First Time Sharpening, Success!

Hi All,

I’m new to this sub, but I’ve lurked for quite a while to glean as much from your collective expertise as possible before attempting to care for my knives.

Just wanted to say thank you to everyone who contributes here in an effort to make knife maintenance easier for the general population! I don’t really have anyone to share my success with who can appreciate it, so I thought I’d post here.

I’m a home cook, nothing to write home about. In my late teens- early 20s, I worked as a line cook at a boat marina steak house called Piasa Habor. Also managed a small pizza kitchen serving up weird STL style pizza and bar food for a couple years. To be honest, these types of restaurants in southern IL were run by complete assholes and it really soured my passion for cooking before I eventually escaped. Never had formal culinary training, was trained to cut corners and definitely didn’t learn the right best practices.

My kitchens always had victorinox or mercers and the owner sharpened them on a grinding wheel, or we’d send them out if they were rented so it was never something I learned. Fast forward 10 years later and I still have someone else sharpen my knives. But with the pandemic rehydrating my cooking skills like water to space food, I’ve rediscovered my love for cooking and in doing so, have a newfound interest in kitchen knives.

My wife and I got a set of Shuns for our wedding back in July. Classic wedding gift, right? Someone also gifted us a Wusthof Classic set that wasn’t on our registry. I didn’t set up the registry, or even suggest adding a knife set to the wish list, but it happened and I’m not complaining about it. We kept both sets but I normally stick with the Shun chef’s knife. The Shuns are okay knives, but damn do they microchip if you’re not very technical on the cutting board! Never used Japanese knives, but from the sound of it the Shuns aren’t anyone’s first choice on here. Definitely looking forward to an upgrade to a higher quality steel and more reputable manufacturer.

I came here seeking advice on sharpening, whetstone selection, etc. Didn’t even have to inquire, just had to look around and eventually settled on the Shapton Pros 320/1k and a simple leather strop.

Today I sharpened both sets, starting with the Wusthof Santoku (least utilized knife). Scuffed up the right side of the blade on the first attempt, but quickly adjusted. Used the marker technique. Didn’t need to bust out the 320, just stuck with the 1k the whole way through. My wife had to leave the room (small condo) as the sound of metal on stone is apparently nauseating for her but I found it to be zen-like.

Took me roughly an hour and a half to sharpen 2 santokus, 2 chefs knives, a huge veggie clever, and a boning/filet hybrid (shun makes some weird knives). I managed to get every single knife sharp enough to shave, shred newspaper, cut trough tomato one handed. The edges look even, and I’m pretty fucking stoked to have had such good success on the first attempt. And it’s all thanks to you! I really appreciate your community forum and y’all keep the bullshit on here to an absolute minimum. Thank you for providing so much support without overcomplicating the process.

I know there’s so much more that goes into sharpening, but y’all gave me the confidence I needed to finally dive in.

Thanks again!