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Sharpening hunting knives at home. How to sharpen a knife correctly

Sharpening hunting knives at home. How to sharpen a knife correctly

Every person who has cooked food at least once in their life knows how tiring it is to work with a dull knife. But a sharp, well-sharpened tool ensures not only speed and convenience of cutting blanks for various dishes, but also safety.

A dull knife often breaks and cuts the hands of its owner. Therefore, it is so important to maintain the sharpness of the blade by using it carefully and sharpening it in a timely manner. This article is devoted to how to properly sharpen a knife.

The best way to sharpen knives at home is considered to be manual work using whetstones with different grain sizes - starting with the coarsest.

They are sharpened until a narrow strip of metal appears along the entire length of the cutting edge - a burr. After which, they move on to using finer-grained tools.

Sharpening a knife on a block should be carried out according to the following rules.

The bar should be 1.5 - 2 times longer than the blade.
The whetstone is placed on a table or other stable surface.
Wet the bar with water or an aqueous solution of soap.
The blade, in addition to the cutting edge, is sealed with tape to avoid scratches, and it is better for an inexperienced craftsman to paint over the edge with a marker to make it easier to determine where the block has been touched and where it has not.
The cutting edge of the blade is located at right angles to the block, making the sharpening uniform.
The pass is made with the cutting edge forward. They begin sharpening from the place where the handle is attached and, together with the movement of the blade along the block, pull the knife towards themselves in such a way that, reaching the end of the block, they simultaneously reach the tip of the blade.
The sharpening angle of the knife should be maintained between 20 and 25 degrees between the block and the plane of the tools intended for cutting. This angle is slightly larger for those whose purpose is chopping. The main thing is not to change the angle along the entire length of the blade.
When the blade reaches the edge of the stone, you need to make sure that it does not fall off the block or get scratched.
These movements are repeated many times, but you should not put too much pressure on the blade, since this will not sharpen the knife faster with a whetstone, but the correct angle will be much more difficult to maintain.

After sharpening kitchen knives is completed with a coarse and fine-grained stone, you should begin grinding them, the purpose of which is:

removing burrs (to ensure durability of sharpening);
giving the blade flawless smoothness.

Grinding is also performed with a whetstone, but with the finest grain size.

Types of knives

Over a long history, specific types of knives have been developed for various spheres of human activity. For their manufacture, steel of varying hardness is used, but the optimal value is 45 – 60 HRC. This indicator also determines what sharpening angle should be used.

The most common varieties are kitchen and hunting.

Kitchen knives

This tool is present in every kitchen. Housewives use it to cut vegetables, meat, bread and other products.

Kitchen knives are such a broad concept that includes more than a dozen specialized tools.

For the cheese.
For pizza.
Chef's knife.
For bread and many others.

However, in most cases, you can limit yourself to three types.

A chef's knife, the length of which is more than 200 mm, and its purpose is to cut vegetables and cut meat products.
A knife used to peel vegetables. It is pointed and has a shorter length, from 50 to 100 mm.
Knife-saw. It is used to cut bread. In order not to crush or crumble the loaf when cutting even the thinnest slices, the blade of the saw knife is equipped with a serrator - special notches on the blade. It is very difficult to sharpen such a kitchen knife at home.

Two materials are used to make kitchen knife blades:

steel.
ceramics.

The best models are made from stainless steel with a high carbon content. They are quite durable, they can be sharpened at home, and you can cut any products with such tools without fear of oxidation.

Ceramic blades are hard and hold an edge well, but are very fragile (easily broken into pieces when hitting hard objects). Their owners are interested in how to properly sharpen kitchen knives made from this material. This is quite difficult to do, because ceramics can only be processed with diamond wheels.

Hunter knives

Very high demands have always been placed on such tools, since a hunter can find himself in different situations, sometimes even life-threatening, from which only the right reliable blade will help him get out.

The requirements for it are higher.

Convenience combined with quality and practicality.
A “warm” wooden handle is a must.
Minimal guard or complete absence of one, so as not to interfere with the cutting of trophies.
The blade must be made of Damascus steel, which has sufficient strength and, at the same time, does not crumble as a result of impacts against the bone of an animal.
The optimal linear dimensions of a hunting knife are as follows: blade length 100 - 140 mm, its width up to 30 mm, spine thickness from 3 to 4 mm, steel hardness - more than 58 HRC.

