Knife Maintenance and Sharpening

[eGCI Team]

Knife Maintenance and Sharpening

By Chad Ward (Chad)

Warning: Remember that handling, using and sharpening knives is inherently dangerous. Neither eGullet nor the author can be responsible for your safety. That’s your job. Knife safety, especially during sharpening, is a matter of common sense. Keep your fingers, toes and everything else out of the path of the blade – even if it were to slip. If you go slowly, pay attention and stay focused, you’ll be fine.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Section One: The Sad Truth about Kitchen Knives

Section Two: Steel

Section Three: Edge Basics

Section Four: Sharpening Basics

Section Five: Sharpening Step by Step

Section Six: Maintenance

Section Seven: Overview of Sharpening Systems

Section Eight: Conclusions and Resources

Introduction

“Knife sharpening is hard.”

“Sharpening is too difficult and time consuming to do at home.”

“Send your knives to a professional sharpener once a year and you will be fine.”

“You have to spend hours hunched over a heavy hone slathered with oil.”

This well-intentioned advice is parroted in cooking schools, Food Network television programs, professional manuals and cookbooks. And it is just plain wrong.

Okay, maybe not so much wrong as misleading.

Knife sharpening is not difficult. It is not shrouded in mystery. With a little knowledge, a little geometry, a couple of tricks and some inexpensive tools, knife sharpening can be fairly easy and extremely rewarding. At the very least it’s a great skill for the toolbox. You’ll come away from this clinic with a better understanding of edges, steel and how to maintain your knives yourself. Or, if you decide to send them out, you’ll know how to make sure you’re getting what you want – and what you pay for.

Section One: The Sad Truth About Kitchen Knives

To a chef, there is nothing more important than his knife. It is not only an extension of his hands, it is an extension of his very personality. The knife is a chef’s paintbrush.

So why are most kitchen knives so bad?

The knives found in most commercial and home kitchens are designed for the lowest common denominator. The manufacturers of these knives make a series of compromises calculated to keep the largest number of people happily using their knives for the longest period of time. Like supermarket tomatoes bred for sturdiness and uniformity rather than flavor, these compromises seriously degrade the performance of your knives.

The first compromise begins with the steel. Steel is the heart of the knife. Most manufacturers (Henckels, Wusthof, Forschner, et al.) have proprietary steel blends and are very close-mouthed about the actual formulation of their steels. According to industry insiders, these steel blends are closely related to or equivalent to a steel known as 440a. By and large 440a steel is formulated for stain and wear resistance rather than holding a high performance edge.

In the kitchen, that’s not a bad tradeoff.

But this compromise in edge performance is compounded by a heat treatment that leaves the steel much softer than it could be. In general, the harder the steel, the keener the edge it will take. However, a hard steel makes it more difficult to get that edge in the first place. So manufacturers leave the steel a little soft, theoretically making sharpening at home easier. If you’ve ever spent an hour or two trying to get a super fine edge on a cheap kitchen knife, you’ll know that there is a big gap between theory and practice.

Upper-end kitchen knives like Henckels, Sabatier, Wusthof, et al., are a little better, but are still softer than they need to be at 52 to 56 on the Rockwell C scale (the Rockwell scale is a scale used to measure the relative hardness of different solids). By contrast, Japanese knives tend to be around 61-62 on the Rockwell scale. Custom knife maker Phil Wilson hardens his S90V (a stainless supersteel) chef’s and filet knives to 62-63 Rockwell.

The next compromise is in the factory edge angles. Most kitchen knives come with an edge that is at least 25 degrees per side, frequently even greater. If you add the two sides together you get a 50 degree included angle. And that’s the best case scenario. Take a look at a protractor if you happen to have one lying around. Fifty degrees is extremely thick. An angle that obtuse is more appropriate for an axe than a chef’s knife. Again, the theory is that the thick angles will allow the edge to resist damage from impaction, rolling and wear better than a thin edge. But, as the song says, it ain’t necessarily so.

Finally, there is just plain cruelty and misuse. While I’m certain none of you would ever use the sharpener on the back of an electric can opener, or use a glass cutting board, or store your knives loose in a drawer or put them in the dishwasher, it does happen. And when you add soft steel and thick angles to the general abuse that knives see in the kitchen, you end up with tools that are more adapted for bludgeoning oxen than fine dicing a soft tomato.

Take heart. The news isn’t all bad. We can fix these problems. Geometry is far more important than steel. With some basic knowledge and the willingness to invest a little time, you can realistically expect a dramatic increase in knife performance.

First, do no harm: General knife care

- Use wooden or composite plastic cutting boards only. Glass, ceramic, marble and steel will cause the edge to roll or chip. Bad. Don’t do it.

- Don’t drop your knives in the sink. Not only is it a hazard to the person washing dishes, but you can also blunt the tip or edge.

- Don’t put your knives in the dishwasher. The heat may damage wooden handles and the edges may bang against other cutlery or plates.

- Keep your knives clean and dry. Sanitize if necessary.

- Do not store your knives loose in a drawer. Use a block, magnetic strip, slotted hanger or edge guards. The magnetic strip is not recommended if you have children or inquisitive pets.

- Finally, your knife is not a can opener, a screwdriver, a pry bar, box cutter or hammer. There’s a special place in Hell reserved for people who abuse their knives this way.

If your knives won’t fit in a block, simple plastic blade guards are a good solution

Second: Modify for performance

This is the easy part. Establishing and maintaining high performance edges is what this tutorial is all about. It can be as simple as steeling with the proper technique or as complex as creating specific edge bevel and edge aggression strategies for each knife in your collection. It’s all up to you.

While you can’t change the steel your knife is made from, you can certainly keep your knives at peak performance – and without too much difficulty. We’ll discuss high performance edges and sharpening strategies a little later in the tutorial.

Third: Modify for comfort

This is something very few chefs (and even relatively few knife makers) take into consideration. Ask any chef to show you his knife-hand calluses. He’ll have a thick one at the base of his first finger from the “pinch grip” used in most kitchens. He or she may also have another on the side of the second finger where the finger rubs against the bolster or dropped portion of the blade that extends below the handle.

He will also have aching hands and possible repetitive stress injuries.

In the interest of economy, most knife manufacturers leave the spines of their knives squared off. The edges of the spine can sometimes be sharper than the knife itself. That edge cutting into your finger can lead to blisters, calluses, reduced circulation, numbness and injury.

If you ever handle a chef’s knife made by Canadian knife maker George Tichbourne you’ll know that it doesn’t have to be that way. Tichbourne worked with several professional chefs when designing his kitchen knife series. One of the key features is a smoothly rounded spine. It doesn’t abrade your finger, cut off the circulation, make your hands numb or create any of the other discomforts associated with standard kitchen knives.

You can do the same in less than half an hour. Lock your knife, edge down, into a padded vise. The padding doesn’t have to be anything elaborate. Two pieces of flat rubber or leather will keep the jaws from scratching the blade. You’ll need a sheet of fine (600 grit) wet/dry sandpaper available at any auto supply store or an abrasive cloth, sometimes called a crocus cloth. Using a gentle shoeshine motion, lightly round the edges of the spine. You don’t have to buff hard or remove a lot of metal. All you need to do is break the sharp edge at the base of the spine. How far you take it is up to you. This simple modification will make a world of difference in the comfort of your knives.

Section Two: Steel

An Overview of Steel

By definition, steel is a combination of iron and less than 2 percent carbon. For centuries, carbon was the only alloying element. The problem in the early days of steel making was getting rid of unwanted elements, not adding new ones. However, there are a variety of alloying elements that are added to modern steels to impart various characteristics.

Iron alone is relatively soft. It does not hold an edge well, wears quickly and has little resistance to bending. Add a little bit of carbon and the story changes dramatically. The carbon combines with the iron to form hard carbide platelets cemented together in a matrix of iron. The combination is resistant to wear and bending and will take a keen edge.

Smaller carbides and a tighter grain structure allow for a stronger, sharper edge. Other carbide formers, like vanadium, can refine the grain of the steel further. Knives with a high vanadium content can take a very keen edge, but are harder to sharpen.

Carbon - Present in all steels, it is the most vital hardening element. Greater than 0.5 percent carbon content qualifies a steel as a “high carbon” steel.

Chromium - Added for wear resistance and corrosion resistance. A steel with at least 13 percent chromium is considered “stainless.” Chromium is a carbide former, so it also increases wear resistance.

Manganese - A carbide former. Manganese aids grain structure, increases hardenability, and wear resistance. Manganese is present in most cutlery steels.

Molybdenum - Another carbide former. Increases hardness, prevents brittleness, makes the steel easier to machine.

