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How to sharpen your kitchen knives to razor sharpness yourself. How to sharpen a knife to razor sharp How to sharpen a knife to razor sharp

How to sharpen your kitchen knives to razor sharpness yourself. How to sharpen a knife to razor sharp How to sharpen a knife to razor sharp

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. Except step by step instructions on sharpening and finishing, here you will find a selection of training videos and a review 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 and the following principles knife sharpening:

  • 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 advice– 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 wooden board, for example, a cutting room. 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? General principle– the smaller it is, the sharper the blade, and the larger it is, the longer blade retains its sharpness.

  • Regular kitchen knives sharpen 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 raised slightly 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 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, you can select a sharpening system in which you can choose 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. Detailed review and the 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.

It is believed that every man should know how to sharpen a knife to razor sharpness. But despite the apparent simplicity of the operation, not everyone masters this art. And it’s not a matter of the ability to hold the blade at the right angle, but knowledge is passed on from generation to generation in the strictest secrecy. In order to properly sharpen a knife, you need to know something about the knife itself, the sharpening tool, and the materials from which our knife is made. Below we will tell our readers about all this. Well, and, of course, we will reveal the secrets of sharpening mastery.

To use a knife safely, it must be properly sharpened.

A few words about knives

A good owner should always have all the knives in the house as sharp as a razor. This has been the case for a long time. Therefore, many men try to follow the tradition, regularly spending a lot of time trying to achieve unprecedented sharpness from a bread knife.

A sharp knife significantly speeds up the process of working in the kitchen.

But sharpening should be considered not only as a tribute to some abstract traditions. Any chef will confirm that a sharp knife speeds up the cooking process several times. In addition, it is easy to work with; your hand does not get tired of chopping meat or vegetables.

And the knife, sharpened like a razor, makes work in the kitchen safe. Yes exactly! A dull blade can move to the side, followed by a hand slipping. And, in best case scenario, everything will turn out to be a fright. At worst, you can seriously injure yourself or touch someone present nearby. After all, even a knife that does not have razor sharpness remains sharp, especially its tip.

Before you start sharpening knives, you should find out the hardness of the steel from which the blade of each of them is made. The fact is that the hardness of the steel determines at what angle the sharpening will be carried out. This parameter is measured in special units, and hardness can only be determined in laboratory conditions using special equipment. The standard for most knives is 45-60 Rockwell hardness (HRC). Both soft and hard steel will have to be sharpened all the time, because the first will constantly wear out, and the second will crumble.

Why does the knife get dull?

The question is serious. If the steel has the required hardness, why then does the knife become dull and not maintain its sharpness, like a razor?

The effort when cutting food is a sign of sharpening the knife.

There are several reasons. First: no matter how hard the material is, during use it is subject to third-party influences. Under the influence of friction, microscopic metal particles are torn off from the main body, and the sharp edge is gradually destroyed. In addition, it is impossible to constantly hold the knife in the so-called “ideal position”, when the cutting edge of the knife contacts the surface at the optimal angle. The resulting loads have a destructive effect on the metal. As a result, the razor sharpness is lost.

But since this process can be called microscopic, it is not possible to immediately understand whether the knife has lost its sharpness, like a razor. The first signal can be the increasing force that has to be applied to cutting something with such a knife. The loss of sharpness can also be determined by eye: the dull areas on the blade look as if they have been polished, they have a characteristic shine.

This means it’s time to sharpen the blade like a razor. To make the process as effective as possible, you should choose the right tool.

Choosing a sharpening tool

In order to bring the blade to the required sharpness, you should choose the right material for sharpening it. It could be:

  • whetstone;
  • Musat;
  • electric sharpening machine;
  • abrasive machine;
  • grinding machine;
  • mechanical sharpener;
  • electric sharpener

You can use a special whetstone to sharpen knives.

Let's look at each of them separately. A sharpening stone is an ancient tool designed to make a knife as sharp as a razor. Experienced craftsmen know that in fact there are many bars, with different grain sizes (the smallest abrasive particle that makes up the bar itself), different hardness and density. In order to sharpen a blade efficiently and then polish it, you need two whetstones. One with large grains, the other with small grains. This can be determined by special markings, but you can also see the difference between such bars by eye.

