In reply to tBN, I really don't know where to start with sharpening equipment. I do realize that it would be a shame to have that beautiful masahiro or kasumi and not be able to even steel it. any suggestions here?
This is an endless source of debate, but yes, I have some suggestions.
"Steeling" (i.e. honing on a rod) is not ideal when the grind of the edge is strongly asymmetrical, as apparently is the case with the Masahiro knives. If this is going to be your chef's knife, i.e. your go-to knife for 90% of the work in your kitchen, I wouldn't worry about a steel. But you are going to have to learn how to sharpen.
Fortunately, despite all the mystique surrounding sharpening, it's not at all difficult to teach yourself to put a good, serviceable edge on a decent knife. If you search eGullet, Chad Ward has a good article on the process, which will give you all the information you need -- and quite a bit more. He also wrote a book called
An Edge In the Kitchen which covers more thoroughly but is more accessible, so I'd highly recommend that one.
For initially learning to sharpen and get an edge you like, you just need a few basic skills:
- How to find an existing angle on an edge so you can follow it -- place the edge on the stone, the spine flat down, and raise the spine, looking closely, until the edge just clicks down;
- How to rub the knife, held at this angle, against the stone -- much debated, this one, but the easy way is to have the point about 2/3 of the way pointed away from you, the edge aiming at your left hip (if you're a righty), then grind forward and back. When you've got the burr you want, shift up the knife and do it again (this is called "sectioning");
- How to raise and identify a burr -- for starters, take a really cheap knife, lay it on the stone tilted at about a 45 degree angle, and grind strongly about 10 times, forward and back, then pick up the knife, put your thumb on the flat of the side that was up, and gently slide your thumb down the flat and across the side of the edge itself. Feel that rough burr? You don't want a burr that strong when you're really sharpening, but that's what a burr is, so now you know. When you've raised a just-identifiable burr on one side of one section of a knife, you're done and can move on to the next section or side.
If this seems like a lot, it quickly becomes automatic, even trivial. Soon you will be kvetching at yourself about slight unevenness, irregular polish levels, and worrying about whether the profiling is exactly right on your knife. At that point you are truly doomed, as most of us here are.
For purchasing, I would suggest a
King 1000/6000 combination stone. Kings are cheap, consistent, easy to use, neither especially fast nor especially slow, and readily available. Your Masahiro will be able to take more that a 6000 level of polish, but initially you won't be able to get good results with a higher-grit stone, nor should you start by shelling out good money for such a thing. Start by working on a good 1000 edge: once you can produce that fairly consistently, to your own satisfaction, you can start playing with putting on the 6000 polish. Ultimately, you will want better stones than this, chances are, but this is a truly excellent entry-level stone. Some people think that the two halves of the combination stone are too thin, but I think that by the time you wear one side away to nothing, you will be quite comfortable with and knowledgeable about sharpening and will have a good idea what you do and do not like, and can pick stones to match.
The only other things you need are a little pack of
drywall screen (costs about $10 at a hardware store and will last more or less forever) and a sheet of
float glass. Lay the glass down, and lay the screen on top of it, held by duct tape or whatever you like. Take your new stone and use a pencil to mark a rough hash pattern on the face. Now put this face on the screen and grind around in irregular strokes and sweeps until all the pencil disappears. The surface is now flat, and you're ready to go. You don't need to do this especially often, but each time you take out the stone, sight along the surface against a light, and if you see dishing -- a concavity forming in the surface -- get out the glass and screen.
To use the stone, start by putting it in a biggish basin of room-temperature or cold water. It'll start to sizzle like soda as the air is driven out of the stone. Wait until this sizzling stops completely, which takes about half an hour or so with these stones. Dampen a dishcloth, fold it neatly, and lay it on the counter next to your sink. Pull the stone out of the water, lightly shake (don't rub) off the water on its surface, and lay it on the dishcloth so it is perpendicular to the line of the counter. You are now ready to sharpen.
You know what? It's fun. Trust me. I'm not a fanatic like some folks here, but I assure you that with a good knife like this, sharpening is very satisfying.