Nickel - Adds toughness and possibly aids in corrosion resistance.

Phosphorus - Essentially a contaminant.

Silicon - Increases hardness and strength.

Sulfur - Increases machinability but decreases toughness.

Tungsten - Increases heat, wear and shock resistance. Tungsten is the strongest carbide former behind vanadium.

Vanadium - Another carbide former. Contributes to wear resistance and hardenability. Vanadium refines the grain of the steel, which contributes to toughness and allows the blade to take a very sharp edge.

Most kitchen knives fall into the category of “high carbon stainless.” These knives generally contain between 0.5 and 0.8 percent carbon, 13 to 18 percent chromium and a little manganese, molybdenum, silicon, phosphorus and sulphur. This makes for a steel that is easy to produce, is very stain resistant and reasonably wear resistant. Knives from Global and Mac’s Superior line have some vanadium added for improved wear resistance and a finer grain, which allows the knife to be sharpened to an incredible edge.

Carbon Steel versus Stainless Steel

The great debate rages on. Carbon steel advocates claim that their knives take a keener edge, hold it longer and are easier to resharpen than stainless steel knives. Stainless steel users claim that carbon steel knives are unsanitary, leave an off taste in foods and that stainless knives hold an edge longer than their carbon counterparts.

Who’s right? Depends on your definitions and your environment. It’s not as simple as carbon versus stainless.

Carbon steels range from simple iron/carbon combinations to high-alloy tool steels that will cut through concrete without losing their edge. Stainless steels vary from very soft, extremely stain resistant dive knives to super stainless alloys, like Crucible Particle Metals’ S30V, a steel purpose-designed for the custom cutlery industry.

In the far less demanding realm of the kitchen, however, the carbon steel devotees are right. At least until they actually have to use their knives. Then it’s a different story.

Carbon steel kitchen knives generally are a little harder and stronger than stainless steel kitchen knives. They are easy to sharpen and take a screaming edge. And while the patina that develops on a carbon knife can be unsightly (unless you like that sort of thing), it isn’t unsanitary.

But in the wet, acidic environment of the kitchen, stainless rules. For all their faults, compromises and shortcomings, stainless steel kitchen knives work better and will hold their edges longer than carbon steel knives.

Doesn’t make sense, does it?

The culprit is corrosion – the effect of acid and micro-rusting. Even on what appears to be a mirror-bright, razor sharp edge, microscopic particles of rust and corrosion will form, attacking the edge and reducing its performance. Unless carbon steel knives are rinsed and dried frequently, their edges will degrade rapidly in kitchen use. The stainless edge will easily outlast them.

According to chef and knife maker Thomas Haslinger, “Acids of fruit and vegetables are fairly aggressive and will dull a carbon blade more quickly than stainless. The acid actually eats the edge.”

Section Three: Edge Basics

Most kitchen knives are flat ground, meaning that the blade tapers directly from the spine to the edge. Hollow ground, convex ground and saber ground blades are rarely found in the kitchen. I mention them only to confuse you.

Edges come in a variety of flavors. The most common are the V-edge, double beveled edge, chisel ground edge and the convex edge.

V-edges and double beveled edges are variations on a theme. The edge found on your kitchen knives is most likely a V-edge, meaning, oddly enough, that the edge bevels form a V, two surfaces intersecting at a line of (ideally) zero width.

A double bevel takes this idea a little further by adding a second, more acute, angle behind the edge bevel. This secondary bevel is sometimes called a back bevel or relief angle. It’s purpose is to thin the metal behind the edge. The thinner the edge, the greater the cutting ability. However, an edge that is too thin is susceptible to damage. So you add a smaller, more obtuse primary bevel to the very edge to give it the strength to avoid damage from impaction, chipping or rolling.

Chisel ground edges are primarily found on Japanese knives, especially sushi knives. The edge is ground only on one side. The other is side is flat. Hence they come in right and left handed versions. Chisel ground edges can be extremely thin and sharp. If the edge bevel is ground at 25 degrees and the other side is 0 degrees, you have an included angle of 25 degrees – considerably more acute than the average Western knife.

Sometimes known as hamaguri-ba, the convex edge arcs in a rounded curve down to the edge. Thus the final edge is the intersection of two arcs, creating a very sharp edge with more metal behind it than the standard V-edge. Convex edges are generally formed on a slack belt grinder, so they are difficult for the home sharpener to achieve. This can be remedied with the mousepad trick found later in the tutorial. See the Convex Grind FAQ for sharpening methods and a comparison of the convex edge with other edge types.

A double bevel. The wide area is a 10 degree back bevel; the narrow section is the 15 degree primary edge face.

The back bevel also solves one of the great problems with V-edges, the fact that the metal behind the edge gets progressively thicker as the knife is sharpened over time. The knife doesn’t cut as well and becomes harder and harder to sharpen. The answer is to grind the shoulders off the edge at an acute angle, i.e. add a back bevel, then reestablish the primary bevel.

If you sharpen your knife without grinding a relief angle, your edge will thicken over time.

Micro-serrations: True or False?

Knife geeks frequently talk about “micro-serrations,” microscopic teeth on the edge of the knife. Is this really true? In a word, yes. Sharpening by its very nature creates a scratch pattern on the edge of the knife. The coarser the stone, the coarser and deeper the scratch pattern will be and the larger the micro-serrations. Conversely, the finer the stone, the finer and more polished the edge will be with less prominent micro-serrations. The real question is, which one is better?

This is one of the great debates in the knife world – the razor sharp polished edge versus a toothier edge.

John Juranitch in his book “The Razor Edge Book of Sharpening” is emphatic that a polished edge is the answer, that micro-serrations are indicative of a dull knife. His experience comes from sharpening knives for the meat processing industry. Meat cutters go through knives faster than tissues in flu season, so Juranitch’s conclusions are hard to dispute.

However, Joe Talmadge, author of the Bladeforums “Sharpening FAQ;” Cliff Stamp, physicist and knife nut; Leonard Lee, president of Lee Valley Tools and author of “The Complete Guide to Sharpening;” and many others have come to the opposite conclusion: that micro-serrations, in the right context, can be a very good thing.

What is the right context? Later on we’ll examine the difference between push cutting and slicing, their applications in the kitchen and the value of various levels of polish on your knife edges. Which leads us directly to:

The Meaning of Sharpness

What do we mean when we say that we want our knives to be sharp? Seems like a silly question. We all know what sharp is. Or do we?

Sharpness is not just a function of creating a super-thin edge that will readily sever free-hanging nose hairs; it’s also a function of shape and intended purpose. You could grind your chef’s knife to razor thinness, but the edge would crumble the first time you hit a bone or tried to hammer your way through a winter squash. Your knife would be sharp but useless. Similarly, a razor sharp but wedge-thick edge is great on a splitting axe but not much good for carpaccio.

We have to take into consideration the shape of the blade, the angle of the edge bevel and especially the material being cut when we consider how we judge the sharpness of our kitchen knives.

So the real question is not “how sharp should my knife be,” but rather “how do I get maximum performance from my knife under a given set of conditions.” A sharp knife can be defined as one that has a keen edge that can hold up in repeated usage while producing the results we’re looking for in the kitchen.

The Myth of Thick Edges

The theory is that thick edges (larger angles) last longer than thin edges, and the majority of the knife buying public wants the edge to last as long as possible. But it doesn’t work out that way in practice. Thinner edges actually outlast thicker edges almost all the time.

The thinner edge starts out performing better than the thicker edge. So even if it does degrade it has a lot of ground to lose before it falls to the performance level of the thick edge.

Thinner edges cut more easily, putting less stress on the edge. If a thin edge takes three slices to get through a big slab of raw meat, a thicker edge might take six or seven. Or three with a lot more force. The thicker edge is doing twice as much work, degrading twice as quickly.

Thinner edges are easier to control. Lateral stresses are a significant source of edge degradation. The more smoothly, accurately and easily you are able to cut, the less lateral stress you put on the edge.

Thin is good.

A very thin, high performance 10/15 double bevel. The knife is an 8” custom chef’s knife in ATS-34 steel from Steve Mullin.

The High Performance Edge

We want our kitchen knives to cut as easily as possible while maintaining integrity and staying sharp.

For maximum performance, you want the edge as thin as possible. To borrow an image from Joe Talmadge, imagine a woman stepping on your foot. If she’s wearing tennis shoes, it will hurt a lot less than if she’s wearing stiletto heels. The same amount of force applied to a much smaller area penetrates better. A knife edge a thousandth of an inch thick with one pound of pressure behind it concentrates 1,000 pounds of pressure per square inch at the edge. While an actual kitchen knife’s edge will be a little thicker than a thousandth of an inch, the thinner your knife’s edge, the more efficiently it will cut.

