Switched my stance on sharpeners after a talk with a retired meat cutter in Philly

Old guy named Sal came into my shop to drop off a knife he wanted me to find a home for. We got talking about steels and he told me I was grinding away too much metal with my electric sharpener. Said I should switch to a hand stone and just learn the angle right. I figured he was just old school and stubborn, but he showed me on a beat up boning knife. After about 20 minutes of watching him I tried it on my go to butcher knife and it came out sharper than I ever got with the machine. Been three weeks now and I haven't touched the electric one once. Anyone else have a teacher like that who convinced you to slow down?

3 comments

3 Comments

diana8298d ago

Hang on, let me push back on this a little. I tried the hand stone route for like six months and went back to my electric sharpener because I was wearing out knives unevenly. You're probably getting a better edge now, but three weeks isn't enough time to see the long term wear. I had a buddy who was a pro chef for years, he swore by the machine because it takes the guesswork out - you can ruin a good blade with one bad angle on a stone. Plus, if you're processing a lot of meat, that extra time adds up. Sal might know his stuff, but hand sharpening is a skill most people won't stick with, and they'll end up with duller knives in the long run.

the_ben8d ago

Wait, you stuck with the stones for six months and still went back? That's crazy, I figured once you got the muscle memory down it was smooth sailing from there.

young.spencer6d ago

Yeah, that uneven wear thing is what scares me off from trying stones honestly.