Kitchen knives: Toothy edge vs Polished edge

[Ken S]

I'm guessing. That stated, I can see how incorrect and overuse of a steel can create a more obtuse angle. I can see how gradually gringing away the edge on a taper ground knife would over time create a thicker edge, especially combined with a grinding wheel of small diameter.

I like Stig's solution to the steel problem, substituting occasional touch ups with the leather honing wheel between regular sharpening.

For those who do not have a Tormek at home, I think using a Sharp Pad or a ceramic rod between sharpenings would work. I would add the caution that the user should know how to properly use a rod,, something, like Stig stated, is unfortunately very common. Some ceramic rods are easier to use properly. Both of mine have simple built in angle guides, something I consider essential.

Most of the modern knives I have seen have shed the heavy, bolsteted tapered build. They are thinner and flat. No doubt they are less costly to produce. They also seem to cut more easily.I cannot see where a flat ground knife would need to be thinned. I also don't think that most tapered chef's knives would be ground down to a point where thickness was dramatically increased. The whole structure of the knife would be altered. I can see where some knives might possibly benefit from a technique commonly used with the Spyderco Triangular Sharpmaker. One end sets up for twenty degrees, what they consider the bevel. The other end sets up forfifteen degrees, when they consider thr thinning angle. I have not tried this. It would seem like a good candidate for extending the life of a worn knife. Just set up the Tormek and the knife jig for fifteen degrees; grind until almost sharp; then raise the microadjust to twenty degrees and finish sharpening. (I would just use two kenjigs to raise and lower the microadjust.)

Either the Sg-200 or SG-250 effectively eliminates any small diameter grinding wheel constraints.

For anyone having a high end sharpening trade like Murray Carter, you will probably want very specialized equipment like he has. I would not expect an eight or ten inch dismeter Tormek wheel to compete with a thirty six inch diameter wheel. I would also expect customers with extremely expensive very high end Japanese knives to inxist of sharpening by hand.

I think a well versed sharpener should know about thinning. I would not expect it to be part of everyday sharpening for most knives. As I stated, this is a guess. I am very open to being educated if my guess is incorrect.

Ken