Knife to the state of the blade - how to sharpen yourself at home

The state of sharpening knives at home says a lot about the owner. Dull knives not only cause irritation during kitchen work, but also spoil food. It is quite possible to sharpen the knife yourself. Maybe a razor sharp for kitchen knife and is not needed, but it is imperative to bring the blade to a good working condition. There are many mechanical and electrical appliances on the market for this purpose. Advertising actively offers you sharpening machines that literally without your participation and effort sharpen not only knives, but also scissors. But practice shows that all these newfangled sharpening give a short-term result, and their regular use completely disables the blades. After that, they can only be given to the master to restore the cutting edge. How to sharpen the blade by hand correctly?

Read in the article

  • 1 Stone, knife, paper: what can be eliminated from the equation
  • 2 How to sharpen a knife on emery
  • 3 Final straightening of the blade on the belt

Stone, knife, paper: what can be eliminated from the equation

For manual sharpening of knives, stones with different grain sizes are needed. Good stones are not cheap, so you involuntarily think: maybe it's better to buy this advertised mechanism after all? But take your time, you can do without stones.

Knife to the state of the blade
PHOTO: YouTube.com
Prepare a small flat wooden block and sandpaper with a grain of 320-400 and 1000-1500
You can use regular tape to fix the emery strips to the block. A few seconds - and you have a double-sided stone in your hands
PHOTO: YouTube.com
You can use regular tape to fix the emery strips to the block. A few seconds - and you have a double-sided stone in your hands

So it turns out that a stone can be completely removed from this equation. But it is better to leave the paper, because it is convenient to check the sharpening result on it.

How to sharpen a knife on emery

The main condition for successful sharpening is the correct position of the blade in the process. It is necessary to keep it at an angle of 20-25 ° relative to the abrasive.

Now, without making a lot of effort, you need to move the blade back and forth, trying to keep the knife very even, without tilting or lifting it from the surface of the abrasivePHOTO: YouTube.com
Now, without making a lot of effort, you need to move the blade back and forth, trying to keep the knife very even, without tilting or lifting it from the surface of the abrasive

You need to sharpen the blade first on one side, then on the other. After 20-30 seconds of this sharpening, you can safely check the result on paper. The blade will confidently cut through a thin edge.

The second stage is repetition of actions on fine sandpaper. Exactly the same algorithm - from both sidesPHOTO: YouTube.com
The second stage is repetition of actions on fine sandpaper. Exactly the same algorithm - from both sides

This is where you can finish sharpening your kitchen knife. But if you want to achieve razor sharpness, you still need to work with the blade.

Final straightening of the blade on the belt

Again, you don't need anything special for this job. It is enough just a piece of genuine leather belt fixed to the same wooden block. Ideally, goi polishing paste should be applied to the surface of the skin.

When straightening the blade on a belt, you need to make movements in one direction, opposite the sharp edgePHOTO: YouTube.com
When straightening the blade on a belt, you need to make movements in one direction, opposite the sharp edge

After a minute of such editing, you will achieve a really razor sharpness, which is easy to check on the hairy part of the hand.

As you can see, sharpening a knife is not such a difficult task. The main thing is that your hands do not tremble, and you have a couple of free minutes.

Knife to the state of the blade - how to sharpen yourself at homePHOTO: YouTube.com

Well, if you are still a supporter of mechanical devices, then here is another simple and interesting idea for a manual sharpener based on the same emery:

How and how do you sharpen your knives? Are you using any gadgets? Share your experiences and opinions in the comments!

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