To thin a knife’s edge, you lower the edge angle. The problem is that a thin edge is much more susceptible to damage. As the edge becomes thinner, there is less metal to support it. It can roll, indent and chip, causing the edge to degrade quickly.

So the goal is to thin the edge as much as possible, but not so much that it is regularly damaged during hard use. One way to do this is to keep thinning your edge until it reaches an unacceptable level of fragility then back off a couple of degrees. This is easier than it sounds, but not really necessary. We’ll discuss suitable edge angles in just a moment.

One factor that strongly plays into how thin you can take a knife’s edge is the quality of the steel. That’s one of the primary advantages to the new breed of incredibly hard stainless super steels. You can sharpen them to very acute angles without risk of significant damage. As an aside, I’ve taken a chef’s knife made from ATS-34 down to less than 8 degrees per side before it required an unacceptable level of maintenance.

As we’ve discovered, the average kitchen knife is made from pretty mediocre steel. But it can still be much thinner than the factory edge. As a matter of fact you can sharpen your Henckels and Wusthofs to angles that would give the good folks in Solingen the heebie-jeebies without worrying too much.

Section Four: Sharpening Basics

Before we get into sharpening systems and the actual mechanics of sharpening, it helps to understand some of the basic principles. These are the burr, the sharpening angles, the abrasive, consistency and sharpening strategy. They apply no matter what sharpening method you choose.

The Burr

First and most foremost is the burr. The burr is your friend. A burr, or wire edge, is a rough, almost microscopic, raised lip of metal that forms when one edge meets the other. It is the only way to be absolutely certain that you have fully ground an edge. Essentially you grind one side until it meets the other and pushes up a small curl of metal. If you stop sharpening before the burr is formed, your knife will not be as sharp as it could be.

Sometimes you can’t see a burr, but you can always feel it. You check for a burr on the side opposite the edge you have been grinding. Hold the knife blade horizontally and place your fingers or thumb at a 45-degree angle to the edge and pull gently down and away. DO NOT PULL TOWARD THE TIP OR HILT; YOU MAY LOP OFF A FINGER. PULL AWAY FROM THE EDGE. Remember, check the side opposite the one you've been sharpening. You're checking for a very light lip caused by the edge rolling over to the other side. Check at various points along the edge. The burr tends to form quickly at the base of the blade but takes a little longer at the tip. You must feel a burr running all the way from heel to tip to know that you have fully ground that side of the knife.

Hand position for checking a burr.

The Angles

As we’ve discussed, the 50-degree-plus included angle that comes standard on most kitchen knives is way too obtuse. Leonard Lee suggests anywhere from 5 to 20 degrees per side (10 to 40 degrees total) for general kitchen work. Five degrees per side is incredibly thin and would require a very hard, high quality steel to keep that edge in regular use.

For the vast majority of kitchen knives, 15 to 20 degrees per side will provide a significant increase in performance without requiring undue maintenance. Meat cleavers should be a little thicker, say 20 to 25 degrees per side, while dedicated slicers can be taken down to 10 to 15 degrees per side.

The best compromise in the kitchen has proven to be a 15/20 double bevel. That is a 15 degree back bevel with a 20 degree primary edge face.

A 15/20 double bevel illustrated. This is an excellent performer in the kitchen.

Abrasives

You sharpen your knives by scraping away metal. That’s really all there is too it. But there is a huge array of abrasives available.

Traditionalists will demand an Arkansas stone. These stones were originally mined from a novaculite deposit in Arkansas. They were graded, from softest to hardest, as Washita, Soft Arkansas, Hard Arkansas and Black Hard Arkansas. However, the best parts of the deposit were mined long ago, leading to spotty quality in the natural stones. They have since been replaced by ground novaculite reconstituted into benchstones. These can be found under the Arkansas Perfect name.

Synthetic aluminum oxide stones are very, very hard and don’t wear like natural stones. They clean up easily with a scouring pad and are more consistent in their grading systems. Spyderco and Lansky both manufacture synthetic stones in a variety of grits (see discussion of grits below).

Japanese waterstones are considered by many to be the ultimate sharpening tools. Although natural waterstones are extremely expensive and hard to find, reconstituted stones are readily available. These reconstituted Japanese stones are held together by a resin bond, cut very quickly (and wear more quickly as well) and are available in extremely fine grits that will put a high polish on an edge.

Synthetic waterstones, as used by EdgePro systems, are formulated from aluminum oxide specifically for knife sharpening. Like Japanese waterstones, they need to be wet in order to cut effectively.

Diamond “stones” have man-made diamond particles imbedded in or coated on a base metal. They cut very aggressively and should be used with caution. They were formerly available only in very coarse grits, but that is changing rapidly. According to Leonard Lee, monocrystalline diamonds are preferable to polycrystalline diamonds in a diamond stone. They are nearly twice as expensive, but last much longer. EZE-Lap, Lansky and DMT make excellent diamond stones.

There are two other issues related to abrasives that must be considered: grits and lubrication.

You Want Grits with That?

All of these abrasives come in a variety of grits from very coarse to ultra-fine. Grit refers to the size of the individual particles of abrasive in the sharpening stone. A stone with a finer grit has smaller particles, and produces an more polished edge with less prominent micro-serrations. A stone with a coarser grit has larger particles, produces an edge with more prominent micro-serrations, and tends to abrade metal away more quickly. There are several different grit rating systems, and unfortunately it is very difficult to correlate these different systems. For example, Japanese waterstones are graded differently than diamond stones and both have different numbering systems than the codes found on powered grindstones. Steve Bottorff, author of “Sharpening Made Easy” has taken a stab at it here if you’re interested.

What we do know is that you’ll need a coarse to medium stone for shaping the edge and removing the shoulders of over-thick edges. You’ll also need a fine stone for sharpening the final edge. The combination stones found in most hardware stores just won’t do the trick. The coarse side isn’t coarse enough and the fine side isn’t fine enough. Any of the sharpening systems mentioned later will come with appropriate stones.

In very general and imprecise terms, stones rated lower than 300 grit are coarse, 300-400 are medium, 600+ are fine and 1200 and up are extra fine.

Japanese waterstones have their own grit rating system. They cut so quickly that anything below 800x can be considered coarse, although they’ll leave a much more polished edge than a corresponding Western stone. 1000x and 1200x can be considered medium and medium-fine and make an excellent general purpose stones. Waterstones can go up to 8000x, but that’s really overkill for kitchen purposes.

The stones that come with Spyderco’s Sharpmaker are listed as fine (the white stones) and medium (the grey stones). The grey has been compared to an approximately 800x waterstone, the white to a 1200x waterstone in effect.

The synthetic waterstones from EdgePro systems also have an idiosyncratic rating system. The coarse stone is listed as 100, the medium as 180, the fine 220, extra fine 320, ultra fine is 600. However a conversation with Ben Dale, owner of EdgePro, revealed that the extra fine stone is equivalent to a 1200x Japanese waterstone and the ultra fine equivalent to a 2000x Japanese stone. The basic system comes with a medium and fine stone, which should be sufficient for most needs, though the coarse stone comes in handy for quickly reshaping bevels.

Oil or Water?

Everyone knows you need to lubricate your sharpening stone with water or oil, right? So the question is which one is better. Neither. The purpose of a sharpening stone is to grind the edge and remove metal. Oil reduces friction and makes the process much slower.

Supposedly oil helps float away metal particles that would otherwise clog the pores of the stone. You can do the same thing by wiping the stone with a damp cloth when you’re done. Steve Bottorff reports that you can clean your Arkansas stones with paint thinner. Synthetic stones clean up with a scouring pad and abrasive cleanser.

According to Joe Talmadge, if you have already used oil on your Arkansas stone, you’ll probably need to keep using oil. But if you have a new Arkansas stone, a diamond stone or a synthetic stone, go ahead and use it without oil or water. It will work much better.

John Juranitch reports that in his company’s work with meat processing plants they discovered that the metal filings suspended in the oil on a stone actually chip and abrade the edge. Although these chips were only visible through a microscope, the meatpackers readily noticed the difference between the knives sharpened on a dry stone and those sharpened on oiled stones.

Waterstones are another matter entirely. Both Japanese and synthetic waterstones require water in order to cut effectively. Japanese waterstones can be damaged if used dry and must be soaked thoroughly before use. Waterstones wear very quickly, revealing new layers of cutting abrasive as the swarf builds up and is washed away. That’s why they are so effective. There is always a new layer of sharp abrasive cutting away at the metal of your edge. By the way, “swarf” is one of those cool terms you get to toss around when you discuss sharpening. Swarf is the slurry of metal filings and stone grit that builds up as you sharpen. Throw that into your next cocktail party conversation and just watch the expressions of awe appear as people realize that you are a sharpening God.

