Going back to Carbon Steel knives

[Rhino]

Just got a $15 carbon steel paring knife from Sabatier. It has been many years since I've used a carbon steel knife. It is so sharp and I can sharpen it so easily.  There is something to be said about a knife that is easy to sharpen.  A few strokes on the diamond honing stick is all that is needed to sharpen it to my taste.  The blade is already stained from cutting apples and oranges yesterday.

Next year, I'm buying a whole new set of carbon knives for myself. My wife can use the stainless steel set.

I guess my days of dishwashing knives are over.

[MakerUnknown]

Yep.
All my kitchen knives are high carbon...Japanese...ones.  I'm just used to having a towel and wiping them down and drying them after all these years.

[Ken S]

Read Ron Hock's thoughts on his personal kitchen knives in his book.  He hasn't used more than a steel on them in years.

Ken

[Rob]

Have to say....after my global knife purchase last xmas I'm entirely with that sentiment.

They were indescribably sharp from the factory...Ive never known anything like it.  I sharpened the chefs knife on the tormek with the jig after it had dulled a little as I tried the steel and it didn't seem to affect it.  General discussion said the Japanese steel is too hard and you either need a "special" steel or use another means of sharpening.  That steel of course global sell and it wasn't cheap!

After sharpening the chefs knife VERY carefully, jigged in the tormek which brought it back very close to that initial sharpness but not quite, (but easily good enough) I tried the steel again.  This time I steeled it every single time I use it but only a few passes and at a very fine angle (by eye).  Now it works a charm and pppffff to that need for a very expensive steel!

So the lesson is two fold, Buyer beware in respect of marketing messages and don't let your edges go too far before kissing them with an appropriate tool to bring them back.

I now haven't needed anything but the steel for all my global knives since Xmas and they are lethally sharp!  By that I mean they slice through a tomato without depressing the skin and getting that "bursty" problem with seeds like a fireworks display!

So again, beware of myth, stuff, nonsense and sales pitches where your knives are concerned.  My take is simple....Tormek them to really sharp then steel from then on until you ding them, because obviously a steel wont deal with a ding.  Then its back to the tormek, rinse and repeat.  The angle of attack when using a steel must be appropriate to the bevel of the knife, for global, that's really fine.

This only holds true for fine knives like slicing and delicate chopping of veg....it wouldn't hold true for meat clevers etc

To add some usage data to this...I have a family of four and I'm the cook...which means these knives are used every single day.  I also cook actual "food" ie not strange manufactured chemicals that come microwave wrapped from the factory.  The stuff I cook grows in gardens and roams around farms!

[Jeff Farris]

I'll agree with you, Rob, that maintenance on a steel goes a long way toward keeping a knife working correctly.

I just want to add that the very expensive steel from Global isn't "steel" at all. It's ceramic and a brilliant tool for the job. I use mine almost every day.

[Rob]

well I didn't know they were ceramic.  Thanks for that Jeff.  I've been under the illusion they were some sort of Rockwell 62, super duper special hardened steel (you know the type...forged exclusively in the dragons breath etc)  and for that reason defied all normal sharpening steels.

Does that explain why a regular steel can bring them back then?

By the way Jeff...unrelated but I just happened to watch for the first time the New Yankee Workshop where you were on when Norm built the sharpening station.  Talk about legend Jeff!!!!  That must have been a blast :-)  I wonder what Tormek paid for that little sponsorship deal?

Norm comes across as a real gent.

[Jeff Farris]

Tormek didn't pay a penny for that. PBS won't take endorsement deals. We unknowingly sold them one (the producer bought it through an alias). After they had it in the shop for a few weeks, they called and asked a fellow that worked for me if we had anyone who had any stage presence. Gene immediately volunteered me.

It was the highlight of my career and the beginning of our glory years.

As for using a steel...I think it is as much about practice and technique as it is about what it is made from. I had little luck with steel steels. I didn't really get the hang of it until I got the Global ceramic steel. That said, I didn't really study the correct technique until I bought the Global, so that may be why I couldn't do anything with the steel steel...I didn't know what I was doing.

[Rob]

well....would you credit it...when you watch Norm....every time he talks about a new tool it seems so scripted that you automatically assume it's a sponsorship deal.  Is PBS a publicly funded channel then?  Or is it just funded through regular advertising?  We don't get it here in the UK other than via satellite so know little about it.

I guess once you had appeared on NYW....the business must have gone sky-rocket eh :-) What a fantastic endorsement. Just being part of that culture must have been lovely Jeff.  The very heart of the US woodworker community.  Very nice.

[Jeff Farris]

PBS = Public Broadcasting System...closest we have to the BBC. They used to have no commercials whatsoever. Now they have "sponsorships" that run at the beginning and end of programs. Primary funding comes from viewer donations and public funding.

[Rob]

Ah....thanks

[Herman Trivilino]

I watched that episode when it first aired.  The idea of buying a Tormek rattled around in my brain for a few years until I'd almost forgotten about it.  Then I saw it rerun and made the decision to buy.

Anybody know when that episode originally aired?

[Jeff Farris]

April 2000

[mike40]

I've been using a steel for many years now. I always give my (cheap) carving knives a quick burnishing with it just before use. My son has a set of Global knives and I sharpened one for him so far on my diamond plate. He seemed satisfied with it. The ceramic is good. A lot of chip carvers use ceramic sharpening stones nowadays.

[Ken S]

I purchased the DVD of that New Yankee Workshop episode.  Missouri sharpening and Yankee woodworking........hard to beat!  (Mark Twain once described himself as the combination of Missouri morals and Conneticut culture, the perfect person.)

I read a magazine article about a year or two.  The article featured the preferred sharpening methods of a number of well known woodworkers, including Norm Abram.  Norm's method of choice was the Tormek.  He must like the product, and probably received coaching from a good teacher.

Ken

[Herman Trivilino]

The thing that got me, though, was that there were no dull chisels to be found in Norm's shop, despite the fact that he was supposedly exposing himself for the first time to the Tormek.

I've never heard of a carpenter having all his tools sharp.  You'd think he'd have dulled a few in preparation for that episode.