Sharpening and/or Sanding Oil

Steel = Burnisher Rod? I've got a half a dozen that I've used on wood plane blades and scrappers.
Still can't sharpen a knife to save my soul. Must be the curve. :grin:
 
I use tap water as the lubricant for all my cutlery, using diamond, ceramic, and traditional stones. I was a chef in my first career, and I can sharpen any kitchen or butcher knife in a couple minutes to quite sharp. For me it is a tool, get it done and get back to work. Most of the knife aficionados can dink around with a knife for a good long time, taking off too much unnecessary metal, not making a properly sharp and robust edge, mostly just polishing and massaging the damn thing. When you have 2 boxes of 48 chickens to get cut up and ready for cooking, and that is just one small part of your prep work for the day, you learn how to get moving, and for that you need a knife with a sharp, sturdy, and long lasting edge.
 
Lots to chew on in this thread.
In the kitchen I use liquid soap and water as a lubricant. Cooking is a social activity in my house. The knives anyone is free to use are stainless steel. I sharpen them with a fine India stone. Some are harder or softer steel; but all have a coarser grain, so I don't see any point trying to polish the edges. They all get equally sharp, but the harder ones hold an edge longer. When they are sharp, they will slice or chop any vegetable.

The knives I use for boning and slicing meat are carbon steel. They are both harder and finer grained than any of the stainless steel. I hone the edges of these with a stone that is literally a piece of rock--sedimentary rock the geologist cook tells me. I use more soap and less water on this stone. Guest cooks avoid these knives.

I know some cooks use a grooved knife steel to sharpen knives. As I understand these, drawing them across a coarsely sharpened edge aligns the irregular flakes in the edge like saw teeth. It's a fragile edge that will slice soft food nicely but won't chop well for long.

For woodworking, I use similar India and Arkansas stones with WD-40 as a lubricant.

For single point lathe tools that will cut steel, I like an atomized water/Kool Mist mixture on the tool grinder.

Out in the woods, a scrap of an old carborundum wheel with water kept the camp axe sharp. Alas, I camp less these days.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top