Cooking For Engineers

[filmchef]

Just pucrchased 2 new MAc knives for my restaurant kitchen from JB prince in NYC.

suggested by them that I purchase a japanese water stone fine grain and a diamond coated steel.

After reading up on it, now not sure best way to sharpen and maintain these great new knives.

any pro help on:
sharpening
steeling
general maintainance

would be greatly appreciated.

[bbphotova]

Go to Razor Edge Systems website and order their book. It dispells a lot of knife sharpening myths (and there are tons of them!) and shows you how to do it correctly.

These guys can take a double-bit axe, sharpen it, and then shave with it. They're THAT good!

If I don't get any of their sharpening kits for Christmas, I'm ordering some myself. I've been able to do really well with other brand hones using Razor Edge's techniques and have gotten extremely good results. I was able to shave hairs off my arm with my chef's knife!!!

I expect the results to go way up using their tools and more practice.

[Jörg]

Maybe pick up The Professional Chef's Knife Kit? It's on the recommended reading list. I'd recommend ordering through the link there if you get it so that Michael gets the tiny commission.

[GaryProtein]

The most important aspect of knife sharpening is to prevent a blade from getting dull. Never cut against glass plates, steak knives excepted, and constantly use a steel to maintain a shallow cutting angle. I know people have their preferences in knife manufacturers, and my collection is a combination of Classic Wustof and Henkels Professional S. Before and after use, I always use several strokes against my 14" F Dick steel. I can shave with any of my knives, which are five to twenty five years old, and my left forearm (I'm right handed) has bald spots from testing their sharpness.

[Guest]

MAC makes a very fine grit ceramic steel, which would be my choice. Very reasonable price too (compare, for example, Global's ceramic steel.)
http://knifeoutlet.com/shop/10Expand.asp?ProductCode=MACSR85
Waterstones are for sharpening more than maintainence, and the usual set of three (1000, 4000, 8000) can get pricy, plus there's a learning curve in using them freehand.