Musat, as well as a mechanical sharpener, is a kitchen accessory. With its help, knives are not sharpened, but rather corrected, removing microchips and restoring the sharpness of razors for a while. This time is short, since the grinding stone and the sharpener do not act on the steel at a sufficient level.

An electric sharpener saves us from exerting physical effort to sharpen the blade, but it is also not able to return it to razor sharpness.

Special sharpening and grinding machines can quickly return a knife to its cutting properties, but the trouble is that keeping such equipment at home is expensive and dangerous. The machine generates a lot of dust and noise, while taking a fair amount of electricity. But with its help you can give any knife any sharpness you want in a short time and without much effort.

But experts advise not to take up work for sharpening machines, if you do not have experience as at least a toolmaker. You can hopelessly ruin the blade on a knife by overheating it or sharpening it at the wrong angle.

How to sharpen

An electric sharpener is very convenient for sharpening knives.

So, we come to the most important question: how to sharpen correctly so that the blade reaches razor sharpness?

The main thing is to be patient. Processing steel takes time, the greater the result we want to achieve, the more time it will take. In order for the knife to be operated like a razor, it will take at least 30 minutes of hard work.

Let's consider the classic method of sharpening using a sharpening stone. The abrasive should be placed on a flat surface (a table or workbench in a workshop) and a coarse cloth or fleecy material should be placed under it. This will make the work process easier, since the block will not fidget and you won’t have to hold it with your hand all the time.

The knives are sharpened by making passes along the entire length of the abrasive. In this case, you need to ensure that the cutting edge of the blade is always in a perpendicular position with respect to the longitudinal axis of the block. In practice, it looks like this: the blade has a curved surface, so when moving, the knife should be turned so that each section is at right angles to the axis of the abrasive material.

During the process, it is important to keep the metal at the same angle in relation to the sharpener.

It should be equal to 20-25 degrees, because this optimal value for the cutting edge. Knives intended for chopping meat should be sharpened at a high angle. By keeping the metal cutting angle constant, you can sharpen literally any steel to incredible sharpness.

The blade should be drawn along the entire length of the block, and it is not at all necessary to apply great force. Excessively strong pressure will lead to the destruction of the material and damage to the integrity of its surface. Because of this, the sharpening process may be delayed.

When a thin, uneven edge appears on the knife, you can move on to the next stage and change the coarse bar to a smaller one. Having achieved uniform sharpening, you should consolidate the result by grinding.

Knife grinding

This is the final step in sharpening your knives, resulting in a razor-sharp edge. For work, use a special grinding block with very fine grain. It has a velvety feel to the touch, but don't be fooled: it can give the blade a sharpness no worse than that of the best razors in the world.

Why is grinding needed? It not only gives the cutting edge the necessary properties, but also secures them. A polished metal surface is not as susceptible to destruction as a regular one. Thanks to this, the sharpness will be maintained for a long time.

During the grinding process, you should adhere to the same principles as when sharpening. Movements must be uniform and measured, the blade must always be perpendicular to the axis of the bar, and the angle of inclination of the metal to the abrasive must also be constant. And there is no need to put in unnecessary effort, because the metal will level out layer by layer. The result will be razor sharp.

It remains to add that you can learn all this, but it will take some practice. But thanks to the acquired skills, every owner will be able to always keep the knives sharp in their home.

It is difficult to imagine professional cooking without good and sharp knives. A set of knives is the main shrine of any chef and this fact is dictated by practice. However, even having collected a small collection of knives for different cases, you are not solving the problem of their severity. The fineness of food processing depends on it, and it is better to maintain it yourself. If you still have a knife in your kitchen, immediately throw it in the trash because it is completely useless and learn to sharpen the knife yourself - you can make sure that there is nothing complicated about it.

Grindstone

Today you may have problems buying a good sharpening stone - they were once sold in any store, but are now quite rare. However, if you do find such a stone, take care of it, because this thing can be passed on by inheritance. Sharpening stones can be of varying degrees of coarseness. The hardest stones are designed for the most aggressive sharpening; for household use, a medium-grain ceramic block will be sufficient. Metal grinders are often used to sharpen large kitchen knives, but we recommend mastering knife sharpening primarily on stones.

