How to keep kitchen knives sharp is a compulsory course for everyone who loves cooking. Here I will introduce the 3 best knife sharpening methods so that you can easily solve dull knife troubles.
- The sharpening method with sharpening steel
- Sharpening method with a pull-through sharpener
- Sharpening method with a whetstone
1. The sharpening method with sharpening steel
The sharpening steel is mainly used as the sharpening tool on the food processing site, which is a professional tool for knives that have become blunted due to the adhesion of grease on the blade. In addition, if a blunt knife is not sharpened in time. It cannot bring about the best result, therefore during the sharpening, the sharpening angle is more important than the speed.
Please always keep the blade around 20 degree against sharpening steel.
- Hold the sharpening steel with one hand and the knife with the other hand. Set the knife against the sharpener, pull the knife upward from the tail part of the blade to the tip part.
- Set the knife on the other side of the sharpener and pull it in order to sharpen the other side of the blade. Repeat Step 2 and 3 five to ten times.
2. Sharpening method with a pull-through sharpener
Hold the sharpener with one hand to fix it on the table, hold the knife with the other hand: put the blade into the sharpener and pull it quickly in the inward direction several times. Then the knife restores the sharpness.
- Use it while it is oil-free, wet the sharpening area of the sharpener before using, and rinse to clean it after using.
- It is applicable to all kinds of knives, except for those with teeth.
3. Sharpening method with a whetstone
- Please soak the whetstone in water before grinding until no bubbles come out of the whetstone.
- Grind the knife on the whetstone as shown in the figure below Where reciprocating motion is used for both sides of the blade.
- After grinding several times, please touch the other side of the edge being ground with the finger, if the rolled edge is found, stop grinding that edge immediately and then turn the blade over to grind another side, keep grinding when rolled edge appears on the other side till the rolled edge disappears through feeling with the finger.
- Please always keep the knife at an angle of 15° or 20°with the whetstone: for chopping, the angle is 20°, for the bone knife, the angle is 20°-25°.
- The fluid generated during sharpening is a kind of necessary grinding fluid, which needs no removal.
- During the sharpening, be careful not to touch the raised part of the whetstone surface. If the whetstone surface is not smooth the knife will not get sharp despite of your effort. When the whetstone surface becomes uneven, please press the surface against a flat rock to grind till it becomes flat and smooth.
Note
In general, knife steel is used for on-site sharpening in a handy way:
Pull-through sharpeners are simple and lightweight which are now widely used by most families.
Whetstones are a traditional sharpening tool, but which is inconvenient and require skills. Functionally speaking, the whetstone is the best tool for sharpening, in particular, a precision whetstone can give result to a sharp and durable knife. Because the whetstone gives out a fine and smooth blade in contrast to knife steel and pull-through sharpener, for the latter ones, the blade shows teeth under the magnifying glass, which is not really sharp and will not last long, or even will cause rough damage to the knife, so it is recommended to use the whetstone in a professional way.