For ease of processing the prey, the butt of the tool is equipped with a special hook for skinning.

Other varieties

In addition to those listed above, there are a number of other specialized types of knives.

Combat (intended for the army and special services).
Tourist. The lightness and practicality of the tool is ensured by the use of synthetic materials for the handle and steel blade, which is easy to sharpen and edit correctly.
Folding (convenient for concealed carrying).
Multitools are folding knives with many other useful tools hidden in the handle.
Special purpose. A category in which there are many different types - for divers, gardeners, surgical scalpels and many others.
Camp ones. These are fixed blades, suitable, among other things, for cutting small branches. They are used as small machetes.
Sports. Essentially, this is equipment for throwing. They have neither a cutting edge nor overhead handles.
Dining rooms (used for table setting).

It is worth mentioning separately the survival knives that appeared relatively recently. This is a multifunctional tool, a kind of multitool, which includes such unexpected components as a compass or a lighter.

How to evaluate the sharpness of a blade?

For any type of knives, the main requirement is their sharpness. A well-sharpened knife is a reliable and safe assistant in a variety of jobs. In order to determine how well you managed to sharpen a knife at home, there are several simple methods.

Paper test

In one hand there is a sheet of A4 paper, in the other there is a sharpened blade. You need to try to cut a piece of the sheet.

If the cut turns out to be smooth, then the sharpening was successful, but if the blade slipped or the cut turned out to be uneven, then you need to think about how to sharpen the knife better.

The task can be complicated by using a thinner magazine sheet.

Tomato test

As a rule, it is used to determine how well sharpened kitchen knives are. However, you can test any other blades this way.

The essence of the method is to cut a thin slice from the edge of a ripe tomato. If the blade did not slip, but cut off a piece of the required size, then the knife was sharpened well.

Hand hair test

The blade is held without touching the skin against the growth of hair on the arm.

If all the rules for sharpening a knife are followed exactly, it will cut hairs easily.

Why does a knife get dull quickly?

Any blades, even the highest quality and most expensive ones, will become dull after some time. Simply, the better the quality of the tool, the longer you will be able to use it without having to sharpen it.

There are several reasons that cause the blade to lose its former sharpness.

Gradual slow erasing of steel.
Bending the cutting edge to the sides. It occurs due to high lateral loads on it, when the blade is deflected to the side during cutting.
Incorrect sharpening angle of a kitchen knife (as well as blades of other types).
Impacts of the cutting edge on hard metal objects.
The influence of abrasive particles present in the material being cut or on its surface (grains of sand on fruit).

It is also believed that the knife will become dull faster when washed with hot water. This can be justified by the effect on the cutting edge of aggressive salts dissolved in water, the chemical activity of which relative to iron increases when heated.

What is the best way to sharpen knives?

Selecting a sharpening tool is no less important a task than selecting the knife itself. There are a great variety of them on the market, but what and how to sharpen a knife correctly should be examined in more detail.

What is musat?

This tool is similar to a regular file - a rod connected to a wooden or plastic handle.

Knife grinder performs a very important function - it is used to straighten the cutting edge of knives, avoiding complex and time-consuming sharpening. Most often, it is used to care for kitchen tools that are constantly in use. However, musat is not suitable for sharpening those knives that have already lost their sharpness; they will have to be sharpened.

What is musat? These are round or faceted tools, for the manufacture of which diamond dust, ceramics or high-hardness steel are used. To straighten kitchen knives at home, it is enough to have a grinder 250 mm long.

Sharpening a knife with musat

Having picked up this tool for the first time, people naturally wonder how to sharpen knives with musat?

This is quite easy to do if you follow certain rules.

The knife to be sharpened should be taken by the handle and placed vertically, resting the tip on the table.
The angle between the plane of the blade and the device should be 25 degrees.
The tool should be moved in an arc, from the handle to its tip.
Treat the other side of the blade in the same way.
There is no need to put in unnecessary effort.

To the question of how you can use musat for sharpening a series of dull knives, the answer is clear - in such cases, it is better not to use it at all, since it will not correct the situation.

Whetstone (Whetstone)

The most accessible and gentle way to tidy up a cutting edge is to sharpen it using a whetstone. Stones of different grain sizes allow you to cope with defects of any severity: from correcting serious nicks to grinding.

