Cooking at home is a great way of saving money, but for that, you need well-maintained knives. It is crucial to keep knives well-maintained because a well-maintained knife can solve many of your problems.
A dull knife can make cutting less efficient. Using a dull knife can also be more dangerous because consumers need to apply additional force when cutting, which can lead to slipping and injury. Moreover, poorly cut food will not cook properly.
If your knife is dull, you don’t have to worry about it. There’re a variety of tools that can be used to sharpen knives at home. Some of the knife sharpening tools are honing rod, sharpening stone, electric knife sharpener, and many more.
There are different ways of sharpening a knife, and some knives need totally different methods for sharpening. This guide will tell you the sharpening methods of different knives and how you can sharpen your knives with the help of sharpening tools.
Table of Contents
How to sharpen a Kitchen knife at home?
Kitchen knives should be regularly sharpened so that they can cut effectively. A dull kitchen knife will not cut properly, while a sharp knife will cut quickly, safely, and more effectively. You can easily sharpen your kitchen knife at home with some basic tools. There are many tools that can sharpen a kitchen knife, but the best one is the whetstone.
Use the following steps to sharpen your kitchen knife with a whetstone:
- First of all, soak your sharpening stone.
- After that, place a damp paper towel under the whetstone to make sure it stays in place.
- Keep a consistent grip so that you can save yourself from injury.
- It is recommended to sharpen both sides of the blade.
- Hold the first side of the blade at a 20-degree angle (for Western-style knives) and a 15-degree angle (Asian-style knives) away from the steel.
- Slide the blade down the stone at a constant angle until the tip of the knife runs off the other edge. Repeat this process several times, depending on the dullness of the blade.
- Repeat the same process for the other side of the blade. Four to five strokes on each side of the blade should realign the knife’s edge.
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How to sharpen a Shun knife?
Sharpening a shun knife with a whetstone is almost like sharpening a kitchen knife. Just grind the double bevel blades (e.g., Shun Classic, Premier) with a 15-degree angle to the whetstone, and grind single bevel blades (e.g., Kai, Wasabi) with a 45-degree angle to the whetstone. The remaining process is the same as sharpening a kitchen knife. After sharpening a knife, carefully wash, and dry immediately after washing.
How to use the Wusthof electric knife sharpener?
Electric sharpeners are the most effective blade sharpeners, reshapers, and polishers. Electric knife sharpeners sharpen your knives fastly than other knife sharpeners. Also, they take less force to sharpen knives. However, they are a bit expensive than manual sharpeners.
Sharpening a knife with Wusthof electric knife sharpener is quite easy. The Wusthof knife sharpener is a 3-stage electric sharpener. Use the following steps to use an electric knife sharpener:
- First of all, place the blade of a knife in the provided slot. The heel of the knife should be pressed down as far as possible to connect with the grinding stone. Start with the heel of the knife, pull it slowly to the edge.
- After that, slide the knife through the slot. The blade should be at an angle of 15 to 20 degrees. The sharpener automatically sets the knife’s angle when pulled through the slot and attaches to the grinding stone.
- In the final step, slowly press the blade through twice on each side. Because electric knife sharpeners are so efficient, it takes only two passes through the machine to reshape and sharpen the blade.
- Repeat the whole process on the finer stones.
- After sharpening, rinse the knife and dry.
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How to sharpen a Serrated Steak knife?
Sharpening a serrated steak knife is slightly different from sharpening a straight-edge knife, but it’s not as complicated as you think.
Serrated knives maintain their edge longer than straight-edge knives. Though they are long-lasting, a day comes when you have to sharpen your steak knives because a dull steak knife can.no longer slices clearly through your food.
There are many methods for sharpening a serrated steak knife, but I’ll discuss one of the methods of sharpening. The most used method for sharpening a serrated steak knife is with a sharpening rod. Use the following steps to sharpen the steak knife with a sharpening rod.
- Place a sharpening rod inside the serrations of the steak knife blade.
- Drag the rod across the blade’s serrations, one by one. Keep it away from the blade for safety.
- Repeat this a few times for each serration.
