The best ways to sharpen a knife at home

Learning how to sharpen knives correctly takes time and some experience. There are many nuances and specific points in this procedure, so each master selects a method according to his personal preferences. But you can master the technology in general terms so that you have enough skills for basic operations like sharpening kitchen knives quite quickly. Let's look at the basics of this art and give some useful tips.

Proper preparation

The sharpening process should begin by determining the blade material. If you sharpen a knife without taking into account the characteristics of the alloy from which it is made, you will not achieve an ideal result.

• The most common knives found at home are carbon steel. This alloy of iron and carbon is easy to sharpen. Such products are also inexpensive. The main disadvantage is the tendency to oxidize and the appearance of rust spots.
• Corrosion-resistant steel with a low carbon content and alloying additives (chrome, less often molybdenum or nickel) is not afraid of corrosion, but its hardness is lower.Therefore, products made from such an alloy quickly lose their sharpness and require regular sharpening.
• Knives made of steel with a high carbon content, alloyed with vanadium or cobalt, have high hardness, sharpen well and remain sharp for a long time. They are also not afraid of corrosion. The only drawback of blades of this class is their high cost.
• Damascus steel is used to make edged weapons and hunting knives. Such a blade is forged from a package of rods or strips with different contents of carbon and alloying additives. Products made from Damascus steel hold an edge well. Complex manufacturing technology and excellent performance determine the high price of such products.
• Ceramic knives remain sharp for a long time. But such a blade is very fragile and can break if sharpened improperly or dropped from a height.

If this is your first time trying to sharpen a knife, use a simple carbon steel kitchen tool to practice with. If the blade is damaged, it will not cause as much damage as if an expensive collectible or hunting knife is damaged.

The knife to be sharpened is thoroughly cleaned of dirt. The blade is then examined under bright light. This allows you to identify all defects: chips, nicks, etc. After conducting an inspection, you will understand which part of the blade needs intensive sharpening, and which only needs to be slightly corrected.

Determining the sharpening angle

In order for a knife to cut equally well with any part of the blade, you need to achieve the same angle of inclination of the blade along its entire length. The choice of this angle is one of the main points of correct sharpening.

There are two rules:

• The smaller the sharpening angle, the sharper the blade will be.
• The greater the sharpening angle, the longer the knife will not become dull.

The ideal compromise between blade sharpness and sharpening life is in the range from 25° to 45° (the angle formed by the two edges of the blade is indicated). To get this angle, the angle of the blade to the sharpening stone needs to be doubled. For example, if you plan to sharpen the blade at 35°, then the knife should be tilted 17.5° from the block.

A knife sharpened too sharply is dangerous for hands, towels when wiping, etc., and therefore is inconvenient to handle. For a kitchen knife, sharpening at 40-45° is optimal.

A regular sheet of paper will help you set standard angles. The angle between the long and short sides of the sheet is 90°. By bending the sheet diagonally once, we get an angle of 45°. Repeated folding will give an angle of 22.5°. With one edge of the sheet against the block, place the blade across the other side of the sheet. You should try to maintain the resulting angle during the entire sharpening process.

How to sharpen a knife: a review of tools

Selecting a tool for sharpening is the second component of mastery. Over thousands of years, humanity has invented many devices that allow you to straighten a cutting edge. The type of device is chosen based on the purpose of sharpening, as well as personal preferences. For a beginner, an ordinary block from a hardware store is best suited: not everyone knows how to sharpen knives with a whetstone, but it will be a great start for developing professional skills. And in the future, as the skill develops, the turn will come to more expensive and advanced devices.

Touchstone (sharpening stone)

A sharpening stone is used for both rough sharpening and final finishing of the blade. The capabilities of each product are determined by the diameter of the solid particles included in its composition - abrasive grains.

In the household you need two bars:

• with large grains - for rough sharpening;
• fine-grained – for final sanding.

When choosing bars, be guided by the length of the blade. The block should not be shorter, but better – 1.5–2 times longer.

Inspect the surface to make sure there are no chips, depressions or humps. The width and shape of the bar is not of fundamental importance.

Mechanical sharpener

Mechanical sharpeners are produced by both “nameless” companies from China and well-known manufacturers. This device allows you to quickly sharpen a blade, even if you don’t have the skill. But it can only be recommended for sharpening kitchen knives, since the cutting edges will lose their sharpness very quickly. In addition, the need for frequent editing quickly damages the blade. For expensive hunting and collectible knives, it is better to choose another tool.

Electric sharpener

With an electric knife sharpener, you can achieve high-quality cutting edges. Modern models can automatically determine the angle of the blade, so this machine allows you to sharpen not only a standard kitchen knife, but also fillet knives.

