It is simply impossible to describe all the nuances of how to sharpen knives correctly within the framework of one article, but this is not always necessary. Especially if an ordinary kitchen knife needs sharpening or you are just a beginner who needs to start somewhere.
- In fact, you can quickly and easily sharpen a kitchen knife at home. But the difficulty lies in the fact that this must be done so that the sharpness of the blade is preserved for a long time, and at the same time too much steel is not removed from the blade.
In this article we will try to tell you simply and clearly how to sharpen a knife with a bar correctly. After all, it is this method that is not only basic and accessible to everyone, but also the most effective. In addition to step-by-step instructions for sharpening and tweaking, here you will find a selection of training videos and an overview of alternative methods - from sharpening systems to the bottom of the ceramic plate.
A little about the choice of stones
Sharpening stones are of the following types:
- Ceramic;
- Diamond;
- Natural;
- Japanese water stones.
Optionally, once you get the hang of it, you can buy some solid and expensive diamond or Japanese water stones. However, it is better to start with ordinary ceramic bars (such as "Boat"), which are sold in every hardware store. They are hardwearing, durable and affordable. Of the shortcomings, only their uneven abrasion can be called.
Here are some tips to help you find the right mate:
- What size should the bar be? Ideally, it is 1.5-2 times longer, or at least not shorter than the blade of a knife. The width and shape of the bar is not critical.
- When buying a block, make sure it is flat and free of chips.
- To get started, you can buy one medium-hard universal whetstone. But if you wish, buy one block with two sides of different grain size or two stones with a large and a half grain size. In the future, a couple more stones may be added to your collection.
- It is best to try to get a couple of Soviet-made donkeys, say, at flea markets or from your grandfather. Bars marked "Made in USSR" have uniform grains and high quality binder.
To bring the knife to razor sharpness, in addition to sharpening stones, you can buy GOI abrasive paste, which we will also talk about working with.
7-step instructions for sharpening and honing a kitchen knife
So, in sharpening a knife, one goal is to abrade so much metal from the blade so that the cutting edge becomes sharp again. You need to start work with a coarse-grained abrasive and finish with a fine-grained one.
It is important to remember the following principles of knife sharpening:
- The most important thing is to find the optimal sharpening angle and keep it on the entire cutting edge while sliding along the bar.
- Movements should be smooth, without pressure.
- All bars must be moistened with water, or better with soapy water: before sharpening (so that the blade glides better and the metal dust does not clog the pores), in the process (to remove the resulting suspension) and at the end, to clean the bar.
And one more important advice - the first times it is better to practice with a knife, which is not a pity to spoil. Especially if your main knife is too solid and expensive. Well, let's get down to practice.
Step 1. Rinse the stone with water, and then run it with, say, a sponge with a drop of dishwashing liquid.
Step 2. Next, we sit down at the table and place the stone on a wooden board, for example, a cutting board. Can be placed under a stone and a towel. It is more convenient for someone to put the bar perpendicular to yourself, and for someone at an angle of about 45 degrees. Over time, you will understand how it is more convenient for you to work.
Step 3. Now you need to decide on the sharpening angle and fix the position of the knife. What should be the angle? The general principle is that the smaller it is, the sharper the blade is, and the larger it is, the longer the blade remains sharp.
- Ordinary kitchen knives are sharpened at an angle of 40-45 degrees. If you are sharpening a fillet knife (designed for cutting thin pieces of fish, poultry and meat), then it should be sharpened sharper - at an angle of 30-40 degrees. The selected value must be divided by 2, and then we get the angle that should be between the blade and the surface of the bar. That is, to sharpen the blade at 45 degrees, you need to sharpen each side of it at 22.5 degrees to the sharpening surface.
A simple technique shown in the photo below will help you fix the knife at an angle of 22.5 degrees.
- Remember, you must try to adhere to the chosen angle during all work.
Step 4. Place the knife across the block so that the upper edge of the handle is above the lower edge of the stone. Holding the handle with one hand and the blade with the other, we begin to slide along the bar from ourselves along the path shown in the picture below.
Watch a short and visual video:
- The point is that the cutting edge sliding over the stone is always perpendicular to the direction of travel.
- At the bend of the blade, the knife handle needs to be slightly raised to maintain the selected angle.
