Sharpening Gear Questionaire

If you have questions about sharpening products, steels or techniques post them here.
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Sharpening Gear Questionaire

Post by ChefKnivesToGo »

As you might expect, I get a lot of questions about stone purchases and sharpening supplies. I have a canned questionnaire for knives but I don't have one for stones and I thought I would try one out on you guys before I start using it in my emails. It might be helpful here as well. Here's a first draft of the canned response I'm going to work with. Please help me make it better. It can't be too long or customers will feel it's a burden and won't write back.

Thanks!


Hello X,

Here is our standard stone recommendation questionnaire. Even though you answered some of these please email me your responses and I'll do my best to match some stones that will meet your requirements.

1. Do you know how to sharpen or are you just learning?
2. Are you more attracted to freehand sharpening or using a Jig like the Edge Pro?
3. How much were you thinking about spending?
4. If you currently are using stones what do you use?
5. Where will you be sharpening?
6. Are you sharpening knives or tools or straight razors etc?
7. Do you currently have any accessories like holders, flattening plates, etc?
8. Do you know the types of steels you're sharpening (some stones do better cutting certain steels)?
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Re: Sharpening Gear Questionaire

Post by Insnekamkze86 »

I think question 1,3,4,6, and 8 would hit most of what people are thinking when they're asking about getting stones or new tools for work or the home. What do you think Mark.
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Re: Sharpening Gear Questionaire

Post by Drewski »

I think all your questions are great. Maybe #5 with additional clarification such as: in a pro kitchen or at home? Assuming that what you are referring to by "where". Maybe a question about splash and go vs soakers.
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Re: Sharpening Gear Questionaire

Post by jmcnelly85 »

4 and 7 can be combined, what is your current sharpening strategy? Do you already have stones, steels, flattening plate? I would try to fish out if people use a traditional honing rod from the get go.
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Re: Sharpening Gear Questionaire

Post by ChefKnivesToGo »

Drewski wrote: Thu May 30, 2019 1:58 pm I think all your questions are great. Maybe #5 with additional clarification such as: in a pro kitchen or at home? Assuming that what you are referring to by "where". Maybe a question about splash and go vs soakers.
Yeah my question about where you sharpen was targeted at this since if it's in a workshop often there is no water supply but I should just be direct and ask if they have access to water where they're sharpening.
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Re: Sharpening Gear Questionaire

Post by ChefKnivesToGo »

jmcnelly85 wrote: Thu May 30, 2019 2:12 pm 4 and 7 can be combined, what is your current sharpening strategy? Do you already have stones, steels, flattening plate? I would try to fish out if people use a traditional honing rod from the get go.
Yes I like this idea. I would change strategy with the word routine.
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Re: Sharpening Gear Questionaire

Post by ChefKnivesToGo »

Version #2

1. Do you know how to sharpen or are you just learning?
2. what is your current sharpening strategy? Do you already have stones, steels, flattening plate?
3. How much were you thinking about spending?
5. Do you want splash and go stones or ones that require a soak?
6. Are you sharpening knives or tools or straight razors etc?
7. Do you know the types of steels you're sharpening (some stones do better cutting certain steels)?
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Re: Sharpening Gear Questionaire

Post by Thin Man »

"How many knives will you be sharpening?"
"What kinds of knives (shapes, steel types) will you be sharpening?"
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Re: Sharpening Gear Questionaire

Post by Insnekamkze86 »

Sounds good.
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Re: Sharpening Gear Questionaire

Post by ken123 »

Do you use strops after creating your initial edge?

Do you prefer harder or softer stones?

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Re: Sharpening Gear Questionaire

Post by Cigarguy »

ken123 wrote: Thu May 30, 2019 8:10 pm Do you use strops after creating your initial edge?

Do you prefer harder or softer stones?

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Good questions Ken. But this would be geared more towards someone with some sharpening experience. As a noob to sharpening myself it would have been, in the beginning, difficult to answer these questions. I wouldn't know that I could use a strop and why. I have no idea if I prefer harder or softer stone because I've never done it before.

