How to Sharpen a Knife Properly?

How to Sharpen a Knife Properly?

If you're having trouble cutting the skin of a tomato or chicken, it may be a sign indicating that your knife needs to be sharpened. Even the best kitchen knives deteriorate with use. However, by sharpening them properly, you can restore their sharpness.

What is the best way to sharpen a knife?

When the edge of ordinary household knives deteriorates, it is recommended to use a "medium grit sharpening stone". The rough sharpening surfaces are used to quickly repair a chipped blade by removing a large part of the blade. Double-sided sharpening stones are very useful. "Medium" and "rough" sharpening stones can be used on the front and back sides.

We provide an explanatory video.

Using a sharpening stone to maintain your knife requires preparation. Before starting, check if your sharpening stone has bumps or small hollows (even if they are very small). If this is the case, we invite you to use a "surface preparation stone" to flatten it and restore its smooth appearance. Then soak the sharpening stone in water.

Ordinary sharpening stones have small spongy cavities, so when they are soaked in water, bubbles appear. Soak them in water until there are no more bubbles, about 10 to 15 minutes. However, this may not be the case for certain types of sharpening stones, so you need to follow the instructions carefully. Prepare a container, bowl or bucket, in which you can soak the entire sharpening stone.

Hold your knife by the handle and place your index finger, middle finger, and ring finger on the blade, then determine the angle at which your knife should be sharpened. For our Damascus knives, the sharpening angle should be between 15 and 20°.

At this stage, be careful not to injure your thumb by touching the edge of the blade. By firmly supporting these three points, the knife does not shake and can be sharpened at a stable angle.

Place the sharpening stone vertically flat and decide first under what angle the knife should be positioned. The knife should be set at an angle of 45-60 degrees relative to the sharpening stone.

Next, decide on the angle at which the blade should be sharpened (floating angle). The knife should be slightly raised so that there is a space of about 15 degrees between the knife and the sharpening stone.

A rough guide for 15 degrees is to insert the "tip of your little finger" between the sharpening stone and the knife. Once you have set the angle here, it is important to keep it the same from the beginning to the end of the sharpening! You can use the tip of your little finger to check the angle as many times as you wish until you get used to it.

Tip n° 1 The standard angle is 15 degrees, which is roughly equivalent to the end of your little finger. Once you have decided on an angle, maintain it until the end!

When considering cutting a variety of foods, it is best to sharpen the tip of the blade at about 30 degrees. This means that one side should be sharpened at 15 degrees.

Sharpen one side with the blade facing you.

Place the part of the blade to be sharpened at the front of the sharpening stone and lightly place the index and middle fingers of the non-dominant hand on the sharpening stone.

Continue moving the centerline to the back of the sharpening stone. At this stage, be careful not to press too hard on the fingertips, as this would blur the initial set 15° angle.

The particles from the sharpening stone are harder than the knife blade and are designed to be able to sharpen without exertion. When moving the blade from one side or from the back to the front, sharpen it in a comfortable position without exerting yourself, with the "gentle stroke + arm weight" image.

Tip n°2 Keep the center of the sharpening stone across the entire length and width, from front to back with broad, effortless strokes!

Sharpen by gradually moving the two fingers holding the sharpening point from the front edge of the blade towards the central edge of the blade, then towards the tip of the blade. When the sharpening stone becomes dry, pour water over it to make it more slippery. Do not rinse off the blackish grinding liquid that is on the surface of the sharpening stone, as it facilitates smooth sharpening.

It is easy to make the mistake of lifting the blade from the sled (the curved part of the edge of the blade) and not fixing the blade. To avoid this, slightly lift the handle and place the cutting edge against the sharpening stone. At this stage, ensure that the 15° angle does not change. It is recommended to sharpen the sled along the curve, often offsetting it by about 1 cm.

This is the slightly floating state.

Lift the handle a little and it will fit the sharpening stone. Check the "burrs" to see if the sharpening is finished.

To check whether it has been sharpened or not, control the burr (also called the blade burr), which forms when the metal near the tip is sharpened and deformed towards the opposite side. The presence of burrs is proof that the blade has been sharpened.

It is best to limit the burrs to a minimum, as excessive blade sharpening results in waste. A burr the size of a hair is sufficient. Check by touching the top of the blade with your index finger, or your middle finger the cutting edge without pressing it to avoid cutting yourself. Be careful not to hurt yourself when moving your fingers. If you feel burrs along the entire blade, OK!

Sharpen the opposite side with the blade on the other side

Hold the knife in a different way. With the blade on the other side, hold the handle with your dominant hand, this time with your thumb on the tip and your index finger stretched out and close to the blade, firmly supporting it in three points. As before, keep the gap between the knife and the sharpening stone at 15 degrees. Lightly apply the two index fingers and the middle finger of the non-dominant hand and sharpen by moving from the front to the back of the sharpening stone.

