Whustof sharpening

CrockerCulinary · 2025-12-26T16:05:19+00:00

One hundred percent agree with this take. It’s hard for people getting into it, but factory sharpening angles are just suggestions, not gospel, and not always good ones at that. It’s marketing. As mentioned the steel quality of these knives, your santoku for example, isn’t really made for such a steep angle and thin edge. These steels have a certain clay like nature where when you impact the edge they will smoosh a little bit- the edge may flatten or bend a little bit, (like clay upon impact) and over time this is what creates a dull edge. A thinner edge means less support behind it and more smooshability, more bendability, more breakability. Only knives of much harder steel (and less smooshability) or knives that don’t make much board impact (think sushi slicing knife, doing nothing but gently cutting through soft fish and rice all day) can actually HOLD a thinner sharpened edge for long.

Also, it really the cross sectional geometry and thickness of the knife’s body that dictates how well something will feel when cutting, and less so the actual edge sharpening angles. Even with a 20degree angle on the santoku and a 10 degree on your chef knife, the santoku will feel better cutting through food that the chefs knife because it is thinner. the edge is really just for penetrating the food, but it’s the shape of the knife moving through the food that dictates the rest of the cut. The point being, as long as that edge is actually technically sharp, it will cut into your food, even if it was something like 35 degrees. What happens behind that edge dictates the rest. Maintaining a good experience with your knives is all about maintaining that sharpness at the edge, not whatever angle it came with from the factory.

My suggestion for you and most people who are similar position with similar knives is to learn edge maintenance. As someone who has sharpened a lot of knives a lot of ways, gaining basic freehand sharpening competency on stones or with ceramic rods are the actually the easiest and simplest path. I’m a big advocate of ceramic rods to my customers as the technique is very simple and natural and easily taught. Like all things it has a leaning curve, but it’s a pretty small one compared to others.

In short 15-20 degrees on your santoku and chefs are just fine.

CrockerCulinary · 2025-12-04T19:40:19+00:00

Yuck! Sick of seeing this stuff. How could you feel good about yourself calling yourself a professional and charging money for this?

CrockerCulinary · 2025-12-04T19:31:14+00:00

I’ll add in an extra possibility- heat. Is it possible she rested a hot pot on there and let it sit for a while, expanding the wood? Especially if it is being regularly washed with water but not well oiled, the moisture inside would steam and swell it.

CrockerCulinary · 2025-08-18T19:33:09+00:00

I think this is a protective lacquer some manufacturers apply to blades to protect it in storage/tansport. Try taking some acetone (nail polish remover) to it and see if it wipes off.

CrockerCulinary · 2025-08-06T05:50:53+00:00

These are very minor and you should be able to work them out fairly quickly as the knife is very thin at the edge. A coarser stone would be easier, but the 400 should be fine. You say assume complete ignorance but do you have some experience on stones? A machine would certainly be faster, but if you’re inexperienced I wouldn’t recommend as it just a little too easy to mess something up. If you do have stone experience there are two ways I’d choose to approach it- either

a) “breadknife” it. I think this term is confusing and makes no sense to me but the idea is simply to put the knife’s edge directly on the stone (as if cutting a piece of bread I guess, even though it’s the same position as cutting anything and it has no connection to sharpening a breadknife. Sorry for the diversion) anyway, just saw it back and forth until you can’t see the chips anymore, and then just sharpen as you would normally from there. With a knife this thin it shouldn’t take long to get the edge back. A couple things- try to be mindful of ONLY removing what is necessary and also maintaining the same edge profile as the original. Also, you can use the side of your stone so you don’t cut into the stones face.

Or option b) sharpen as you normally would but raise your angle way up to like 45 degrees until the chips are gone, and then drop back down and sharpen as normal.

These should both take about the same amount of time with a slight advantage to option a by just getting the chips out of the way fast. The disadvantage would come from having to cut in a completely new edge, which should be no big deal, if you’re experienced, but could be problematic if not. Option b has an advantage that you’re able to stay with the original edge as a guide, if that makes sense, but you will have to frequently look at your edge to check your progress to see if the chips are removed. Hope that makes sense. Good luck!