Consistency

You must be able to maintain a consistent angle while you are sharpening. This can be tough to do, which is why there are so many gimmicks and sharpening systems on the market. They don’t provide any magic. All they do is help you keep your edge at the same angle throughout the sharpening session.

Maintaining consistency is a primary reason freehand sharpening with benchstones or waterstones is a little tricky. It takes a lot of experience and practice to keep the edge at a constant angle stroke after stroke using only your hands and eyes.

Sharpening Strategy: Coarse versus Polished Edges

Related to the grit discussion above, the finer the stone you use to sharpen your knife, the more polished your edge will be. And while it can be a lot of fun to create a scary sharp edge that will cut the tops off of arm hair without touching the skin, it’s really not necessary or ideal for kitchen use.

As a matter of fact, leaving the edge of your knife just a little coarse can be a very good thing. This is where we must compare push cutting to slicing.

Push cutting involves parting fibers and requires a polished edge. Shaving, for example, is push cutting. So is peeling an apple or julienning a carrot. You are pressing your thin, finely polished edge through the fibers of the food, pushing them to either side.

Slicing, on the other hand, involves severing fibers and requires a toothier edge. Crusty bread, a soft tomato, roast chicken – anything with an outer layer that is tougher than the squishier inside demands an edge that can bite into the skin without crushing the interior. A highly polished edge will simply skate over the surface of a ripe plum until you put enough pressure on it to push through the skin. But the fruit underneath will give way before that happens. Not pretty.

Now you must decide. Do you do more push cutting or more slicing? Do you have knives that you use more often for dicing, peeling and julienning? Do you have a knife that is dedicated to slicing?

A good basic strategy is to start with a standard 20 degree bevel (a 15/20 double bevel if you’re feeling adventurous) with a moderately polished edge on all your knives. This alone will be a vast improvement over what you might be used to.

Then branch out. If you have a knife that is only used for vegetables, a santoku for example, you can take it to a very fine, highly polished edge. A dedicated slicer can be finished on a medium-fine grit stone, leaving the edge slightly coarse. Your chef’s knife can be somewhere in between.

There is one caveat. The thinner the edge, the finer it will need to be to avoid excessive damage. A coarse edge wears more quickly and requires more maintenance. This is usually not an issue unless you like your edges very thin. Then a polished edge will last longer. Of course if you have a very thin edge it will probably push cut through materials that a thicker edge might have to slice through, so you’re not losing any slicing performance.

If you’re really nuts you can create a dual edge on your knives. This would be a slightly coarse section at the back of the blade near the choil or bolster. The rest of the blade would be finished on a fine or extra fine stone. That gives you a toothy section for cutting through tough materials as you begin your stroke and a finer edge for push cutting through the rest. Yes, this is only for the seriously deranged.

Section Five: Sharpening Step by Step

Hey, 5,000 words into this and we’re actually getting to the “how-to” part.

Okay, here’s where we put all of this together.

Haul out your sharpening rig and let’s grind some metal. Don’t have one yet? Check out the Sharpening Systems section below to see what suits you best.

Got one now? Good.

Remember the basics: burr, angle, abrasive, consistency and strategy. Let’s assume, for the sake of discussion, that you’ve decided to put a 15/20 double bevel on your chef’s knife. Because it’s a general purpose knife, it doesn’t need to have a mirror polished edge. As a matter of fact, a good medium-fine edge is what you’re aiming for. This is your angle and strategy.

Because this is the first time you’ve really tried to change the horrid factory edge, you’ll need to begin with a fast cutting, coarse abrasive. Benchstone, waterstone, Sharpmaker grey stone – doesn’t matter. Start with the coarsest thing you’ve got.

Determine how you’re going to establish consistency. With a Sharpmaker you simply stroke straight up and down. The EdgePro or Lansky rod-type systems have angle guides built in. Freehand sharpening requires a little more skill and patience, but if you use a guide system like the Razor Edge or simply place your thumb on the spine in the same spot every time, you can create a consistent angle.

Advanced Section:

Quote

Warning: Math! If you want to be really anal about it, Leonard Lee offers this formula for creating freehand angles of less than 20 degrees. “Use the basic rule that a 1 degree angle subtends an arc of 1 unit at a radius of 60 units. The 1-in-60 rule is close enough for many purposes, particularly sharpening at low angles. You’ll find that a 10-unit rise in 60 units is about 9-1/2 degrees and a 20-unit rise is about 19 degrees.”

This works out to raising the spine 1/8 inch (measured 1.5 inches back from the edge) for every five degrees of angle. The average chef’s knife is about 1.5 inches wide at the heel, so for a 15 degree angle you’d raise the spine 3/8 inch – about the height of six quarters stacked up.

If your knife is wider or narrower than 1.5 inches, measure the height from 1.5 inches back from the edge, otherwise the math doesn’t work. It’s the height/width ratio that gives you the angle.

Forget the math. In a pinch a large binder clip clamped to the spine will get you pretty close.

So, let’s get started:

1) Establish your 15 degree angle. If you’re using a Sharpmaker, put the stones in the 15 degree slots. With a Lansky, Gatco or EdgePro system, slide the rod into the 15 degree setting. With edge guides, clamp the guide at the 3/8” height. Freehanding, raise the spine to 3/8 inch measured 1.5 inches back from the edge.

Now you’re ready to create a burr. Be patient, this might take a while. To grind off the shoulders of the previous edge we’re going to be removing a lot of metal. That’s why we need the coarse stone. At this point it doesn’t really matter what kind of stroke you use. You can go heel to tip or just grind in circles. It doesn’t make any difference.

To keep the aesthetics of the knife, you’ll want the bevels relatively even on each side. If you just grind one side until you get a burr, the other side will require much less grinding. Thus the bevels will be mismatched. To keep them matched, grind one side for about five minutes or so then switch to the other side, maintaining your approximately 15 degree angle. Feel the knife every so often to see if you can feel a burr. Keep grinding and switching sides until you detect a burr beginning to form. Remember, the burr forms on the side opposite from the side you are grinding. If you don’t remember how to check for a burr, see the picture earlier in the tutorial.

As soon as you detect a burr, keep grinding on the current side until the burr runs the entire length of the opposite edge.

If you use the Magic Marker Trick described below, you can save a little time on this step.

2) Repeat on the opposite side until you feel a burr along the full edge of the first side.

3) Optional: If you want to dress up the scratch pattern, switch to your fine stone and give the edge several passes on each side (at the same angle) to polish them out a little.

4) Establish your 20 degree angle. If you’re using a Sharpmaker, switch to the 20 degree slots. With a Lansky, Gatco or EdgePro system, simply change the rod to the 20 degree setting. With edge guides unclamp the guide and slide it forward about an 1/8 to 1/4 inch. Freehanding, raise the spine another 1/8 inch. If you switched to your fine stone, switch back to your coarse stone or the next one up, usually a medium stone.

5) Create a burr again at the new sharpening angle, going back to side one. This time you’re grinding the edges to meet at a 20 degree angle. This will happen very quickly because you’ve already removed most of the metal you need to. The 20 primary edge face will be very narrow compared to the 15 degree back bevel, somewhere around 1/32 to 1/64 of an inch.

6) Switch sides and repeat until you have a burr running the full length of the first side.

7) You’re almost home. Now that you’ve got your burr you need to grind it off completely so that the true edge remains. Now technique matters. No more grinding in circles. Stroke gently from heel to tip, alternating sides with each stroke. Keep the sharpening stone perpendicular to the blade as usual, beginning the stroke at the heel and ending at the tip. Or if you are sharpening on a benchstone, stroke tip to heel, if you’re more comfortable that way. Lighten up on the pressure as you go. There is no hard and fast rule, but five to 10 strokes per side should do it. If your checking reveals that the burr is simply flopping from side to side, lighten up the pressure even more.

😎 Change from the coarse or medium stone to the fine stone and continue. Keep stroking side to side until all the scratches from the coarse stone are gone. Continue lightening up on the pressure as you proceed. You are trying to grind the burr off. If you press too hard you’ll simply form another one.

9) Finish with a few very light strokes on the fine stone. Now, to make sure that the burr is completely gone, place the knife on the stone as though you were going to take one last stroke, but this time increase the angle just a hair. On a Sharpmaker, tilt the knife very, very slightly in toward the center to increase the angle. Now guide the knife down the stone using no more pressure than the weight of the knife itself. Switch sides and repeat for one stroke. You can do this for one more stroke per side if you can still feel any vestige of a burr.