You can find cars on sale, the cost of which varies by an order of magnitude or more. To achieve better results, you should choose more advanced models without chasing a low price.

Musat

This device resembles a file with a round working part, only its grain size is much smaller - it’s just a rod made of durable steel. Musat is included in some knife sets, and can also be purchased at a hardware or specialty store.

They do not sharpen the musat, but only correct the blade, which has lost its sharpness a little.

Sharpening on abrasive stones

Abrasive stones can be of either artificial or natural origin. These are effective sharpening tools, but they are not affordable. Therefore, they are usually purchased by professionals seeking to achieve ideal results. A sharpening stone is used in much the same way as a whetstone.

Sandpaper or cloth

Sandpaper is glued to a solid base (for example, a wooden block), and then the knife is sharpened with it in the same way as with a whetstone. Professionals usually speak disparagingly about this sharpening method, but for ordinary knives its effectiveness is quite satisfactory.

Lansky sharpener

This device is convenient for sharpening medium and small blades. It allows you to very accurately maintain the angles of the blade edges, so it is well suited for hunting and collection knives. Two corners simultaneously serve to clamp the blade and adjust the angle of the whetstone. The whetstone is placed on a rod passed through a hole in the corner. The sharpener comes with several whetstones of varying degrees of grit.

Machines for sharpening and grinding (sharpening machine, electric emery)

The principle here is the same: the abrasive wheel (it is made, like a whetstone, from abrasive grains and a binder) is spun at high speed on the shaft.

The main advantage of sharpening on a machine is the high speed of all operations. But at the same time, beginners are categorically not recommended to start with this method: one mistake is enough to irreparably damage the blade.

Available means

These tools are used to sharpen a knife if you don’t have a block or other special device at hand.In skillful hands, even an ordinary cobblestone with a flat surface can replace a touchstone. Of course, it will not be possible to achieve perfect sharpness in this way, but it is quite possible to return the blade to working condition.

• Second knife

If you have two knives, you can do without any additional tools at all. The knives are sharpened against each other for 10 minutes, holding one in each hand. After this procedure, the blades will become sharper, and the knives can already be used.

• Glass objects

The rough and rough surface of glass or ceramics can also replace touchstone. In the field, the sharpening can be corrected using the bottom of a ceramic tea cup, a piece of tile, etc.

• Leather belt

A thick leather belt is usually used for finishing. But if there is nothing suitable at hand, it will help make a thoroughly dull blade a little sharper. The belt must be tightened well, securing it at one end. If you run the cutting edge along the belt long enough, the blade will polish to a shine and become sharper.

GOI paste will help increase the efficiency of polishing. A belt with polishing paste added is an ideal tool for polishing the blades of straight razors, fillet knives, etc.

Methods for checking the blade tip

The last step in the algorithm for properly sharpening knives is checking the sharpness. Many methods of such verification have been known for a long time. Using one or two checks will help identify sharpening flaws or make sure the result is perfect.

• On paper

A sheet of paper (for example, a piece of paper from a notepad will do) is held suspended. A sharp knife will cut thin strips without creasing the paper.If you can’t make a cut close to the edge of the sheet, then the blade needs additional finishing.

• On a tomato

A perfectly sharpened blade placed on a ripe tomato will be able to cut it using its own weight. In addition, the quality of sharpening can be seen by the thickness of the cuts.

Instead of a tomato, boiled potatoes are suitable as a test object.

• Testing on hand hair

This method has long been trusted by experts in the field of sharpening. It is believed that if you sharpen a knife well enough, it can be used instead of a razor. The cleanliness of the shave shows the quality of the sharpening.

What knives cannot be sharpened yourself?

Finally, we’ll tell you which knives are best not to sharpen on your own.

The most difficult types of knives to sharpen:

• Ceramic knives. To sharpen them, you cannot use ordinary whetstones and sharpening stones. These ultra-hard blades are sharpened with diamond whetstones, a type rarely found in hobbyists' arsenals.
• Bulat, Damascus steel is a difficult material to sharpen. Sharpening a damask knife with a regular whetstone is very time-consuming and labor-intensive, and when sharpening on a diamond whetstone, the blade, which is heterogeneous in composition, will crumble.
• Sawtooth blades require no re-sharpening at all. The only thing that can be done with such a knife is to sharpen it to a regular blade (if the quality of the steel and the shape of the blade allow).

Beginners are also not recommended to sharpen their favorite knives (memorabilia, easy-to-use samples, etc.). If the skill is not high enough, there is a considerable risk of damage to the blade.

From the outside it may seem that mastering sharpening technology is too difficult. However, if you get down to business with patience and without unnecessary haste, it is quite possible to master this skill.And then your knives and other cutting tools will always be in excellent working condition.