The holidays are coming up here pretty quickly, they’ll be here before you know it and 2009 will be only memories. Even people who don’t cook much during the year will end up doing duty in the kitchen, gasp. For me, the top dangers in the kitchen are deep frying, making caramel and dull knives. For my outdoor kitchen it’s grilling buck naked, but that’s another story.
Who here takes the time to have their knives professionally sharpened at least twice a year? Raise your hands. Yeah, I didn’t think so, but there’s a few of you. Who here sharpens their own knives? Excellent Chilebrown! Anyone else? There’s a few of you, good.
Listen up, I don’t care what kind of knife you use in the kitchen, it could be a 500+ dollar hand-made Kramer knife or something you found in the basement years ago. No matter who made your knife, it ain’t worth a bag of wet marbles unless it’s sharp. I’ll choose a sharp 15 dollar hardware store kitchen knife over any other dull knife. Here’s your chance to learn how to sharpen your own knives from the Master Knife Sharpener Grand Poobah of All Time, Eric Weiss.
How cool would it be to be able to sharpen your own knives properly? Very cool. And now you have the chance to learn the craft the right way. Register today, time is running out!
With ERIC E. WEISS
Monday, September 21, 2009
6:30pm – 8:30pm $65.00
Paulding & Company, A Creative Kitchen
1410 D 62nd St., Emeryville, 94608
You will be taught to hone your knives to perfection by hand.
A sharpening stone and honing oil is included in the price.
Bring your chef’s knife and paring knife and 1 other.
Eric’s sharpening experience spans over 30 years. Born in England, raised in Germany, his love affair with all things sharp began in boyhood. This devotion grew with him through military service to the Queen, and comes to fruition at Bay Area Farmer’s Markets, Restaurants, Catering Companies, Retail and Private Homes. During this unique hands-on class Eric gladly shares his true wealth of historical, cultural, and scientific knowledge about the blade.
Class details/registration at
Paulding & Co.
510-594-1104
xo, Biggles
I am thinking about taking the class. Eric is a Master! I would be sure to learn from him. Hey Ho, Lets Go · Hey Ho, Lets Go
Dr,
I can’t agree with you more, regarding this.
Good on you for taking the course.
There are different schools of thought on the sharpening of knives.
Some people think that getting one of them devices with a Vee in it, that you pull the blade of the knife through will do, IMO, they actually do more damage to the cutting surfaces of the blade than any good.
As I’ve said here previously, I used to be a slaughterman in a meat processing plant and a good sharp knife is not only essential for humane slaughter, but also for your own safety.
Learning to use a whet-stone to sharpen a knife, is not that difficult at all, (like a lot of things) it just takes a bit of practice.
Once a knife is sharpened, it is also very important to keep the edge maintained by using a good quality semi-coarse (they do come in different grades)steel, the length of which, should be longer than your longest knife.
Some people seem to think that using a steel on a knife actually sharpens it, this is not entirely true, what a steel does is makes sure that both sides of the leading edge are equal and there is no feathering on the top of the vee.
This is a vital skill that anyone that does a lot of preparation work in the kitchen SHOULD learn, the statistics of those who have slipped with a blunt kitchen knife, don’t make for good reading at all.
Mind you, nothing hurts like a knife cut, does it?, no matter how minor.
Hey Mike,
Thanks for taking the time to lay all that down. Sorry I mislead you, but I’m not taking it. Eric and his wife are friends of mine and try to place ads for his classes when I can. I need to stop by one of his classes though, his knowledge of ANYTHING sharp is truly impressive. From scissors, shears, military knives, kitchen knives to pocket knives from all over the world, he has the history in his head. He’s also a huge collector of antique blades, it’s just fricken staggering.
I’ve been sharpening knives and using steels on them probably since I was 12 or younger. In fact, when I go to a dinner or lunch party, I’ll bring my stone and steels to make the hosts knives all happy! One woman freaked out because the guy at the local department store told her to never use a steel because it wears the knife out prematurely. Odd, since we both know it’s the opposite.
Cheers!
Hehe,
Not a worry there Dr.
I don’t feel mislead in the slightest.
Sure,
If you swap your steel for a coarse round file, you might wear your knives down in a few minutes.
Cheers,
MikeT. 🙂