The device is as old as the hills, but if the question is how to properly sharpen a hunting knife, most people will do it with a whetstone.

The processing technology is as follows.

Take several bars with different grain sizes.
Before sharpening kitchen knives or any other blades, the surface of the block is moistened with a special oil, which is usually sold complete with the product, or with plain water. It is not advisable to use sunflower oil for this, since it penetrates deep into the pores and it will no longer be possible to wash it out.
First, treat the blade with a large-grained stone, then medium, then fine, placing the tool vertically and holding it by the handle.
Place the stone perpendicular to the blade, gradually moving it down. Repeat on one side two to three times, then start on the other.
The burr formed from a coarser stone is removed with a smaller one.
At the end, the blade is ground and washed with water to remove any remaining fine metal shavings.

If you don’t have a sharpening stone at hand at the right time, then there is a substitute called sandpaper. How to sharpen a kitchen knife with it? Just like a whetstone.

Grinder

Such a useful device as a knife sharpening machine is also quite popular. Although it requires the user to have a certain skill and decent work experience.

On a sharpening wheel rotating at high speed, in a split second you can overheat the blade, after which it will become unsuitable for further full use.

At what angle to place the blade to the disk, you will need to select it yourself, since the machine does not provide special fasteners for fixing the tool in a certain position.

But an experienced person will be able to use such a machine to sharpen any knives at the highest possible speed.

Emery

In addition to the above methods, you can also sharpen the knife using sandpaper.

This is the name of an electric machine that can be equipped with several types of wheels:

abrasive;
felt;
grinding.

Each of them has its own function. An emery machine is professional equipment, and sharpening blades on it requires high qualifications. People without experience are not recommended to use it to work with blades, since in most cases they will overheat and render any knives unusable.

Other types of sharpening equipment

The latest developments among devices for sharpening blades are specialized mechanical and electric sharpeners. Their main area of application is sharpening kitchen knives, as well as household scissors.

A mechanical sharpener is easy to use and inexpensive. But before you sharpen a kitchen knife with such a tool, you should know that it will not be sharp for long, due to the poor quality of the cutting edge.

As for more expensive blades for hunting or sports, this device can only ruin them. Although there are pleasant exceptions to this rule. For example, the Edge Pro Apex sharpener model. This is a high-quality tool with which you can sharpen blades quite well.

But electric sharpeners are a completely different matter. A high-quality tool of this type is capable of sharpening both kitchen and sports knives with both straight and wavy blades, as well as scissors and screwdrivers.

The sharpening unit of the unit adjusts to the required processing angle and clearly maintains it along the entire length of the blade. Modern units are able to restore the sharpness of even a very dull blade. With their help, you can also perform delicate work - both straightening a knife and polishing it.

Electric sharpeners have now become quite compact and affordable, and at first only large catering establishments could afford to purchase them.

At what angle should you sharpen the blade?

The sharpening angle of the blades depends on the tasks they will perform.

Scalpels and similar cutting medical instruments are sharpened at an angle of 15°.
Kitchen - 25°.
Tourist and kitchen cleavers designed for chopping bones and meat - 25 - 30°.
Tools designed to cut cardboard - 30 - 40°.

The following video will show you how to properly sharpen knives with a whetstone while maintaining a given angle:

How to set the sharpening angle on a sharpener?

Let's look at how to sharpen a knife at a certain angle on the Edge Pro Apex sharpener, model 2013, a fairly popular and useful unit.

To simplify the work of users, the manufacturer has equipped this unit with a set of replaceable inserts, by changing which, you can set the required sharpening angle of blades for any purpose.

For convenience, these liners are made in different colors:

blue color - provides a sharpening angle of 24°, suitable for thick blades of pocket and hunting knives;
yellow - an angle of 21° (for blades of the same types, but with blades of smaller thickness);
green - angle 18° (kitchen knives with thick blades);
red - 15° (kitchen tools with thin blades);
black - 10° (kitchen knives with serrated blades).

Changing the inserts is not difficult. Thanks to these devices, uniform sharpening of the blade blades at the same angle along the entire length is ensured.

At what angle should you sharpen kitchen knives?

