Knife Sharpening Tips and Techniques

A well-sharpened knife is what makes your task of cutting, chopping and slicing easier. Used for various tasks, from household to commercial, it gives the best results only if the blade is sharp. A blunt blade may ruin the simple job of cutting a tomato. So, it's better to maintain their edge by sharpening them whenever they get dull. Here are some knife sharpening tips to help you keep the knife sharp and hence, useful.

Whetstone, Sharpening steel and Electric knife sharpener are some of the tools used for sharpening knives. Let us check what these knife sharpening techniques are.

Sharpening a Knife with Whetstone: This is one of the popular knife sharpening techniques in which a whetstone is used as a sharpening tool. It is a stone with a coarse and a fine side for accurate sharpening. Initially, go slow while you use this method but when you get used to it, you can increase your speed.

Procedure:

1. Take a cutting board and place a towel over it. Now, place a whetstone on the towel. The coarse side should be on the top.
2. Hold the handle of the knife with one hand and lightly hold the the edge with the other, against the stone.
3. Let the cutting edge touch the stone at a 20 degree angle. The sharp edge will touch the stone and the other side of the knife will be lifted at this angle.
4. Slither the blade over the stone, keep even pressure while you draw the knife. While sliding, move the knife in one direction either front-to-back or back-to-front. Remember to glide the entire blade of the knife over the stone.
5. Repeat step 4 twelve times. Now reverse the side of the knife and follow step 5.
6. Turn over the whetstone so that the fine grit side is upwards.
7. Give each side of the knife's blade 12 strokes over this side of the whetstone in the same way as mentioned in step 5.
8. Rinse and dry the knife and stone. Remember to keep your whetstone dry.

Sharpening a Knife with Sharpening Steel: Sharpening steel is a long, narrow-rounded rod.

Procedure:

1. Hold the sharpening steel pointing downwards in your left hand if you are right-handed and in your left hand if you are right-handed. Rest its tip lightly on a cutting board.
2. Hold the knife crossway towards the steel in your dominant hand. The part of knife, adjacent to its handle should touch the steel, so that maximum area of the knife slides over the steel when you pull it towards you.
3. Angle the knife in such a way that its cutting border touches the steel at a 20 degree angle.
4. Now pull the knife towards you and simultaneously slide it down the steel shaft. Remember to work on the entire length of the knife in this process. While sharpening, remember to move the knife in one direction either front-to-back or back-to-front.
5. Repeat step 4 at least 12 times.
6. Change the side of blade and repeat step 1- 5.
7. Rinse and dry the knife and it is ready to be used.

Electric Knife Sharpeners: Electric knife sharpeners are electronic devices used for sharpening the knife. They are fast and easy to use. They easily sharpen both plane and serrated blades. The size and scope of these knife sharpening machines vary and you can opt for the one which suits your requirement.

Procedure:

1. The knife blade is passed through a sharpener.
2. The number of times the blade needs to be passed through, depends on the type of the sharpener. Sometimes, passing it only once is also enough.
3. Also, electric sharpeners have the facility to sharpen serrated knives. They use a proper knife sharpening technique, wherein the knife moves in and out of the sharpener at the serrated setting.
4. The otherwise difficult-to-sharpen serrated knives are easily and correctly sharpened by this technique.
5. A sharp knife is ready for use.

So, if your knife is dull, just follow any of the above knife sharpening tips to have a sharp blade. Do not test its sharpness with your fingers, use a paper instead. Though we hear about knives which never require sharpening, it is just a hype. The process of cutting produces friction and this causes the surface of a knife to lose its sharpness. This proves the fact that knives require sharpening.