If you have a smooth steel or very fine grit ceramic rod you can substitute a couple of strokes per side at a slightly greater than 20 degree angle for this last step (see discussion on steels and steeling below).

Your edge should be frighteningly sharp at this point. If it’s not, you might not have fully ground off the burr. The edge could simply be turned to one side. Try the fine stone and light pressure again. It could also be that rather than grinding off the burr it was simply turned straight down. This will give you an edge that will send shivers down your spine but it will break off in the first use. A light touch at the end of the sharpening process is the key.

If you want your knife too look as good as it performs, progress through the coarse, medium and fine stones at each angle setting while you’re raising your burr. This will remove any deep scratches and give the edge a more refined look.

This edge is not only very sharp, but is relatively strong. With regular steeling it will last for many months, even under hard use. When steeling ceases to have the desired effect it’s time to sharpen again. However, now that you’ve ground the back bevel you really only need to sharpen the 20 degree primary edge. If your knife is very dull go back to step four on the coarse stones. If it is only a little dull you can begin with the fine stones. The burr will be very easy to raise in subsequent sharpening sessions.

Tips and Tricks

There are a couple of tricks that can make the sharpening process even easier. I’ve saved them until the end just to be cruel.

The Magic Marker Trick

One of the easiest ways to ensure that you are matching an existing bevel is to coat the edge with magic marker. As the magic marker is abraded away by the sharpening stone. you will be able to see where the metal is being removed and whether you have matched the angle properly. Once you have coated both bevels with marker, take a swipe or two down your stone. If the marker is wiped off over the width of the bevel you have matched the angle properly. If your angle is too high, only the marker near the very edge will be removed. If your angle is too low only the marker near the shoulder, above the edge, will be removed. Recoating the edge as you sharpen is a good way to ensure that you’re holding the correct angle throughout the process. No matter what type of sharpening system you use, the magic marker trick will save you a lot of time and frustration, especially in matching an unknown angle on one of the guide or rod-style systems.

The magic marker trick also comes in handy when you are establishing a back bevel. If you coat the edge before working at the 15 degree setting you can grind the back bevel until the marker is ground almost to the edge, leaving 1/32 to 1/64 inch. That’s about how wide the primary edge face will be. Rather than grinding all the way to the edge until you get a burr, you can now switch to the 20 degree setting, knowing that the last little bit of edge will become the primary edge face. You still have to raise a burr at 20 degrees, but the marker trick can save you a little time.

The Paper Airplane Trick

Take a piece of paper with square edges. Fold the bottom left corner over until it meets the right edge. Smooth it down. You’ve just turned a 90 degree angle into a 45 degree angle. Fold the creased edge over to the far right edge like you’re making a paper airplane. You’ve just folded it in half again, and you have a 22.5 degree angle. Sound familiar? Twenty-two and a half degrees is pretty dang close to 20 degrees. As close as you can generally hold a specific angle by hand. This folded piece of paper can serve as a guide for steeling your knife, setting an angle on a benchstone or just checking that you’re keeping your angle steady as you sharpen. The paper edge guide is especially handy when you are learning to steel your knives properly. It helps build the right angle into muscle memory so you can do it without the guide when you have a little more experience. Fold the paper again and you have an 11.25 degree guide for steeling those super thin slicing knives that you’ve sharpened to 10 degrees per side.

The Mousepad Trick

Do you have an old mouse pad? Is there an auto supply store nearby? You can make a superb sharpening system for about $5.

Go to your nearest auto supply store and get some 600 grit sandpaper. Mylar-backed wet/dry sandpaper works best. This is the stuff used to sand automotive paint between coats. Get the self-stick kind. If they have higher grits, get a couple of sheets of those, too, 1200 grit is generally the next step up. Go nuts. It’s cheap.

Stick the sandpaper to the mouse pad and trim the edges. This is your new sharpening system. If you have both 600 and 1200 grit, apply one to each side of the mousepad. Make sure you have a work surface you don’t mind scratching up. If you have a double-sided mousepad sharpener, you don’t want to work on your kitchen counter or dining room table. Your spouse will kill you.

This system requires a stropping motion when sharpening, using an edge-trailing stroke. That means that unlike other sharpening methods you don’t lead with the edge, you lead with the spine. Image an old barbershop with the barber stropping his razor, stroking away from the edge. That’s the idea.

To establish your angle, lay the knife flat on the pad, edge toward you. Lift the spine slightly while pulling lightly toward you. Continue lifting until the edge bites into the sandpaper. That’s your stropping angle.

Press down lightly and stroke the knife away from you, spine first, moving from heel to tip. When you reach the end STOP and lift the knife straight up off the sandpaper. Don’t roll it off or lift the spine further or you’ll mess up the edge you’re creating. Turn the knife over and stroke back the other way with the edge away from you, pulling the spine toward you at the same angle as the previous stroke. The really cool thing is that the mouse pad is soft enough that it conforms to the angle of the knife edge. As long as you’re pretty close you’ll be fine. This will give you an amazing edge in a fairly short amount of time. If you want to polish it up, use the higher grit sandpaper on the other side of the mouse pad.

Because the mousepad is soft, it deforms lightly around the edge of the knife and gives you a slightly convex bevel. As we’ve discussed, a convex edge has many advantages but can be difficult to achieve without a belt sander. This is one way to create or maintain a convex edge without serious power tools.

This is the same technique as stropping (below) but with a different abrasive.

Stropping

Stropping is a handy way to finish off a burr or put a final mirror polish on your edge. While you can strop on anything from the back of a legal pad to an old belt, places like Lee Valley Tools and HandAmerican sell hard backed strops. The strop is usually charged with an abrasive, like green chromium oxide paste, so it actually does remove very fine particles of metal.

Like the mousepad trick above, stropping is an edge trailing stroke. Lay your knife flat on the strop with the spine facing away from you. Slowly pull the knife toward you while lifting the spine. When the edge just begins to bite into the leather you have found your angle. Keep that angle as you stroke the spine away from you, pulling the edge along behind. When you get to the end of the stroke STOP. Lift the blade straight up off the strop. Do not lift the edge higher or roll the knife over while it is still on the strop. You can wreck your edge that way.

Now lay the knife flat again, spine toward you, and gently push the edge toward the end of the strop while lifting the spine. When the edge begins to bite you’ve found your angle for the return stroke. This second step isn’t really necessary if you’ve kept your angles consistent during sharpening, but it never hurts to make sure you are holding the right angle. The return stroke is the same motion as the first stroke, simply in reverse. The edge is facing away from you and you pull the spine toward you.

Stropping will create an extremely sharp, highly polished edge optimized for push cutting. To some extent, stropping can make up for less than perfect sharpening technique, especially since it’s a little more forgiving.

Handling Serrated Knives

Serrated knives and bread knives are a special case. Serrated knives will stay sharp longer than plain edged knives, mainly because the insides of the serrations generally don’t contact hard surfaces. That’s what the teeth are for. The teeth not only have a cutting function, but are also sacrificial lambs, offered up to steakhouse swordsman and children everywhere who feel that if they’re not grinding into the ceramic of the plate, they’re not cutting.

There are four ways to sharpen serrated knives:

1) Pretend the serrations don’t exist and sharpen on a stone, sharpening system or electric sharpener as you would a plain edged knife. This will eventually remove the serrations.

2) Sharpen the flat, non-serrated back of the blade. This will sharpen the knife, but also will eventually remove the serrations, though not as quickly as the first method.

3) Sharpen the serrations individually with a tapered diamond or ceramic file.

4) Sharpen on a crock stick setup, going very slowly so the ceramic rod glides in and out of the serrations.

This last method actually works fairly well, especially with the Spyderco Sharpmaker. It’s triangular rods fit into serrations much easier than the standard round crock sticks. If you want to keep your serrated knives as sharp as they can be, the Sharpmaker system is the way to go, though the Lansky rod-guided system also has an accessory hone for sharpening serrated edges.

Chisel Ground Edges

Sharpening chisel-ground or single-bevel knives is not tricky. You simply match the bevel angle and sharpen as usual – but only on the beveled side. When you raise a burr, grind it off by laying the flat side of the knife perfectly flat against your stone and swipe the burr off. It only takes a couple of passes. You can do the same thing with a strop. The back side of the knife must be perfectly flat or you’ll round your edge. All you want to do is grind off the burr.

The back side of a sashimi knife is sometimes lightly hollow ground to make this step easier. You can actually lay the knife flat and sharpen with your usual stroke, edge first across the stone.

