How to Sharpen Knives

How to Sharpen Knives

Sharpening a knife is sometimes perceived as the most difficult knife care task; and it probably is. Modern stainless steel is very hard and, when sharpened properly, will hold a good edge for a very long time. When sharpening a knife you must have a high quality sharpener that features a rough stock removal surface (preferably diamond abrasive) and a finishing surface of hard stone or ceramic abrasive. The diamond and ceramic materials will cut away the steel on the blade's cutting surface easily as these materials are harder than steel. A hard stone will also perform this task, but the stone is only slightly harder than the steel and so this requires more effort on your part

A sharp knife is a fast knife, and a dull knife is an accident waiting to happen.

It is crucial to keep knives sharp so that they cut through food with less slippage. Dull knives are dangerous because a dull blade requires more force to do the job and so has a higher chance of slipping and missing the mark. Plus, poorly cut food will not cook properly. A sharp knife will produce food that is evenly cut and therefore will cook at an even rate. We'll show you how to sharpen kitchen knives—it's one of the easiest ways to instantly improve your cooking

>>>>Sharpening with a Steel.When a knife is used, the edge eventually becomes dull. The edge will turn either to the left or right side depending on how you hold your knife when cutting. Quality knives with high carbon/molybdenum/vanadium alloy have elasticity and can easily be re-aligned by a sharpening steel. Do not use a diamond-coated steel or a pull-through manual or electric sharpening device for maintaining the edge. These devices will destroy your turned edge. They can be used to sharpen, but not for maintanance.

>>>>Sharpening with a Stone.When grinding your knife on a stone, it may be useful to use a three-way oil stone, Fine-Medium-Coarse. Use the stone only when your edge does not re-align with a steel. That means your edge has dulled from constant use or steeling. Make sure you use the exact angle at 30 to 40 strokes before your new edge is formed. Use more strokes if needed. The angle used it determined by how sharp you want the knife. The smaller the angle the sharper the edge. However be aware that the sharper the edge the sooner it will fade, and need to be re-sharpened. If it is too difficult for you to maintain the correct angle, throughout your re-grinding procedure, take your knife to a reputable knife grinding service in your area.

>>>>Sharpening a Straight Razor

You can learn to sharpen any razor on a stone, and if you have experience, or use the right sharpening system you will get very good results. The principle of grinding any knife is restoring the gross shape of a blade according to it's grind-type ; this is mostly done with machines such as grinding wheels. Grinding does not sharpen a knife. The principle of honing is to create a good cutting edge angle and the blade part directly adjacent to it, the relief. The relief is created by honing with a secondary angle on a stone until a burr appears, and subsequently create the primary angle (this is the cutting angle, which is somewhat greater than the secondary angle, but both under 25 degrees) to remove the burr. The relief/secondary/primary angle principle makes the blade more resistant for less than delicate use.