- Remember also that you cannot put pressure on the blade, but you should not give slack either.
Thus, it is necessary to hold the blade over the stone about 40-50 times, namely, until a "burr" (burr, microsaw) appears along the entire length of the RK (cutting edge). Its appearance will tell you that the excess metal is worn out and there is no point in grinding further. Then you need to turn the blade over and repeat the same steps. Clearly on the video:
- A burr is a slight roughness that is difficult to see, but can be felt by gently running your finger along the edge of the blade (but not along the edge to avoid cutting yourself).
During operation, a suspension will appear on the blade - metal dust, which must be periodically washed off with water.
Step 5. So, the burrs have appeared, now we proceed to fine-tuning. To do this, repeat the same manipulations on a stone with half the grain size. An alternative finishing method is with musat.
- Musat is a steel rod of oval or circular cross-section with longitudinal notches. It is only suitable for dressing and maintaining sharpness, but not for sharpening a knife. Musat is recommended to edit the knife every time before and after work.
How to edit a kitchen knife with musat can be seen in the next video master class from a respected knife-maker Gennady Prokopenkov, who, by the way, specializes in making kitchen knives.
Step 6. If desired, you can bring your knife to a razor sharp point. To do this, take any leather or leather belt, treat it with GOI, Dialux or any other abrasive paste, and then do the same steps, but only in the direction from the cutting edge.
Step 7. Finally, we check the sharpening quality. This is done very simply. It is enough to cut the tomato or cut the paper. If you wanted to achieve razor sharpness, you should try shaving off the hair on your arm. The sharpest knives can even shave off hair, as shown in the photo below, but in the kitchen this sharpness is not required for the most ordinary knife.
Alternative ways of sharpening
If your kitchen knife is a simple and inexpensive "hard worker" and / or you just don't want to delve into the "knife culture", we recommend using an electric sharpener, roller knife or sharpening system for sharpening at home. What are their pros and cons?
- The electric sharpener sharpens knives perfectly and quickly, but even the highest quality models remove too much material from the blades, thereby reducing its service life. Another drawback of an electric sharpener is that a good device costs more than $ 200.
- The roller knife is an inexpensive and easy-to-use option. With its help, you can quickly sharpen a kitchen knife, but, unfortunately, the sharpness of the blade will not last long and the knife will deteriorate over time. The most trusted tool among roller blades is the tool from Fiskaris (pictured). Do not confuse the roller blade with the V blade. The latter is an option for the least economical.
- Sharpening systems are good because they allow you to more accurately set and maintain the angle. Such sharpeners are different - with blade fixation (manufacturers DMT and Lanski) and with fixation of the stones themselves at a certain angle (Spyderco Triangle Sharpmaker). Separately, we can highlight the sharpening system, in which you can select the desired angle and control the position of the knife - this is the Edge Pro Apex Knife Sharpening System. Each system has its own pros and cons. So, for example, it is inconvenient to sharpen wide chef knives on sharpeners with blade fixation, and on the Spyderco triangle, knives are more likely to be adjusted than sharpened, and the angle can only be chosen 30 or 40 degrees. However, these angles are needed for kitchen knives, and using the triangle is very simple. A detailed review and instruction manual for the sharpener from Spyderco can be seen in the following video.
What are the disadvantages of the Apex Edge Pro? Perhaps this is just a high price - $ 245. However, for sharpening kitchen knives, you can buy a Chinese copy of this sharpener (for example, on Aliexpress).
There is another clever way to sharpen a knife at home - using rough marks on the bottom of a ceramic mug or plate. The principle of operation is still the same - maintaining the angle, smooth movements, keeping the RK (cutting edge) perpendicular to the direction.
Nippers, tweezers, scissors are among those tools of a manicure set, without which it is difficult to imagine performing a perfect trim manicure or pedicure at home. The blades of each instrument must be sharp, even, without gaps in order to qualitatively and safely remove the stratum corneum of the cuticle, to give the free edge of the nail plate the desired shape. Even professional manicure tools from well-known brands after a while begin to tear off pieces instead of cutting the nails / cuticles evenly. And cutting tools from ordinary manicure / pedicure kits must be sharpened immediately after purchase.
There are three options for solving this problem.
