Fish Sniffer On Demand Digital Edition Issue 3802 Jan 4-18 | Page 29

January 4-18, 2019 VOL.38 • ISS. 2 27 The Art of Sharpening Knives S omehow I have always been So I did what anyone who wanted fascinated by knives and other to learn anything did back in those days; I hung around knife shops and edged tools. I think I was influenced hardware stores where they used by the many cooking shows I used to offer knife sharpening to watch when I was services. In those days, young. Shows like the before YouTube, most of the ones featuring Julia Child, stores were small mom and Jacques Pepin, Martin Yan, pop shops where the guy and the Galloping Gourmet who sharpened the knife captured my imagination, also had to keep an eye out not because of the exotic for customers coming into food they cooked, but the shop, which meant that because of their brilliant they had to be sharpening knife skills. knives in full view of the Of course, they were customers. It must have privy to using some of the been somewhat unsettling finest cutlery at the time, for them to have this young and I had the feeling that by Steve kid standing there watching if I owned such fine steel I “Hippo”Lau their every move like a would also be able to slice, hawk and never buying dice, mince, chop, and filet anything. as well as they were demonstrating. Eventually, I was able to develop Coming from a low income back- enough skill to sharpen a knife to a ground, we didn’t own such fancy very decent edge Then, in my 30’s, I knives from the heart of Germany. I fell in love with Japanese knives, and had to make do with the inexpensive with it, the Japanese way of sharp- stamped knives my parents owned. It ening them. didn’t take long for me to learn that No longer was my old hardware expensive or inexpensive, a knife store bought two sided Carborundum wasn’t worth poop if it wasn’t sharp. stone adequate for the task of putting It was pretty ambitious for me, as an edge to my steel. No, no ... I had a preteen, to be so driven to sharpen to acquire a set of genuine Japanese knives. I asked my dad if he could water stones for that duty. teach me how to sharpen knives, but Sure, that Carborundum stone with he wasn’t a whole lot of help. He in the 240 grit on one side and 480 his lifetime taught me many things, grit on the other was adequate for but how to properly sharpen a knife common use, but I was not satisfied wasn’t one of them. It also explained with common use. I was mesmerized why the household knives were never by the beauty of Japanese cuisine and very sharp. FISH SNIFFER COUNTRY All Hippo wanted for Christmas is a keenly honed knife. especially by the precision with which fish was sliced as sashimi. (OK, just so we are clear, I don’t enjoy eating Japanese food, especially sashimi and sushi, but I do love the way it looks.) I was fortunate enough to meet up with a sushi chef who didn’t mind sharing his sharpening techniques with me. Whereas the standard stone with a 480 grit surface was considered a fine surface, my Japanese stones start with a 1000 grit surface. From there I go to a 2000 grit surface, then finish with a 6000 grit stone for an edge that really shines. It took me many years to develop the skill necessary to sharpen knives this way, but for the average person, is it really worth it? Can the average person get a really good edge on their knives without years of Photo courtesy of DMT SHARPENING. practice? Let’s face it, most of the knife sharpening tools and systems out there are simply garbage. Either they are too rough on your blade, or if they have a grinder they have a problem of over grinding the edge or worse, overheating the edge. Also, they aren’t very precise or adjustable. (Not all German knives are sharpened at a 22.5 degree angle, and not all Japanese knives are at a 16 degree angle.) So what is someone to do? Next time: How to put a really Wicked Edge on your knife! BOAT SHOW PRICING during January Celebrating 61 years of “The Unsinkable Legend”!! CALL FOR DETAILS! It began in 1958 when Boston Whaler developed a unique method for injecting foam into the hull of a boat. This became known as Unibond™ construction, and it remains at the heart of every Boston Whaler. Not only does this proprietary method create Whaler’s famed unsinkability, it also contributes greatly to the ride quality and overall boating experience. 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