The best way of sharpening a knife is with a whetstone. There are other knife sharpening devices available, but most of them tend to grind away too much of your knife's blade. Learning the right way to use a whetstone may take a bit of practice, but once you get the hang of it you'll be able to keep knives razor sharp, and save time and money.
Difficulty: Average
Time Required: 2 minutes
Here's How:
- Place the whetstone on a cutting board or countertop, with the coarse grit face up. A wet paper towel underneath the stone can help keep it from sliding.
- With one hand, grasp the knife by the handle and hold the edge against the stone, point-first, with the cutting edge meeting the stone at a 22½-degree angle. Here's a picture of what 22½ degrees looks like. You can stabilize the blade with your other hand.
- With moderate pressure, slide the blade forward and across the the stone, covering the entire length of the blade and keeping the blade flush against the stone at a constant 22½-degree angle.
- Do this 10 times, then flip the knife over and give the other side of the blade 10 strokes.
- Now flip the stone over to the fine grit side and give each side of the blade 10 strokes.
- Finish by using a sharpening steel to hone the blade, then rinse and wipe the blade dry to remove any metal particles.
Tips:
- Always sharpen in the same direction, whether it's front-to-back or back-to-front.
- Despite what its name might suggest, keep your whetstone dry. Using oil or water on a whetstone traps tiny metal particles in the liquid, which in turn produce a more ragged edge than when using a dry stone.
- Don't believe the hype about knives that supposedly "never need sharpening." Cutting produces friction, and friction causes a knife's edge to lose its sharpness. There's no avoiding the laws of physics!
What You Need:
- Whetstone
- Chef's knife in need of sharpening
- Sharpening steel (also known as knife steel or honing steel)