The selection of the blade sharpening angle depends on three parameters:

purpose of the tool;
blade thickness;
the quality of the steel from which it is made.

The more rough the work will be performed with this tool, the greater the sharpening angle should be - from 10° for serrated blades intended for fine slicing, to 30° for cleavers used to chop meat and bones.

The thicker the blade, the greater the sharpening angle is suitable for it - from 10° for the thinnest ones, to 18° for the thickest ones, intended not for chopping, but for slicing.

The higher the quality of the steel, the smaller the sharpening angle can be set, since good steel guarantees a hard cutting edge.

How to sharpen a knife?

To summarize, we can say that only a knife that has been processed in accordance with a certain technology and that has passed all tests for the sharpness of the cutting edge can be called well-sharpened. It is worth noting that this is also possible at home.

It is simply impossible to describe all the nuances of how to properly sharpen knives in 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, sharpening a kitchen knife to a sharp point at home can be done easily and quickly. But the difficulty is that this must be done in such a way 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 material we will try to simply and clearly tell you how to properly sharpen a knife with a whetstone. After all, this method is not only basic and accessible to everyone, but also the most effective. In addition to step-by-step instructions for sharpening and finishing, here you will find a selection of training videos and an overview of alternative methods - from sharpening systems to the bottom of a ceramic plate.

A little about choosing stones

Sharpening stones come in the following types:

Ceramic;
Diamond;
Natural;
Japanese water stones.

If you wish, once you gain experience, you can buy some solid and expensive diamond stones or Japanese water stones. However, it is better to start with ordinary ceramic bars (such as “Boats”), which are sold in every household goods store. They are wear-resistant, durable and affordable. The only drawback is their uneven abrasion.

Here are tips to help you find the right assistant:

What size should the block be? Ideally, it is 1.5-2 times longer or at least not shorter than the knife blade. The width and shape of the bar is not important.
When purchasing a block, make sure it is flat and free of chips.
To start, you can buy one medium-hard all-purpose whetstone. But if you wish, buy one block with two sides of different grain sizes or two stones with a large and half the grain size. In the future, a couple more stones may be added to your collection.
It's best to try to get a couple of Soviet-made donkeys, say, at flea markets or from your grandfather. Bars marked “Made in the USSR” have uniform-sized grains and high-quality binding material.

To bring your knife to razor sharpness, in addition to sharpening stones, you can also buy GOI abrasive paste, which we will also talk about working with.

7-step instructions for sharpening and finishing a kitchen knife

So, in sharpening a knife, one goal is to remove enough 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 sharpening knives:

The most important thing is to choose the optimal sharpening angle and maintain it along the entire cutting edge while sliding along the block.
Movements should be smooth, without pressure.
All bars must be moistened with water, or better yet, with a soap solution: before sharpening (so that the blade glides better and metal dust does not clog the pores), during the process (to remove the resulting suspension) and at the end, to clean the bar.

And one more important tip - the first time it’s better to practice on a knife that you don’t mind ruining. Especially if your main knife is too good and expensive. Well, let's start practicing.

Step 1. Rinse the stone with water, and then run over it, say, with a sponge with a drop of dishwashing liquid.

Step 2. Next, sit down at the table and place the stone on a wooden board, for example, a cutting board. You can place a towel under the stone. For some it is more convenient to place the block perpendicular to themselves, and for others at an angle of approximately 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 the angle be? The general principle is that the smaller it is, the sharper the blade, and the larger it is, the longer the blade retains its sharpness.

Regular kitchen knives are sharpened to an angle of 40-45 degrees. If you are sharpening a fillet knife (designed for cutting thin pieces of fish, poultry and meat), then you should sharpen it sharper - at an angle of 30-40 degrees. The selected value must be divided by 2, and then we will get the angle that should be between the blade and the surface of the block. That is, to sharpen a blade at 45 degrees, you need to sharpen each side 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 should try to stick to the chosen angle throughout the entire 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 block away from ourselves along the trajectory shown in the picture below.

Watch a short and clear video:

The point is that the cutting edge sliding along the stone should always be perpendicular to the direction of movement.
At the bend of the blade, the knife handle needs to be slightly raised to maintain the selected angle.
Remember also that you can’t put pressure on the blade, but you shouldn’t give it any slack either.

