apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I am curious, if the diamond edge stone is not necessary for sharpening, why use it? I would lean toward the budget friendly stone unless there is some added bonus the diamond edge stone provides. It's wasn't addressed in the video. Can someone let me know?

I REALLY need to sharpen my beloved knives and will be heading out for one of these stone styles once I know.

I've heard that Japanese knives should not be honed, and they require sharpening on a special stone. So I haven't done anything with my Togiharu yet; I may just mail it somewhere because I don't want to risk ruining it. But I do have a regular chef's knife that I keep in good shape.

I have almost all these sharpening tools, plus a Chef's Choice, and I recently bought an Accusharp 001 Knife Sharpener. It was ~$10 at Amazon. It works very quickly (takes about 1 minute to sharpen even a very dull knife) and does a surprisingly good job. My conclusion: it's something that every "everyday" cook should at least try - it might end up being the only sharpener you need. I've even used it on serrated knives to good effect.

Some knives, like the ones made by Global, and Shun require the use of a ceramic honing wand (traditional wands are steel), Sjbreeze, maybe that's the difference in your Japanese knives. It should say some where on their manufacturer's website although sometimes the only clue is which one the sell in the sets. I'm not sure about the Damascus knives though.

Does anyone know what 'grit' of sharpening stone we should be useing to sharpen our knives at home?

For whatever strange reason, I'm afraid of sharpening my own knives. And I know I'm probably just making it worse by continually using them un-sharpened/honed.

I'm going to watch this video at home later and just suck it up and try it.

I’ve been paying to have my knives professionally sharpened, but I’m feeling inspired. There’s really no reason for me to do it myself.

Global's don't require a ceramic honing wand. I have a lot of global knives, and a nice global steel wand that has worked great for the past 7 years.

I use the Accusharp mentioned by manjar. Just whenever I think to do it. Seems to make the knives sharp enough, but what do I know?

i'm a scaredy cat. if my knife cut a piece of paper like in the video, i'm sure i'd be missing several fingers by now.

i know a sharper knife is supposed to be safer than a dull one because you don't have to use as much pressure, etc, BUT that assumes that you haven't ingrained YEARS of dull knife usage into your repetoire. :)

Correction to my post above -
i meant there's no reason for me to NOT start doing it myself!

After like 20 years, I finally got around to buying a stone and learning this a few months ago. I can't believe it took me so long, because it turns out it's pretty easy. I'm not good enough to be able to get them paper cuttting sharp yet, but what I can do is a huge improvement over my the seriously sad state that my knives used to be in. I went with a two sided Arkansas whetstone for like $6.

Can someone explain the differences between the types of steels (ceramic v. diamond cut) and the types of stones? I understand the grit factor, but why do they range in price from $3 to $50 or more? I don’t want to buy a budget set if they’ll be harder on my knives. Also, are different kinds better for different blades? My knife set includes Global, Shun, Wustof, and Chicago. Can I use the same steel and stones for all? I’m guessing they do when I have them professionally done, but that’s just a guess.

I get nervous about honing my knives. I guess I think I will do it incorrectly and ruin them or something. I let my husband do it. And I take them to a local shop to be sharpened every once in a while. It only costs a few bucks per knife.

Hey splatgirl can you tell me where you got your arkansas whetstone and if it has a specific name? Can I get it at any hardware store?
Thx!