How to sharpen knives at home?

Many housewives complain that the knives remain dull even after they have been sharpened. This is due to the fact that the process is not executed correctly.

If we talk about knives, then this is a rather ancient thing that has not changed its basic shape for many centuries. They consist of a very comfortable handle, as well as a blade that should be sharp. Their edge is made of different types of alloys, for the manufacture of which different methods are used.

• Carbon steel knives are available to anyone, as their price is low. They are made of an alloy of iron with carbon itself. They remain sharp for a long time, and after being dull, they can be sharpened quite easily. But there are some drawbacks to such knives. At the slightest contact with any acidic medium, they begin to become covered with rust. Accordingly, the food that was cut with such a knife also gives off a metallic flavor.
• Knives made of stainless low carbon steel. To make such an edge, methods of alloying iron with carbon are used, as well as with the addition of elements such as molybdenum, chromium, and nickel. Such knives require very frequent sharpening, however, they are not susceptible to corrosion.
• Knives that are made of stainless high carbon steel do not require sharpening too often. In addition, they are completely not susceptible to corrosion. Their alloy contains a lot of carbon, as well as vanadium and cobalt.
• The edge of the knives, which are made of damask steel, is most often used to create edged weapons.But in everyday conditions they are quite rare. For their manufacture, only high quality alloys are used. If we talk about the shortcomings, then this is only their high price.
• Knives with ceramic blades are sharp, which lasts quite a long time. You can not sharpen them a couple of years. Their only drawback is the large fragility.

Starting to learn how to sharpen knives by experimenting with your favorite knives is not worth it. After all, a few wrong movements are enough and the tool can be damaged. Ceramic knives are ground only with a diamond bar. If he is not in the house, then it is best to contact a specialist who can do it professionally.

Besides, do not sharpen knives made of damask steel. After all, this is a rather difficult and long business. Therefore, not every person will be able to cope with such a task.

Those knives that have a wave-like blade also do not need to be sharpened at home. In addition, they should not be carried to the master. After all, it is practically impossible to return to their previous form.

Knives blunt quickly enough if they come in contact with a very hard surface. In addition, those who use them daily for cutting meat are also forced to regularly clean the blade. Many tools are available for this process. This can be ordinary sandpaper, and a grindstone, as well as any improvised means.

Such a tool is good because it can be used to sharpen knives quickly enough. In addition, this is done automatically. However, this removes too much steel, which leads to the fact that the blade will quickly erase. Therefore, always have at hand a cold liquid so that you can quickly cool a heated blade. In addition, it is almost impossible to sharpen a knife on both sides equally.

Using such a tool, you cannot sharpen a blunt knife, because it is used more for dressing, not for sharpening. In addition, in just a few days, the knife will again be blunt.

This is the best option for women. It is enough to draw a few times with a knife on the rollers, and it will be sharp. Anyone can buy such a knife, since it costs very cheaply.

Many are very skeptical about this type of turning. However, those who have already tried such a tool, made sure that this is a perfectly acceptable option. Of course, it is not too convenient, but if necessary, it will help to sharpen the knife.

This is one of the cheapest tools you can buy at home to keep your knives sharp without any problems. The only thing is to choose it correctly. It is best to buy two bars at once. One of them will have a rougher surface and be used for basic turning, as well as for correcting the angle of the blade. The second most often grind the surface.

The length of the bar should be no less than the length of the knife itself. In addition, the wider the surface, the more comfortable it will be. This type of sharpening requires a lot of patience from a person, because it will be difficult to cope with this process too quickly.

The price of such tools is high, however, the result is worth it. In addition, working with him is more comfortable. The basis of such tools is made of plastic or aluminum. Metal plates with diamond coating are fixed on it. Such sharpeners do not grind for a long time, and even after a few years they will look the same.

In addition, such tools have many advantages:

• they don’t break even when they are simply dropped to the floor;
• do not clog when sharpening;
• quickly cope with the task.

The disadvantages include their high price.

These are the same bars that need to be used not in a dry state, but moistened in water.But the price is too high, but they wear out quickly. Therefore, it is better not to use them for sharpening kitchen knives.

Such a tool is more suitable for masters than for beginners. With its help, you can literally make the knife blade sharp in just a few seconds.

Whatever tool is chosen, the technology for sharpening will always be about the same. First you need to practice on the simplest and cheapest bar, and then you can buy tools a little more expensive.