Thus, you need to pass the blade along the stone about 40-50 times, namely until a “burr” (burr, microsaw) appears along the entire length of the cutting edge. Its appearance will tell you that the excess metal has worn out and there is no point in grinding further. Then you need to turn the blade over and repeat the same steps. Clearly in the video:

A burr is a small roughness that is difficult to see, but can be felt by carefully running your finger along the edge of the blade (but not along the edge, so as not to cut 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 finishing. To do this, we repeat the same manipulations on a stone with half the grain size. An alternative finishing method is using musat.

Musat is a steel rod of oval or round cross-section with longitudinal notches. It is only suitable for editing and maintaining sharpness, but not for sharpening a knife. It is recommended to edit the knife with musat every time before and after work.

How to sharpen a kitchen knife with musat can be seen in the following video master class from the respected knifemaker Gennady Prokopenkov, who, by the way, specializes in making kitchen knives.

Step 6. If desired, you can bring your knife to a razor sharpness. 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 quality of sharpening. This is done very simply. It is enough to cut a tomato or cut paper. If you wanted to achieve razor sharpness, then you should try to shave the hair on your arm. The sharpest knives can even cut hair, as shown in the photo below, but in the kitchen such sharpness is not required for the most ordinary knife.

Alternative sharpening methods

If your kitchen knife is a simple and inexpensive “hard worker” and/or you just don’t want to delve into the “knife culture”, then we recommend using an electric sharpener, a roller knife or a sharpening system for sharpening at home. What are their pros and cons?

An electric sharpener sharpens knives perfectly and quickly, but even the highest quality models remove too much material from the blades, thereby shortening their service life. Another disadvantage of an electric sharpener is that a good device costs more than $200.
A 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 scissors is the one from Fiskaris (pictured). Do not confuse a roller blade with a V-shaped one. The latter is an option for the most frugal.

Sharpening systems are good because they allow you to more accurately set and maintain an angle. There are different types of such sharpeners - 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 a 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. For example, on sharpeners with a fixed blade it is inconvenient to sharpen wide chef knives, but on a triangle from Spyderco the knives are straightened rather than sharpened, and you can only choose an angle of 30 or 40 degrees. However, for kitchen knives these are the angles that are needed, and using a triangle is very simple. A detailed review and operating instructions for the Spyderco sharpener can be seen in the following video.

What are the disadvantages of Apex Edge Pro? Perhaps this is just a high price - $245. However, to sharpen 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 a rough mark on the bottom of a ceramic mug or plate. The principle of operation is still the same - maintaining the angle, smooth movements, maintaining the cutting edge (cutting edge) perpendicular to the direction.

Using a bar manually (with video without SMS and registration) and understand why do this at all. Professionals, of course, are knowledgeable about this topic, but there may be useful information for them too. Or this will be a reason to update your knowledge in order to “keep on your toes.”

If you have to put more and more effort into cutting, then this is a reason to think about sharpening your knife. Because using blunt weapons is dangerous. It can slip at any moment, and believe me, the sharpness of the blade will be enough to cause a serious wound to you or a person standing next to you.

Preparing for sharpening. What needs to be done before this?

Upon closer inspection, the knife blade looks like a saw, and the more often the teeth are located in it and the smoother the transition between them, the easier it is to use the tool. A dull knife loses these teeth, they wear out, bend and crumble.
There are many ways to sharpen a knife using mechanical and electric sharpeners, as well as special machines with sharpening wheels. But sharpeners do not give an ideal result, and easel sharpening requires considerable knowledge and skills. Therefore, we will look at how to properly sharpen knives with a whetstone in a step-by-step guide for independent work in at home. This method will give you two main advantages: considerable money savings and excellent results.

The first thing to do is determine the extent of damage to the blade. It's very easy to do. Place it at an angle to a beam of bright light. This method instantly identifies all the chips and irregularities that you need to eliminate. They will appear as dots or lines on the blade. If the boundary between the planes is uniform, sharply defined, without transitions, then the instrument is in excellent condition.
After this, the knife must be washed in water with added soap. This is done to facilitate subsequent work. It will become easier for the knife to slide along the sharpening stone, and it will be easier for you to maintain the required angle between the planes of the blade and the blade.

