Question
Eileen Reid
Is the procedure for sharpening santuko knive different from that for a regular chef knife? How is it done? How frequently should sharpening be done for santuko knives used in a vegan home kitchen?
Answer
And so, the procedure for sharpening a San Toku is fundamentally the same, uh, as for a chef's knife, okay? And that's gonna be true, uh, whether you're using a mechanical device or a wetstone, okay? For your sharpening, um, still on a daily basis, generally speaking, okay? We would use a sharpening steel, okay? Uh, there are some folks out there, some cooks out there that, uh, have very thin, uh, bladed knives, San Toku knives. Um, so a, a fundamental difference, first of all, uh, for the, for the general audience today between a San Toku and a chef's knife in his construction, is that, um, you know, when, when looked at from above a European style chef's knife is gonna be relatively wide, the, the, the, it's just a heavier construction. A San Toku is very, very thin, and it allows you to make more precise cuts, okay? But it also means that it can be a little bit more delicate. So you, um, and, and it just depends on the specific santo that you're using. Some of them are a little more hearty, some of them are thinner construction or, and more susceptible to chipping, okay? Along the, um, along the, the cutting edge of the blade, uh, in which case, um, a a typical, uh, honing steel is not recommended. Um, you know, by some, some people, uh, you might consider the finer, uh, texture of a ceramic honing rod, uh, in that case, or even one of those sort of diamond dust, uh, very, uh, uh, um, fine sort of oval shaped honing rods that I described a few minutes ago. Um, those are a little bit more delicate, um, you know, on, uh, that cutting edge, okay? They're, they're great for any knives also. Okay? But just a couple of distinctions to, to start with. Um, uh, another thing to mention here between the two is that, uh, the European style chef's knife, uh, and I say European style, because they're not all made in Europe, right? They're made all over the place, including in Japan. Um, so in Japan, you can get a European style knife and a Japanese style knife, okay? So I just wanna make that distinction clear, okay? But with a European style chef's knife, um, they're gonna be double beveled. So, you know, both sides of the blade have a taper. And then this is your cutting edge that's formed down here, okay? Whereas with a San Toku, uh, it can be double beveled, or it may be single beveled as the edge of the blade comes down. It just depends on the knife, okay? Now, if it's a single bevel, you just have one side to sharpen. Uh, if it's a double beveled, uh, blade, you have two sides of the, the blade to, to sharpen. 'cause you wanna, you wanna affect that, that cutting edge, um, precisely and evenly. Okay? Um, and then, okay, I'll, I'll throw in another twist here. When it comes to double, double beveled knives, okay? Typically the bevels are even on both sides, okay? But you can also make uneven bevels like a 70%, 30% bevel, you know, uh, again, that's kind of deep and according to your, your preferences and your experience, but some cooks do that as well, okay? But that, that only complicates things right now. So let's stick to even bevels. Okay? Um, now how's it done? So I, I generally covered that. And, and what we'll go into more detail are the two links, um, that just popped onto our screen here. So the first one addresses some general information on sharpening some tools, uh, as well as some technique. Uh, and then the second link, uh, for U YouTube, um, is a video that looks specifically at a San Toku. And, uh, this gentleman, um, gives, uh, a nice commentary and shows some, some solid technique on, on doing that. So, um, that will get you started, um, in, uh, you know, in a much better fashion than my talking here. Will. Now, how frequently should you sharp, uh, should sharpening be done? Uh, in a, you, you say vegan home kitchen, but just in general? Okay? 'cause it doesn't matter what the kitchen environment is, it all depends on what you're cutting, right? The, the density or the hardness of the food, as well as the frequency of your cutting or the volume of your food. Okay? And, um, it's gonna depend, uh, you, you know, uh, very often in home kitchens, um, sharpening, not daily honing, but sharpening may be done once a year. That could be adequate for some folks. Maybe it's done a couple of times a year. Um, I don't see it done more than that for most cooks at home. Okay? Now, a restaurant is a different situation, okay? Where we have a lot more volume that we're processing, and we might be sharpening knives, you know, on, uh, you know, a four or 6, 8, 10 week basis. Okay? But at home it can be rather infrequent. Okay? Um, uh, a common test is to, uh, grab a tomato that's of, that's fairly ripe, let's say moderate ripe to, to, to more ripe. And then just see if you can fairly smoothly cut through that. And if, if you can't, um, then that's gonna be a sign, um, for you to consider sharpening your knife at that point. Okay? Now, on the note of sharpening, I'm gonna, um, share some information with you. Um, there are many ways to get, uh, a sharp knife. You can do it yourself again, with these mechanical devices, uh, which are fine, uh, better than nothing. Some are better than others, uh, or a wet stone, which will give you the best possible results. Um, but the learning curve is, uh, is steep, and you gotta maintain your skills, uh, as well. Okay? You can also send your knives out, uh, to have, uh, somebody do them for you, in which case they're usually gonna be done on a large abrasive wheel, a motorized wheel, or the knife is just put up against that, it's flipped over, and then, you know, the other side is ground down. Um, what I wanna say is, uh, please vet the knife sharpener before you give them your prized cutting tool. Um, I have seen on a number of occasions, and even a couple of occasions from our Rouxbe students who have reached out to me aghast sharing photographs of the knife that they got back, you know, their $200 knife or whatever it was, and the person just ground the dickens out of it, and they, they, they ground about 20 years worth of use, uh, off of that knife. And they did such a poor job. They, they actually damaged the knife, um, such that that chef's knife, um, no longer would function as a chef's knife if you were to correct it. The, the, you know, the, the blade would then be so shallow that it would really function as a utility knife. Um, so please be careful if you decide to send your knife out, uh, to be sharpened. And then the other thing I'll mention is that if you are, um, uh, going down this path of learning to use a wet stone, um, start your practice on a practice knife, just some inexpensive knife, um, that you can clunk around on, because it's pretty easy to damage a blade on a coarse wet stone if you're not careful. Okay? Um, and so bring up your skill, uh, on a less expensive knife that, you know, you don't mind, you know, hacking away at the bushes on or something, um, before you bring out your, you know, your, your nicer knife, okay? To be, uh, sharpened on the stone. All right? Thank you.
Links
