h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

When I was a kid, I used to keep my pocket knife honed #o that if I tossed an organdy scarf into the air and let it fall on the edge of the blade, it would be sliced in two.

Its very difficult to get a stainless steel blade to hold an edge anthing like that.

I've often made pasta, but without the gadgets it's very hard work. The dough is very very stiff and if you roll it out too thick, it just makes gunge.

Ugh... speaking of honing knives, I bought a set of Japanese water stones recently and so far all they've done is show me how bad I am at holding a consistent angle. All I've managed to do so far is dull every knife I have and gouge my expensive new stone.

The former Mrs Gosho's mother gave us a hand-turned pasta roller for Christmas one year. We used it several times, and the difference between fresh and bought is noticeable. I don't have one now, although I have a Kenwood Chef which will take a pasta-making attachment. They're rather expensive though and not easy to find in the US (it's not actually branded as a Kenwood), and I don't have a great deal of counter space for hand rolling, but small amounts of fettuccine shouldn't be too difficult.

This guy doesn't use much counter space.

http://youtu.be/8sw61Yoy4jI

I've used the same carbon steel chef's knife for at least 30 years now, and used an old honing steel that I found in a Manchester junk shop (probably in the late 70s) to keep a razor edge on it throughout those years. I should probably get it professionally sharpened to bring back the correct angles, but it hasn't lost its profile, there aren't any notches, and it cuts like a dream. I have a German stainless steel knife too which also keeps a good edge, but not as good as the Sabatier.

http://youtu.be/-Y6Ga9hMm4Y

You could always make Spätzle. They're very filling, though.

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That sounds quite delicious TC

The bloke in that video that BG posted is making Chinese noodles rather than pasta, and he has about the same amount of counter space as me, but if you can do that same stretching action with pasta that has eggs in the recipe I could make spaghetti as well as fettuccine, and I could probably make ravioli too if I get one of those little crinkly wheel cutters.

cut them with a knife and then squash the edges together with a fork. Most nifty kitchen gadgets are superfluous and can be replaced by simpler items with some practice.

True, and I have a pizza wheel already that could do the job.

Yes - that would prevent the layers slithering about over each other.

Slitherin? No, no - Gryffindor!

We live with a www that leaks like a sieve and is a boon for criminals because of its lack of security. It's like a shop that has the doors unlocked 24 hours a day and no shop assistants or security cameras, if you have a modicum of the necessary savvy, and yet all I've heard about for the past few days in reports from the Consumer Electronics Show is how fantastic life is going to be with everything connected to the internet and/or somehow connected to and controlled by your phone, which itself is hardly the most secure device there is.

A perfect illustration of the phrase 'Can't see the wood for the trees'.

Here's a link that may freak some people out.

http://maps.google.com/locationhistory/b/0

Anyone that accesses that link while they're logged in to google will see everywhere they (specifically,their smartphone) has been.

Here's what it looks like if you don't have a smartphone or aren't logged in to google.

http://junkee.com/google-maps-has-been-tracking-your-every-move-and-theres-a-website-to-prove-it/39639

Well, as if to prove me wrong... http://www.npr.org/2015/01/08/375923229/privacy-security-focal-points-at-ces

Except it doesn't because it all still depends on your bloody smartphone! Which is unsecure, is full of unsecure apps, and as you just pointed out, tells anyone who wants to know where you are and what you're doing

Which is the main reason I still don't have one and an hoping there won't come a day, in my lifetime, when you can't get a non-smart cellphone any more

I logged in to Google, and my phone is usually logged in, but it tells me I have no location history from 4 December to 2 January. Does that mean I don't exist

Being confronted with having to open a tamper-proof jar of peanut when one has the drunk munchies was not part of the deal. I distinctly recall one of the clauses in the contract saying I wouldn't have to mess with that sort of thing

You know I meant peanut butter, right?

I need an egg banjo.

..holding the knife's edge away from you, the angle of the blade to the stone at a constant 22.5 degrees (half of 45 degrees), stroke the edge of the knife away from you in straight lines (no round-houses), keeping the pressure light, but constant.

When you're done, run your finger over the back of the edge lightly (and carefully)

Your should feel a raised burr on the side of the blade opposite the one you were sharpening.

Drag this lightly over the stone to straighten the burr, now holding the edge toward you, but still stroking away from yourself lightly, in straight lines, one stroke each for each successive section of the blade.

If you look at the straightened burr under a microscope, it'll look like a saw toothed edge...

I found some good instructional videos for using water stones online. With the 6000 grit you don't really get that burr as it's polishing the edge. I also use a leather strop after I'm done.

I've definitely gotten the hang of it in the last couple of days. I started with my straight razor and a straight edged knife. That really helped smooth out my stone as the pressure is even across the stone rather than concentrated in the center on a curved edge.

I'm looking for a video to show me the Japanese method to sharpen knives that creates a convex curve to the edge. I have a custom knife my uncle made that has a very sharp edge like this. It's probably between 10° to 15°. I'm not touching that one until I get really comfortable with the technique. It's an extremely hard steel, harder than D2 tool steel and really needs a good polishing. It also needs to be oiled occasionally so it doesn't pit.