Choosing the right bar

The main tool in subsequent work will be a sharpening stone. To get the perfect result, you will need several stones of different grits. The minimum quantity is two, but if you need a razor-sharp blade brought to perfection, you can use up to five whetstones.

There are two types of bars. The first ones are artificial, used for primary metal processing, made from the following materials.

Synthetic gemstones (diamond, sapphire, etc.):

borazone;
silicon carbide;
elbor;
and others.

The second ones are natural. They are used for final sharpening of the knife:

diamond;
pomegranate;
corundum;
Japanese water stones.

It is clear that natural donkeys cost a lot of money, but if you want to get a really good result, you will have to fork out a little.
An important parameter is the choice of size suitable for the work of the bar. At a minimum, it should be the same length as the knife with which you will have to work. And ideally – one and a half to two times more. In this case, the width of the stone does not matter and is selected based on personal preferences. Although if you take a wider whetstone, it will be easier for even an inexperienced beginner to work on it.
Before starting, you need to soak the bar in water (artificial) or oil (natural). The liquid will nourish, close the pores in it, reduce subsequent contamination and make your work easier.

Correct sharpening angle

How to sharpen a kitchen knife with a whetstone? Holding it at the right angle. It is this parameter that will subsequently determine the length of the blade’s service life and the frequency of its sharpening. The larger the angle you get, the higher the metal’s resistance to external influences, which means you need to update its sharpness less often. An acute angle makes cutting easier, but due to the thinness of the metal obtained at this point, it wears out faster.

The determining factor will be the purpose of the knife:

Japanese culinary blades sharpened at an angle of 10–20 degrees;
fillet knives and professional chef's knives require an angle of 25 degrees;
utility knives – 30 degrees;
hunting blades are processed at an angle of 35–40 degrees.

You will need to not only determine the angle of inclination, but also maintain it throughout the entire work.

Advice! To find and maintain the required number of degrees, it is good to use a sheet of paper folded several times. It is a fast, cheap and accurate meter.

In addition to the angle of inclination of the blade, you will also need to observe the angle between the sharpening stone and the cutting edge of the knife. It should be 90 degrees. That is, you should always hold the tool with the blade perpendicular to the stone. For you, this means the following: at the beginning of the movement, the knife is positioned across, parallel to the chest, and at the end you come out at an angle of approximately 45 degrees (depending on the shape of the knife) in relation to yourself.

Let's get started

How to properly sharpen knives with a whetstone by hand, given the angle of the blade and the sharpening stone itself? You need to start with coarse-grained stones. These are used for rough work and will remove any noticeable roughness or chips from the blade, after which you gradually move on to a finer abrasive. The smaller it is, the better the result you will get. You can complete sharpening with an abrasive paste rather than with a whetstone.

Advice! Be sure to place the block on the work surface so that it does not move during work, otherwise you risk “disrupting” the movement, which can ruin the final result. It would be a good option. It will provide the required grip on the surface.

First you need to place the knife across the whetstone with the sharpening point away from you. In this case, the edge of the blade is above the edge of the sharpening stone. Next, you begin to smoothly move the knife, gradually deflecting it to the side, so that the end of the movement coincides with the tip of the blade. It is not recommended that the knife come off the edge of the block, as this could scratch the side of the blade. When the movement reaches the bend of the blade, the handle must be raised slightly, starting to “twist” towards the handle. This will allow you to maintain the required angle.

Features of the knife sharpening process

In this section we will tell you how to properly sharpen knives with a whetstone to get a durable and sharp tool. The main indicator of the success of your actions will be the appearance of a so-called “burr” on the blade. It looks like a lighter stripe on the steel, covered with metal dust. The “burrs” are always directed in one direction, which is ensured by the uniform movement of the sharpened blade.

Since sharpening is carried out on both sides, they must be alternated. Turn the knife over after each stroke across the block. In another version, one side is sharpened first, followed by exactly the same number of movements on the other. But this method is somewhat worse, since it does not give a completely uniform sharpening.
When “burrs” have formed along the entire length, you can move on to a stone with a finer grain size and repeat all the steps described above. As the size of the abrasive decreases, the size of the resulting “burrs” also decreases, because the layer of metal removed from the blade becomes smaller and smaller.