Factory sharpening

All knives are already factory sharpened and in most cases the user is only required to maintain the sharpness of the cutting edge. In order to do this correctly, you need to understand the angle of the cutting edge of the knife. You need to sharpen the knife while trying to maintain this angle. Sharpening at a different angle will take much longer and may damage the blade more quickly.

Correct angle

The sharpening range of the knife should be within an angle of 10 to 30 degrees. The larger the angle, the faster with the knife will need sharpening again. One of the most difficult aspects of sharpening knives is maintaining the selected angle. The correct mechanics of movements when sharpening will help you achieve progress.

Hand movements

To make your sharpening more effective, you should make an arcing motion when touching the blade and the stone. Synchronizing this movement and maintaining the angle is the key to success in sharpening a knife. Beginners are advised to place a coin under the back of the blade to maintain the required angle.

Water and oil

A drop of oil added to the sharpening stone will help achieve more effective sharpening. It is best to use a special one for this. mineral oil, however, olive oil will do just fine - its job is to lubricate the blade for better glide. However, many people sharpen knives using only water, wetting the stone from time to time.

Strive for imperfection

Many of those who try to sharpen a knife themselves try to bring the blade to a perfect razor sharpness. Such a blade will easily cut paper, but in the case of food, it will quickly become dull and require editing. A rougher and chipped edge of the knife contributes to an additional effect on the fibers of the product, that is, such a knife also acquires the properties of a saw. A coarse sharpening is best suited for meat, vegetables and most other products; in the case of fish, a fine razor sharpening will benefit.

“Are there dull knives in the house? Well, that means there is no man in it.” Now no one can say where this “sign” came from. However, is that really the point? Sharpening your knife to perfect sharpness will save you both time and health.

If you have ever tried to wield a dull knife, then you know that it is long, uncomfortable, difficult, and, on top of that, dangerous. You don't have to cut with such a knife, but saw. In this case, the knife, if it breaks, can injure the owner himself. However, it happens that even an unspoken reproach about the owner and dull knives hurts much more.

“Sawing” is a sure sign that the knife has become dull and it’s time to sharpen it. Test yourself by arranging good lighting and examining the blade lengthwise; if light shining stripes are noticeable on it, these are duller areas, and the conclusion is clear. There is also a test from professionals who always only need to sharpen the knife to perfect sharpness. And they resort to it every time the blade is unable to shave hair from the forearm or cut a leaf in midair.

Do not confuse sharpening knives and straightening them. That is, if they tell you that diamond sharpening knives - the best in the world, and they will offer diamond-coated steel for this, do not give in to provocation. Musat, like any metal or ceramic disk devices, is also a useful thing, but it only helps to sharpen the knife, and after that you still have to work hard to sharpen it.

The ideal sharpening of a knife is done on sharpeners, or, which is important, they come in different degrees of grain size and are used for different operations. Using a coarse-grit sharpener, the correct sharpening angle and shape of the cutting edge are restored. Medium grit is suitable exclusively for edge restoration. Finally, fine grit is used to finish finishing and straightening the blade.

It is better to choose the length of the sharpening stone equal to twice the length of the blade of the knife you are going to work on. To prevent the blade from falling off the block, a width of 5 cm will be sufficient. This is the best tutorial how to sharpen a knife to perfect sharpness.

It can be done sitting or standing, it doesn’t really matter. True, if you stand, choose the appropriate one. Place a sheet of rubber under the sharpener and position it accordingly. In general, make sure that all sharpening movements are performed correctly and from a position that is comfortable for you.

The knife blade is placed flat on one end of the block. The angle to its surface should be 23 degrees. As you make the movement, gradually move the point of contact between the blade and the sharpener towards the tip. Calculate so that when you reach the end of the bar, this point is exactly on the tip. In this case, the blade should remain on the surface of the sharpener.

The blade returns back with the same movement, as if scrolled backwards. This will help avoid constantly setting the angle between the blade and the surface of the sharpener.

Don't expect quick results. Sharpening a knife to perfect sharpness is an act somewhat comparable to meditation. It can be achieved in half an hour, and in an hour, and in three. Some craftsmen spend at least 30 hours on the sharpening process! But the result...