How to Tell if Your Knife is Sharp

How do you know when you have achieved the ultimate high performance edge? Depends on what you want to do with it. Remember that we defined sharp not only as two edge faces intersecting at a line of minimum width, but also as a function of blade shape, angle and the material to be cut. We want a keen edge that can hold up in repeated usage while producing the results we’re looking for in the kitchen.

You can tell when you’ve set your knife’s edge bevels correctly by placing the knife at a 30-45 degree angle on your thumbnail and pulling across the edge. A properly set edge will bite in and not slip off your nail. Of course, you could hurt yourself doing this, too. Or, at the very least, wreck your nail polish.

Any slick, slightly rounded surface will do. Take, for example, a plastic pen, stand it at a 30-45 degree angle on a countertop and lay the knife edge straight up and down on the plastic. Pull the edge from heel to tip. If it bites in, you’ve set your edge correctly. If it slides off, you have some more work to do. The sharper the blade, the smaller you can make the angle before it slips.

Another test is to take a Q-tip and push the fuzzy head over the edge. Any nicks or burrs will pull the cotton fibers loose from the head. The Q-tip will also reveal any rough spots in the edge. A well-sharpened edge will feel smooth. This test is more effective for polished edges.

Razor Edge Systems makes an Edge Tester for this very purpose. It is widely used in the meat cutting industry to check edges to see if they need sharpening (or if the meat cutter is just goofing off).

Another check is the “Samurai Hair Test.” Lay the knife nearly flat against the hair on the back of your head and pull gently down. Very gently. An aggressive, keen edge will readily grab the hair. A dull edge will simply slide off. Don’t shave the back of your head. Just pull gently down to see if the edge catches and tugs. I don’t want any irate calls from your barber or hairstylist.

The classic test of sharpening is shaving the hair of your arms. This has several problems, not the least of which is that the hair might not grow back or could come in coarser and darker than the surrounding hair. And if you have a lot of knives to test you’ll end up looking like you have mange.

The real problem with shaving, though, is that shaving is push cutting. A highly polished edge will readily push cut, but, as we’ve discovered, you don’t always want a highly polished edge. A slightly coarse edge that tugs the hair but doesn’t shave will actually slice better than the polished edge. Thus, shaving isn’t the best test for many knives.

There are other opinions on shaving as a test. Cliff Stamp said, “Coarse edges can easily shave, Joe Talmadge was one of the first guys to comment on this. A lot of people think they can't and thus sharpen them pretty sloppily. The more coarse an edge you form, the sloppier you can get and still have decent cutting ability. However you can get better cutting ability but keeping the edge crisp and aligned. This edge will then have a much higher level of push cutting ability, overall durability and edge retention, as well as a slightly higher level of slicing aggression. I have seen edges formed from a 100 grit AO belt that would still shave. This is more coarse than a x-coarse DMT hone.”

Slicing newsprint is a pretty good test. Both highly polished edges and toothier edges (as long as they’re not overly coarse) will readily slice a piece of newspaper held lightly between your fingers.

The best test, though, is actually using the knife for its intended purpose. If you have a slicing knife, try a soft tomato or plum. A keen, toothy edge can bite into the tomato with little or no pressure, just a light draw across the skin. If you have polished your santoku to a mirror-like edge, try dicing a few carrots or potatoes. The reduced effort will be immediately noticeable. And greatly appreciated if you have 50 pounds of beets to get through before service.

A thin, slightly coarse slicing knife will cut a soft tomato with a light pull and nearly no pressure on the blade.

Edited April 24, 2023 by Smithy
Restored images, with deep gratitude to the Wayback Machine Internet Archives (log)

[eGCI Team]

Section Six: Maintenance

Why Edges Wear

The ability of a knife to hold an edge is affected by several factors. Many are properties of the steel, others are job-specific.

Wear resistance – the ability to resist abrasion – comes primarily from the amount, type and distribution of carbides in the steel.

Strength is resistance to low-impulse deformation. In other words, bending. Strength is directly related to the hardness of the steel.

Toughness is resistance to high-impulse deformation – impacts, chipping and cracking.

As a general rule, strength and toughness are inversely related. A hard, unbendable steel can be brittle. It will not withstand chopping through bone as well as a tough, slightly softer steel. A tough steel might roll its edge if it encounters significant lateral stress or is forced through very hard materials – stresses that a strong steel would easily resist. The most extreme examples of both would be the extremely hard, yet shatter-prone ceramic knives from Kyocera compared to very tough, soft stainless Chinese cleavers.

Edge holding is a function of wear resistance, strength, toughness and the tasks the knife is used for. Toughness is required to resist chipping when you are cutting through materials where you might encounter bone or other hard bits and pieces. Strength is required to resist rolling and impaction if, for example, someone in your kitchen (despite repeated warnings) uses a glass cutting board. Wear resistance becomes important for edge holding when you’re cutting through abrasive materials.

So the way your knife holds an edge depends on the steel and what you use the knife for.

The most common culprits that put wear resistance, strength and toughness to the test are:

Wear. Duh. As a knife blade encounters abrasive materials, the edge wears away. Unless you cut only soft foods, your edge will always wear somewhat, though the most wear in the kitchen will come from sharpening your knives. Significant wear could take years.

Indenting and rolling. As pressure is put on the edge of the blade (and remember, the edge’s job is to concentrate tremendous amounts of pressure), the edge can indent, impact or roll over to one side or the other. The harder the steel, the less likely it will be to indent or roll. This is actually fairly common in the kitchen, which is why you need to steel frequently (more on this below).

Chipping. The edge can chip or crack under impact, especially when encountering hard materials like bone. Micro-chipping can be an important factor in edge degradation, although kitchen knives are fairly tough.

Corrosion. The wet, acidic environment of the kitchen can give knives a real beating. Micro-rusting and the attack of acidic foods can lead to edge loss at the very apex of the edge in short order.

Technique. As chef Thomas Haslinger points out, “Having sharpened my own knives and other chefs’ knives, I can say that an often overlooked factor in cutting edge performance is how each individual holds and uses his knives. A person that ‘feels’ the cut will always have a knife that outperforms an individual who just cuts and slams the edge into the cutting board”

Steeling your Knife

Steeling regularly is the most critical maintenance you can perform on your knife. Whenever you use your knife, especially soft kitchen knives, the edge can turn out a bit. Turn the knife with the edge pointing to the ceiling under strong light. You shouldn’t be able to see it. The edge itself should be invisible. If, however, you see glints of light, those are spots where the edge has rolled. The edge is still reasonably sharp, it’s just not pointing straight down anymore. The steel realigns the edge of the knife, forcing the rolled spots back into line, making it useable again.

We will get into the various types of steels in just a moment, but be aware that the grooved steels that come with knife sets do in fact remove metal. A grooved steel acts as a file when used with a heavy hand, knocking microscopic chips out of your edge. At the very least, it is much coarser than the fine abrasive you used to achieve your edge. Steeling heavily with a grooved steel is taking several steps backward. A grooved steel should be used with caution and a very light touch.

The standard image we all have of steeling a knife involves a chef with his knife in one hand and steel in the other, blade flashing and ringing. If you’re particularly adept at this type of swordsmanship, have at it. It impresses the tourists.

A more effective method is to stand the steel straight up and down with the handle up and the tip resting on a folded towel to keep it from slipping. Why? Geometry.

Place the knife edge against the steel with the blade perpendicular to the steel – 90 degrees, right? Rotate your wrist so that you reduce the angle by half – 45 degrees. Reduce that by half – 22.5 degrees, and you are exactly where you need to be to steel your knife (if you have a 20 degree edge). You generally want to steel at a very slightly steeper angle than the edge bevel itself.

The most effective way to steel your knife. Note that I should be standing squarely in front of the steel. I had to lean a little to get the knife to show up well in the shot.

You can also use the Paper Airplane Trick to make a guide to prop against your steel so you know you are hitting the proper angle.

When you’re steeling, lock your wrist and stroke the knife from heel to tip by unhinging at the shoulder – it’s your pivot point – and slowly dropping your forearm. The key is to maintain a consistent angle all the way through the stroke. By locking your wrist and elbow, you will keep your angle stable from top to bottom. Go slowly and follow all the way through the tip. You don’t have to press very hard to realign the edge. Steeling requires barely more pressure than the weight of the knife itself.

Alternate from side to side, keeping the same alignment and angle on both sides. It really only takes four or five strokes per side to get your knife ready for more work.

When should you steel? Every time you use your knife. Oddly enough, steeling before you use the knife is much more effective than steeling afterward. A steeled edge can be very sharp, but it is not as durable as a freshly honed edge. If you don’t use a steeled edge right away it can actually relax back into its blunted state. The same is true of a blunted edge. If you really degrade the edge of your knife in a heavy cutting session, let it sit overnight before sharpening. It will be in much better shape than it was the day before.

