First of all, fine job on the entire knife sharpening series 👍. Very informative and a wealth of knowledge for all to see. The amount of years and time spent on your craft is evident, very appreciative. Great analogies and demonstrations. 👍
Wow! I've known Bob for 30 years. Super nice guy. He used to sharpen my knives when he was by the Kingdome in Seattle and I used to trade him for razor clams when he moved to Olympia. Glad that after 20 years he became an overnight success. Someone told me his knives were selling for $15,000.
Fantastic video. What is the proper angle to sharpen high end chef knives. I thought Zwilling/Henkles knives are at a 15 degree angle (30 degrees) inclusive. Why did you do 10/20 degrees?
One thing that wasn't mentioned was knife quality. Bob makes some of the nicest knives out there from the highest quality materials, which allows him to achieve these results.
"Proper technique" is absolutely the key! My grandfather was a butcher and he taught me the value of sharp tools over 60 years ago. I try to impart this wisdom to my grand children
Love this tutorial! Curious why you don’t develop a bur on the initially sharpened side of the knife before sharpening the other side of the knife to then flip the bur?
Excellent tutorial! This is the first time I’ve heard anyone suggest using the same amount of pressure on the strop that they used on the stones (8-10 lbs). I’ve never been sure how much pressure to use on a strop. I’ve heard “no pressure”, “only the weight of the knife”, “relatively light pressure”, etc. Will 8-10 lbs dig in to the leather and cause the edge to round over? Would really appreciate some advice on this.
My understanding is that you hold the knife very close to parallel and the pressure pushes the blade into the leather just enough to polish off the burr. After initial polish you can use less pressure and flip the knife each stroke if you want. Its preference and depends on how you like your edge
Im slowly learning to sharpen with wetstones. I have Zwilling knives and various types of Japanese knives. Question about sharpening angles. Ive understood German knives are usually 20 degrees and Japanese 15. Now on this video you’re aiming 10 degrees. Any particular reason for that?
I am far from an expert but I believe it has to do with the hardness of the steel used in the knife. A softer steel will not take as fine an edge as a hard steel will, but on the other hand it will be less brittle and prone to chipping. These are ground to about 10* because they are using very hard steel that can take a very fine edge, but as a result you should try to avoid using them, or any japanese style knife, on particularly hard substances like bone or frozen foods. A western style knife will usually be able to take more punishment like that.
Anybody else have streaks/marks going up their knifes after sharpening? It was the first time and I think my angle was too low which was scraping the side of the knife
That's very common for the first knives and is basically due to a lack of technique. My advice (and that's exactly what I didn't do at the beginning) is buy a very cheap knife to get some practice. It really helped me a lot to build up some confidence
@@guillaumecolavita827 yea I did the sharpening on a couple of cheaper knifes so I'm OK with that. I have 2 more expensive blades from Japan that are fairly new so still plenty sharp. Gotta practice more though before I start grinding those.
Great tutorial, sir. Thank you. One question though , how does one keep the angle, be it 10 or18 degrees, when using a whetstone by hand? My edge is supposed to be 15, but I have no idea of determining whether or not I'm on the right track.
There are a couple ways. We like to tell people to envision a matchbook, or even use one, to rest the knife on for the correct angle. Some people recommend stacking up quarters to the proper angle, which you can measure either with a physical protractor, or even an app on your phone. However the most important thing is consistency. Focus on getting close to that 15 degrees, and keep the angle the same every time you move the blade across the surface. It will become muscle memory with time.
@@ZWILLINGUSA Fantastic! Thank you for taking the time to so thoroughly answer my question. Much appreciated. 🙏 My first 'proper' knife was a Zwilling Twin Pollox 20cm, and it was a pleasure to use! 👍
Why do use a rotating stroke when your right hand is in a pronating postion, but you don't use a rotating stroke when your right hand is in a supinating position?
At 23:39 Bob Kramer mentions a "Sharpening Steel" or "Ceramic". Is he referencing a honing rod? If that's the case, what is the best sharpening practice utilizing these stones with the honing rod?