- Little amounts of steel (burrs) may remain attached to the blade.
- Run the sharpening rod up and down the blade to remove burrs.
This method takes some time, but it will also give you the best results.
How to sharpen a Serrated Bread knife?
Bread knives with serrated blades cut well for a long time. However, like other knives, they become dull and may lose the cutting ability. It doesn’t matter what you have heard; these knives can be sharpened. With the right tool and a little patience, you can easily sharpen any serrated bread knife.
While sharpening a serrated bread knife, each serration must be handled individually. Serrations come in many sizes; the first thing you have to do is find a sharpener that matches the serration sizes as closely as possible.
Sharpening a serrated bread knife’s blade is slightly different from sharpening a regular knife blade. There are several options available for sharpening a serrated bread knife; some options include:
- DMT Diafold Serrated Knife Sharpeners
- DMT Diamond Chainsaw Files
- Round Arkansas File
- Many more.
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How to sharpen electric knife blades with a sharpening rod?
Electric knife blades that carve foods tend to have a serrated edge. It is said that electric knife blades stay sharp for a long time than conventional blades because of their serrated edge. However, they stay sharp for longer, but still, you should sharpen them to keep them in optimum condition.
Sharpening an electric knife with a sharpening rod is quite easy; you just have to follow the following steps:
- First of all, remove the blade from the electric knife. You have to be careful in removing the blade because it can leave you wounded.
- Hold the blade from the flat side; the blade’s tip should be on the opposite side.
- Now grip the sharpening rod in your other hand. After that, put the sharpening rod in the first serration of the blade and start sliding the blade. Make sure you slide the blade in an upward and downward pattern.
- You have to be careful while sliding so that the rod does not slip away from its spot. Moreover, you must hold the rod tightly.
- Repeat this process for each serration until you reach the tip of the electric knife blade.
- Once you have done with one side of the blade, you have to repeat the same process on the other side of the blade.
How to sharpen a Fillet knife?
A Fillet knife is one of the essential tools for those who like to prepare fish meals. Fish meals can be made perfect only when you have a sharp fillet knife. A sharp fillet knife helps you in cutting the fish effectively and safely.
Sharpening a fillet knife is important to maintain its sharpness and excellent performance. There are different ways to sharpen a fillet knife using various sharpening tools. Some of the ways include:
- You can sharpen your fillet knife with a whetstone. It is the manual method for sharpening a fillet knife.
- Another way to sharpen a knife is with the use of an AccuSharp tool. This is the easiest sharpening method. It doesn’t require an electric connection, so you can easily sharpen your fillet knife, especially if you are outdoors.
- You can also sharpen your fillet knife with an electric sharpener. This is the quickest sharpening method.
- The last method for sharpening a fillet knife is with a sharpening rod. This is slightly a tough method.
These methods are already discussed in the article. Consider that if you want to know the steps involved in the sharpening process.
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How to sharpen a Wood Carving knife?
If you have done some carving with a knife, your knife’s blade may become dull after some use. A dull knife can be risky, so it is recommended to sharpen your carving knife if you see your knife in a dull condition.
You can use a leather strop to sharpen your carving knife. A leather strop is typically a rough piece of leather attached to a flat wood. Sharpening a carving knife with a leather strop can be more beneficial than a sharpening stone or sandpaper. In my opinion, you’ll have better control of a carving knife when you sharpen using a leather strap.
How to sharpen a Hoof knife?
Hoof knives can only be used when they are fully sharpened. A hoof knife will not work perfectly; if it is half-sharp and you need more effort to push a knife. Moreover, there’s nothing more dangerous than a dull hoof knife.
If you want to sharpen the hoof knife, please draft the blade multiple times on the inner side (cutting edge) along the sharpening steel’s overall length. The cutting edge should be conducted at an angle of 15-degree to 20-degree along with your diamond-coated sharpening steel. Slide the blade down the steel at a constant angle until the tip of the knife runs off the other edge. Repeat this process several times, depending on the dullness of the blade.
How to sharpen a Japanese knife?