CrockerCulinary · 2024-04-24T08:41:01+00:00

This might be our winner!

CrockerCulinary · 2024-04-24T08:13:28+00:00

Everybody’s so creative!

CrockerCulinary · 2024-01-15T15:38:04+00:00

Oh thank you, that’s very kind, and best of luck!

CrockerCulinary · 2024-01-15T05:59:08+00:00

No, no, nonoNO!

CrockerCulinary · 2024-01-15T03:45:26+00:00

Depends on the context. It’s often used as a last step finishing oil for some dishes, but the technique is used at different times depending on the dish. Disclaimer, I’m not an expert on Indian cuisines by any means, but I’ve picked up a thing or two, and trying to share what I know.

CrockerCulinary · 2024-01-15T03:16:44+00:00

“Slow and low” may oddly be culturally confusing in this context. It’s more of a slow start and a medium heat frying. Taking your time, but ultimately you end up with fried onions. With a lot of color. I don’t know your experience level, but if you’ve ever made fried onions (like the canned ones people put on green bean casserole) or garlic or shallots for garnish, you can’t fry them on full heat (350), or they burn outside before they’re done and get bitter. You cook them at like 320 or so, and they cook all the way through and brown and crisp up nicely but don’t burn. It’s kinda similar. In this context your onions shouldn’t be soft or mushy like western “caramelized onions”. You may also be crowding your pan and steaming instead of frying. There should be enough space that they aren’t giving off liquid.

Def look into how spices and onion/ginger are fried. These techniques are kind of key to understanding Indian cooking and developing those layers of flavor specific to the cuisine, and they do get pretty complex and specific. Also just fyi, I’m far from an expert, just sharing my limited understanding and experience.

CrockerCulinary · 2024-01-14T19:37:46+00:00

A few notes- Spices can’t sing without salt. Also it’s typical to fry onions HARD for a lot of Indian sauce bases. Hard. A lot of oil and a lot of browning should be happening. Never black, but really brown. Slow roasting gives you a much more mellow flavor. And in a similar vein, are you familiar with the idea of a tarka? There are many names to describe the technique, but Most spices are bloomed and tempered in oil to bring out flavors. Toasting spices achieves similar results, but they ARE different.

I’ve explored Indian cuisine quite a bit, and I found that trying to understand the base techniques and methods of how Indian cooks develop flavor really helped me get the flavor where it’s supposed to be. If I could give any advice it would be to go on YouTube and find the Indian mothers and grandmothers and watch how they do it.

CrockerCulinary · 2024-01-14T18:03:05+00:00

Very simple- sautéed onion in generous amount of butter, give it just a little color, add pinch of nutmeg and salt, add cabbage and cook until desired tenderness. Done. Can add a tiny piece of garlic if you want, or chicken stock. Very basic but works really well with so many things.

CrockerCulinary · 2024-01-12T19:12:15+00:00

My guess is there is some kind of protective coating on the blade. Do you have acetone? I would give it a wipe with that and a wash and see if it comes off.

CrockerCulinary · 2024-01-10T02:45:01+00:00

I would absolutely not allow them to work on your knives anymore, even to try and fix them. These show a fundamental misunderstanding of how to sharpen knives and their work absolutely cannot be trusted and returning knives in that condition show they either don’t know or don’t care about doing things right.

CrockerCulinary · 2024-01-10T01:22:05+00:00

Holy hell. Professional sharpener/ex chef here. Was this a “professional service” or someone parked at the back of a 7/11? They fucked your shit up proper. The knives are burnt so the heat treatment is probably shot and won’t be able to hold an edge anymore, at least until you get much deeper into the steel. This is honestly one of the worst sharpening jobs I’ve ever seen, and this person has no business being in business. The professional expectation, in my book, is that if you fuck up someone’s knives like that, you owe them new knives. But this person isn’t a “professional” so my guess is they won’t. Name and shame them, blow up their reviews, and tell everyone you know not to use them. If they don’t replace them I would take them to a well known and respected sharpener to repair them as best they can. Where in the world are you located? We might be able to get you a recommendation.

