Sally's GF3 thread

[cavemanrich]

Wow. What's the best way to store knives that are that sharp? In a block?

A block is a good option, like gtaus posted.. They are easily found, and reasonably priced.
I have one of these that I mounted under my cabinets. Keeps the sharp razors safe. No danger of getting cut compared to storing inside a drawer.
Grabbed these pix from Ebay posting, but mine is same. Some of the undercabinet knife storage currently on Amazon,,, are quite pricey. New and Fancy.

 

[Shadrach]

My high school history teacher, Ernest Anger (really, that was his name), was dull. With his, "They took and did this," or "You take and do that," mode of passing along information, he was soporific. It seems that nobody ever just did something, there was a lot of taking going on back then, too. I once counted 23 "took and dids" in one 55 minute lecture. He made me vow to never take another history class.

I had to take one in college, so I chose American History, 1876-present, thinking it would be the least painful. It was FASCINATING! Lyn Mapes was a great lecturer, and the material was very interesting. Gone was the dry stuff of names/date/places/happenings. These were flesh and blood people, subject to the whims and desires of the flesh, and actually bleeding. (Blood wasn't mentioned much in my high school text book. People just died. Or, "took and died.")

Anyway, Ernest Anger was dull. He was on my mind today because I realized that as dull as he was, my kitchen knives are duller. I am tagging the people I know here who have a lot of practical knowledge.
@aart @DobieLover @gtaus @Shadrach @U_Stormcrow

Please, please, how do I go about sharpening my knives? I have no whetstones or electric sharpeners, so I need to get some equipment. What kind of whetstone would you recommend? How many do I need? Two? Six? What grit? How do you care for a whetstone? Do I need a hone? Would an electric sharpener be better?

I have two knives. One is a small paring knife that will cut butter and bruise onions. It was my mother's, so it is near and dear to me. The other is an 8 inch Zwilling J.A. Henckles that my MIL gave me. It's "the good knife" and also bruised the onions I was cutting up today.

I know I could watch a dozen you tube videos and use up the rest of this month's data. If I could narrow it down to one or two that explain the process well (and not try to sell me something), that would help.

Suggestions?

I may not be the best person to ask.
My two kitchen knifes below and what I sometimes use to sharpen them.

I do have a very good whetstone as well as a larger diamond block which I use to sharpen my wood working tools and I've got a very old but good quality chefs sharpening steel somewhere.

The secret to having sharp tools is to sharpen them before and after use and having tools made of decent quality steel to start with.

Knife block, electric sharpeners, knives for every occassion etc etc are just more stuff I don't need and wouldn't use.
I made the mistake of dragging one of my best pocket knives through one of those pull through ceramic groove thingies and it shredded the lovely smooth razor edge.

In your case I would probably pick a medium grit diamond impregnated bar such as you see above and learn how to use it.
https://www.dmtsharp.com/sharpeners/pocket-sharpeners.html

 

[Sally PB]

I can't think of the last time I needed anything other than my little paring knife, my "good knife" and the bread knife. The latter is also very dull, I suppose, but for slicing bread and a head of lettuce, it does very well.

I have a couple of pocket knives, including one that, umm.... scared someone... when I pulled it out of my pocket to cut straps on a skid. For some reason, this coworker was shocked that a woman would have "such a knife" (her words) in her pocket. (Yes, it was of legal length. It was designed by someone who knows a lot about knives, and carrying them.)

The pocket knife I carry in the garden is a cheap thing that takes safety razor blades. I fell in love with that style at the photolab. It was perfect there out in the garage when you need a knife to cut straps on a skid, or slice sheets of corrugated cardboard (death to a good edge, but they were replaceable). The lab had lots of packages of safety razors. Just about every department needed them.

We'd have razor blades lying around, even on the shelf in the darkrooms in the good old days. I never, ever cut myself with one. I got cardboard cuts plenty often though. And those hurt.

Thanks for all the input. Anyone else, chime in if you'd like.

 

[fuzzi]

I can't think of the last time I needed anything other than my little paring knife, my "good knife" and the bread knife. The latter is also very dull, I suppose, but for slicing bread and a head of lettuce, it does very well.

