How to sharpen a knife with a water stone?

How to sharpen a knife with a water stone?

Sharpening a knife with a water stone is a trend among culinary professionals, as it is less aggressive than other more conventional methods.

Soak the stone in water for 4 hours. Once the time has passed, take it out and place it on the work surface.

Keep it constantly moist. This creates a paste that aids sharpening. For sharpening your knife, you must use stones of different grains depending on the knife's condition and material. If it's very dull, we recommend you shape it with a 500 stone. If you want to sharpen it more finely, we recommend using a stone from 1,000 to 4,000. Place the knife blade on the stone at a 45 degree angle to sharpen it. Begin with the tip, sliding the knife about ten times. Perform the same process from the different areas of the blade to the base. Once the sharpening is done, polish the knife with a stone of at least 5,000. Finally, after washing the knife to remove impurities, it's ready to be used in the kitchen.

The water sharpening stone

In order to re-sharpen your knives, a sharpening stone is necessary. Normally, sharpening stones have a dual function:

• The coarse grain area (400gr) is used for roughing and correcting imperfections that appear on all knives while recovering the lost angle
• The fine grain (1000 gr) is what truly sharpens the blade

For it to work correctly, it is advisable to soak the stone in water for 5 to 10 minutes. You will know when the stone is ready when it stops expelling air bubbles. Additionally, the stone must always remain moist throughout the entire process. Place the non-slip side upside down on the wooden base. During the sharpening, a gray liquid is produced which improves the sharpening process.

Knife inclination and angle in relation to the sharpening stone

The quality of our knife's edge depends on correct positioning of the knife and alignment of the edge with the sharpening stone.

Once you have taken the stone out of the water and placed it on a stable surface, you must place the knife blade on the stone at a 45 degree angle in relation to the longitudinal axis of the stone.

Begin by using the grossest grain stone (the 400 grain stone). Lay the blade on the stone and slightly raise the blade, leaving a gap where two coins could fit, forming an angle of approximately 15 to 20 degrees. Hold the knife handle firmly with one hand, the blade facing you, and place your free hand on the blade, moving it away from the edge to avoid cutting yourself.

Sharpening a kitchen knife with a water sharpening stone

Maintaining this angle and applying pressure to the stone, rub the edge of the knife lengthwise along the stone for an interval of 20 or 30 times on the stone in both directions, exerting light pressure. You'll know that the sharpening is happening when you see a burr coming out of the edge. If you can't see it with the naked eye, gently touch it with your fingertip. You'll feel it because the edge will be rough.

It's highly recommended to divide the knife into three thirds and make 20 to 30 passes on the stone on each third of the knife. This ensures that the entire knife edge is properly sharpened.

Sharpening both sides with the water stone

After sharpening one side, the next step is to turn over the knife and repeat the process on the other side of the edge in the same way as you saw in the previous paragraphs.

Remove the burr from the knife, although in this case, it's not necessary to sharpen as much, 10 passes will be enough to remove the burr. To do this, we must trace a curve from the top left to the bottom right, all along the sharpening stone. Afterwards, rinse the knife under running water to remove all residues, then dry it with a cloth.

After performing these steps with the first stone, you will have completed the first phase of the process. It is now time to move on to the second, finer grain stone (1000 grit), with which you will repeat the same process to achieve maximum sharpening of the knife.

Sharpening kitchen knives with sharpening steel

Contrary to what many people believe, the sharpening steel does not serve to sharpen the knife, but to keep it sharp. If the knife is not properly sharpened, the sharpening steel will not make it sharper, so don't be surprised if the knife still doesn't cut.

However, when the knife is properly sharpened, regularly using the sharpening steel before cutting is a good habit that extends the knife's lifespan. Each time a cut is made, small notches imperceptible to the naked eye are produced on the knife blade. This is why it's good to eliminate them with a sharpening steel, which gives a smoother and more regular edge.

The sharpening steel is a tool that comes in the form of a cylindrical steel bar, which it is recommended to magnetize to help us align the blade edge at a 15/20 degree angle. This will make knife sharpening much easier. It's important to hold the sharpening steel firmly behind the handle so it doesn't slip. The movement you must make is to start by sliding the knife edge from the part nearest the handle to the tip, repeating this movement several times.

Why do knives become blunt?

Depending on the type of steel, knives can become more or less dull. The kitchen knives that tend to stay sharp the longest are those made of steel and carbon, especially if they have then undergone a forging process. Since ordinary stainless steel is hard to sharpen, and it bends and breaks too easily, forging is almost always used. Forging is a process that exposes the piece to a contrast between extreme heat and cold. If chemical compounds such as molybdenum and vanadium are added to this, along with hammering the piece, sturdy, resistant knives result, which better withstand correct sharpening.

Used a lot, even the best knife tends to become dull, which is nothing more than the rounding of the cutting edge. That's why you'll have no choice but to learn how to sharpen it if you don't want to change knives all the time. How can you prevent knives from becoming dull quickly?

The treatment, as well as the quality of the knife, can determine how long optimal sharpening state lasts. If you want your knives to stay sharp longer, follow these tips:

• Avoid cutting on hard surfaces: this tends to dull the knife. It's better to use wood or plastic boards, which will cushion the knife's impact a little at the end of each cut.

• Try not to exert too much side pressure on the knife: this is how many knives tend to become dull.

• When cutting oranges, lemons, tomatoes or other food that could release acid, thoroughly clean the knife after use: otherwise, the acid may corrode the knife edge and it will lose its cutting power.

• Don't store knives in a drawer in contact with other knives: their blades tend to hit each other and all risk becoming nicked. It's better that knives are stored without being in contact with other cutlery that could dull the cutting edge.

• Don't expose your knives to extreme temperatures like those reached in the dishwasher: it's better to wash them by hand and dry them properly.

A water stone also proves to be an essential tool for maintaining the sharpness of a folding knife for mountain use. The compact and folding nature of these knives makes them ideal for outdoor adventures, but it is just as crucial to maintain their sharpness for optimal use. The water stone offers an effective sharpening method, allowing the blade to be sharpened with precision.