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+--- Thread: How do I sharpen my knives on the cheap? (/thread-8226.html)
How do I sharpen my knives on the cheap? - DeeBye - 07-18-2004
About ten years ago I obtained a pair of restaurant quality kitchen knives. The restaurant I worked for went belly-up, and I was given permission to loot the place before I was let go.
My knives are not made of crappy stainless steel, so they must be sharpened every once in a while.
I am on the lookout for a decent and CHEAP knife sharpener. So far, I have just been using the bottom of a ceramic coffee cup to hone my blades. It makes my knives super-sharp, but it takes forever.
I've seen professional knife sharpeners in various stores, but I have yet to see one that cost less than $50. I'm looking for something that will keep my knives sharp without causing me to fork out huge cash.
Help?
How do I sharpen my knives on the cheap? - AtomicKitKat - 07-18-2004
Well, me folks have a sharpening stone that they used to sharpen knives, scissors, etc. It's about 8 inches long, and made of some kind of grey stone. No idea how much it cost though. Just invest in some ceramic crockery and be done with it. ;)
How do I sharpen my knives on the cheap? - --Pete - 07-18-2004
Hi,
I'm a big believer in using a steel each time I use a knife and letting a pro sharpen my knives once a year or so. However, I maintain my pocket knife and used to maintain my hunting and fishing knives way back when, and all I used was an Arkansas whetstone. You can probably do pretty well by getting a medium grit Carborundum stone at a hardware store and a cheap steel from a restaurant supply house. Each should run you about ten bucks.
For kitchen knives, I'd guess that grinding them to about a 45 degree bevel and honing them at about that same angle with a steel should work pretty good. Most knives used on food need a bit of "bite" to the edge, so you don't want to make them "razor" sharp.
Googling on "sharpening a knife" will bring up a whole lot of how-tos. Probably most of them will work. Pick one that you like.
--Pete
How do I sharpen my knives on the cheap? - Rhydderch Hael - 07-18-2004
Don't know. Don't care. I'm snockered outta my gourd at this moment, and hath lost the totally spectacular response I was going to deliver to you via this unfamilar and admittedly poor-designed ThinkPad. But sufffice it to say (from a drunken sovereign of the Kingdom of Make-Believe) that an Arkansas stone and a comprehensive lesson may free you from the expense of paying some mall-bound knife-grinder monkey to put a killing edge on your blade.
Now, bother me only when you have a sword to sharpen. If you don't mind, I'll just crash out on the floor of the Lounge for the night.
How do I sharpen my knives on the cheap? - Taeme - 07-18-2004
Ah Hael, truly you are a man one misses when away from the lounge so long.
How do I sharpen my knives on the cheap? - anarchae - 07-18-2004
Wetstones are the way to go. If you have any flea markets, in your area, you should be able to pick one up for next to nothing.
How do I sharpen my knives on the cheap? - Griselda - 07-18-2004
If you don't want to do it yourself, you might try a kitchen store as opposed to a knife and cutlery type place. I know there's a kitchen store in my town that sharpens knives for a few dollars each. I'm sure it's not as good as the $50 treatment, but I'm guessing it's better than the "mug-bottom" treatment.
-Griselda
How do I sharpen my knives on the cheap? - Munkay - 07-18-2004
If you are looking, be sure to check out any Kitchen ETC stores near you. They recently declared bankruptcy and have been selling their entire stock for cheap. Or if you know anyone that has them near them, check it out. With things going as cheap as 80% off, you could theoretically have a friend buy it and ship it to you for cheap.
Goodluck,
-Munk
How do I sharpen my knives on the cheap? - Guest - 07-24-2004
edited