# Sabatier and global knife sharpening



## Nick112 (Jun 30, 2019)

hi a friend asked me if I can sharpen his knifes. He has sabatier carbon knifes and global (not forged).

I googled and global it says 15 degree angle, and sabatier can be 20-25 degrees. Any comments?

I only have 1k, 3k and upwards. Do I need a coarser stone for those knifes or can I start at 1k? Seems like some ppl say 1k can be enough as last stone, but I guess I can do some finishing on the 3k stone. Comments? 

Will the burr be easier to feel or the same as jknifes?


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## Michi (Jun 30, 2019)

Nick112 said:


> I googled and global it says 15 degree angle, and sabatier can be 20-25 degrees. Any comments?


I've never sharpened a Global, so I can't comment. (A lot of people say that Globals are a pain to sharpen.) For the Sabatier, or any other soft steel, 20º works fine.

1k is fine for soft steel. 3k won't do any harm, but likely won't do significantly better than 1k. Whichever you go with, use a strop afterwards; it makes a big difference.

You should have no problems feeling the burr with a 1k stone. Unless the knife is really blunt, there should be no need for a coarser stone. Even if the knife is really blunt, you just need to do more passes. Six or seven passes should get you a burr. If not, flip the knife anyway, do six or seven passes on the other side, then go back to the first side, and keep going until that burr shows up.

And, next time you have a knife as blunt as that, start with a 320 stone


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## Benuser (Jun 30, 2019)

Globals are a pain to sharpen. Hard to raise a burr, hard to remove it as well. Will pop up elsewhere. 
If new they come with an extreme convexed bevel: edge is almost invisible. Can use some good thinning to start with. 
I had best results with a micro-bevel made on a 2k.
Carbon Sabs will benefit a lot from a back bevel at the lowest angle you feel comfortable with. I don't sharpen them very differently than much harder carbons. Strop and deburr with your 3k. You may go further if you want. For the frequent touching up I use Blue Belgian — around 4k.
A medium-coarse stone would be very useful for thinning both.


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## Carl Kotte (Jun 30, 2019)

I have sharpened a lot of Globals. I feel that they have undeservedly bad reputation in terms of how hard they are to sharpen. Just give it some extra pressure and a little more time. I have always followed the previous angle. 15 sounds about right. 
For Sabatier I know that I have sharpened some at 18-19 and that has been fine.


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## DisconnectedAG (Jul 3, 2019)

I respectfully disagree that globals are a pain to sharpen. Have had globals as beaters for 10 years, well before I got into nice japanese knives, and their main USP is that the steel is buttery and very easy to sharpen. It's very quick to raise a burr and they get sharp evenly, quickly.

The one thing I would say about globals is that the factory grind can be very tricky. It's a convex grind, but only at the very apex. So if you are starting to sharpen your globals on whetstones, you probably need to pay more attention to the angle, as you may well be sharpening the very end of the convex bit rather than the actual apex, thus making you feel that nothing is happening on this blade. Once you've worked it over a couple of times and have a good apex going, the global cromova steel is buttery and basically minimum effort. I usually run it on a 1k/4k combo stone progression. The only knife that is faster to sharpen is the Victorinox petty.

For reference, my experience with globals is: Had globals for the last 15 years or so. Home cook. They were my "nice knives" before I took the plunge into properly nice knives and grinds. I have the G2, the 18 cm fluted santoku, a paring, a petty and a short slicer. Nowadays they're in a box, and we have the santoku and the paring out, which my girlfriend uses as her daily knives. We keep them out because it's great to have a knife that she can just dump in the sink for a day when needed because we have a small child. Getting them back in shape after a month of abuse is literally not even a proper sharpening session. I've also sharpened a lot of globals for family members, who all prefer them as good enough quality knives. My dad's household got 3, my sister got 2, my brother 4 or so. Every time I visit I go over them. Have never had a problem getting any of them back to sharpness on a simple 1k stone.


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## Walla (Jul 3, 2019)

I've never had an issue sharpening Globals...

I managed to get them sharp many years ago before I even really knew how to properly sharpen... before YouTube videos... before the internet with all it's handy resources and information... using a king 1000...

So...I think you're good to go...

Best of luck. .let us know how it turns out...


Take care

Jeff


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## galvaude (Jul 3, 2019)

I sharpen a lot of Global and I seriously don't understand people claiming they are a pain to sharpen. They sharpen just as well and other basic stainless like Mac, Wusthof, DP... They can get pretty sharp.

They thrive on coarse grit edge and will have decent edge retentions at 400 to 1000 grit.

Using edge leading strokes to deburr will help with such steel.

Final note, they are heavily convexed and will benefits from thinning from the get go to set them at a standard profile. It is just me but I really don't care for any exagerated convexing.


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