How To Sharpen Your Kitchen Knife
If you are a cook having proper knowledge of sharp knives, you might as well know the art of sharpening the kitchen knives efficiently. It is important to sharpen the kitchen knives from time to time to ensure that they are able to cut through the food items with reduced slippage. Moreover, it is also important to note that dull knives are dangerous as you tend to apply more force over a dull knife while doing the job. Therefore, you have a higher chance of slipping and missing the desired mark. Moreover, the food that has been poorly cut will not be cooked properly.
Ways to Sharpen Your Kitchen Knife Easily
Even when you have the best knife in the market, it is to no good use unless it is sharp enough. However, you wouldn’t sharpen your knife regularly. If you cook daily, it is recommended to sharpen the knives every week. To help you with sharpening the knives in your kitchen easily, we have got some pro tips for you. Here are a few pointers to note:
- Electric knife sharpeners might be famous. However, they are not considered as the best tools to sharpen your knives. They are known to strip too much metal from the knife. Eventually, electric sharpeners might only damage the blade.
- Whetstones –also referred to as Water Stones or Sharpening Stones, are highly preferred when it comes to sharpening the kitchen knives efficiently. This is because whetstones are known to impart the desired control over the knife. Sharpening stones or wet stones appear as long, rectangle-shaped blocks of composite stones –usually having a fine grit on one side and a coarse grit on the other side.
You can also watch this great video:
If you are making use of the whetstones or sharpening stones to sharpen the kitchen knives, here are a few steps to follow:
- Soak the wet stone in water for around 10-20 minutes. It will help in lubricating the stone to create a smooth surface for the knife as you begin sharpening.
- Place the wet stone over a mat or towel with its coarse side facing upwards.
- Now, you can set the right angle of the knife –typically between 20 & 25 degrees for knives that are European-styled, or around 15 degrees for Japanese style
- Start sliding the knife across the coarse surface of the stone –starting from its tip and going towards the heel.
- Repeat the strokes on the fine side of the stone as well.
In the end, you can check your knife by slicing a tomato to check for improvements in sharpness.
You can get our Honing Rod here, if your kitchen knife has lost its sharp edge? Are you tired of your dull kitchen knives that cannot slice tomatoes without mashing them to pulp? Do you remember your chef’s knife being much sharper compared to now? Has it suddenly become a challenge when carving roast, delicately slicing and chopping vegetables, or even filleting fish? Do you feel lost when you hear about some special sharpening stone and tricky sharpening techniques?