That moment I realized I was ruining my knife edge

I've been sharpening my chef's knife the same way for like 5 years. One day last month a line cook from a fancy spot in Austin watched me do it and just laughed. He pointed out I was dragging the blade toward the edge instead of away from it. Took me about 30 seconds to try his way and suddenly my knife actually held a edge more than a shift. Anyone else have a dumb habit that took someone else to spot?

2 comments

2 Comments

julia8439d ago

Oh man, that's brutal. I did the same thing for years with my paring knife, dragging the edge straight into the stone like I was trying to scrape it off. A buddy who does knife work for a living finally told me to stop and think about the burr. He said if you're not forming a tiny wire edge, you're just polishing the blade, not actually sharpening it. Changed my whole setup.

the_zara9d ago

And @julia843 is totally right about the burr. Once I finally learned to feel for that little wire edge along the blade, everything clicked. I was just rubbing metal against metal for years, no wonder my edge was gone after one garlic clove. Now I actually stop and check for the burr on both sides before I call it done.