Wohoki wrote:I make knives as a hobby, and I'm working towards being good enough to make them as a living, mostly after the Scandanavian/Lapp patern.
The best way of sharpening a knife is to use a Japanese waterstone. An 800 grit stone is a good start for a kitchen knife: it will produce an edge that with slice and shread anything you'll find a need to cut.
If you can find the funds to add a 1200 grit as well; you can perform surgery with your knife: this is wood-carving sharp. It will sail through a cut of meat like the proverbial hot knife through butter.
If you can be bothered, a 6000 grit will put a mirror-bright edge on your knife, and this will last as a razor sharp edge for a week or more. It gets a lttle scary.
At this level, a leather strop and some sharpening paste will (really!!) get it a little sharper, and add something to the durability of the edge, but it's not necessary for the kitchen.
I get my stones from Axminster Tools, and a little practice will have you bleeding all over the place. Have fun!
That is exactly what I use too. A Japanese water stone 500 and a Japanese 800. The final edge I put on the knife with two high quality Swiss Steels the, Isler super cut and the Isler extra fine super cut. The results are exactly as you say here it's like a surgical scalpel.
Having said that, the quality of the knife steel is very important. Not so long ago I sharpend a knife of a trainee, to show him how it is done, I never looked at the knife. Two hours later the knife was a dull as a wooden plank again, it was then that I looked at the knife and sure enough it was one of these cheap warehouse knives. It went streigt in the garbage and I gave him one of my knives to work with.
Personally I never liked oil stones because the steel residue will stick to it and actually make the knive dull again as you sharpen it. With water it simply can be rinsed off.
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