Mark - I'm new to this forum and CKTG. I don't have anything to add except to say that I'm really impress with what you are trying to do. This is customer service. This is caring for your customers. Thank you. I have not bought anything from CKTG but I will change that soon.
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Re: Sharpening Gear Questionaire

Post by Jeff B »

ChefKnivesToGo wrote: Thu May 30, 2019 2:23 pm Version #2

1. Do you know how to sharpen or are you just learning?
2. what is your current sharpening strategy? Do you already have stones, steels, flattening plate?
3. How much were you thinking about spending?
5. Do you want splash and go stones or ones that require a soak?
6. Are you sharpening knives or tools or straight razors etc?
7. Do you know the types of steels you're sharpening (some stones do better cutting certain steels)?
A good start and of course you can add/make changes as other FAQs become more apparent.
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Re: Sharpening Gear Questionaire

Post by lsboogy »

Call ken123 - nothing like a conversation with the master. He will be able to tell you about your soft/hard stone prefs, and recommend what you need like few others. He sets me up with stones at times - nothing like it anywhere
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Re: Sharpening Gear Questionaire

Post by Papou »

ken123 wrote: Thu May 30, 2019 8:10 pm Do you use strops after creating your initial edge?

Do you prefer harder or softer stones?

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Plus 1,2,4 &6 of initial post :)..
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Re: Sharpening Gear Questionaire

Post by ken123 »

I guess questions like I suggested do 'push' the user a bit to think for themselves a bit more than the most basic questions. I think teaching is an inherent part of why we are here. Indeed a few 'new' users may come from a more advanced perspective. That these questions should get a response of 'what does that (soft vs hard) mean' is EXACTLY why it was added. It is stepping up our game.

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Re: Sharpening Gear Questionaire

Post by jacko9 »

I used a lot of different stones over the years with woodworking tools and used jigs with those but I never appreciated the degree of pressure needed (or not needed) to get a good edge. So beginners might think they need a hard stone to keep from digging in when their real issue is suing too much pressure. Kind of like what Ken is getting at above.
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Re: Sharpening Gear Questionaire

Post by ChefKnivesToGo »

The pressure question and the strop questions are good ones but I usually get into those issues after a customer has started sharpening and not when they're green. The first hurdle is to get a stone and get an edge. Next step is lapping that stone to keep it working properly. Third step is edge refinement. Edge trailing strokes is a technique that works well for edge refinement that uses light pressure and doesn't require a strop so I think for a beginner it's better to teach to just strop on a finishing stone.
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Re: Sharpening Gear Questionaire

Post by mspelle »

ChefKnivesToGo wrote: Tue Jun 04, 2019 10:18 am The pressure question and the strop questions are good ones but I usually get into those issues after a customer has started sharpening and not when they're green. The first hurdle is to get a stone and get an edge. Next step is lapping that stone to keep it working properly. Third step is edge refinement. Edge trailing strokes is a technique that works well for edge refinement that uses light pressure and doesn't require a strop so I think for a beginner it's better to teach to just strop on a finishing stone.
As someone new to freehand sharpening I have to say I like your original 8 questions. I recently posted a question about sharpening PM steels, so the ?- do you know the steels you are sharpening is important and that would have been a big Ummm No for me. However, I like the stropping suggestion. I learned about stropping a long time ago. I’ve always found it to be,I guess, intuitive and have always preferred it to honing steels.On the other hand if I were asked if I prefer soft or harder stones I still don’t know. That I think comes from time and experience.

Mike
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Re: Sharpening Gear Questionaire

Post by mspelle »

Oh I also didn’t or wouldn’t know if I preferred splash and go or soakers. I bought a set of your basic soakers and then bought some Shaptons to see what I like best. I get the convenience thing but it seems that splash and goes are harder stones or can some be soft? And soakers seem to be softer stones but are there hard soakers? Newbie thoughts. Not sure I’d be able to answer that added revision ?

Mike
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Re: Sharpening Gear Questionaire

Post by mspelle »

My last two responses were based on people new to sharpening. We can always answer with -Huh? I don’t know . More experienced can elaborate. But....not all people asking questions will be newbies. So I like your revised 7 question list( with Kens stropping ?).That gets my vote.
And Ken has a very good point about provoking thought. If you’re gonna get into it you’ve gotta think about it.


Mike
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