My prep cook called me out on my knife sharpening habit yesterday

I was running through 3 pounds of shallots for a catering order and he asked why I sharpen every 20 minutes like it's a tic. He said the old French guys he worked with only did it twice a shift and their blades lasted way longer. Now I'm wondering if I'm just wasting steel or actually keeping a better edge.

2 comments

2 Comments

troy8322d agoProlific Poster

Bet those old guys ever try working with crappy steel?

faith6842d ago

@troy832, you said "crappy steel" like it's something new. The old guys didn't have the luxury of choosing good steel. They worked with whatever they could get, which was often absolute junk by today's standards. That railroad rail they used for anvils? Full of impurities and weird alloys. But they learned to work around it, heat treat it right, and make it do what they needed. I've got a couple of those old anvils and you can see the flaws in the steel if you grind on them a bit. Still rings better than my new one.