I’ll have a look