Author: GoodWinds ★2017
Date: 2008-10-16 02:43
Claire,
I'm likely VERY old fashioned, archaic, old-school.... whatever you want to call it. I studied with a German guy, who studied under Tabuteau, and he didn't take himself too seriously but he LOVED to make reeds.
He taught me to sharpen my knife by using little circles, counter-clockwise, and I've found this to work on both a beveled and hollow ground knife. A fine stone (your water stone) works best. My knives do not wear down too fast, but then, I make reeds on an 'occasional' basis, not every day.
If you're right handed, the right (toward the tip) side of the blade is sharpened flat, and the left (toward the staple) side of the blade is sharpened at a slight angle.
Then the blade is pulled along the heel of your left hand to 'scoop' the blade a little, not back and forth (you might cut yourself!) but downward i.e. toward your arm.
If none of that makes sense, then disregard it and consult a book with good diagrams. I can only say that I've used his advice for over 20 years and never felt the need to re-learn knife sharpening.
But this answer might net you a whole whopping pile of other counter-advices. Oh well. This is an 'experience exchange', and I'm obviously no expert.
mary (aka GoodWinds)
GoodWinds
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