At first, you can use the services of an individual master sharpener who comes to the client's home and grinds the cutting parts of the nippers, tweezers and scissors by hand. As a rule, the master works with a diamond monolayer (with a continuous diamond layer) bar.
Secondly, you can go to a workshop where a certified specialist will perform professional sharpening of manicure tools using a diamond wheel or in a special machine. In this case, the services will cost more, but the company gives a guarantee for its work (the service life is not less than 6-7 months, even with frequent use).
Thirdly, you can seek help from the "strong half" of your family and sharpening manicure tools at home will save your family budget. And how to properly sharpen scissors and nippers for manicure / pedicure, you will learn from the photo and video materials of this article.
♦ SHARPENING OF MANICURE CUTTERS IN HOME CONDITIONS
You can sharpen the cutting pliers' blades with a regular carbon steel file. Choose a file with a uniform grain and tight, fine cut. We recommend "experimenting" with old nail clippers, and if you have an expensive professional tool, it is best to seek help from an experienced specialist.
- in the photo: "cheek", "heel" and joint (hinge) of the pliers
❶
Backlash.
Open the wire cutters, grab one handle and swing from side to side. If there is a backlash, then we put the tool on the work table, put the rod on the rivet of the hinge joint and tap it with a hammer (not hard), constantly checking the result; 
❷
Cleaning the swivel joint.
We fully open the nippers and use a folded piece of sandpaper to clean the joints of the joint, first on one side of the tool, then on the other; 
❸
Sharpening the entire blade plane.
We put the open nippers on the table with their cheeks and grind the inner cutting edge with smooth unidirectional movements of the file; 
❹
Sharpening the blade corners.
We put the pliers on the cheek parallel to the line of the edge of the table and with smooth unidirectional movements of the file we grind the corner of the cutting edge; 
❺
Sharpening of the outer cutting edges.
Now you need to close the nippers and put them on the table so that the joined cutting edges are at the top. We grind the outer cutting edges along the connection line by reciprocating file movements; 
❻
Grinding "cheeks".
Grind the "cheeks" one by one with unidirectional file movements; 
❼
Polishing and lubrication.
At the end of the work, we "go through" the cutting edges of each blade with a polishing bar (8000 grit) so that they become smooth and even. Then you can lubricate the swivel with oil.
♦ SHARPENING OF MANICURE SCISSORS IN HOME
For work, prepare two grindstones with an abrasiveness of 600 grit and 1500 grit.
- in the photo: joint, cutting edge, side and upper plane of the scissors blade.
❶
Backlash.
We put the scissors with sharp edges up, put a small cue ball on the rivet and hit the bit with a hammer. We eliminate the backlash gradually so as not to flatten the rivet too much with one blow; 
❷
Lubrication.
After removing the backlash, you can lubricate the joint of the tool from both sides so that the blades move freely and smoothly; 
❸
Sharpening blades with 600 grit stone.
We fix the open scissors on a stable surface and sharpen the cutting edge from the side of the upper plane of the blade, moving with a grinding stone of 600 grit in one direction (towards ourselves). First we work with one blade, then move on to the second; 
❹
Blade polishing with 1500 grit stone.
With a 1500 grit stone we move in one direction (towards ourselves), eliminating scratches after sharpening and making the cutting edge of each blade smooth; 
❺
Blade tips.
After sharpening, one tip of the blade may come off slightly from the other. In order for the tips to fit snugly together, one of them must be slightly bent with pliers; 
❻
Checking.
Stretch a sheet of printer paper between your fingers and try to cut it in the middle with sharpened scissors. The cut should be smooth, without any "chewed" edges.
♦ SHARPENING OF MANICURE TOOLS WITH THE GRINDING WHEEL
On the grinder, you can sharpen the tool quickly and efficiently. Of course, you must have experience with this type of equipment, as it is easy to injure your hands while spinning the circle. It is best to sharpen the blades of a manicure tool with a fine-grained diamond grinding wheel.
❶ We eliminate backlash at the very beginning of work. To do this, take a strong rod, place one end at the junction point of the blades, and tap the other end with a hammer (not hard), from time to time checking the working stroke of the tool;
❷ First we sharpen the blades from the inside, and then from the outside (taking into account the cut angle). Set the minimum speed of the diamond wheel in the machine. We draw along a rotating circle with the edge of the blade in one direction (from beginning to end, the contact patch is no more than 0.3 mm);
❸ Turn off the machine, wipe the tool and use a polishing bar with an abrasiveness of 8000 grit to level the edges of the blade, ground in the machine.
