Knife sharpeners (Global knives)

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I've got a couple of Global knives that obviously need sharpening from time to time.

Trouble is, local knife shops tell me that there is a "special" blade on these knives, and they won't sharpen them. (Methinks they don't want to help me because I didn't buy from them...)

The shop I bought them from will sharpen them, but it takes like 4 days and they aren't really close to my house. And the knife I had them sharpen for me isn't anywhere near as sharp as when new...I can tell, becuase my newer knife, just bought last week which has not been sharpened yet, is ridiculsously sharp in comparison.

I've never sharpened a knife before, so I'm a little reluctant to jump right in and ruin an expensive knife.

Global makes some sharpeners, but I'm curious if any of you can offer some advice.

Global sells a little clip that attaches to the knife, it's really inexpensive and maintains an optimal angle for whetstone sharpening.

They also sell these little jobbies:
 -

...but I'm not sure it'll do a great job.

Any advise is most appreciated.
 
From a vendor of Global's knives:
"The majority of the Global knives are sharpened or ground on both sides of the blade like western style knives. However, their edges are ground straight to a point rather than beveled resulting in a dramatically sharper knife which stays sharper longer. "

That tells me you should buy their sharpener, and do it yourself.
 
I don't know anything about global knives but "rabbit ears" or "crock sticks" are almost fool proof and you can get a great edge with very little skill.

you knives will stay sharper longer if you "steel" them before each use. the steel straightens the edge and keeps it in good condition.
 
robbobster,
go out and buy some realy cheap knives, a few stones, and a sharpening steel.

You don't need the knife to hold an edge (thus cheap ones will do), but you need to get a feel for sharpening them, without wrecking the good stuff.
 
quote:

Originally posted by sprintman:
We have Globals and that thingy. It works. Used other sharpeners before and not so good.

Wow, I really didn't think it would work. I'll try it out, as it isn't too expensive.


quote:

Originally posted by Shannow:
robbobster,
go out and buy some realy cheap knives, a few stones, and a sharpening steel.

You don't need the knife to hold an edge (thus cheap ones will do), but you need to get a feel for sharpening them, without wrecking the good stuff.


That is good advice. I'll try this out so that I can get a feel for it. I recall trying to use a whet stone back in Boy Scouts, and all I managed to do was ruin some perfectly good knives...
 
Even though Global sell it don't buy it. Try www.DRsharpening.com. Not cheap but globalknives are worth it. There are sites for knives and sharpening that mirror BITOG, i.e. full of OCD people who like knives and stones. If you want to do it yourself you will need IMHO Japanese waterstones for sharpening. A investment of a couple of hundred dollars, and a lot of time to learn. Try knife or blad forums for a lot more info on kitchen knives and sharpening.
 
Well I ordered the Global sharpener based on Sprintman's reco. If it doesn't work I can conveniently blame him
grin.gif


If that doesn't work then I'll look into the DR sharpening...thanks for the link.
 
Just a little update:
I ordered the global sharpener (pictured above) and it finally arrived.

It works great, totally easy to use. My older chef's knife (general-purpose knife) is now just as sharp as my new Asian chef's knife (veggie-chopping knife).
 
Phew that's good. I was going to say thats a fair cop as they said in the Life of Brian ("She's a witch burn her"). My wife also says it works but then she's a female and can't be trusted.
 
Yup, you're off the hook
cheers.gif


Had you stated "It's so easy even my wife can use it" I would have ordered it even faster!

My girl dulls knives faster than I can keep them sharp...so this thing will come in handy.
 
The biggest problem that people seem to have with knives is that they don't take care of them. They'll pay $100 for a fancy knife, and like every other sharp knife it's sharp because the edge is very, very thin. They then they throw it the dishwasher, slice on plates, etc., and are surprised that the very, very thin edge is no longer very, very thin, one can now see that the edge is blunted, and some wonder why it doesn't cut well anymore.

The biggest problem that people seem to have when trying to sharpen knives is that they try to use a steel or fine stone on a very dull knife, and rarely get it sharp again. Very dull knives need a coarse abrasive to start with. The trick to sharpening is using a coarse (enough) abrasive to get a 'burr', where the edge rolls on the side opposite of the side being sharpened, then sharpen the other side until you again get a burr on teh opposite side, and then use finer and finer abrasives to remove the burr. That's really all there is to sharpening, edge angles aside.

Crock sticks work well, and Spyderco probably has the best kit as it has medium and fine stones. One can get ceramic and diamond sticks that look like a regular steel, and they work as well as crock sticks with a bit of practice as they're just half of a set of crock sticks. Use the diamond stick for coarse work, and the ceramic stick for fine.

Anymore I start with a belt sander for coarse work, move to a large coarse diamond stone, then medium and fine ceramic stones, and then a leather strop and/or a fine ceramic stick to finish it off. In the kitchen and garage I use a ceramic stick for regular touch ups, and in the kitchen rarely need anything else. In the garage I also use a Sears diamond stick that has a Craftsman screwdriver handle for coarse touch ups.

Cheap but decent knives that are cared for work much better than fancy expensive knives that aren't.
 
quote:

Originally posted by 1sttruck:
The biggest problem that people seem to have with knives is that they don't take care of them.


Totally agree. I only recently have her "trained" to clean & dry the knives after she uses them, and not just throw them into the sink and let the food dry up on the blade...or let the blade get dinged-up in the sink.
 
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