Edgecraft Chef's Choice 130 - Manual (Page 10)

The Professional Sharpening Station ® is not designed to steel the edge of serrated blades.
You can steel the single beveled Japanese Kataba type knives. However, because the edge on
one side of these knives is not beveled, you will optimize your results by applying slightly less
pressure when that side of the edge is being conditioned.
proCedure for polIShed Steeled edge
While the professional steeled edge prepared in Stages 1 and 2 as described above is very
sharp, it is possible to further enhance the edge sharpness with one very fast pull through the
stropping disks of Stage 3. Because the sharpening angles of Stages 2 and 3 are very close, the
microserrations can be slightly polished in Stage 3 without removing the serrations. However
the stropping action of Stage 3 will remove the microserrrations if the contact time in Stage 3 is
too great. By making one fast (2 seconds) pull thru the left slot followed by one fast (2 seconds)
pull thru the right slot in Stage 3 you can simply enhance or “polish” the steeled edge.
Caution: If you make slower or more pulls thru Stage 3 you will remove completely the
microscopic serrations developed during steeling in Stage 2. In that event, resharpen again in
Stage 1 to develop a full burr along the edge and repeat the steeling steps in Stage 2.
Resharpening the Steeled and Polished Edge: Steel in stage 2 with 10 pairs of alternating
pulls. Every second or third time you find it necessary to steel your knives, follow the steeling
with one (1) very fast pair of alternating pulls in Stage 3.
proCedure for SharpenIng Serrated BladeS
Serrated blades are similar to small saw blades with scalloped depressions and a series of
pointed teeth. In normal use the pointed teeth do most of the cutting.
Serrated blades of all types can be sharpened in the Chef’sChoice ® Model 130. However, use
only Stage 3 (Figure 10), which will straighten, realign and sharpen the teeth of the serrations
and develop microblades along the edge of these teeth. Generally five (5) to ten (10) pairs of
alternating pulls in Stage 3 will be adequate. If the knife is very dull more pulls will be needed.
Because serrated blades are saw-like structures, the edges will never appear to be as
“sharp” as the edge on a straight edge knife. However, their tooth-like structure will help
break the skin on hard crusty foods and penetrate other materials such as cardboard.
teSt for edge SharpneSS
To test periodically for sharpness and cutting ability of your fine edge or steeled edge hold a
sheet of paper by the edge and carefully cut the sheet a small (but safe) distance from your
finger. A sharp edge will cut smoothly without tearing the paper.
Alternatively try cutting a tomato. The knife should pierce through the skin of the tomato and
cut through it on the first pull without significant force applied to the knife. This is also a good
test for serrated blades.
Figure 10. Sharpen serrated blades only in Stage 3.
(See instructions).
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