How to sharpen knives, from whetstone to coffee cup

Having knives that cut badly is among the most irritating and unpleasant things that can happen in the kitchen. There was a time when the legendary knifesharpener, riding his bicycle, solved the problem ofsharpening knives and blades in general. Since this figure practically no longer exists, nowadays we have to make do on our own. So how to sharpen knives, kitchen and otherwise?

How to file a knife? A preamble: thekitchen sharpener-that sort of long, round file on which butchers and charcuterie makers rub the knife every time before employing it-is not the ideal tool for sharpening knives; for sharpening kitchen and non-kitchen knives, sharpening is more for correcting and maintaining them, thus being useful more for improving their performance than anything else. If you want to use theknife sharp ener, we recommend that you do not imitate your trusted butcher; rather, rest the tip on a cutting board, so that you can hold the knife straight and stable, and rub the edge of the tool four or five times, first on one side and then on the other, maintaining an angle of about twenty degrees.

To sharpen a knife, indispensable is the knife sharpening stone, also called whetstone. The fine-grained one is perfect, while the coarse-grained one is used to reestablish the edge in very damaged knives; avoid the diamond one, however, which, in addition to costing twice as much as the regular one, is also much more difficult to use. Before using the stone to sharpen knives, it is a good idea to keep it submerged in water for a quarter of an hour, and then lay it on the table spreading a cloth to achieve the greatest possible stability. Always keep a basin of water handy, as the stone for sharpening blades must always be wet.

How to sharpen a knife with the stone? Then take the knife and place it on the stone, holding it at an angle of about twenty degrees. As the end of the edge touches the whetstone, the part of the blade facing you should be slightly raised, about the space for a coin to pass underneath. Maintaining this angle rub it back and forth, perpendicular to the knife sharpening stone, about fifty times; then turn the blade over, doing the same on the other side.

Having finished the sharpening procedure, when sharpening a knife it is advisable to check forimperfections on the edge of the blade; imperfections or rather rivets, which form when the same number of passes are not made on the stone or more force is exerted on one side than the other. To reveal the presence of rivets, the 'trick' is to go over with the fingernail of your finger perpendicular to the edge of the knife: then, on the imperfect part, repeat the sharpening with about fifty passes where the rivet is raised and about forty on the other side. If the imperfection is still not gone, continue with about thirty passes on one side and about twenty on the other.

How to sharpen the blade of a knife? A quick, practical and unobtrusive method is thesteel sharpener. It is not suitable for reviving a knife without a edge, but it helps keep it more efficient by lengthening its life, since sharpening stones for kitchen knives sometimes run the risk of removing part of the metal and thus shortening its life. The steel sharpener is quite inexpensive and works in a simple and intuitive way. When a knife does not cut, it actually helps to realign the metal of the blade, limiting the scratches, serrations and irregularities present.

Grind a knife? Hold it with one hand, holding it with the tip pointing upward. With the other hand grasp the knife so that it forms an angle of about twenty degrees; the angle is important to smooth the blade evenly. Next rub the knife on the top of the sharpener, letting it slide toward the tip. Finally, repeat this step while maintaining the same angle, this time using the lower part of the tool.

Sharpening knives with a coffee cup is the ultimate home remedy. The ceramic from which it is made is in fact an abrasive material, even used in the production of some sharpeners.

How to sharpen knives with ceramic stone? Take an old one and turn it upside down; start rubbing the knife blade on the ceramic, alternating both sides to get an even result. Rub one side of the knife, turn it over and repeat the process, continuing this for several times. If you also have a sharpener available, you can refine the operation by making a few rotations to sharpen the blade, limiting the imperfections caused by the ceramic sharpening stone. To know the degree of sharpening pass a sheet of paper over it, holding it taut between your fingers.

Finally, always keep in mind that the longer the interval between sharpening, the more difficult it will be to grind the knives, so much so that for a tool used regularly in the kitchen we suggest sharpening every two to three weeks.