# Suggestions on a good cheap knife to practice sharpening on?



## mikedtran (Sep 14, 2015)

I'm just getting into sharpening and looking for any suggestions for a good cheap knife to practice sharpening on?

I'm leaning towards a Tadafusa from ebay they are about $45-$75.

Though open to suggestions if there are better options.

Cheers
-Michael


----------



## Jordanp (Sep 14, 2015)

I'd say a victorinox but the tadafusa aren't a bad choice either for the price and are pretty decent from what I've seen. It's really up to you though anything inexpensive is good so it doesn't hurt as much if you accidentally mess it up.


----------



## oldcookie (Sep 14, 2015)

Tanaka Blue #2 petty 150mm. Great knife at a cheap price.


----------



## krx927 (Sep 14, 2015)

I bought Tojiro White Santoku for practice purposes. In EU it's slightly cheaper than in US, but also over the pond it is not expensive.


----------



## goatgolfer (Sep 14, 2015)

Jordanp said:


> I'd say a victorinox but the tadafusa aren't a bad choice either for the price and are pretty decent from what I've seen. It's really up to you though anything inexpensive is good so it doesn't hurt as much if you accidentally mess it up.



The F*Victorinox was a starter for me as well. Found this one on Amazon and am considering it as a sharpening slave for ~$12 _Update International KP-09 High Carbon Stainless Steel Cooks Knife, 10-Inch_. No personal experience from me but it appears to be a suitable sharpening alternative for the money.


----------



## daveb (Sep 14, 2015)

Will suggest that practicing on cheap stainless will prepare you for sharpening cheap stainless but little else. Becoming proficient on a Vnox will have limited applicability to sharpening a real knife.

Topic comes up a lot and this is an opinionated bunch. Two schools of thought are prevalent. 

(1) Buy practice knives, practice on practice knives, buy "good" knives and you'll know how to sharpen them.






(2) Buy the knife (knives) you want to use, sharpen them, and in due course they'll be sharper when you're done than when you started. 

I subscribe to the 2nd and more correct school. You and a stone are not likely to ruin a "good" knife unless you do something very wrong, with a lot of pressure, for a long time. Sure you will scratch up the blade some and may incur some other minor blemishes but removing those (or learning to live with them) is part of the learning curve.

I mentioned these and above are all opinions?

If you've got to go the practice route, suggest you go on the bay and look for a Forgecraft or similar carbon knife. The quick response of the carbon to the stones will give you immediate feedback on your efforts. And at the end of the day you'll have a knife you can use.

And welcome to the forum.


----------



## goatgolfer (Sep 14, 2015)

Glad someone has the keys to the castle and can keep us in line. Who knows what might happen if regression to the mean wasn't such an important social force.:justkidding:


----------



## ThEoRy (Sep 14, 2015)

I subscribe to method 2. That being said, just get a tojiro dp or fujiwara to practice on. Cheap enough yet still good enough that you actually learn something.


----------



## Cashn (Sep 14, 2015)

Try posting in BST for a cheaper gyuto if you want to go the practice route.,I managed to pick up a zakuri 210 for $75 to practice on. I spent more than I should have on my first knife and thus was scared to sharpen it for fear of messing it up, few times thinning and sharpening the zakuri gave me the confidence to jump to the expensive knife. Looking back I was psyching myself out more than anything but I ended up with a sweet knife for a good price in the process. It also made me see that you don't have to spend a ton of money for an excellent knife.


----------



## mikedtran (Sep 14, 2015)

Really appreciate the advice everyone has given! I may just get a decently nice utility knife that I will enjoy using and work on that and hopefully quickly be comfortable with working on my full size gyuto.


----------



## Noodle Soup (Sep 15, 2015)

I agree with Dave. Assuming you follow the instructions on the many Japanese knife sharpening videos on the web and don't do anything really off the wall strange, it is pretty hard to seriously damage a knife during resharpening. It may not be as sharp as you would like but that will come with practice.


----------



## chinacats (Sep 15, 2015)

Agree with others about starting with a decent knife...I would suggest by actually starting to sharpen on the knife when it is already sharp...once it's sharp again then you have the basics.


----------



## Matus (Sep 15, 2015)

Decent quality, used or new, carbon steel knife in medium size (like 165 - 180 mm santoku or gyuto). Carbon steel will be easier (faster) to sharpen and will give you better feedback. Cheap (soft) stainless can be really hard to deburr and may be very confusing in the beginning. Tojiro would proably be fine. Here in Germany I would probably get a 135 or a 165 funayuki Zakuri for about 70 in blue steel from tosa-hocho.de (they have even cheaper knives - those could be great knives to learn on too). I have bought 135 funayuki for a friend to learn sharpening and she today prefers it to her 'fancy' VG-10 Japanese knives 

Also - do not get the cheapest stone out there. I did that when I was starting and it was no advantage to the process. Today I would suggest to start with some reasonable quality stone(s), or if you have the cash jump directly for something like Gesshin or JNS (depending on your location, both are truly great).


----------

