When you’re cooking, efficient food preparation depends on maintaining well-honed kitchen knives. This brief guide is a tool to help you fix and sharpen your knives with ease.
Materials You’ll Need
First, you need whetstones for knife-sharpening. Whetstones come in various grits: coarse, medium and fine. Every stone has its own purpose. Just use tap water for soaking these stones before using them. Pour tap water over the rough and medium stones until no more air bubbles are coming out of them which shows that they have become fully saturated while being cautious with the finishing stone because it may crack if left in soak longer than necessary.
Preliminary Examination
Check first whether there are chips or dents on the edges of your blade when starting to sharpen it. Take a piece of paper and cut it from the end of blade to heel with this knife; if this does not work out well, then there must be a chip or dull spot that is causing it Then take note of these blemishes so as they can be treated during knife sharpening procedure.
Getting Rid of Chips
Preparing your Workspace: Secure the rough stone (220 grit) on a stable base. The base adds height to make sure your knuckles pass over the table in the process.
Sharpening Technique: Start with the rough stone, or grinding out chips. Hold the knife at a steep angle like 4 to 5 o’clock and be sure that you keep this angle consistently so that it does not wobble. Push down with your left hand while the right hand adjusts the slant.
Switch Sides: Turn around and repeat process on other side using roughly similar angle. Press gently to avoid accidents. It helps to stand when sharpening because you can press harder with your body weight.
Check Progress: Occasionally wipe off the knife to check how much more needs to be removed and also prevent rusting. When dealing with high carbon steel knives, frequent wiping is mandatory as a way of preventing rust from developing on them. For stainless steel knives, this is not such a big deal but still it is nice practice.
Flattening the Stone- As you sharpen, stone wears down gradually. Use a stone fixer for keeping its surface flat and effective sharpening results.
Conclusion
In order to effectively fix and hone your knife at home, you need to have the appropriate tools as well as methods. First remove chips by using a rough stone, then refine the edge with a medium stone and finally polish it with a finishing stone for sharpness restoration. In not more than 20 minutes of practice time, this procedure should be over.
The longevity of your knives is determined by how well you take care of them. Those unable to do it themselves can seek professional help like Korin.
