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Knives & Knife sharpening

Bit of a dig here...
So what was the general consensus on these, worth the cash?
From all reports the stones it comes with are terrible, so for ~$45 for the kit and then another $50-$60 for some actual Edge Pro stones (incl. shipping) you've got a pretty flexible sharpening system for $100.
What do good value whetstones go for as the alternative?

I've been tossing up buying 1 or 2 new knives the past fortnight as my Mundial 8" Chef's seems to be getting harder and harder to keep sharp using just the steel rod it came with.
I have taken a punt and ordered the well-reviewed Victorinox Fibrox and now tossing up whether I buy a good Jap knife like a MAC Pro or Masamoto VG to compliment it, or buy the above 'Edge Faux' + Edge Pro stones and bring the Mundial back to life.

Thoughts?
 
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Yes, I am ready to try and get some.

Also going to buy a couple of cheap Kiwi branded knives from the local Asian variety stores. They are pretty decent and most Asian chefs swear by them. Just need a decent sharpener to touch them up.
 
If you don't mind a tiny bit of time on the hones I think any knife is fine. Sure the better ones will hold an edge. But with a good stone handy you can put a wicked edge on the knife any time. And honestly you not like to be giving it to generations to come so if you hone through the steel quickly who cares.

Just my 2cent. I picked up a shun 1000/6000 the other day and it works great. I didn't want to use my sharptons on kitchen knives
 
My favourite knife is a $9 SS cheapy from Woolworths. It isn't very thick unlike most knives you get today, plus it has a beautiful thinned grind on it. The steel is very soft but once sharpened is really useful, actually a joy to use considering the price. Unfortunately my mother took to it with her pull-through sharpener and wrecked the edge - took chunks out of it.

Anyway it's blunt now so I am thinking the EF might be in order. Will probably reset it to 19 degrees and make it usable again and give it a touchup.

Where I live there is about 10 stores that stock the Kiwi's, and I have wanted a cleaver for a long time. There's a large range of styles to, and I love Usuba/Santoku style knives which they have.
 
Ybbor said:
If you don't mind a tiny bit of time on the hones I think any knife is fine. Sure the better ones will hold an edge. But with a good stone handy you can put a wicked edge on the knife any time. And honestly you not like to be giving it to generations to come so if you hone through the steel quickly who cares.

Just my 2cent. I picked up a shun 1000/6000 the other day and it works great. I didn't want to use my sharptons on kitchen knives
Click to expand...

My 2c too. Free hand sharpening using a standard stone is really not that hard. It's nice to get the bigger whetstones but even your average hardware store whetstone will give any knife a wicked edge.
 
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Yes i hand sharpen too. I think it gives a rounded edge and that gives a stronger edge, more like a concave point then a wedge.

Chipped edge can be honed to razor sharp in and hour max.
 
Yay, my Edge Faux has arrived!
Just waiting for my real Edge Pro stones to arrive now. Might have to go to Woolies and buy a CHEAP knife, blunt it and then start practicing with the EF and EF stones.
 
~Spyne~ said:
Yay, my Edge Faux has arrived!
Just waiting for my real Edge Pro stones to arrive now. Might have to go to Woolies and buy a CHEAP knife, blunt it and then start practicing with the EF and EF stones.
Click to expand...

Just grab a cheapy from your nearest Asian Grocer or Variety store. Probably get a Kiwi 20cm Chef's knife for a fiver and change. I can get a cleaver for about $8 locally!
 
Was at my local 'big' Asian supermarket today, and noticed they had a few Kiwi knives in stock at much cheaper prices than I have seen locally before.

I grabbed the following models:

  • '288' - 8" Gyuto/Chefs
  • '171' - 6.5" Pointed Deba-style
  • '172' - 7" Usuba-style

The 288 cost me the princely sum of $3.99, and each of the 171 & 172 cost me $2.79 each. Total was $9.55!

I did need to slice up some meat & onions when I got home, so washed and dried them and tested them out. Blade was not sharp enough for the meat, but the onion sliced effortlessly with the Usuba.

Ordering a 2014 Edge Faux and will get them wickedly sharp and see how they travel. My favourite chefs knife is now horribly pitted and needs some serious time with the 120 stone - once that is fixed and I give it a good polish with the 1500 stone then it should be the sharpest I have ever had it.
 
Pjotr said:
What? And you didn't haggle them down?
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Do you walk into a Woolies/Coles/IGA and haggle them down? I am not just talking about an Asian variety store, or even the more traditional Asian 'supermarket' which is just a shop. It is an actual supermarket with checkouts and all that sort of thing.

And most of the 'stuff the stock in to the roof' style variety stores were closer to $6-7 for the 288 and $4.50-$5 on the 171 & 172 so I was not complaining.

Ybbor said:
Love to see some photos!!
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From the top, 171, 172 & 288

kiwi_171_172_288.png



And the receipt, the girl just put them down as both being 171's as the price was the same:

kiwiknifereceipt.png


They are quite thin in the blades and very light - but they do have excellent balance. The handles feel rather rough and unfinished but a few sessions on the wood while wet with a steel soap pad will take the roughness off.

The factory edge on the Usuba did very well with finely dicing onions this afternoon. Hoping a slightly better edge will yield even better results.
 
Razormonsta said:
Do you walk into a Woolies/Coles/IGA and haggle them down?
Click to expand...
Why yes, yes I do!
Naturally it depends upon the item/reason.
Should try it yourself, as the more people that seek to discount their items, the more feedback their management receive about us customers seeking cheaper prices.
Collective bargaining power and all that fuzzy warm b/s ;)
 
Razormonsta said:
Do you walk into a Woolies/Coles/IGA and haggle them down? I am not just talking about an Asian variety store, or even the more traditional Asian 'supermarket' which is just a shop. It is an actual supermarket with checkouts and all that sort of thing.

And most of the 'stuff the stock in to the roof' style variety stores were closer to $6-7 for the 288 and $4.50-$5 on the 171 & 172 so I was not complaining.
Click to expand...

I wasn't really serious! I would have given them a tip!
 
Nice knives!!! Will have to try some myself. Have been running the kitchen knives through the hones and seeing how the different metal reacts
 
Ybbor said:
Nice knives!!! Will have to try some myself. Have been running the kitchen knives through the hones and seeing how the different metal reacts
Click to expand...

They look okay, but I have a feeling the stainless is fairly soft so it will be interesting to see how they go. I know my 'Woolworths Favourite' is on the harder side of these Kiwi's.

Either way, my Ruxtin Pro 'EdgeFaux 2014' arrived this morning, not bad after I purchased it on Monday afternoon. Looks pretty decent and the suction cup looks to be very solid and sticks well to my desk at work. Paid $45 delivered from this seller: NEW 2014 Professional Knife FIX Angle Sharpening System Kitchen Sharpener | eBay
 
Do you need to have a knife sharpener at your desk at work or were you just trying out the suction caps?

If the former, what the hell I.T job is that dangerous?

Monsta edit: Just testing the suction cup base. Didn't pull anything else out.
 
gthomas04 said:
You have obviously never worked in IT support (the only question is whether to use the knives on users or yourself)
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Yeah, I have. I worked for CSC and BP Petroleum in i.t support for some time.

I never used a blade, I preferred to use my keyboard skills to wreak havoc. Like taking away a user's Spider Solitaire. That makes em cry.
 
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