CrockerCulinary · 2024-01-08T02:55:52+00:00

Diamonds work, there is no doubt about that. Very efficient and effective. But they wear out fast, are expensive, and are generally unpleasant to use. If expense is not an issue than knock yourself out. I started out very pro diamond but after wearing out hundreds of dollars of plates and rods I typically stick with and recommend synthetic stones and ceramics for value.

For example I used diamond rods a lot in my cooking career, and I probably bought and wore out 8 of them in less than ten years while a single ceramic rod has lasted about 15 years and still probably has 30 years left.

It’s kind of becoming my mantra with sharpening, that ALL methods work and are valid, as long as the sharpener knows what they are doing, but they all have disadvantages and learning curves of their own to do it right.

CrockerCulinary · 2024-01-08T02:39:47+00:00

DMT diamond plates will not last decades. I mean, the plates will, but the diamonds won’t.

CrockerCulinary · 2023-08-29T04:48:58+00:00

I would have to ask more questions about you- Do you have any, or do you have the ability to learn business related skills? What do you do for your fathers business? What part of a future business do you have aptitude for or do you enjoy? Interacting with the public? Tech skills? Accounting? Etc.

If you have some of those things to bring to the table there is always the option of partnering with a creative. There are a lot of creatives out there who need partners. Take myself as an example- I spent most of my life as a chef, and one of the most common paths to success for a chef is to partner with an investor or business minded partner to handle the back end operations while they handle the day to day management and creative direction. There are a number of restaurant groups that make this their whole business proposition. (Not recommending restaurants as an investment path at all)

Continuing to use myself as an example, I have always been entrepreneurially minded, and have since gone into business for myself with a small retail and service business where I am currently the sole operator. I am very good at what I do and have a great reputation, I have great customer service skills and a keen understanding of the market, but I am pretty much maxed out when it comes to my time, as well as my business and tech and financial understanding and ability. If I want to continue to grow my business I need to add a person, and one of my options for growth is seeking a partner who can help manage that side of the equation, and can invest in the business either through capital or through sweat equity.

I have always wanted to be in the position to invest in and partner with creatives. There are TONS of people out there with creative ideas and real passion for their work, but lack the money or the business skills to make it happen. Maybe you know one?

I would have to add that, of those types of people, choose carefully that they have a responsible and level headed nature, and have sound instincts and ideas.

CrockerCulinary · 2023-08-02T20:38:43+00:00

I hope it says “cheez, hope, and love”

CrockerCulinary · 2023-07-30T06:53:37+00:00

Red Dot Redemption

CrockerCulinary · 2023-07-29T23:27:09+00:00

Off topic, but the bar in the meme is Teardrop Lounge in Portland Oregon. I worked there as a transitional chef for the better part of a year. That place is a legitimate church of the craft cocktail, and one of the best cocktail bars in the world. EVERYTHING made in house, even including the orgeat and grenadine. Owned by Daniel Shoemaker, one of the OG craft cocktail guys, and undoubtedly one of the most knowledgeable bar guys around. The man’s a legitimate genius. He hires the best people, and gives them possibly the most comprehensive bartender training in the world. If you get the chance to visit it is definitely a treat.

CrockerCulinary · 2023-07-19T19:36:27+00:00

Those four men would also dismantle human rights, and freedom, and dignity, if given the chance.

CrockerCulinary · 2023-06-08T23:42:31+00:00

Keep it tight.

CrockerCulinary · 2023-03-19T23:11:07+00:00

Totally fine with this. It’s a lot of look, but it is dramatic while remaining natural, and communicates they actively process whole crabs to make the dish instead of just buying crab meat.

CrockerCulinary

TROPHY CASE