Thread: Knife sharpening angles

Originally Posted by csmiffy

Well at the local freezing works they have a not only a sharpening robot but also a small bench mount.
Bothe set up at the same angle. 18 degrees I think.
It's the optimum for edge and general retention.
Some don't like it but most are ok.
If you go at the bone a bit steep you wreck the edge and these guy are a bit like that generally.
Also if old mate is using the steel on the edge different to you that's a problem too.
Gotta be the same.
Also less steeling is more better.
The guys at the works will do their 20 seconds of cuts (boning chain) then a couple of very light passes on the steel.
That's it. They look like serial killers lol.
If you steel a knife like the old tegel chicken ads you are doing it wrong.
I would suggest he is doing both.
Lots of the steel and wrong angle

The old Tegel ads are a bit rough, but if you are 'on' it's a very quick way to flick a good bevel back to a sharp edge. The technique for doing that the Tegel way is useless on anything but those long 450mm very slightly curved to a point butcher steels (Cambrian again, have I mentioned that name? But there are others). Otherwise every time you contact the knife to the steel you end up tapping the edge and you'll get a ripple in it. That's how you start chasing your tail and next step you've stuffed the edge and pushed the 'burr' right over to one side (and it's usually right where you want to do most of the cutting with the blade). Part of the issue is most people unless they are very careful will hit one side of the blade much harder than the other, so are doomed to an uneven and blunt result. A fine cut steel will mean you don't have to use so much force and very much helps with the uneven effort problem.