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A simple, beautiful, speechless long-form depiction of a single kitchen knife being refreshed, recorded in satisfyingly high quality audio and video.
I had a really interesting knife to sharpen for a customer today. I didn't ask the knife's permission to be a model... hope it didn't mind...
Unlike other videos, this one is the entire process, from stone prep through final stropping.
The media quality is ridiculous. Did I really bring $7500 of recording equipment to bear on a $7 knife sharpening job? Yes... yes I did. For you, dear viewer. It's recorded in 4K video with 48k/24 bit audio... really really luxurious.
I didn't talk at all. I don't like my voice, and I don't want to distract you with that sound, or my choice of words, or failures in diction, or lack of Tolkien or Harry Potter references, or...
This is slow. I didn't work at full speed, just for you, dear viewer, to see and hear every luscious stroke.
It's gratuitous. I felt for burrs nice and close to the mic. I did lots of extra stropping strokes. I made sure that not only the sharpness on par, but the appearance was a big focus. And then I still worked extra. Because it sounds awesome.
Is it satisfying? I mean, I like to think of knife sharpening as therapy I get others to pay for. I love doing it. I love feeling it and seeing it and hearing it. I hope you do too.
So, today, I couldn't pass up a perfect day: the outdoor noise from wind or vehicles was at a minimum, everyone else in the house had things they could do, it wasn't too hot or cold to make the house uncomfortable. So I turned off the air conditioner, and the refrigerator, and the water cooler, and the ceiling fan two rooms over... about as pristine as I can get my house.
I brought to bear one of my other hobbies: audio engineering. I recorded this in Mid/Side stereo, with a Gefell M300 small diaphragm condenser pointing toward the whetstone right next to the camera (iPhone 12 Pro), and a Royer R-122 MkII ribbon mic (native Figure 8 pickup pattern) facing sideways over the M300. Microphones fed into the internal preamp of my RME Babyface Pro FS interface. I then processed it in Logic to do the M/S decoding, tweaked a few rogue dynamics, and shaped the EQ, leaving it in 48k/24 bit as recorded.
The actual sharpening work was probably the most uncomfortable I've ever done. I was leaning in from the right side of the camera, which was my phone on a tipped-over tripod to get it over the stones more, propped up on one leg with a yoga block. My mic(s) stand was farther to the left, with my laptop and interface on the counter. The mics were both hanging right over the camera, which were all basically in front of where my face normally is, so all my view angles were lopsided. The headphones cord was running along the back of the camera tripod, so you can hear the cord rubbing that a little when I lean over to pick stuff up on my right. I was trying not to breathe as loudly as a dwarf since my face was right next to the mics, and I was trying not to bump anything while still treating a customer blade carefully and get a good result. Unfortunately, I can't control my digestive system, and it wanted a few solos... sorry about that.
Whetstones used: King 300 grit, and Naniwa Pro 800 grit. The customer wanted an edge for general kitchen duty, and specifically mentioned butterflying chicken, so I wanted to leave a bit of a toothy edge to make sure it can handle protein well for a good long time.