♦ HOW TO CHECK THE QUALITY OF SHARPENING?
Scissors.
The cutting surface of the tool after sharpening should be smooth, and the edge of each blade should be even. Be sure to check the course of the blades and make sure that there is no play at all, but the blades close / open smoothly, at the same time, without unnecessary effort.
Test: Take a sheet of printer paper (or a piece of tape), pull it between your fingers. With sharpened scissors blades, cut the stretched canvas in the middle. If a clear cut remains on the paper without torn, not jaded edges, then the tool is ready to work.
Cuticle nippers and nippers.
Make sure the edges of the blades are straight and smooth on both sides, and there is no gap between the cutting edges. Take the tool by the handles and move it up / down slightly. If you find a backlash in the joint of the nippers, then be sure to ask the master to eliminate it, since during a trim manicure, you can injure the periungual rollers with sharp blades.
Test: Take a piece of a thick plastic bag, pull it between your fingers and make a cut with sharpened wire cutters. The edges of the cut should be clean and straight.
♦ VIDEO MATERIALS
How true sharpen a hacksaw?
The question of how to sharpen a hacksaw is of interest to many home craftsmen. Any material (wood or metal) can be shaped in different ways. For these purposes, hacksaws for metal or wood are often used. They continue to be one of the most popular preprocessing tools. Such tools are in the arsenal of any self-respecting owner, but not everyone can give an answer to the question of how to sharpen them correctly.
Correct positioning of the file in the horizontal and vertical plane.
Hacksaws for wood
This is a necessary tool in the household. They can be used to customize skirting boards, make bars for household needs, etc. Now sellers offer a huge selection of such tools, so it is difficult to find quality saws. Let's consider how to choose a hacksaw that will keep sharpening for a long time. This is influenced by the following characteristics:
Sharpening tools: round file with a special holder;
flat file;
sewing template for depth gauge.
- Tooth dimensions. The little ones cut the material slowly and accurately, but they require careful sharpening. Large teeth allow you to cut quickly and roughly, but require a minimum of effort when sharpening, and the process itself is fast enough.
- The shape and material of the canvas. The classic shape of the tooth is a triangle, but recently hardened trapezoidal teeth have become widespread. The material for making hacksaws with triangular teeth is steel with a hardness of 40 to 55-58 points on the Rockwell scale. For saws with trapezoidal blade elements - hardened steel with a hardness of 55 points according to Rockwell. If triangles are easy enough to sharpen with ordinary tools, then modern hardened saw blades sharpen at home it is very difficult (almost impossible), it is easier to buy new ones.
- Distance between teeth. The larger the interval, the easier it is to sharpen. Usually, the spacing between the teeth is related to their size and shape. For example, saws with small teeth have a shorter interval than saws with large ones.
- Wiring. This word refers to the distance of the tine deflection from the blade. This is done so that chips and opales are removed during operation. This distance affects the speed and convenience of sharpening. Sometimes, in order to restore the saw, in addition to sharpening, a new wiring is made.
Usually, all the parameters described are indicated by the manufacturer on the packaging of the canvas (less often on the handles). Thus, the key indicator is the TPI value, which can range from 1 to 9. Recently, Chinese manufacturers also have large values.
Varieties of saw teeth: a, b - triangular simple; c, d - triangular sparse and with wolf teeth; e, f - rectangular, facing each other with hypotenuses and sparse.
Read the same
If the saw is designed for rough work, for example, for a garden, felling trees in the forest, then the TPI value will be 3-6, and for jewelry work (for interior decoration or furniture) - 5-9.
Some manufacturers, Chinese and Polish, often do not monitor the quality and availability of factory sharpening, so the buyer of such a product will have to do it himself, sometimes together with the wiring.
What hacksaw should be sharp, does not cause any objections. Then the tool cuts faster and with less energy for the worker.
How to quickly and easily sharpen a hacksaw with a file
When the wiring is finished, you should carefully check the quality of the work done. For this, a perfectly straight, lightweight object, for example, a straight wooden skewer, is placed on the lateral planes of the teeth. After that, carefully examine the tightness of the adherence of the teeth to the control line: none should protrude outward or sink inward. Everyone should be on the same straight line. If any protrudes, then it is trimmed to the general level, in no case should such teeth be left as they are, otherwise they may break during operation.