It is advisable to make from thirty to fifty movements on each block (depending on the hardness of the steel and the degree of wear). Remember that the main parameter is your patience and smoothness of movements. Strength doesn’t matter here, and if you put too much pressure on the blade, it won’t sharpen faster, but will simply be damaged.
It is recommended to rinse the knife with water between transitions, washing away the resulting metal dust.

How to properly sharpen knives with a whetstone: bring it to razor sharpness

If you want to get a blade that can equally easily cut a rope folded several times, or allow you to get the thinnest slices of a soft tomato, then you need to bring the knife to perfection. Abrasive paste will help you with this. You can purchase it at any hardware or specialty store.
For the final stage of work you will need a strip of thick leather. If you don’t have one at home, then a belt without engraving will perfectly replace it. The working surface must be flat, without differences.

When preparing food, you must use sharp knives. Of course, it’s easier to contact a specialist who can sharpen a knife correctly quickly and for little money, but you can do it yourself.

It is necessary to sharpen a knife according to certain rules, otherwise you can damage the blade.

Correct knife sharpening angle

When sharpening kitchen knives, it is important that the objects are in a certain position in relation to the work surface. To do this, you need to choose the correct sharpening angle.

This parameter depends on many factors, for example, the type and level of strength of the metal from which the blade is made, as well as the purpose for which this tool is used. So, the degree of sharpening for different types of knives:

scalpel and razor blade - from 10 to 15 degrees;
vegetable, meat and fish knives - from 15 to 20 degrees;
other chef's utensils - from 20 to 25 degrees;
hunting blades – 25–30 degrees.

It is important to choose the right sharpening angle; this is necessary to achieve the desired sharpness of the kitchen appliance.

What grit size is needed for sharpening knives?

When sharpening blades, special stones are used. Their surface is an abrasive consisting of grains of different sizes. The grain size of the stone depends on this indicator. Devices for adding spice are divided into the following groups:

the most coarse-grained (especially coarse material);
regular coarse-grained;
medium grain;
fine-grained (delicate abrasive);
micro-grained (material of increased fineness).

How to sharpen a knife correctly? A good master knows that using only one type of stone is ineffective. According to the rules, sharpening is performed alternately, moving from coarse-grained and rough stones to delicate, thin stones.

How to sharpen knives on a sharpening machine

Using a machine is considered an effective way of sharpening, however, the mechanism is cumbersome, and for this reason not every home has it. But if you have the opportunity to use it to sharpen dull kitchen appliances, you should know some of the intricacies of this work:

Please note that you will need a lot of time to work. In addition, those who do not have sufficient experience in this matter should not undertake sharpening on a machine.

How to properly sharpen knives with sandpaper

If you have some experience and know how emery works, sharpening knives will not be difficult for you. So, when sharpening blades on sandpaper, adhere to the following rules:

When applying the blade to the abrasive, you should not apply large mechanical forces;
the trajectory of rotation of the abrasive should be in the direction from the butt to the edge;
the knife on the emery is moved across the circle, smoothly moving from the handle of the device to the tip of the blade;
When sharpening on both sides, you cannot change the angle of fixation of the blade, you just need to move it to the other side;
At the end of the work, straighten the knife with a block, musat or sandpaper.

Of course, real craftsmen prefer sharpening by hand, which allows them to achieve maximum effect. But if we are not talking about giving the blade a scalpel sharpness, but simply making it quite sharp, using sandpaper will achieve decent results.

How to sharpen kitchen knives with a sharpener

Today you can purchase special devices for sharpening knives - these are blade sharpeners. These devices are either mechanical or electrical. If you are not very experienced or have not tried sharpening knives at all yourself, it is better to use the electric option.

This sharpener independently selects the sharpening angle, and is used to sharpen any type of household blade. The work is done like this:

Once you follow these steps, you no longer have to worry about ruining your knife. The sharpener will do the work on its own, and you will get a wonderfully sharp blade. This is the best way to achieve the desired sharpness of a kitchen appliance at home.

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How to use a round disc knife sharpener

There are various devices for sharpening knives, including sharpeners with round discs. The difference is that the sharpening material in this case is a special rotating roller that grinds the cutting surface at an angle of 45 degrees.

The main advantage of such devices is that after sharpening there is no burr left on the blade, and the work is done simply. In addition, tools sharpened with roller sharpeners stay sharp much longer than with V-shaped tools.

