okay so today we are going to talk about
a number of problems that I've been
seeing a lot mostly in the comments
section of my videos and also it get
tons of emails from you guys asking
about the issues that you guys are
happening with sharpening and all that
good stuff so today I'm going to address
some of the mmm I would say some of the
biggest problems I've been seeing with
knife sharpening in general and
particularly with knife sharpening on a
whetstone
so keep in mind this only applies to
hand sharpening on wet stones nothing
else now many of the issues I bring up
are from my own personal experience and
sharpening journey and many of them are
from you guys leave them in the comments
so there's a combination of both there
but you know I'll go through the list
and hopefully give you guys my advice on
how to correct these issues and how to
deal with them
so the first it's putting your fingers
too close or on the cutting edge while
sharpening now if you guys watch some of
my tutorials or sharpening videos you
guys will see that my fingers are
generally about 1/2 an inch away from
the cutting edge I don't actually
measure exactly what distance my fingers
are from the cutting edge I simply place
them based on where I feel comfortable
during that sharpening and during the
sharpening my fingers will either move
closer or further away from the cutting
edge depending on where I'm sharpening
and that's simply being flexible to our
sharpening yea I've also heard from this
other channel that you want your fingers
to feel the Westone and the cutting edge
at the same time so that you can dictate
cutting angles that is just a recipe for
losing a finger tips both and your
finger tips being grounded away from the
stone and also getting your fingers
pinched between the blade and the stone
like I'm the last guy who will say you
can only do it this way you can do it
that way you guys know that it's not my
style but the advice of having your
fingers on the west stone and on the
cutting edge at the same time is just
purely bad advice so if your fingers are
getting pinched move your fingers away
from the cutting edge that is literally
putting your fingers between two hard
places and that's not where you want to
be so ya just enter your fingers away
from the cutting edge just a little bit
I get tons and tons of comments with
people asking how to keep their hands
from cramping to our hand sharpening the
absolute best way to prevent cramping
during sharpening is
loosen your grip I've got a really bony
hands so I make a fist or hold the knife
it looks like I'm exerting a lot of
energy to kind of mean you make sure
that I'm in control of a knife and make
sure that there are no flexibility in my
wrists or my fingers at all
I travel to Japan about two or three
times a year and when I'm there I'm
visiting the best nights truckers in the
world and if you watch all of them
undoubtedly you will notice how relaxed
they are when they're sharpening and by
maintaining their relaxation they're
able to produce consistent results
throughout the day
another problem is pushing too hard into
the stone during sharpening this is a
common problem because people are
rushing during sharpening no matter how
hard the stone if you're cutting in at a
relatively steeper angle and you're
pushing into that stone you will gouge
it at some point because you're shopping
on an area that is a fraction of a
millimeter it is very easy to roll that
edge and when you're constantly rolling
your edges you will never get a sharp
knife your stone will simply dish in
gully much faster than necessary so
rather than pushing down too hard on the
stone simply let the weight of the knife
and your hands do the work for you so
leading into the next problem is rushing
obviously rushing nothing gets done when
you rush rushing in life isn't good
Russian during sharpening isn't good as
well people who are starting out tend to
rush but when you're starting out that's
when you need to slow down and take your
time you need to know how your knives
will react on the stone you need to know
that when you change your angles what
can happen and so all these things take
time to learn and so in the very
beginning slow down you know and just
take your time don't rush the sharpening
process if it takes you 20 minutes to
develop a burr that's okay and there's
nothing wrong with that and in the very
beginning don't be surprised if it takes
you a half a dozen tour dozen tries
before you get a nice sharp knife and
then at some point it all comes together
and then what used to take you 30
minutes to an hour will now take you ten
to fifteen minutes and this next one is
two hands sharpening meaning you sharpen
the right side of the knife with your
right hand holding and then you sharpen
your left side of the knife with your
left hand holding it now this one's a
bit tougher to discuss because people do
do it and there's nothing wrong with it
but you have to understand that when
people do that it has more to do with
aesthetics than actual knife performance
there is a knife maker by the name of
Honora Sanh and he's one of the very few
knife makers today that are still
shopping all business by hand
using the ambidextrous method I have
asked him very specifically why he does
that he explained he wants his knives to
look symmetrical that is it that is the
only reason why he does it
and coming from a master knife maker
who's been doing this for 50 years or so
that answer should be good enough this
next issue is lifting the knife off the
stone when polishing there is a very
popular tutorial out there that's
telling you that you need to lift
between every single stroke when doing
the push and pull when you're polishing
your knife that's fine if you have a lot
of control and you've been doing it for
a long time but for those who are just
getting into knife sharpening you have
the potential of changing angle every
single time you lift your knife off the
whetstone and so by doing that you can
potentially change the angle at which
you're polishing at every single stroke
now look I'm not saying that that method
doesn't work or that that is bad
technique but the very same person who
made that video a few years ago has
recently put out a video a few months
ago and his new method no longer
suggests to lift the knife off the
Westone between every stroke as a matter
of fact his method looks a lot like my
sharpening videos but when you hear your
thoughts let me know what your thoughts
are on these issues I brought up do you
agree or disagree with them alright guys
well that would be it for this video
thumbs up if you enjoyed it and if you
agree with more than two of my points
maybe consider subscribing and just
remember at the end of the day if
there's food on the table and there's
love in your home that's all that
matters
all right well thank you guys for being
here I'll catch you in the next video