The Sharp Knife

According to those in the know, it's the SHARP chef's knife that makes a great chef. For that chef's knife, you need the most expensive brand on the market preferably costing in excess of $200, otherwise it isn't the real chef one. Just about every top chef thinks the chef's knife is his/her favourite kitchen tool, and it will be so for yourself if you own one. Check out Chef Benjamin's website for a chance to win a Japanese Chef Knife.

While such a luxury is beyond the means of most, the next best is a StaySharp cook's knife, as invented by Wiltshire. It's the Aussie invention of "a spring loaded sharpening block inside a sheath or scabbard, which sharpened the knife every time it was taken out or replaced". This 1969 invention resulted from a 1964 survey that showed 80% of Americans didn't know how to sharpen a knife.

Noodle Cook's cheap & reliable Wiltshire knife comes without the sharpening scabbard, and logically, for the knife to remain sharp it needs sharpening. The 1964 survey seems to hold true downunder in 2008, some 44 years later. After 2 hours of negotiating the knife on both coarse and fine sides of an aluminium oxide sharpening stone ($2.20 from oriental stores), it is clear the sharpening technique that Noodle Cook uses, does not work. The factory bevelled knife's edge starts to disappear while sharpness remains same, that is, not sharp enough to cleanly slash newspapers. Perhaps technique has nothing to do with the tough metal designed to reduce the need for sharpening? It's time to get the man of with steel, aka John the villain in this blog, to rescue the knife from doom.  John is an expert at sharpening knives for hunting in the Canadian Prairies before Staysharp inventions.

Leigh Hudson's (Chef's Armoury) professional tips for sharpening on a stone:

• Soak the stone in water before using


• Position knife at 45 degrees to the length of the stone


• Angle the blade at 20 degrees from the stone surface


• Push away firm pressure, push back with light pressure


• Use a sweeping action from handle to tip of knife or up and down movements


• Start sharpening with a coarse stone and polish off on a fine stone. Tip with an iron to finish the sharpened edge. The knife is sharp if it slashes a sheet of newspaper.