We sharpen a hacksaw on wood
When the wiring is done and checked, you can start sharpening. To do this, the canvas is carefully fixed in a vice or a homemade device. The teeth are usually sharpened with files or diamond files. The process itself is carried out with a coarse file, and it is finished with a file, but you can not finish or sharpen it only with a file, and this takes longer and strongly "eats" the tool.
Next, you need dexterity and a good eye. The metal layer is removed with a file, holding it with one hand by the handle, and with the other by its end, giving the desired angle for the tine. Angles from 15 to 30 ° are considered optimal. If there is no eye gauge, then you can use primitive devices, for example, from a wooden block. It is processed so that from the side it resembles a right-angled triangle with angles of 30 and 60 ° (or 20 and 70 °). Then it is placed under the blade to control the angle so that the plane of the acute angle coincides with the plane of the working surface of the file or file.
In the process, the pressure on the file, which removes the metal, and the number of movements are important. To sharpen the saw evenly, the number of file movements along all teeth should be the same at approximately the same pressure. If the pressure is weak, the process will be slow, but you can clearly control the angles. With strong pressure, work takes little time, but it is difficult to bring the entire canvas to the same level.
Checking the quality of the work performed is quite simple: they look at the canvas at an angle, all the teeth should shine, and if some does not shine, then it is not sharpened.
A check cut can be made to guarantee.
Hacksaws for metal
Despite the huge number of grinders and other automatic saws that require a minimum of human effort when working, there are many hand saws, and caring for them is quite difficult. Manual a tool for processing metal products is now in most cases an outdated phenomenon, but for some work such saws are irreplaceable, and they are also taken "just in case" for infrequent and uncomplicated work.
The teeth of these saws are very small, short and frequent. Sharpening such a canvas is very difficult, almost impossible. It is usually much easier to remove and discard a dull canvas, replacing it with a new one. Now such canvases are sharpened only by a few - lovers of complex work, but in the interim USSR, many did this because of the shortage of canvases.
Sharpening a file for metal is similar to the process for a hacksaw for wood, with the difference that miniature files are used and magnifying glasses are used to control angles.
The chain tooth planes the wood like a plane, and the chip thickness is adjusted by the height of the stop. The heavy work of the saw leads to a quick dull of the chain. Several sharpenings may be required during one book a day. It worsens the problem that initially, that the tooth rapidly becomes blunt when it meets the soil. Enough once or twice zats ...Post Views: 0
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- Tips for choosing a sharpening bar
- Sharpening Japanese knives
Sharpening knives is an inevitable process for any person. Despite the routine of this procedure, many not only do not know how to sharpen a knife correctly, but also pass on their "experience" to friends and acquaintances. There is an opinion that the correct sharpening of knives is relevant only for blades made of expensive steels, and a simple kitchen knife can be sharpened with a simple household sharpener for 200-300 rubles. In fact, you can sharpen any knife to a razor sharpness, just on a knife with bad steel such a sharpening will last no more than five minutes.
Manual knife sharpening is a rather lengthy procedure, which includes the use of natural abrasive stones and diamond stones. In order for the knife to shave the hair on the arm, it is imperative to "finish" it on the skin, using the paste "GOI" of various numbers.
The choice of sharpening stones for sharpening
Sharpening bars for manual knife sharpening can be divided into four large groups, depending on the material used in their manufacture:
- Ceramic whetstones;
- Diamond stones;
- Natural stones of natural origin;
- Japanese water stones.
Ceramic knife sharpeners are the most affordable way to sharpen your kitchen knives. It is the ceramic blocks that fill the shelves of hardware stores and markets. They are of several types. The most common is the “boat” bar. As a rule, it is very rough and only suitable for rough sharpening or for changing the sharpening angles of the knife. Bars from Poland are often found that have two sides, with a rough and smooth surface. This is the best budget choice. If the block is erased, it is not a pity to throw it away and replace it with a new one.
Diamond stones are rarely used for professional knife sharpening. The sharpening process itself when using diamond stones is more complicated, and the cutting edge becomes blunt quickly. Diamonds often leave deep scratches on the cutting edge and eat up too much metal when sharpening.
