If you have expensive knives then I would not sharpen any knives on my own, it should be sharpen by a professional sharpener ..... when you sharpen knives you are trying to achieve a "burr" on the tip, and most people do not have the knowledge to perform this task ...

So would you just bring your knives to one of those guys that:

"Makes keys AND sharpens knives"... ???

How often to re-sharpen?

B-Line -

Is your location still correct. LA ?
I know a couple of guys out there who can put a scary sharp edge for you when it needs some TLC

AL CLAD.....Copper core....

More fashion than function on the copper core AC.

Yup... Still in LA.. Usually my bro just sharpens the knives for me.. But I have to leave the kitchen when he does so.. The sound drives me NUTS..

Are the people you know knife sharpeners? Or just friends who will give me an edge? Either way, thanks for the offer.

And how often should they be sharpened? Check with trying to slice a piece of paper?

Use good cutting boards. Wood or Composite Plastic -- I prefer wood. Bamboo is too hard on knives.

Steel in between sharpening to keep the edge.
Use a tomatoe or potatoe and you can feel when it's not sharp anymore.....

I tend to get OCD with my hobbies. Did a short stint up your way but could not find anything in my outlook *OCD contacts* . Chefs Toys come to mind however.

Call Chef Wong's buddy. He will HONE the edge. Buy a good steel from him. Ask him to brush you up on steeling.

Knives need 2 types of sharpening.
Initial Honing
Maintaining the honed edge with a steel

Honing removes metal and reduces the size of the "teeth" and gets them into alignment. Knives do not need a burr. Burrs are bad. It is an excess of metal on one side of the edge. Feels sharp to the finger, but Performs no useful function.

A knifes's edge is just a refined saw blade. Small teeth (honing) and aligned (steel). The smaller and straighter the teeth, the sharper the edge. Too fine and edge dulls quickly.

A steel is used daily to just keep the teeth aligned. One or two brushes ONLY before each use. Do not stand there like some guys on tv just swiping for minutes. An old trick is to hold the steel point down onto the cutting board. Place the top, rear of the blade against the steel's guard and rest the heel on the blade on the steel. It should be between 22-25 degress naturally (on an 8-10" chef's knife). Simply swipe the blade downwards one to two times per side.

As ar as frequency??? Hone when it is no longer sharpened by a steel. Some knives of mine can go a year in a pro kitchen, some I would hone every 4-5 months. It depends on how well you use your steel. You can hone them as often at you like, you just wear away the blade.:(

As one member noted, heavily used All Clad tends to warp and the layers will delaminate.

realchef -

I'm still not a master on sharpening up my own knives with my stones.
I'll do my Macs and Shuns at home as I care less about them than others...

But for the Hattori and Shiefusa, I send my knives down to this guy in PA who is sharpens them like no tomorrow.

To the OP - Sorry for taking your thread off topic...

But if you want to start, go to a local rest. supply store and look at Paderno, Sitram .
But a 5-9 qt, whatever is you fancy, cast iron dutch oven is indespensiable.