Richmond Knives Finish Sharpening By Rob Babcock

Richmond Addict Finish Sharpening By Rob Babcock. I've been a knife nut for as long as I can remember. Some of my earliest memories were of my grandpa sharpening his Case and Buck knives on an old, well-worn Arkansas stone. I was born in the rural mid-west so I grew up hunting, fishing and generally enjoying the outdoors- and of course, a sharp knife was central to all of those pursuits. I've spent most of my adult life working as a professional chef so I guess it was inevitable that I began to specialize in sharpening kitchen knives. I experienced an epiphany when I discovered Japanese knives, and shortly thereafter, synthetic Japanese water stones. It was about that time that I stumbled upon the many forums dedicated to knives & sharpening. There was a world of knowledge and experience I'd never imagined existed. Down the rabbit hole I went!

I've been "chasing the dragon" re sharpness ever since. In my pursuit of that elusive perfect edge I've come to use a variety of sharpening tools from powered gear for repairs and stock removal to Japanese water stones, both natural and synthetic, as well as a wide variety of abrasives and media. I've always been a natural geek and that extends to my sharpening; you could characterize my approach as a scientific one. And a pro kitchen is a great laboratory for finding what works and what doesn't. I've refined my techniques over the years based on my own experience and the feedback I get from those I sharpen for. To that end I've incorporated a lot of Hand American products into my routine, as well as the terrific products from our own "Mr. Wizard", Ken Schwartz.

The Addicts I sharpened were worked into shape with DMT Dia-Sharps, then sharpened on Shapton Pro and Chocera stones. I followed the stones by stropping on balsa wood and/or felt charged with Hand American chromium paste and Ken's 0.125 micron Cubic Boron Nitrate (CBN). I found that the 320 Shapton Pro and the 400 Chocera do a great job of removing the scratches left by the diamonds, prepping the bevel for an excellent finish & polish. The charged felt is great for deburring and the soft balsa gives a very minute micro-convex that extends the life of the edges a bit. The CBN gives that smooth-yet-bitey edge that sails through all the standard knife-geek tests while giving terrific real world kitchen performance.

I hope you enjoy the knives! And let me extend my humble thanks to Mark for allowing me to bring them to you.

Rob Babcock"