Sharpening stones and files. I can’t imagine using dull knives. I can’t stand knives duller than hair popping sharp. I have excellent knives that hold a crisp edge and I sharpen those every 30 minutes of super fast chopping (10 seconds on a 9k stone).
Not just knives but scissors, trowels, shovels, cooking spatulas, dust pans, vegetable peelers, can openers, toenail clippers, all need to be sharp. Not being able to sharpen all of those would be a tragedy.
If you are delaying getting into sharpening, just do it. It will serve you for the rest of your life, and I sharpen every single day (I’m a woodworker). Its truly a luxury to have sharp tools, all the time. So satisfying.
Aside from that, chocolate. The cravings will never go away.
Air conditioning, but I would argue that is a very expensive necessity.
If I sharpened my knives after every 30 minutes of use I wouldn’t have any steel left after a couple of months, tops. My knives are shaving sharp, I use them for several hours every day.
If your knives hold an edge and are profiled correctly, sharpening every 30 minutes (even a quick touch up) is entirely unnecessary. Professional meat cutters and fishmongers annihilate cutting for 10 hours a day and require razor sharp tools, and they don’t spend even close to as much time as you’ve claimed touching up their edges.
Don’t get me wrong, I love sharp knives, but either you’re exaggerating or doing it wrong.
Coarse diamond stone and a thin cheap knife. The coarse stone is fast so you get immediate results and feedback, which is crucial for learning. You want to use a cheap knife since you can damage knives with bad technique. Cheap knives are also softer and sharpen faster
Diamond plates are much more straightforward than waterstones. You dont need to soak it, water it, flatten it, etc. They aren’t necessarily better, but they require much less maintenance
Also I highly recommend freehand. Youll always encounter a knive that doesn’t work with this, or that system, but you can sharpen every knife, tool, scissors, etc, on a normal sharpening stone.
Sharpening stones and files. I can’t imagine using dull knives. I can’t stand knives duller than hair popping sharp. I have excellent knives that hold a crisp edge and I sharpen those every 30 minutes of super fast chopping (10 seconds on a 9k stone).
Not just knives but scissors, trowels, shovels, cooking spatulas, dust pans, vegetable peelers, can openers, toenail clippers, all need to be sharp. Not being able to sharpen all of those would be a tragedy.
If you are delaying getting into sharpening, just do it. It will serve you for the rest of your life, and I sharpen every single day (I’m a woodworker). Its truly a luxury to have sharp tools, all the time. So satisfying.
Aside from that, chocolate. The cravings will never go away.
Air conditioning, but I would argue that is a very expensive necessity.
I’m sorry, what?
If I sharpened my knives after every 30 minutes of use I wouldn’t have any steel left after a couple of months, tops. My knives are shaving sharp, I use them for several hours every day.
If your knives hold an edge and are profiled correctly, sharpening every 30 minutes (even a quick touch up) is entirely unnecessary. Professional meat cutters and fishmongers annihilate cutting for 10 hours a day and require razor sharp tools, and they don’t spend even close to as much time as you’ve claimed touching up their edges.
Don’t get me wrong, I love sharp knives, but either you’re exaggerating or doing it wrong.
Do you have some suggestions for a novice sharpener on how to get started?
Coarse diamond stone and a thin cheap knife. The coarse stone is fast so you get immediate results and feedback, which is crucial for learning. You want to use a cheap knife since you can damage knives with bad technique. Cheap knives are also softer and sharpen faster
Diamond plates are much more straightforward than waterstones. You dont need to soak it, water it, flatten it, etc. They aren’t necessarily better, but they require much less maintenance
Also I highly recommend freehand. Youll always encounter a knive that doesn’t work with this, or that system, but you can sharpen every knife, tool, scissors, etc, on a normal sharpening stone.