How to Sharpen a Knife Like a Professional - Part 1 - Selecting a Stone

More people get knife cuts from dull knives than from sharp knives. The reason is very simple: dull knives tend to slide off what they are intended to cut, and then cut what they're not supposed to - like fingers, and hands. Keeping your knives as sharp as possible is the way to keep from getting cut. But like most things, doing it right takes skill and some direction. Knife sharpening is not something that you can do haphazardly. This monograph will take the mystery out of how to get professional results when you sharpen your knives.

First some terminology: Knives come in three basic "flavors": Stainless Steel, High Carbon, and Ceramic. Knives come in two basic edge configurations: Serrated and Straight. Sharpening equipment comes in two configurations: automatic and manual. Most professionals prefer manual sharpening equipment. Manual sharpening equipment comes on many shapes and types. There are three types that we'll focus on in this paper: Arkansas Stones, Ceramic hones, and Steels. The most common of these is the Sharpening Steel. A long pointed rod, it has ribs running the full extent of the Steel.

All knife sharpening methods are the same: a small amount of the knife blade material is removed while the blade is shaped to form a cutting edge. All sharpening equipment perform the same basic action - remove that small amount of material while creating that cutting edge.

Before we begin, I must caution you - never attempt to sharpen a Ceramic knife blade. The material, typically a fused form of Zirconium Silica, is incredibly sharp, incredibly strong, and incredibly brittle. Only diamond sharpening tools are used to form the cutting edge on a Ceramic blade. I caution you to not try to sharpen a Ceramic blade at home. Buy a new one and discard the dull one. Never fear, it takes a lot of cutting to dull a Ceramic blade!

Before we get to actually sharpening the knife, let's check the blade by using a bright light source, preferably like a pin spot in the ceiling. Hold the knife in front of you, parallel to the ground, with the sharp edge up and see if you can see any 'shiny' spots on the cutting edge when you hold the blade under the light. A truly sharp blade won't have any 'shiny spots'. If you see these spots along the blade, the blade is a candidate for sharpening.

Now, hold the flat side of the blade parallel to the ground. Look at the cutting edge. All straight knives have their blades ground in one of two conditions: hollow ground, which is a concave that is cut into the blade for its entire length, and the straight bevel blade, where the blade is flatly shaped into a cutting surface. If you look very close along the side of the sharp edge, you will see a very narrow flat that runs the length of the blade, right along the edge. This is the actual cutting bevel, and its that bevel that you will be sharpening.

The act of sharpening the blade is the removal of equal parts of metal from that very narrow flat along the edge. You grind down that narrow bevel until the 'shiny spots' you saw above go away. The actual grinding operation, the 'sharpening' operation requires very little force, but it does require some precision. I prefer manual sharpening to machine sharpening. You have more control over the sharpening process when you do manual sharpening. The selection of the type of stone to use is more of an individual preference and technique than of actual 'goodness' or 'badness'.

Choosing a Stone: Most Knife purists swear by the Arkansas Stone. The Arkansas Stone comes in two basic types: a rough surface for fast cutting and a fine surface for securing the edge. All Arkansas Stones are used "wet", that is, either a liquid like oil or water is used on the stone while the blade is being sharpened. The reason is simple: as the stone wears away the unwanted metal from the blade, some stone material is removed from the face of the stone. These minuscule particles of stone and metal fill up and clog the pores the stone, reducing its ability to sharpen. The liquid removes these worn-away particles and keeps the stone surface in cutting order. I prefer to always wet whatever I'm using to sharpen. That way I know I have a fresh cutting surface to work with.

For myself, I prefer the round Ceramic Rod. I treat it like an Arkansas Stone, using water as a lubricant. And I roll it like one rolls a Steel. I find I can get a smoother edge, but that's just my preference.

Diamond infused stones have always been somewhat of a gimmick to me: for one thing, the size of the sintered diamonds is usually inconsistent in lower cost sharpening surfaces, and their ability to smoothly grind an edge seems to be harder to master.

Sharpening Steels: These have been the traditional blade sharpening tool for all around use. Cheap to produce, they are usually a little harder than the blade, so they sharpen the blade faster than they wear down. Being denser than stones, they don't usually pick up and hold water, but they do hold oil fairly well. The next section, we'll explore how to use these manual stones.

Norm Huffnagle got serious about cooking when his wife bought him a wok in 1988, and said that he could leave it out if he kept it clean! Although not a gourmet cook by any means, he does 'dabble' in that arcane art to the point that he has actually been invited back to do repeat performances. Norm specializes in ancient Chinese dishes, various flavors of Chilis, contemporary Portuguese cuisine, and occasionally in fiery Mexican preparations. To learn more about his present venues, please visit http://www.huffnagleassociates.com You can also contact Norm directly at norm@huffnagleassociates.com