There Are Pandas, and Then There Are Pandas.
And this isn't either of them! The Pandas we're talking about here, are watches, not bears. And what got me thinking about them (again) was a link posted this morning by @cm.rook who pointed a few of us to the very attractive (and not terribly priced) Yema "Rallygraph" Panda which, in it's most traditional arrangement, looks like the one on the left, but can also be had in the version on the right: The model on the left is a true Panda, while the model on the right is called a reverse Panda. The reason for that distinction is clear--Panda bears, only come in the first arrangement. Now at this point, everyone should be thinking about the most well-know Panda, The Rolex Panda, which is actually a Daytona, and among Rolex Daytonas, the most famous of which is the Paul Newman Daytona, which was famous first, because it was Paul's, and second because it sold at auction for $17.8 million (US Dollars). The story of that auction is well-known so I'll only...
Nov 8, 2019
First you should have a honing steel, these are the stick things that everybody rubs their knives against (i.e. Gordon Ramsay's go to fidgeting task, honing knives quickly). These are good for more or less refreshing your edge and aligning / polishing off some of the burrs that might have formed. This is probably your go-to method or maintaining a good cutting edge on a day to day basis (honing steels don't sharpen).
When that's not enough, you'll need to get into some of the stone action. For multipurpose use I'd recommend a 1000/6000 stone (like 30$ on Amazon). You'll use the 1000 side to basically reshape your edge and the 6000 side to polish. As for actual technique, korin has some good videos on youtube, Bob Kramer also has a few sharpening videos that are very accessible. Remember, you'll probably need to soak the 1000 side for it to be effective, you don't soak the 6000 side.
You're going to want to sharpen at about 15 degrees or so (Bob Kramer has a video where he says the angle of a matchbook). There are tools you can get to maintain alignment. When you get more comfortable you'll be able to feel what the appropriate edge is.
For the basic 6000 stone polish you'll need a nagura stone to help form a bit of a slurry so it can polish/sharpen that final edge. Sometimes you'll need a stone fixer to make sure your stone is flat, but that's another problem for a another day.
Make sure you keep roughly the same about of work on both sides of the blade and you can test the sharpness on paper afterwards. A lot of people recommend magazines for the right amount of strength to test sharpness against (I just save those stupid ads you get in the paper).
Other quick and dirty tips since it sounds like you're just starting up on this knife journey. Get a decent cutting board. The rule of thumb is, cut on something your knife can cut through. What does this mean? Bamboo is not great, it's a popular wood to see in cutting boards, it's almost always too hard and will add wear to your knives. Thin plastic? Also not good, you can cut through it, but it's basically transferring the pressure of the surface you put it on. If you can maintain it, wood is the best option, something from Boos is probably a good staple in a kitchen and you can get one of their less fancy options for 30-50. Or get some plastic ones like you might see in a professional kitchen, they might be harder on your knives than the wood but they're still pretty safe all things considered.
Oh! And never let your knives sit in the sink! Wash them by hand immediately and put them back in the block! Leaving a knife wet dulls it incredibly quickly!
Getting a decent knife is definitely a good investment, as is learning to properly cut and how to sharpen. But I know realistically, as students...we just have a lot going on...and I have been very happy just taking my knife in to the local kitchen store!
Also, watch some youtube videos on how to properly hold things while you cut! It keeps your fingers safe and makes your food taste and look better! (and watching the video will take 5 min...then its just practicing whenever you use your knife! No extra stuff required!)
Also, I'd go super cheap (like ~10) if you're going to use a Chinese cleaver for bones. European cleavers tend to be thicker and able to withstand the punishment you're going to dole out. Chinese cleavers are typically used for veggies. That being said, I multipurpose them as well and get cheap ones and bang the hell out of them. My worst mistake was taking a nice Shun Satoku to a frozen-ish turkey for Thanksgiving. I was going for a TurDucKen and needed to debone my third layer but my turkey hadn't fully thawed. Long story short I'm still trying to grind that sucker down. I'm probably just going to bring it to a professional and have them grind the heck out of it.