knife advice - good knife and good care

Question

At home i have this knife: http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/product.asp?SKU=11097073&RN=1038&

I picked that one up several years ago, but haven't done much in the way of any maintenance on it. I did pick up a cheap sharpener but it didn't seem to have much effect so i stopped using it.

The knife seems dull to me. It doesn't cut through things as easily as i think it should. For example, resting the blade on a ripe firm tomatoe, i would think the blade should be able to slice through without me applying much, or any, downward pressure and without pushing in the shape of the tomatoe. It should basically just start slicing through under it's own weight and without squishing the tomatoe at all.

Let me know if that sounds like an unrealistic expectation.

So i have 2 questions:

1. is that (or was it before i didn't maintain it correctly) a good knife? In searching here i saw victorinox suggested as a good value. Is the one i have worth keeping or should i purchase a new one?

2. Does anyone know of a chain store (or local store in the LA area) that i can take it to to get it re-sharpened? And what should i be doing to maintain it's usefulness after it's re-sharpened?

I assume the answer to the 2nd part of question 2 is this: How do you care for your knives? - specifically the part about getting honing steel? does it matter which one i get or can i just get a $10-$15 one on amazon?

Thanks

Asked by merk

Answer

There's a difference between sharpening and honing your knifes. If your knives need sharpening, you should take it to a professional. After a few years of moderate use, it's probably time. Michael has a good suggestion, but only if you plan on sharpening your knives often enough to make it worth it. For regular maintenance, you want to use a honing steel on your knives, which will straighten out any place where the edge has "rolled". This does not actually "sharpen" the knife, as the sharpening process removes steel to create a new edge.

There is some difference between honing steels. In my own research a little while back, I decided they fell into about 3 basic types:

1. "Cheap" - These are the $10 steels. They have small metal ridges running down the steel. These ridges are really too rough for honing, could remove steel from the blade, and won't put a very good finish on your edge.
2. "Regular" - These are the $30-ish steels, and the ones that come with most good knife sets (Wusthof, etc). They do not have ridges, but have a slightly rough finish. Properly used, this is the best choice for most people.
3. "Combo" - The $50+ honing steels are also sharpeners. They will have some sort of diamond-coat finish which will sharpen your knife as well as honing it. I've heard praise for these, but I prefer to separate the honing and sharpening steps. While a regular honing steel is safe to use on a regular basis, you should only use one of these about every 6 months to a year, or you'll grind down your knives too much.

You can also get a ceramic honing rod, which would add an even finer finish, which you could use in addition to a regular honing steel.

Answered by Bob

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