Sharpening Kitchen Knives

Unless you prepare daily meals that requires constant use of your kitchen knives, getting them professionally sharpened even once a year is unnecessary.

Even stamped kitchen knives which have thin blades and a tendency to dull after several uses can go a very long time without being professionally sharpened as long as you use a honing steel in between its uses.

It should be noted that it’s imperative that you protect your kitchen knife blades protected at all times such keeping in a sheath or some type of protective kitchen knife holder.

If you do a considerable amount of food cutting at home follow the easy directions below and you’ll continue to keep your kitchen knife functioning and performing every bit as good as it did when you first purchased it.

How to use a Whetstone

1. Place the whetstone,coarse grit face up, on a hard surface such as a cutting board.
2. Place a cup or dish towel between the stone to keep it from sliding around.
3. With one hand grasp the knife by the handle and hold the edge against the stone point-first with the blade meeting the stone at a 20-degree angle.
4. Using moderate pressure slide the entire knife blade forward and across the whetstone about ten times and then flip the knife over and repeat.
5. Turn the whetstone over to the fine grit side and repeat the sharpening as you did on the coarse side.
6. Always sharpen the blade in the same direction whether it’s front-to-back or back-to-front.
7. Keep your whetstone dry (no oil)

This video illustrates the proper way to use a sharpening stone on all quality kitchen cutlery:

What is a sharpening (honing) steel

Professional chefs use a honing steel to maintain the edge on a kitchen knife rather than for intensive sharpening. Honing steel is often mislabeled as sharpening steel, but they don’t actually sharpen unless they are comprised of fine diamond grains. Honing steel was originally used to straighten the sharpened edge of a blade where repeated use had eventually pushed it to one side or the other (on a microscopic scale). This was preferred because it brought back the metal to its sharper state much quicker by restoring the existing edge.

A honing steel usually consists of a hardened steel rod with many tiny grooves scored lengthwise with a handle. It can also be made from a ceramic material specifically intended for sharpening hardened knives or a diamond steel, which has tiny specks of industrial diamond dust bonded to its surface. Both surfaces are equally effective for sharpening and honing the edges of knives, but they tend to wear away at the knife far more than do other kinds of steel.

Regardless of a Whetstone’s find grade side it will still leave the knife’s edge rough and uneven. This is where a sharpening or honing steel comes in. It finishes out the job by smoothing out the blades roughness and evenly bevels the edge.

How to use sharpening (honing) steel

Hold the sharpening steel point-down with its tip resting firmly on a dry cutting board.
With your free hand hold the knife crossways against the steel with the back of the blade (the part nearest the handle) touching the steel. Pull the knife toward you so you want to start with most of the blade in front of the steel.

Tilt the knife so that its blade meets the shaft of the sharpening steel at a 20-degree angle (approx.). Starting at the bottom of the steel and the butt-end of the blade gently push the blade like you are attempting to slice off a thin layer. Do this 5 times. Then pull the entire blade 5 times toward you along the shaft of the steel covering the entire length of the blade. Repeat the action 4 times, then 3, then 2, then 1 and you’re done.

Note: Honing should be done every 10-50 cuts depending on the cutlery and what foods you use your kitchen knives on.

Knife sharpener Whetstones and honing steel brands to look for:

• Chef’s Choice
• Smith’s Edge
• Wüsthof