Natural knife sharpening stones and Japanese water stones are the best knife sharpening stones. A big disadvantage is their high price, you often have to order them from abroad.
The first criterion to focus on when choosing is the size of the bar. Its length should exceed the length of the knife blade by 1.5-2 times. The surface of the do-it-yourself knife sharpening bar should be smooth, without chips or cracks. If the stone is damaged, it is better to refuse to purchase.
For sharpening kitchen knives, a ceramic double-sided bar, or several bars of different grain sizes, made in the USSR, is suitable. No matter how much the Soviet industry was criticized, grindstones in the USSR were made strictly according to GOST. Unfortunately, now such bars can be found only at flea markets.
If your task includes not just sharpening kitchen knives, but you want to sharpen hunting or tourist knives to the state of a razor, then purchase GOI paste for finishing the cutting edge.
Choice of grindstone grit
Sharpening stones are usually divided into three categories:
- Coarse grit;
- Medium grain size;
- Fine grain size.
Not everyone knows that in addition, they are divided like sandpaper by the number of abrasive grains per conventional unit of area. The bars start at 100 and end at about 15,000.
Usually, when sharpening, bars of 600-800 units are used. For edge polishing, marking bars 1500-2000 are used. Bars over 2000 are used only by professionals and are rarely on sale.
Step-by-step instructions for sharpening a knife
Before you start sharpening a knife, you need to understand a few rules for yourself:
- The knife sharpening angle must be strictly observed;
- Do not press hard on the knife when sharpening, it will not sharpen faster, but the sharpening stone can be damaged;
- Sharpening blocks should be rinsed with water to remove metal dust.
If you are trying to sharpen a knife for the first time, do not train on expensive models, take a simple kitchen knife and bring it to the sharpness of a razor.
- First of all, you need to rinse the bar with water and soapy water or dishwashing detergent;
- The second stage is the preparation of the workplace. For this, a straight board is placed on the table, on which a whetstone is installed. Everyone chooses the position of the bar according to their feelings of convenience;
- Before you start sharpening, you need to choose at what angle you want to sharpen the blade. It should be remembered that for delicate work, the sharpening angle should be about 20 degrees. For a utility knife, 30-40 degrees is also suitable. The choice of the sharpening angle directly depends on the quality of the steel on the knife blade. Higher quality steel is able to keep fine sharpening for a long time. Sharpening cheap kitchen knives at a small angle is impractical;
- The essence of setting the correct angle of the blade is so that the cutting edge is perpendicular to the movement of the knife along the sharpening bar. If the angle of the knife suits you before sharpening, it is not difficult to maintain it, the cutting edge simply presses against the bar with its entire surface. To change the sharpening angle, it is better to use special tools to hold the sharpening angle. They can be purchased at specialized knife stores or made yourself;
- Having fixed the blade at the desired angle, we begin to slide the blade along the bar from ourselves. The blade is sharpened until a "burr" appears along the entire length of the cutting edge. When it appears, you can move on to sharpening the other side of the knife. The dust that appears during sharpening must be periodically washed off under running water;
- After sharpening on a coarse abrasive, you can proceed to fine-tuning on a finer stone. The procedure for such fine-tuning is no different from sharpening on a rough grindstone. If you have several stones with finer grain, continue sharpening, changing them from smaller to larger;
- For a kitchen knife, such a sharpening will be enough; it will thinly cut a tomato and paper. If you want to achieve a razor-sharp blade, you should grind the RK (cutting edge) on the skin with GOI paste;
Razor-sharp cutting edge
To fine-tune the RK, a special GOI polishing paste is used, developed during the existence of the USSR by the State Optical Institute. The paste is spread over a piece of leather, which is preferably attached to a block of wood the size of a standard whetstone. The peculiarity of polishing on GOI paste is that the knife blade must be sanded with movements towards oneself.
Sharpening Japanese knives
Sharpening of Japanese knives follows a special scheme, since the blades of Japanese knives have a different geometry and one-sided sharpening. This geometry results in the food not sticking to the knife blade.
Japanese blades are sharpened with the same abrasives as other types of knives, only they are sharpened on one side, until a burr appears. When it appears, the blade flips to the other side and the burr is removed in a few strokes. After that, the whetstone is replaced with a finer-grain stone and the procedure is repeated.
