The first and foremost tip to great cooking skills is to own a sharp knife and know how to work with it. Imagine starting off your cooking expedition only to find out your knife is blunt. It can be very annoying and frustrating, especially if you are trying to chop an onion or a tomato. That means keeping your chef’s knife sharp is truly essential. It is any day safer to use a very sharp knife than a blunt one because with a blunt knife, you need to put more pressure on cutting which in turn can slip and hurt you. A sharp knife on the other hand cuts through anything and everything in the most simplest of ways, thereby making it much easier and convenient for you. You can of course sharpen your kitchen knives at home for those perfectly cut and prepared foods. Follow the basic steps given below to learn more.
Complexity level: Easy
Time required: 10-15 minutes
Resources required:
- Knife to be sharpened
- Whet stone/sharpening stone
- Wet paper towel
- Sharpening steel/honing steel
- Cutting board
- Large container
- Water
- Cloth
Instructions:
1. Preparation
- Fill water in a large container and immerse the whet stone in it for about 5-10 minutes to remove air bubbles.
- Once the bubbles stop appearing in the water, take it out and prepare for sharpening.
- Place a strong cutting board on your kitchen counter.
- Arrange a wet towel on top of the board and place the stone on top to prevent it from sliding around.
2. Deciding the angle
- The angle in which the knife needs to be held is very important. If you already know which angle your knife was already sharpened, then hold the knife in that particular angle.
- Otherwise, take a call on what angle to use, anything between 10° and 30° for each side, keeping in mind that steeper angles are more durable. An approximate angle apt for sharpening a knife would be about 20°.
3. Sharpening
- Hold the knife handle with one hand and use all the fingers of the other hand to fan across the entire length of the blade. This will stabilize the knife.
- Raise it at the 20° angle mentioned above, making sure the blade edge is kept facing away from you.
- With medium pressure, draw the knife forward and across the whet stone, using the entire length of the blade, always maintaining the required angle.
- Lift the knife at the end of each stroke, turn it over and repeat the process moving it away from you, across the stone.
- Repeat the process for about 15-20 times, alternating the sides.
4. Honing
- Once you feel that the knife is sharp enough, it is important that you hone the knife to take off all the metal debris from the sharpening.
- Hold the knife at the same 20° angle and move it across the honing steel the same way you did on the whet stone, about 5 times.
- Repeat on the other side for the same number of times.
- Rinse the knife under running water and wipe dry with a cloth.
Frequently asked questions:
1. How to check if the kitchen knife needs to be sharpened?
There are basically two ways to find out if your knife needs sharpening or not. One is to try and hold the ends of a sheet of paper in your hand and try and cut ribbons out of it. If it does not come out neatly in long strips or does not cut through, then your knife requires proper sharpening.
2. After sharpening the knife, which is the easiest way to determine if it is sharp enough?
After you sharpen the knife, if you have removed enough metal from the surface you would see the edge raised. It may not be noticeable to the human eye, but run your fingers across the steel and you would be able to notice the irregular surface.
Quick tips:
- Always sharpen the knife in one direction.
- Serrated knives cannot be sharpened this way. It is important that you take it to a professional who can do the job accurately.
- If using a wet stone, then never use oil on the stone. It can damage it.
Things to watch out for:
- You are working with knives here, undeniably, they are dangerous and you should always be careful with your hands and fingers.
- Once your knives have been sharpened, never rub your finger tips against the edges to see if they are sharp. It can hurt your fingers.
