SC - Sharpening tools (Was water bugs)

[Philip & Susan Troy]

CorwynWdwd at aol.com wrote:
> 
> I use a little plastic and metal sharpener I bought at Walmart. It's sold
> under several brand names depending on if you get it in the craft or the
> camping or the kitchen sections. There's a plastic handle with a finger guard
> made of metal and two pieces of some metal that look like scissors tips.
> Strangely enough, it's one of the few things actually made in the USA I've
> found at Walmart. Works Okay and it's easy to carry around.

I have one of those, and will occasionally use it at home, or my lady
wife will. When I need to repair a badly sharpened knife, or a chipped
edge, I have a series of Arkansas whetstones that I use (normally
three). For everyday professional use I have a gizmo that looks like one
of those folding Asian butterfly knives, with a diamond-dust-coated
"steel" inside. It does a fine job, used judiciously in conjunction with
an actual deburring steel.

I also have, somewhere, one of those electric knife-grinders, but it
seems not only to be a sort of evasion of the issue but also to eat
knives at an alarming rate, so I haven't used it in years. I own a
strop, but it seems unnecessarily anal-retentive, so I use it only for
razors and such.

I find it interesting that I actually used to work with a Swedish cook
whose name was Par, and he told me that all my knives were too sharp,
that that was a good way to hurt yourself. He said blunt knives were
definitely the way to go. He also was genetically risotto-challenged,
but that's another story. I wonder if he was our Par's Evil Twin?
  
Adamantius
- -- 
Phil & Susan Troy

troy at asan.com