You should also steel before sharpening so any rolled or impacted edges are pushed back into alignment. That way you don’t cut off the rolled edge and lose more metal than you really need to. You also can steel after sharpening to add a final bit of polish (especially on a medium to medium fine edge) and tooth alignment. A steel actually “smears” the edge, teasing out a little more thinness. You’ll have a keener edge, but it will be weaker than the freshly sharpened edge.

Types of Steels

Knife steels come in a variety of sizes, shapes and flavors. There are round steels, oval steels, grooved steels, smooth steels, diamond steels and ceramic “steels.” If you purchased a set of knives, it probably came with a round, grooved steel. Be very careful with this beast. Kitchen knives are reasonably tough and resist chipping fairly well, but a grooved steel can really put that to the test. The grooves in the steel create tiny points of contact with the edge. A smaller contact area makes for greater pressure on the edge. Used lightly, a grooved steel can realign the edge of your knife, though it does it fairly aggressively. Used with too heavy a hand, however, a grooved steel will act as a file and take microscopic chips out of your edge. Your edge will feel sharp because it is now, in effect, serrated, but it won’t last very long.

Coarse diamond steels fall into the same category, though they’ll generally leave a finer edge than grooved steels. They should still be used with caution and a very light hand.

L to R: Grooved steel, smooth steel and 700 grit ceramic rod.

Smooth steels are several steps above either grooved or diamond steels. A smooth steel will gently push the metal of the edge back into alignment. It will take longer than with a grooved or diamond steel, but you don’t run the risk of damaging your edge. A smooth steel is very easy to use and fairly forgiving of sloppy angles.

A step above even smooth steels are fine grit ceramic and very fine diamond steels. According to Cliff Stamp, “A smooth steel just pushes the edge back into alignment, leaving the weakened metal there, which will actually relax back into being deformed in its own time without any use. The ceramic will remove some of the weakened steel while also aligning the edge. The edge will be more stable and stay sharp for much longer. There is more metal removed with the ceramic and diamond rods, but you are looking at between 100 to 1000 sharpenings to remove one millimeter of metal from the edge of the knife depending on the edge angle and the grit of the ceramic or diamond hone – this is years of constant use. In general, the lifetime of most knives tends to be dominated by the occasional accidental damage that forces heavy honing.”

Section Seven: Overview of Sharpening Systems

Like everything else in the kitchen, sharpening is just a matter of understanding a little science and practicing a lot. And sometimes it means buying more stuff, but that’s half the fun, isn’t it?

Benchstones and Waterstones

If you’d like to try freehand sharpening, get the biggest stones you can. A good rule of thumb is to use a stone that is at least as long as the longest knife you intend to sharpen. The minimum size to avoid major frustration is 6” x 2”. As we discussed in the Grit section, you’ll need at least one coarse to medium stone and one fine stone. If you’d like to try Japanese waterstones, Lee Valley Tools has a good selection of inexpensive stones. Some even come in kits to get you started quickly.

Freehand sharpening is a technique best learned face-to-face. If you have learned to freehand, you have mastered one of the most difficult, yet most rewarding, sharpening methods available. There is real satisfaction in attaining the skill to sharpen a knife to hair-flinging sharpness using nothing more than a stone and your own knowledge.

Guide Systems

There are a variety of guide systems available. These systems clamp on to the back of the knife and keep your angle steady throughout the sharpening stroke. The guide is used with a benchstone or waterstone and uses the same motion you’d use for freehand sharpening. The advantage to the guide systems is that you not only keep your angle steady, but you also build the proper stroke into muscle memory. Using a guide for a while will improve your freehand sharpening. Because the guide takes up space, you lose a couple of useable inches of space on your stone. This is not really a problem if you have a sharpening stone 8” or longer.

Another disadvantage to guides is that you’re never sure exactly what angle you are grinding into your edge. Most of the time, knowing the exact angle isn’t a big deal, but if you are trying to achieve exact, repeatable bevels, you’ll have to use the Magic Marker Trick and perhaps the calculations provided by Leonard Lee.

The most popular guides come from Razor Edge Systems. These are fairly easy to use but require a lot of dexterity to clamp properly. Razor Edge also produces an instructional video on the use of its guides and sharpening stones.

According to Steve Bottorff, the best guide available is the now-discontinued Buck Honemaster. If you can find one at a garage sale or on eBay, go for it.

Rod and Clamp Systems

These are very popular systems and there are several available. The best are made by Lansky, DMT and Gatco. The knife is held in a clamp. The stone is attached to a rod. By putting the rod through one of the pre-set holes in the clamp, you can control the sharpening angle. Double beveling is very easy with these systems.

Lansky sharpening set.

Steve Bottorff has tried just about every sharpening system available. Here’s his take on the Lansky, Gatco and DMT systems.

“The Lansky has an aluminum guide that goes from 13 to 25 degrees in 4 steps; each angle is 3 to 5 degrees lower than indicated. The GATCO guide is aluminum and reinforced plastic and goes from 17 to 34 degrees in 6 steps, each step is about 6 degrees greater than indicated. I prefer the GATCO to the Lansky because of the GATCO's larger stones and selection of angles. The DMT Aligner guide is all plastic, and goes from 12 to 35 degrees in 7 steps, which are not marked. With DMT hones, which I do not have, the Aligner would be the pick of the litter for this size of system.”

The downside to the Lansky and Gatco systems is the need to reclamp the knife every couple of inches so you don’t change the bevel angle as you progress from heel to tip. It is also fairly easy to round the tips of your knives on these systems.

The Lansky in action.

The king of the rod and clamp systems is the EdgePro Apex. Ben Dale, the owner of EdgePro, has created an excellent, easy to use system that can handle any kind of knife you care to throw at it. He is also a great person to deal with and is more than willing to spend time on the phone with you answering any question you might have.

EdgePro Apex sharpening setup.

The Apex is rugged and uses relatively large 1 x 6 inch aluminum oxide waterstones. The angle guide is continuously adjustable for any angle, with marks at 10, 15, 18, 21 and 25 degrees. The blade table can harbor runoff grit and metal shavings, scratching the blade unless you tape it with painters tape. I don’t bother. My knives are tools. I don’t mind if they’re a little ugly.

The only downside to the EdgePro Apex is its cost. This is a fully professional sharpening system, but at $125 before stone upgrades it is a little outside the realm of what the average home sharpener is willing to spend. I have one, and you’ll have to pry it out of my cold dead hands to take it away.

EdgePro in action. Note that the blade is not clamped, making it easier to maintain a consistent angle from heel to tip.

EdgePro offers a video that demonstrates the proper use of the system. The quality is little better than a home movie, but the information really helps.

V-Systems and Crock Sticks

V-type sharpeners have two ceramic sticks set into a plastic base at a preset angle. The knife is held perpendicular to the ground and stroked down the side of the sharpening stone. Because you are holding the knife in a natural position, these systems are fairly easy to use.

Rather than review all of the crock stick setups out there, let me save you some time. Spend the $40 and get the Spyderco Sharpmaker 204. If you get one on eBay, make sure you’re getting the 204 rather than the older 203. The 203 doesn’t have the 15 degree back bevel slots.

Spyderco Sharpmaker 204. And my cat, Chester.

These can be found in many sporting goods stores, knife stores and on the Internet at Knifecenter.com, Knifeoutlet.com and many others. I’d buy it from Michael Dye at New Graham. He’s a great guy and has excellent prices and customer service.

The Spyderco is a nifty system because the angles are preset for performance edges. You don’t have to guess, just hold the knife straight up and down and stroke it down the stones. There are two angles, 30 and 40, corresponding to 15 degrees per side and 20 degrees per side. It’s pretty much foolproof. This is about the easiest system to use. And, unlike just about anything else out there, you can sharpen serrated knives. It comes with an excellent manual and a video to help get you started.

Sharpmaker in action. Just stroke straight up and down.

The downside to the Sharpmaker is that if you swipe the knife off the stones while using the corners you can round the tip. This is easily remedied by taking your time and sharpening in two stages, one for 90 percent of the edge and a second stage concentrating on the tip only.

Even though I have the EdgePro I still use my Sharpmaker regularly. It is faster to set up for quick touchups.

Pull-Through Systems

There are a number of gadgets with hones (usually tungsten carbide bits or wheels) that meet to form a V. You draw the knife through the slot and Presto! instant edge. Ha. Most of these things are garbage, not even fit to sharpen your lawnmower blades. Repeated use of one of these “sharpeners” will chip the edge of your kitchen knives. No relief is ground into the blade, so it will gradually become harder and harder to sharpen.