He is referring to a honing rod to get the blade back in alignment in between sharpening. For sharpening, we recommend our mail order service @knifeaid to get your knives professional sharpened fast!
Wrist should never get sore...because your wrist should be locked at all times to maintain a consistent angle. Very difficult to maintain angle if youre using the wrist. Only someone who has sharpened a million knives like this guy has should use the wrist while sharpening. Chefs knives and typical pocket knives, hunting knives, erc are a little different to sharpen because the bkades are so thin on chef knives. Thicker blades will require staying in ine sude until you raise a burr. Chef knives require more caution against offsetting the apex...making sure you keep closer to equal strokes on each side because theres so little steel behind the edge. The angle is much lower too, 12-15 is common. More hard use knives with thicker blades tend to ge more 20 or so degrees.
the fact that this video only has 10k views is criminal, Bob is a fantastic resource on all things knife
We are so honored, couldn't agree more 👏
He is absolutely an expert on the subject.
Absolutely 💯% I'm probably responsible for two dozens of those view numbers 😅
A true master. Been hand sharpening for a few years, bobs fluidity comes from years of practice and experience
We couldn't agree more 👏
I’m a home cook and been using water stones for a couple of years. I’d never heard of the ‘wire edge’ , so thank you for this video!
S H
First of all, fine job on the entire knife sharpening series 👍. Very informative and a wealth of knowledge for all to see. The amount of years and time spent on your craft is evident, very appreciative. Great analogies and demonstrations. 👍
Thank you ❤️
Thank you for taking the time to create a very informative video on sharpening knives. This is one of the better ones.
Most awesome and informative video that I have seen. Thanks!
We are so happy to hear that 👏
Look no further. This is the best explanation and demonstration of knife sharpening.
Nice to see someone else who sharpens the knives in rental homes.
Wow! I've known Bob for 30 years. Super nice guy.
He used to sharpen my knives when he was by the Kingdome in Seattle and I used to trade him for razor clams when he moved to Olympia.
Glad that after 20 years he became an overnight success. Someone told me his knives were selling for $15,000.
Very helpful!
Fantastic video. What is the proper angle to sharpen high end chef knives. I thought Zwilling/Henkles knives are at a 15 degree angle (30 degrees) inclusive. Why did you do 10/20 degrees?
One thing that wasn't mentioned was knife quality. Bob makes some of the nicest knives out there from the highest quality materials, which allows him to achieve these results.
Wow. Very informative
We are happy to hear that, Jim 👏
What a nice guy I am saving up for one of his knifes
We are so excited for you 👏
Fantastic video Bob!!
"Proper technique" is absolutely the key! My grandfather was a butcher and he taught me the value of sharp tools over 60 years ago. I try to impart this wisdom to my grand children
Love this tutorial! Curious why you don’t develop a bur on the initially sharpened side of the knife before sharpening the other side of the knife to then flip the bur?
Excellent tutorial! This is the first time I’ve heard anyone suggest using the same amount of pressure on the strop that they used on the stones (8-10 lbs). I’ve never been sure how much pressure to use on a strop. I’ve heard “no pressure”, “only the weight of the knife”, “relatively light pressure”, etc. Will 8-10 lbs dig in to the leather and cause the edge to round over? Would really appreciate some advice on this.
My understanding is that you hold the knife very close to parallel and the pressure pushes the blade into the leather just enough to polish off the burr. After initial polish you can use less pressure and flip the knife each stroke if you want. Its preference and depends on how you like your edge
I knew about the slide test I didn't know about the push test so I grabbed my 1st ever new Japanese carbon steel chef 🔪 knife-it passed 😂👍👏 lol
We're so glad to hear that 😉
What’s the name of those sharpening stones ?
This is a stropping block. You can find them on our site!
