Tonight on GeekNights, we talk about knives. Learn to use the right knife for the right task with the right technique in the kitchen, and your life will be better. Also learn how to care for them. In the news, the assassination of a health insurance CEO brought a deep simmering anger to the surface of American society, surprising many, and the Interstella 5555 "remaster" isn't.
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Told my partner that pretty much the only reason I cary a Higonokami utility knife is toxic masculinity and Japanophilia.
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Honesty and self awareness makes it better than OK. Knife on!
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I will say the reason I carry a pocket knife is sentimental. My grandfather was given a pocket knife by his father before being shipped off for World War One. He passed it on to my uncle, who carried with him to Korea. He then passed it down to me, which I used in my military service.
To this day I still carry it with me when I leave the house. Do I need it all the time? No, but for me it’s an emotional thing.
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That’s more like carrying a locket and less like how that guy we described carries a pocket knife!
What do people do for sharpening? I have a double sided diamond stone. I hold the knife still on my knee and use the sharpening stone like it was a file. Works pretty well. I’ve learned to put a paper towel on my knee, or my pants get full of steel dust.
I use a cheap stone sharpening kit.
It’s not the best, but it works. My biggest complaint is that the stones are kind of small. Even with a standard chef’s knife it’s hard to get the entire length of the blade in a single swipe.
I’ve been considering dumping it and getting the rolling style sharpener.
It’s basically the same thing. Rubbing the knife against a stone to sharpen it. Only with the rolling method you don’t have to work on your technique of maintaining the correct angle or anything. In theory it will be a lot easier, more consistent, and less time consuming. Thus, I will do it more often.
There’s no reason to be all pretentious about doing it the hard way. If the knife gets properly sharp, mission accomplished.
Yeah, whatever gets the job done is great. I end up bringing my little one to my in-laws, because otherwise they never gets sharpened. I wonder how well the rolley ones work, it looks like a clever design.
Personally, I use either a Lansky Sharpening system Sharpener or a Sheppach wetstone grinder I picked up on the cheap. Sometimes I might also use the Ruixin Pro I was given at some point(It’s basically the same concept as the Lansky), but it’s a bit less convenient, it’s mostly just for the longer stuff that doesn’t fit in the Lansky, when I can’t be arsed pulling out and prepping the wetstone grinder.
I do have a proper wetstone, and I can sharpen with it, but…I don’t want to? It’s a pain in the ass, meanwhile, I can pull out the Lansky, and sort it out while I’m watching something on TV or otherwise occupying myself. If it needs to be done fast, or I have a bunch to do, the wetstone grinder sorts it fast, couple passes, few minutes, easy.
As for the rolling sharpeners - Get a Horl, or don’t get one at all. The Tumbler ones are knockoffs, and have a reputation for not having correct angles, rough construction in some cases, and even blunting your knives instead of sharpening them.
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I’ve seen reviews of that rolling system and apparently it takes a long time for it to work.
For the longest time I didn’t use any knife sharpener, but then I got the second-cheapest IKEA offering. It’s foolproof.
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I have both the Lansky and the Ikea one okeefe shared. The Lansky works really great but its still a time investment to actually do and you still have a bit of mess. The Ikea one is not ideal, but I’m much more likely to use it and can use it in the kitchen vs my work basement.
Been really thinking about getting an angle belt sharpener, but I don’t use knives/tools that need to be sharped really at all outside cooking so its hard to justify.