Remember how the movie Shurik in the short story “Partners,” preparing to “cut” through Fedya, who was wrapped in wallpaper, sharpened a knife and tested it by cutting his own hair on the fly? If you think this is some kind of joke, then you’re wrong. A perfectly sharpened blade is checked in this way.

If you put more pressure on the sharpener when sharpening, you will speed up the process to a minimum and wear out the whetstone to the maximum. Moreover, it will clog it with steel particles stripped from the blade.

Use another one when working proven sign: "Patience and a little effort". In our case, they will sharpen the knife blade so that it will be both expensive to look at and to use.

It is believed that every man needs to have an idea of ​​​​how to sharpen a knife to a razor sharpness. However, despite the apparent simplicity of this process, absolutely not everyone can cope with such a task. And the reason is not the lack of skills to hold the blades at the right angles, but the special knowledge that is passed down from generation to generation. But in fact, every person can sharpen a knife correctly; the main thing is to have a correct understanding of the product, sharpening tools and the properties of the material from which it is made. The article will discuss all these important aspects, and also reveal the secrets of how knives are sharpened with a razor.

What you need to know about knives

For good owners, any knife used in everyday life should be sharp and sharpened, like a razor. It has always been this way, since ancient times. In this regard, for many men, observing such traditions is a mandatory aspect. Of course, regular sharpening takes a lot of time, but thanks to this, unprecedented sharpness of the kitchen appliance is achieved.

But you shouldn’t consider sharpening only under the prism of some abstract traditions. Any chef can confirm that a sharp knife significantly speeds up the preparation of any dish. It’s easy and comfortable to work with such devices; your hands don’t get tired at all when chopping meat or vegetable preparations.

Moreover, it is safer to work with a knife sharpened like a razor. Yes it's true! When working with a dull blade, there is a possibility of the blade slipping and moving to the side. Fright is the least dangerous thing that can happen. The risk of causing a serious cut not only to yourself, but also to those around you cannot be ruled out.

Even though the knife does not have razor sharpness, it still remains a dangerous and traumatic device.

In order to sharpen a knife, it is necessary to take into account the hardness of the steel from which the blade is made. However, for each knife these values ​​will be different. It is extremely important to know them, since it is the hardness of the steel that determines the angle of sharpening. These parameters are measured in special units, and you can find out the real hardness indicators using special equipment, which is located in the relevant laboratories. The standard indicator in most cases for knives is the range from 45 to 60 hardness units (HRC), measured according to the Rockwell method. It has been proven that soft and hard types of steel require constant sharpening, since blades from the first wear out quickly, and from the second they crumble.

Why do knives become dull?

This is a fairly serious and common problem even if the steel has the required hardness parameters. Why then does its razor sharpness lose so quickly after sharpening?

The reasons are completely different. It is worth noting the first and main one, that regardless of the hardness of the blade material, when using it, it is one way or another subject to third-party influence. The frictional force acts on the blade in such a way that it leads to the separation of microscopic particles from the base, which causes its gradual destruction. In particular, it is impossible to constantly maintain the “ideal position” (contact of the cutting edge with the plane at optimal angles) when using a knife. The occurrence of loads has a destructive effect on the metal product, which entails a loss of razor sharpness.

But due to the microscopic nature of the process, it is quite difficult to check the sharpness of the product. The first signal of its dullness is the increasing effort that a person makes in the process of cutting an object using such a knife. You can find out whether the device has lost its sharpness even by eye: the dull part of the blade has a polished appearance and signs of a characteristic shine. In the presence of such defects, we can talk about the need that it is time to sharpen the blade like a razor. To give the process maximum efficiency, it is necessary to take care correct selection suitable tools.

Selecting a sharpening tool

To bring the blade to the required sharpness, you need to select the right materials and tools for sharpening it. Among them are:

  • sharpening stones;
  • musats;
  • electric sharpening machines;
  • abrasive machines;
  • grinding machines;
  • mechanical sharpeners;
  • electric sharpeners.