TWO of my favorite things in the kitchen knife world , Bob Kramer & Carbon Steel. Tribute to the master 😁 ua-cam.com/users/shorts-rxBAFQkH8Y
Uhm, why is it that I can’t find the bob kramer shapening set in the danish store but I can in the US store?
This is our USA page. For product updates on our Danish site, we recommend signing up for their newsletter.
Im slowly learning to sharpen with wetstones. I have Zwilling knives and various types of Japanese knives. Question about sharpening angles. Ive understood German knives are usually 20 degrees and Japanese 15. Now on this video you’re aiming 10 degrees. Any particular reason for that?
I am far from an expert but I believe it has to do with the hardness of the steel used in the knife. A softer steel will not take as fine an edge as a hard steel will, but on the other hand it will be less brittle and prone to chipping.
These are ground to about 10* because they are using very hard steel that can take a very fine edge, but as a result you should try to avoid using them, or any japanese style knife, on particularly hard substances like bone or frozen foods. A western style knife will usually be able to take more punishment like that.
10 degrees per side = 20 degrees in total
Anybody else have streaks/marks going up their knifes after sharpening? It was the first time and I think my angle was too low which was scraping the side of the knife
That's very common for the first knives and is basically due to a lack of technique. My advice (and that's exactly what I didn't do at the beginning) is buy a very cheap knife to get some practice. It really helped me a lot to build up some confidence
@@guillaumecolavita827 yea I did the sharpening on a couple of cheaper knifes so I'm OK with that. I have 2 more expensive blades from Japan that are fairly new so still plenty sharp. Gotta practice more though before I start grinding those.
Great tutorial, sir. Thank you.
One question though , how does one keep the angle, be it 10 or18 degrees, when using a whetstone by hand? My edge is supposed to be 15, but I have no idea of determining whether or not I'm on the right track.
There are a couple ways. We like to tell people to envision a matchbook, or even use one, to rest the knife on for the correct angle. Some people recommend stacking up quarters to the proper angle, which you can measure either with a physical protractor, or even an app on your phone. However the most important thing is consistency. Focus on getting close to that 15 degrees, and keep the angle the same every time you move the blade across the surface. It will become muscle memory with time.
@@ZWILLINGUSA Fantastic! Thank you for taking the time to so thoroughly answer my question. Much appreciated. 🙏
My first 'proper' knife was a Zwilling Twin Pollox 20cm, and it was a pleasure to use! 👍
The stones look like Shaptons with a different name.
He should make a video fixing chipped blades.
He says in the video they are Niwana
Why do use a rotating stroke when your right hand is in a pronating postion, but you don't use a rotating stroke when your right hand is in a supinating position?
His palm is down (pronated) in both edge strokes, what do you mean?
No matter when I use the sweeping strokes, vertical lines appear on the knife on one side (the starting side in the video). My burr is weak.
At 23:39 Bob Kramer mentions a "Sharpening Steel" or "Ceramic".
Is he referencing a honing rod?
If that's the case, what is the best sharpening practice utilizing these stones with the honing rod?
He is referring to a honing rod to get the blade back in alignment in between sharpening. For sharpening, we recommend our mail order service @knifeaid to get your knives professional sharpened fast!
Great video! So, buy some $tones and maintain a precise angle BY HAND, if you do not want to screw up your expensive knives… got it. 😏
Wrist should never get sore...because your wrist should be locked at all times to maintain a consistent angle. Very difficult to maintain angle if youre using the wrist. Only someone who has sharpened a million knives like this guy has should use the wrist while sharpening. Chefs knives and typical pocket knives, hunting knives, erc are a little different to sharpen because the bkades are so thin on chef knives. Thicker blades will require staying in ine sude until you raise a burr. Chef knives require more caution against offsetting the apex...making sure you keep closer to equal strokes on each side because theres so little steel behind the edge. The angle is much lower too, 12-15 is common. More hard use knives with thicker blades tend to ge more 20 or so degrees.
7:54 cringe!😬
With all due respect to ceramic stones, they're for novices
How can you say that? You are completely wrong mate.