To show that there are exceptions to every rule, the Henckels Twinsharp with its ceramic wheels doesn’t do too much damage and can be used for quick touchups though judging which set of wheels within the slot you are using can be a little tricky.

The Chef’s Choice Model 450 uses diamond stones at the same angles (22.5 and 25 degrees) as the final two stages of their electric sharpeners. If you own a Chef’s Choice 110 electric sharpener, this pull-through gadget is handy for touchups between sharpenings.

According to Steve Bottorff, there is even one gem among all of the gadget dross.

“There is one class act in every category, and the Meyerco Sharpen-It is it for slot gadgets. Designed by Blackie Collins to be so simple that it could be used on horseback, the Sharpen-It features tungsten carbide wheels for the first stage and fine ceramic wheels for the second. The ceramic is so hard and fine-grained that it is more like using a steel. With this combination, the Sharpen-It performs well at both sharpening and honing.

Unlike other slot devices, the Sharpen-It adds a third wheel to each set, giving two slots, and shapes them so that they sharpen one side of the blade at a time. This setup allows you to vary the bevel angle somewhat. Drawing the knife through at an angle decreases the bevel angle and gives a more razor-like edge. Since it is assembled with tamper-proof screws, I could not measure the bevel angles, but this information is less important because you won't have to use it with another sharpener to get complete results.

Also unlike others, the Sharpen-It can be used equally well left-handed. It is so compact when closed that it can be carried in the watch pocket of your jeans. The unit well built and sturdy, and features a tapered hone for serrated blades. A less expensive model is available without the tapered hone.”

Electric Sharpeners

Please promise me that you will never use the knife sharpener on the back of your electric can opener. Please?

Electric sharpeners grind very aggressively and can remove a lot of metal in a hurry. You can turn your chef’s knife into a filet knife with just a little inattention. Using a bad electric knife sharpener is just about the worst thing you can do to your knives. Poor electric sharpeners have given the entire genre a bad name. The better machines are multi-stage and use a slower grinding method.

Just as with the pull-through sharpeners, there is a gem among the electrics. Both Steve Bottorff and Cooks Illustrated rated the Chef’s Choice model 110 as the best electric sharpener available. It puts a very nice edge on knives, sets a back bevel for performance and doesn’t remove metal at an alarming rate. It does have a tendency to scratch the blade, however.

The $85 Chef’s Choice Model 110 uses 3 sets of diamond hones. Each sharpens at a different angle. The first stage is very aggressive and puts an approximately 15 degree back bevel on the knife. It is only used once to pre-shape the bevel. From then on you use the second and third stages (sharpening and honing) only. The final honing is at a very sturdy 25 degrees, which will give very long edge life.

If you must have an electric sharpener, this is the one to get. Heck, for $85 I might pick one up myself.

The Chef’s Choice 110 has a big brother, the EdgeSelect 120 model, an upgraded version of the 110. The EdgeSelect 120 features a polymer strop as its final stage, producing a razor sharp edge.

Professional Knife Sharpening

If you’ve read this far, you are a sharpening professional

If you want to send your knives out to be sharpened, that’s fine, but remember, finding a good sharpener is like finding someone to cut your hair. It’s somewhat hit or miss. Just because they have a sign on the door and a grinder in the back doesn’t mean that you’ll get exactly what you were expecting.

Now that you have a little more knowledge at your disposal, you can at least make an informed judgment about what you want from your professional sharpener. Can he sharpen to specific angles? Does he charge extra for a back bevel? Is he willing to grind a 15/20 double bevel that you can touch up yourself? What grit does he finish the edge with? You are now an educated consumer.

Fat Guy has a place he recommends. I don’t have any experience with them, but I’ll take his word for it.

Section Eight: Conclusions and Resources

There you have it. The veil has been parted and you’ve seen that the man behind the curtain really doesn’t have anything special going for him. This is stuff that anyone can do with a little knowledge and a little practice. Sharpening your own knives can be extremely rewarding. You can establish a Zen-like communion with your knives.

Just remember the basics – burr, angle, abrasive, consistency and strategy. Do not ever let anyone tell you that sharpening is too hard or too complicated to do yourself. Most recipes could be seen exactly the same way. They’re complicated. They require knowledge and technique. They’re a little scary. So what? You’d be insulted if someone told you that a particular dish was beyond your abilities. At the very least you’d be righteously indignant. You should feel the same way the next time someone suggests that you send your knives to a “professional.”

And just like cooking, you become better and better by doing. Your first attempt might not be perfect. But it will be your achievement. No one else’s. And it just gets better after that.

Resources and Links

Obviously, even as verbose as this tutorial is, I’ve missed a few things. Hopefully we can cover any glaring absences in the Q&A session. But if you read this tutorial, print it out and have it on hand the next time you decide to sharpen your knives, I have no doubt that you can create an excellent edge, better than anything you’ve been able to achieve before. Because of me? No. Because of all of the people I’ve stolen from :P.

Some of those people who answered questions, provided assistance and generally kept me from making a fool of myself:

Joe Talmadge, author of the Bladeforums Sharpening FAQ and Steel FAQ. Much of what I know or have learned about sharpening is influenced by or just plain stolen from Joe’s work. So if there are any truly egregious errors, it’s his fault. Joe was very generous with his time answering some of the questions I had in writing this tutorial.

Ben Dale, owner of EdgePro Systems.

Cliff Stamp, graduate student in physics in the field of collision induced absorption at the Memorial University of Newfoundland. He is a dedicated knife nut and knife tester. Some of his findings are controversial in the knife world, but Cliff knows his stuff.

Thomas Haslinger, Canadian chef and knife maker. He makes gorgeous chef’s knives.

Sal Glesser, president of Spyderco.

Murray Carter, ABS Mastersmith. Upon completing his apprenticeship under the tutelage of a 16th generation Yoshimoto bladesmith, Murray was asked to take the position of number seventeen in the Sakemoto family tradition of Yoshimoto Bladesmithing. He is the only Caucasian to ever have had the honor and privilege of this position. He makes some of the best Japanese kitchen knives available.

The members of Bladeforums.com. Seventeen thousand of the most knowledgeable and contentious knife nuts on the planet. If it’s pointy, they’ll argue about it. Just about any question you might ever have about knives or sharpening can be answered by searching Bladeforums.

Additional Reading

The Razor Edge Book of Sharpening, John Juranitch. A little outdated and somewhat of a commercial for Razor Edge products, this is nonetheless a good primer on sharpening.

Sharpening Made Easy, Steve Bottorff. This slim book is a good starting point if you’re just getting into sharpening. Give it as a gift (along with this tutorial) to the sharpening-challenged.

The Complete Guide to Sharpening, Leonard Lee. Deals mainly with sharpening woodworking tools, but has a great discussion on the principles and mechanics of sharpening. Also has very good information on using power grinders and sanders to sharpen, if you’re the handy type.

Sharpening with Waterstones, Ian Kirby. Mostly for woodworkers, but more information on waterstones than many other sources.

The Professional Chef’s Knife Kit, Culinary Institute of America. Weak on sharpening, but a great resource for kitchen knife information and basic knife cuts.

Where to Buy It

Here’s where you can pick up all the cool stuff mentioned in the tutorial.

Lee Valley Tools. Abrasives, waterstones, strops, honing compounds and some of the coolest woodworking and gardening tools in the known universe.

EdgePro. EdgePro Apex and Professional sharpening systems, replacement stones and fine grit ceramic rods.

New Graham Knives. Spyderco Sharpmaker 204.

Razor Edge Systems. Guides, stones, Razor Edge Book of Sharpening, sharpening video, Edge Tester and Mousetrap Steel (an amazing tool for restaurant-volume knife maintenance).

Japanese Knife. High end Japanese knives. If you want to spend a couple of grand on a gyotou or yanagi-ba, this is your place. Also has waterstones.

Hand American. Smooth steels, strops, honing compounds, etc.

Knifecenter. Discounted kitchen cutlery, Lansky and Gatco sharpening systems, DMT diamond stones.

One Stop Knife Shop. Kitchen knives and sharpening equipment. Helps support Bladeforums.

Kellam Knives and BladeArt. Two of the very few places you can get Murray Carter’s knives in the Western hemisphere.

Instructor: Chad Ward

Chad Ward is a freelance writer and marketing strategist based in Wichita, KS. His articles have been featured in magazines ranging from Flatpicking Guitar to Manufacturing Engineering. He is also a knife collector and dedicated home cook.

Copyright 2003 Chad Ward. All rights reserved.

Post your questions here -->>Q&A

Edited April 24, 2023 by Smithy
Restored lost images, with deep gratitude to The Wayback Machine Internet Archive! (log)