knife grinder

bayou

Does anyone know if the knife grinder guy in the little truck has any kind of regular schedule in P Slope? Or do you just have to be really alert for that little bell he rings when he rides up and down streets on Saturday? I think there might be a couple of different ones. I had my knives sharpened about a year ago by the guy and I highly recommend him. But now I'm needing it again. Anyone know anything about these guys? I can't even remember his particular bell sound.

brooklynjack

I think Cook's Companion on Atlantic and Court does sharpening

filmlover44

Damn, that guy is still around? I'd love to use him.

fafner

Be warned -- if you have good knives I wouldn't him. He uses a grinder to sharpen. He is actually grinding the factory edge off the blade not actually sharpening it.

The only use for a grinding wheel like he uses is if you break the tip off your knife -- he can reshape the blade so you can use it again.

Grinding the edge off the knife ruins the factory edge. You would be better off buying a cheap diamond stone from amazon and spending 10 minutes doing it yourself. Between a diamond stone and a steel you can get an amazing edge anytime you want.

veets

I agree with fafner on this one..I also bought an electric knife sharpener that works very well.. it makes a lot of noise.. as it does its job.
Hey there is something"romantic" about the knife grinder and the seltzer man delivering bottles.

opossumqueen

There are previous threads on this subject...

http://brooklynian.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=5819&highlight=knife&sid=daa8c06f6dfc69fa12791710df2cdc60
http://brooklynian.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=36623&highlight=knife+sharpening

brooklynjack

fafner wrote: Be warned -- if you have good knives I wouldn't him. He uses a grinder to sharpen. He is actually grinding the factory edge off the blade not actually sharpening it.

The only use for a grinding wheel like he uses is if you break the tip off your knife -- he can reshape the blade so you can use it again.

Grinding the edge off the knife ruins the factory edge. You would be better off buying a cheap diamond stone from amazon and spending 10 minutes doing it yourself. Between a diamond stone and a steel you can get an amazing edge anytime you want.

This makes absolutely no since to me. What do you mean when you say "factory edge"? Perhaps you are confusing sharpening and honing?

When a blade is sharpened you take away metal, as with everything else there is a right way and a wrong way to use a grinding wheel, in fact, to get a hollow ground edge you HAVE to use a grinding wheel by definition. Now it is possible to be overly aggressive in knife sharpening and take off more metal than needs to be but that is a different issue. And i know nothing about this mobile grinder under discussion, and I'm sure you mean well, but the post just makes no since

BTW if you are looking for sharping perfection this is the place to go http://www.korin.com/ . I think they give lessons too.

eggcream

Subject: Re: knife grinder

I don't know his schedule sorry. I saw him a few months ago. I get a kick out of him and wish more people would do that sort of thing.

fafner

BrooklynJack wrote: [quote=fafner]Be warned -- if you have good knives I wouldn't him. He uses a grinder to sharpen. He is actually grinding the factory edge off the blade not actually sharpening it.

The only use for a grinding wheel like he uses is if you break the tip off your knife -- he can reshape the blade so you can use it again.

Grinding the edge off the knife ruins the factory edge. You would be better off buying a cheap diamond stone from amazon and spending 10 minutes doing it yourself. Between a diamond stone and a steel you can get an amazing edge anytime you want.

This makes absolutely no since to me. What do you mean when you say "factory edge"? Perhaps you are confusing sharpening and honing?

When a blade is sharpened you take away metal, as with everything else there is a right way and a wrong way to use a grinding wheel, in fact, to get a hollow ground edge you HAVE to use a grinding wheel by definition. Now it is possible to be overly aggressive in knife sharpening and take off more metal than needs to be but that is a different issue. And i know nothing about this mobile grinder under discussion, and I'm sure you mean well, but the post just makes no since

BTW if you are looking for sharping perfection this is the place to go http://www.korin.com/ . I think they give lessons too.

Ok, let me rephrase this. The experiences I have had with these knife sharpeners in the trucks is they grind down excessive amounts off your knife. They free grind the knife and the factory angle/bevel you had on the knife is lost. Yes -- by definition the act of sharpening on a wet stone or grinder removes metal while the act of using a steel re-aligns the teeth after use of the grinder of wet/dry stone. It is a two step process.

The one (and only time) I have used the sharpener in question resulted in a knife with a ridiculous bevel edge on it, and scratches/grind marks all the way up to the top of the knife. Also it wasn't honed after grinding. You are much better off doing it yourself.

brooklynjack

OK Thanks, and I agree with you. BTW here is a nice explanation, with pictures, of some of the points you make

http://users.ameritech.net/knives/grinding_sharpening_eng_10.pdf