After first sharpening the sled, then the middle of the blade and finally the front of the blade, position the knife at a right angle to the sharpening stone, as the handle may hit the sharpening stone. At this stage, the left thumb must rest on the peak to ensure stability.

Tip n°3 When you sharpen the cutting edge of the blade, hold the handle at a right angle to the sharpening stone. When the blade is sharpened at a right angle to the sharpening stone, the handle does not hit the stone.

Some people sharpen double-edged knives on one side of the blade, but depending on the structure of the knife, such as "ruptures*", if you continue to sharpen one side, the knife may no longer be able to cut at all. Double-edged knives should always be sharpened on both sides.

As before, gently touch the edge of the blade with your index finger, middle finger and ring finger to check that burrs appear along the entire blade. The sharpening process is finished when you feel a hair pull on the tip of your finger.

Finish by removing the burrs.

Spread newspaper (or an old pair of jeans or other fabric) right at the edge of the holder so that the blade is securely fixed to the handle of the knife without hitting it. Rub the surface of the blade against the newspaper to remove the burrs. While keeping the blade at about 15 degrees, the same angle as when sharpening, gently move the knife on the side, and finally, slightly lift the blade and slide it upwards, as if you are folding the burrs. Repeat this process several times on the front and back while checking that the burrs are removed. As with sharpening, it is difficult for the tip of the blade to touch the newspaper, slightly lift the handle and adjust it so that it touches the tip of the blade.

If the blade is not sharp even though it has been sharpened, there may still be burrs. Completely remove the burrs by carefully moving the handle back and forth on the newspaper.

Sharpening stone care after sharpening

After use, sharpen and flatten the bulky sharpening stone. This is a very important task. The previous explanation of knife sharpening assumes that it must be done on a flat sharpening stone. If the sharpening stone is not properly maintained after sharpening a knife, it is difficult to get a sharp edge even after sharpening.

A useful tool for checking where bumps are located is a pencil. First, mark a circle on the sharpening stone with the pencil.

Then, and scrape the surface. If pencil marks remain, this indicates that the area is still recessed. Scrape until the pencil marks are well erased (i.e. flattened).

The re-sharpening takes only a few tens of seconds if you do it every time. Get into the habit of always redoing the surface after each sharpening. Sometimes, people do this sharpening on concrete, asphalt, blocks, etc., but it is not recommended because it is not good for the blades. Once the care is finished, wipe your sharpening stone and your surface preparation stone and store them.

How to sharpen knives?

To sharpen the knife, start with the part closest to the handle and end with the tip. Slide the knife over the entire surface of the honing steel. The movements must be repeated constantly and at a good rhythm, repeating several times on each side of the knife.

What tool to sharpen a knife?

Sharpeners

The sharpeners are delicate to use, but they take up little storage space and can be sharpened quickly and easily when you want to use them. Sharpen by positioning the blade against the V-shaped groove made by the sharpening stone and sliding it forward.

It is important to note, however, that you can only sharpen knives with a sharpening stone. Sharpeners only temporarily sharpen the cutting edge, not permanently, and you inevitably have to sharpen them with a sharpening stone. They are also not suitable for knives made of hard materials.

Electric Sharpeners

An even easier way to sharpen knives is to use an electric sharpener. The mechanism is almost the same as a manual mechanism, the difference being that the part of the blade that touches the knife rotates automatically.

There is no need to slide the blade back and forth, which allows for rapid sharpening. However, the price of the device is slightly higher than that of manual devices. Many of them are also large in size, so choose one with storage space in mind.

What is the difference between sharpening and honing?

Sharpening and honing have a great similarity: they are two ways to keep your knives sharp and effective. But it's not the same thing, even if the terms are often confused. To understand the difference, you must first understand why knives become dull.

Why do knives become dull?

A knife can become dull for one of two reasons:

1. the cutting edge is worn down and/or
2. the edge of the blade is no longer properly aligned.

In other words, a knife that needs to be honed is a knife that no longer has "teeth". A knife that needs to be sharpened has teeth that are misaligned or bent, which can happen as often as with each use.

Sharpening

Sharpening simply involves maintaining a already honed edge. A honing steel pushes the blade edge into alignment. We can also talk about "burr folding". It is recommended to hone your knife frequently, some choose to hone their knives after each use.

Honing

Honing, for its part, involves removing material from the cutting edge of the blade, usually by sharpening it against a sharpening stone. If you hone your knife regularly, you shouldn't need to sharpen