Most often, such sharpeners are suitable not only for knives, but also for scissors.

How to sharpen Damascus steel knives

Damascus steel knives have been popular at all times; they are considered the most durable, and their sharpness cannot be compared with anything else. But even this material tends to become dull.

It is important to know that no electric sharpeners can be used here, only manual processing is needed. When sharpening a Damascus steel knife, you must adhere to the following principles:

First, determine the strength of the metal. This can be done by paying attention to the sharpening angle; the stronger the material, the sharper it will be.
Use fine-grained abrasives, gradually moving to micro-coatings.
Sharpen the blade only along the cutting surface.
If there are nicks, the edge must be ground along its entire length.
If the bevels need to be polished, this must be done before the cutting edge is sharpened. If you process an already sharpened blade, the tip may simply become rounded.

If you are not sure that you will do everything correctly, it is better not to risk it and contact a specialist.

Is it possible to sharpen a knife without a stone?

It happens that a knife needs urgent sharpening, but there are no suitable tools. But don’t worry, you can solve the problem in the following ways:

Sharpening a knife at home is not difficult. Personally, I do this regularly. I suggest you figure out how to sharpen knives correctly and what tools are best to use for this.

Necessary tools

To learn how to sharpen knives correctly, you first need to get acquainted with the tools that can be used for this. Each of them has its own features and advantages:

Musat. Externally, this device resembles an ordinary file. It consists of a long round rod, a notch and a handle. Musat is intended to correct the cutting edge of a knife.

Musats constantly maintain the working condition of the knife. But if the blade is very dull, this tool will not help.

Electric sharpener. An excellent way to high-quality sharpening not only kitchen knives, but also scissors and screwdrivers. In just two minutes, the tool will help you first sharpen and then polish any type of blade.

Properly sharpening knives on an electric device is not difficult - it itself determines the required sharpening angle.

Mechanical sharpener. An affordable, but not entirely effective device. Mechanical sharpeners are popular because of their simplicity, low cost and ability to restore the blade to its former sharpness. And yet it is impossible to achieve an ideal result with a mechanical device. In addition, the blade soon becomes dull again.

Abrasive wheel machine. This is a professional tool that is used, as a rule, in industrial enterprises. I do not recommend working on a sharpening machine without experience. At a certain temperature maintained on the machine, the knife material is hardened, and improper heating will cause irreparable damage to it.

Grindstone. One of the most effective tools for sharpening knives. But the process of using it requires certain skills.

There are several types of tools: diamond, ceramic, Japanese water stones, natural. They differ from each other in the degree of surface grain (like sandpaper). Natural stones usually have a finer grain frequency, while man-made stones are produced with varying degrees of grain on both sides of the stone.

Sharpening a knife with a whetstone

How to sharpen with a whetstone to get a high-quality result? You need to know which block is best to choose and at what angle to hold the knife.

Stone selection

For sharpening with a stone to be successful, you need to pay attention to:

Size. The length of the tool should exceed the length of the blade by about one and a half to two times. As a last resort - equal to the length of the knife;
Surface. Carefully inspect the surface of the tool - it should be flat and without chips;
Functional. You can purchase a medium-hard universal tool. But it’s better to buy a stone with two types of grain size at once.

Selecting the angle of inclination

To achieve the desired result, you need to choose the correct sharpening angle. It depends on the type of knife:

25° - for professional cooks and fillets;
10°–20° - for Japanese knives;
30°–45° - for hunting blades;
30° - for kitchen knives.

5 steps to sharpen a knife with a stone

So, instructions for properly sharpening a kitchen knife with your own hands using a double-sided whetstone:

Illustration	Description of actions
	Step 1. Preparing the stone. Before sharpening knives with a whetstone, it must be prepared. To do this, rinse the instrument in water or vegetable oil.
	Step 2. Install the support. Place a wooden cutting board or other object on the table that can act as a support for the block. For convenience, you can build a small holder from a wooden block and several nails, as shown in the photo.
	Step 3. Fixing and getting started. Place the kitchen knife at the desired angle. Remember that the same slope must be maintained throughout the entire work. Make sure that the top of the handle is in contact with the bottom of the block. Follow the path indicated in the photo. You shouldn’t put too much pressure on the blade, but you shouldn’t just iron it either.