Japanese knives are essential tools for a chef. It is most important to keep the knife sharp. There are various ways to sharpen a Japanese knife. Some of the ways include:
- Whetstone: A whetstone is a rectangular block of stone used to sharpen the edge of knives. Sharpening a Japanese knife with a whetstone is the best way that keeps the knife sharp and shiny. The procedure of sharpening a knife with a whetstone is already discussed in the article; consider that if you want to know the procedure of sharpening.
- Honing rod: You can also sharpen a Japanese knife with a honing rod and an electric knife sharpener.
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How to sharpen an Exacto knife?
Exacto knives have a replaceable blade that you can change when the gets dull. Moreover, sharpening an Exacto knife’s blade is quite easy; you just need a tool to sharpen it. You can sharpen your Exacto knife with sandpaper or a sharpening stone.
Let’s take a look at both methods:
Sharpen knife with a Sharpening stone
- First of all, identify the cutting edge of a knife, then put the knife next to the sharpening stone and start sliding the blade across the knife. Do that about 5 to 6 times.
- Once you have done with one side of the blade, turn the knife over and start sharpening the other side of the blade.
Sharpen knife with sandpaper
- Take sandpaper and place the blade of the knife onto the sandpaper.
- Start scrubbing the blade back and forth until you notice that the blade has sharpened.
- After scrubbing one side, turn the blade on the other side and again start scrubbing the blade back and forth. It’s that simple.
They are both good options, but you can opt for the one that suits you best.
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How to sharpen a Tanto blade?
Sharpening a Tanto knife blade is a pretty straightforward process if you are familiar with general knife sharpening principles and techniques. The main difference between sharpening a Tanto blade and any other blade is that the Tanto blade’s tip is sharply angled and needs to be treated as a secondary edge, and needs to be sharpened separately from the main edge.
The other difference between Tanto blades and other curved belly blades is that Tanto’s blade usually has a very straight main edge without much belly curve. Sharpening a Tanto blade is just like sharpening any other knife’s blade, but you need to take extra care when sharpening a Tanto blade.
Some of the sharpening techniques include:
Using a sharpening stone
You can sharpen your Tanto blade with a sharpening stone, but you need to take extra care when doing this. Make sure you use both hands to hold your knife’s blade instead of holding a sharpening stone in one hand and a knife in the other hand. Place the sharpening stone down and, after that, sharpen your blade at a 20-angle to 30-angle.
Using a guided sharpener
You can also sharpen your Tanto blade with a guided sharpener. As you know, Tanto blades are double-beveled, which means that their edge forms a v shape resulting in making sharpening a bit more tricky. Double bevel blades have to be sharpened on both sides at the same angle.
The good news is that there are guided sharpeners that you can use to sharpen your Tanto’s blades. Guided sharpeners allow you to set the angle at which you will sharpen your knife, which results in getting an equal angle on both sides.
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How long does it take to sharpen a knife?
A knife can easily be sharpened in a few minutes if the knife is not in bad condition. If someone is trying to sharpen the same knife for the very first time, it may take weeks to get it right. On average, it takes five to ten minutes for an experienced person to sharpen a knife.
On the other hand, it takes about fifteen minutes to sharpen from start to finish for a professional kitchen knife. There are several factors that determine how long it will take to sharpen a knife. Some factors include:
- What metal is the knife?
- What tool are you using to sharpen a knife?
- How dull is the knife?
- How sharp do you want the blade of a knife?
- And many more.
Conclusion
There’re a variety of tools that can be used to sharpen knives at home. Some of the knife sharpening tools are honing rod, sharpening stone, electric knife sharpener, and many more. Most of the knives, such as the Paring knife, Butcher Knife, Buck Knife, Santoku knife, and many others, can be sharpened using these tools. Some knives need different techniques to sharpen; for those techniques, read the article in detail. I have discussed those techniques in detail in the article.
I hope you’ve gone through the article and now you’ve known the sharpening techniques of different knives. If you’ve any other queries related to this article, you will be most welcome to leave your comment below. I’ll try my best to provide a solution to your problem as soon as possible.