However, in any sharpening process, the sharpening angle must be set correctly. If we talk about kitchen knives, then it should be from 20 to 40 degrees. In addition, you need to know that the smaller the sharpening angle, the thinner the knife blade. But it will not be sharp for long, except for this, when it touches any hard surface, the blade will lose its shape.

Therefore, it is necessary to choose the direction of the sharpening angle depending on what needs to be cut. So, professional knives need to be sharpened at an angle of 20 to 30 degrees, but home knives - from 25 to 35 degrees. For Japanese kitchen knives, the sharpening angle should be between 15 and 20 degrees.

In order to learn how to correctly sharpen kitchen knives with your own hands, you need to read the step-by-step instructions. In addition, at home, doing this is simple and quick. However, here you need to know that there are edits and sharpening. For the first, you can use musat, sandpaper or a ceramic plate. For the second, tools such as a grinder, whetstone, diamond or electric sharpeners are suitable.

• First you need to place the bar so that it is convenient to sharpen the knives. In addition, any kitchen towel should be placed under the bar so that it does not slip on the surface. The bar should lie, do not hold it in your hands, since in this case it will be impossible to control the angle of sharpening.
• Next, you need to put the knife across the bar and make movements away from you. This should be done as if a regular pencil is being sharpened. In addition, you do not need to put much pressure on the bar. After all, this not only does not accelerate the process itself, but, on the contrary, can deform the blade.
• You need to drive over the stone about 40-50 times. In this case, you must maintain the correct angle. When roughness appears, which is also called barbs, you need to turn the knife over and sharpen its other side. If the burr moves here, then the previous side must be sharpened again.
• You can bring the knife to the state of a razor by grinding. It is necessary to use the finest-grained pebble. It will be enough to hold a knife on the stone only 15-20 times.
• If you want the knife to be sharp for a long enough time, you need to rub the blade of the knife to a shine using a leather belt greased with GOI paste. Movement should go up.

Using such a tool for sharpening, you must follow the following rules. All actions are performed manually.

• The tip of the knife must be rested on any surface. It is best if it is wooden.
• Next, the knife must be pressed to the core of the garbage at an acute angle, at the very handle.
• After that, it is necessary to energetically stretch the blade of the knife from the beginning of the handle to the nose itself. This movement must be repeated several times in a row, besides changing the side of the blade. If the knife was completely dull, then the use of such a sharpening technology will not fix the situation, but you can slightly correct the edge in this way.

With such a simple device, good results can be achieved. In addition, it will not be so difficult to do this. First, the sharpener needs to be mounted on the table. You can do this with one hand. The second is to take a knife and hold it a couple of times in the slot.

It is best to use a fine-grained circle here. First you need to turn on the tool at the lowest possible speed.Then it is necessary to draw one side of the knife along the side surface of the emery circle. At this time, you must always remember the correct sharpening angle, because if you do not follow this, you can just ruin the knife.

This sharpening technique is most often rough and requires additional refinement. For this, ordinary sandpaper is suitable. In addition, it’s best not to sharpen Japanese knives on such an instrument, as you can just ruin them.

Often there is a situation where the knife needs to be sharpened, and there are no tools for this at hand. In this case, you can use those tools that are at hand.

• An ordinary stone, which must first be washed, and then proceed to sharpen. The procedure here is the same as when using the bar. The correct sharpening angle must also be observed.
• Ceramic plate. Such material is much harder than metal, so it can be used for such purposes. The same technique is used as when sharpening on a bar. The only thing required is a little more time.
• Sandpaper. It is impossible to grind a knife that is too stupid with such material, however, it will still be possible to correct a little. To do this, you just need to move the knife blade with this material for several minutes in different directions. This will make the blade a little sharper.

You can evaluate the degree of sharpness of the knife through such actions.

• It is enough to take a regular piece of paper and, holding it on weight, draw a knife over it. If the blade is sharp, then the paper will cut into two halves with even edges. When the knife is not sharpened enough, the paper will be a bit torn or just remember after such a procedure.
• You can take a very ripe tomato and put it on a cutting board. A well-sharpened knife will easily go into it and cut it without much effort.
• A sharp knife will cut an ordinary thread in one second, but a blunt one will simply lead it to one side.
• If a sharp knife is slightly turned into the light, then glare should not come from it. They can be only when rays hit the surface of blunt knives.

Summing up, we can say that even an inexperienced person can sharpen a knife at home. The only thing required is to familiarize yourself with the rules of any of the processes, as well as be patient and time-consuming. After all, sharpening is not always obtained too quickly. However, the result should be a perfectly sharp knife.

Next, you can watch a video with tips on choosing tools for sharpening knives.