Household manual knife sharpeners
There are many small kitchen sharpeners that the manufacturer claims they can perfectly sharpen a knife in one minute. In fact, these sharpeners can only be recommended to those who want to get rid of the knife in a short time. These sharpeners "eat up" a large amount of metal, and soon the knife becomes thin and unsuitable for further use.
There are excellent knife sharpeners that not only can sharpen your knife to razor sharp, but also make it easy to maintain or even change the angle of the blade. These are systems like Edge Pro Apex or Lanski. A knife sharpening machine is quite expensive, about 6,000 rubles.
There are also analogues of the Chinese company Ganzo, which are half the price. The machine for sharpening knives of this manufacturer has proven itself quite well.
Common mistakes when sharpening knives
People who are not experts in the field of knife sharpening often make gross mistakes in this process:
- Having bought one first block that comes across, they believe that this is enough for a full sharpening. In fact, a knife sharpening kit should at least include several bars of different grain sizes;
- Knife undersharpening. During sharpening, many small burrs form on the cutting edge of the knife, which can give the knife a feeling of being sharpened. Such burrs quickly break off in the process of working with a knife, and it has to be resharpened again. In order to avoid such a situation, you need to carefully inspect the RC during the sharpening process;
- Some people start sharpening without even cleaning the knife from dirt and grease, having seen how professional chefs manipulate their knives with mussat during the cooking process. It must be remembered that the mussat is intended only for editing the cutting edge, it does not sharpen the knife blade;
- Do not press the knife strongly against the bar while sharpening, this will only spoil the whetstone;
- Incorrect sharpening angle. It should be remembered that too large a sharpening angle will not allow your knife to cut food thinly, and with a small sharpening angle, the blade will quickly "sit" on solid products.
When sharpening, just follow these simple rules and you will succeed.
DIY knife sharpening device
If someone is not satisfied with the high price for a branded knife sharpening device, then you can do the installation yourself. The advantage of self-production is that you can make a set for sharpening knives, taking into account your wishes, changing the design in any direction.
To start manufacturing work, you need to find a suitable drawing on the Internet. Usually, homemade sharpeners are of two types:
- Simple sharpener type Lanski;
- A homemade sharpener similar to the Edge Pro Apex model.
It is up to you which model to copy, just remember that the first option is easier to manufacture, but less convenient to use. A set for sharpening knives of the second type is technically more difficult to make, but it is much more convenient to work on it. We will look at how to make a simpler version in more detail.
Making a sharpener type Lanski
To make a Lanski type sharpener, you will need sharpening stones of different grain sizes, a piece of thick plexiglass from which we will cut out stone holders, an aluminum corner, a thin steel bar and an aluminum profile.
To begin with, blanks for sticking abrasive stones are cut out of plexiglass. They should be slightly longer than the whetstones, as there are still holes to be drilled into them in order to insert the bar. A bar previously bent with the letter "G" is inserted into the drilled holes and fixed with a fixing bolt.
Several blanks must be cut out of the aluminum profile and the corner, in order to then make a clamping system for the knife from them. Do not forget to drill several holes in the upper part of the assembled structure, for different sharpening angles, by analogy with the Lanski system.
Do not forget about making a stand to secure the entire structure in a fixed position. You can do without it, but it will create great inconvenience in the work.
Camping knife sharpening kit
Naturally, on a hike, you won't be able to take a full-fledged set for sharpening knives with you, but it is advisable to put a double-sided stone and a block with stretched leather in a backpack. Even if the steel on your knife has outstanding characteristics, no one is safe from dents and dents in the cutting edge. Sharpening a damask knife or a knife made of powder steel will be problematic, so take a small carbon steel knife just in case, it will not take up much space, but it will help you out in case of failure of the main knife. Carbon steel has a very aggressive cut and can be sharpened easily on a simple grindstone in a couple of minutes. At the same time, such knives keep sharpening quite well. The only drawback is the insufficient corrosion resistance of such steel.
It is not difficult to sharpen a knife correctly, you just need to follow the advice of professionals and have the necessary set of sharpening accessories. Everyone can choose the composition of this set himself, taking into account his vision of the sharpness of the knife.