To understand the features of each of them, you should consider them in turn. Sharpening stones are ancient tools that can truly make a knife razor sharp. For experienced craftsmen known to exist various types sharpening stone, which have different size grains (the smallest abrasive particles that make up such bars), different hardness and density.

If you need to sharpen the knife as efficiently as possible and grind the blade, you will need to use at least two sharpening stones. The first one should have large grains, the second - small ones. You can find out by looking at their markings or less accurately determining the difference by eye.

Musats, as well as mechanical sharpeners, belong to kitchen life. They are used not so much to sharpen knives as to straighten them, to remove microchips and impart minimal razor sharpness for a short period of time. It is enough to operate the device a couple of times and the blade will begin to become dull again, since grinders and sharpeners do not have the desired effect on the steel surface of the product.

Electric sharpeners save a person from using significant physical effort when sharpening blades, but they also do not provide full sharpness. Special sharpening and grinding machines will help in as soon as possible give knives their cutting properties, but the disadvantage of such equipment is the overhead and unsafeness of storing and using them at home. Such machines generate dust, are quite noisy and energy-consuming. But thanks to them, any knife can be provided with the necessary sharpness quickly, efficiently and with minimal effort.

Experts recommend not to engage in such work on your own using machine tool sharpening equipment if you do not have the proper experience in the field of sharpening tools. There is a possibility of not only final damage to the blade on the knife due to overheating or failure to correct angles sharpening, but also the risk of dangerous injury due to improper handling of the equipment.

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How to sharpen correctly

To do everything according to technology, you need to understand how the process of sharpening a blade should take place. So, we come to the most important question: how to sharpen correctly so that the blade reaches razor sharpness?

You can get razor sharpness if you are patient in this matter. Processing process metal products requires a certain amount of time: to get a better result you will have to spend more time. To make the knife sharp, like a razor, you need to spend about 30 minutes on intensive sharpening.

We will use the classic method of sharpening, using sharpening stones. Abrasives should be placed on a flat surface (table or workbench), and there should also be a rough cloth or fleecy material underneath them. This will make the main task easier, since the block will not fidget and you will not need to hold it with your hand.

The knife is sharpened in such a way that it cuts through the entire abrasive. At the same time, it is necessary to ensure that the cutting edge of the blade is always perpendicular to the longitudinal axes on the block. In reality, it looks like this: the blade has a curved surface, and thus, during movement, the knife must be turned so that its sections are at right angles to the axes of the abrasive materials.

During the entire working process, the metal blade must be held at the same angle to the surface of the sharpener.

The value of this angle should be from 20 to 25 degrees; it is optimal for the cutting edges of knives. Knives that are designed to chop and slice meat should have a sharper cutting edge. When saving constant angle In the process of processing metal blades, you can sharpen absolutely any type of steel to the maximum level of sharpness.

The blades must run their entire length on the bars, and for this there is absolutely no need to apply much effort. If too much pressure is applied, the material may collapse and its integral surface may be damaged, which will lead to difficulty and delay in the sharpening process.

After a thin, uneven edge appears on the knife blade, you can perform the next step and change the coarse bar to one with less abrasive. Having completed uniform sharpening, it is necessary to consolidate the obtained result by grinding.

We polish the knife

Grinding is the final step in the process of sharpening a knife, which will then give it a sharp edge. To perform the work, special grinding stones are used, which have a fairly fine abrasive grain. Its surface feels like a velvety surface, but in reality, this grinding abrasive can make a knife blade so sharp that it will rival even the best razors.

What is the main purpose of grinding? Thanks to it, the cutting edge not only acquires the desired property, but also firmly secures it. It is noticed that polished metal surfaces They don't break down as much as regular ones. As a result of this property, pungency will be preserved for as long as possible.

When grinding, the same principles should be taken into account as when sharpening a knife. Each movement must be uniform and measured, the position of the blade must be perpendicular to the axes of the bars, the inclined angles of the sharpened steel to the abrasives must have a constant value. And you shouldn't do the work with unnecessary effort. If the steel is leveled gradually in layers, razor sharpness will eventually be achieved.

In conclusion, I would like to note that all this can be mastered, but you definitely need a practical skill, which you can get if you wish. And based on the acquired knowledge, any owner’s knives in the house will always be sharp and sharpened.

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