I have a couple of pocket knives, including one that, umm.... scared someone... when I pulled it out of my pocket to cut straps on a skid. For some reason, this coworker was shocked that a woman would have "such a knife" (her words) in her pocket. (Yes, it was of legal length. It was designed by someone who knows a lot about knives, and carrying them.)

The pocket knife I carry in the garden is a cheap thing that takes safety razor blades. I fell in love with that style at the photolab. It was perfect there out in the garage when you need a knife to cut straps on a skid, or slice sheets of corrugated cardboard (death to a good edge, but they were replaceable). The lab had lots of packages of safety razors. Just about every department needed them.

We'd have razor blades lying around, even on the shelf in the darkrooms in the good old days. I never, ever cut myself with one. I got cardboard cuts plenty often though. And those hurt.

Thanks for all the input. Anyone else, chime in if you'd like.

I bought a folding pocket knife a few months ago. And shortly thereafter I started carrying it everywhere. It's still fairly sharp after being used to cut straps, feed bags, vegetables, and plastic. If I whipped it out at work in front of someone they'd probably report me as a terrorist or something.

 

[pertnear09]

I bought a folding pocket knife a few months ago. And shortly thereafter I started carrying it everywhere. It's still fairly sharp after being used to cut straps, feed bags, vegetables, and plastic. If I whipped it out at work in front of someone they'd probably report me as a terrorist or something.

View attachment 3631696

People are scared of their own shadow now days.

 

[Sally PB]

I told a friend about the coworker's reaction to my pocket knife. He laughed and said, "So what did she say about the .357 on your ankle?"

Um, no, didn't tell her...

Back then, there was nothing in the employee manual about carrying... anything. Eventually, things changed and carrying a concealed weapon was forbidden. When the new manual came out, we went over the changes. The owner looked right at me and said, "No guns on the premesis, even if you have taken a class and have a permit." Ok, John. I'll leave it home.

Someone asked me what they should get behind if we ever had an active shooter situation. At the time, we had a 5 foot stack of boxes of photo paper, 4 boxes deep. I said that that would probably stop bullets. Packed paper can work well for that, and the paper on those rolls is rolled tightly. I said if I were working on the press (machine I usually ran), I'd get behind it, as the guts had lots of cast iron.

 

[saysfaa]

... Anyone else, chime in if you'd like.

My knife guru is my son in law. He carved wood for a living before he met my daughter.

He uses the rod style to sharpen kitchen knives and recommended it for me too. Like this

I like it much better than the dozen or so other kinds that I tried to use before he came along. If you look for them at resale shops, check that you don't spend more than you can get them new. And check tgat they aren't worn smooth - that takes a long time but eventually happens.

He uses a magnetic strip on the wall to hold the kitchen knives at their house. I tried knife blocks (before he came along) in my house and in setting up my kids' kitchens when they got their own places. I liked some better than others when I had a lot more counter space than I do now; I gave them all away and don't intend to get another even if I get a bigger kitchen some day. I don't think any of the kids kept theirs either.

In picking knife blocks for so many kitchens, I found the trickiest part is getting a block as upright as possible so it has a smaller footprint but not so upright that you can't pull the knives out because they hit the upper cabinets.

 

[cavemanrich]

The owner looked right at me and said, "No guns on the premesis, even if you have taken a class and have a permit." Ok, John. I'll leave it home.

But before you left,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, you should have
pistol whipped him.

 

[Sally PB]

In picking knife blocks for so many kitchens, I found the trickiest part is getting a block as upright as possible so it has a smaller footprint but not so upright that you can't pull the knives out because they hit the upper cabinets.

Yeah, I can see the footprint/height issue would be a problem.

He uses a magnetic strip on the wall to hold the kitchen knives at their house.

I think I like this idea better! Especially for just a couple knives.

But before you left,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, you should have
pistol whipped him.

Nah... he's a good man. He was good to DH and me while we worked there. He helped a LOT of his employees in many ways.*

I never told him that I had carried, he never asked. He was looking at it as a legal liability, of course. He wasn't anti-gun; he was going with the percentages.

* One guy who worked there adopted 3 girls from China. I think John helped pay for the 3 trips over there.

 

[cavemanrich]

* One guy who worked there adopted 3 girls from China. I think John helped pay for the 3 trips over there.

When you get to see John,,,,, (if that would happen)
forward him this,,
and this.