This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 29th, 2008 at 7:34 pm and is filed under Cutlery Information, Durability, Techniques, Uses. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Quality knives and Cutlery need to be sharpened to smooth and hone 
the blades and to keep your knives with a sharp edge. There is nothing more frustrating to anyone in the kitchen or even devestating to a professional chef than to have a blade that is dull or with jagged tears. To avoid this, quality knives and cutlery must be sharpened with a whetstone on a regular basis…at least every two or three months. The very best way to sharpen a knife would be to have it professionally ground or sharpened, however, it is not practical to take your knives each time you want them sharpened to a professional craftsman. Therefore, tools are available for sharpening your knives and cutlery yourself. There are various styles of knife sharpeners but to get the best and sharpest edge is to use the whetstone and sharpening steel. It may seem a little difficult to master the sharpening if using a whetstone and honing steel, or sharpening steel, but with practice you can do it yourself with much success.
It is recommended that you first start with a whetstone which is made of carbonundum or another abrasive that comes in three densities: coarse, medium (for all-purpose shrpening) and fine. The coarse stone is good for sharpening Chef’s knives, while the fine stone is better for slicing knives or boning knives. The whetstones come in two basic types–oil or water. The oil whetstone is prepared by lubricating it with a few drops of oil which is smoothed to a light film across the stone. A water stone will have to be soaked in water for approximately 15 minutes to absorb moisture. Regardless of the type of stone you use, after it is prepared, be sure to place it on a non-stick surface, such as a tea towel, to steady the stone before you begin the sharpening. Using the whetstone may leave a few minuscule pieces of jagged metal and therefore following up with the use of the honing steel is needed.
The honing steel, or sharpening steel, is a tool that serves a different purpose from the whetstone but they work in conjunction with the each other. The honing steel is a steel rod up to one foot long, rounded in cross section with longitudinal ridges or grooves in it and it’s purpose is to smooth out or remove any microscopic nicks or jags in the edge left from using the whetstone and make the blade smooth.
It is recommended that you use your honing steel before each use to remove any tiny burrs and maintain the edge in between sharpening on the whetstone.
Whatever you do, don’t allow the blades of your knives and cutlery to become dull. Keep them sharp using at least some type of knife sharpener on a regular basis.
August 12th, 2008 at 3:16 am
Information About Sharpening Quality Knives and Cutlery | Quality Kitchen Cutlery…
The 12-piece Chikara set I bought from this amazing site is a steal! Now I have all the knives I need in one block. I’m so satisfied with my purchase that I can recommend to all to see this site. It definitely is a good buy….
August 12th, 2008 at 3:17 am
Information About Sharpening Quality Knives and Cutlery | Quality Kitchen Cutlery…
The 12-piece Chikara set I bought from this amazing site is a steal! Now I have all the knives I need in one block. I’m so satisfied with my purchase that I can recommend to all to see this site. It definitely is a good buy….
August 12th, 2008 at 3:17 am
Information About Sharpening Quality Knives and Cutlery | Quality Kitchen Cutlery…
The 12-piece Chikara set I bought from this amazing site is a steal! Now I have all the knives I need in one block. I’m so satisfied with my purchase that I can recommend to all to see this site. It definitely is a good buy….
August 12th, 2008 at 7:11 am
Information About Sharpening Quality Knives and Cutlery | Quality Kitchen Cutlery…
The 12-piece Chikara set I bought from this amazing site is a steal! Now I have all the knives I need in one block. I’m so satisfied with my purchase that I can recommend to all to see this site. It definitely is a good buy….
August 12th, 2008 at 7:11 am
Information About Sharpening Quality Knives and Cutlery | Quality Kitchen Cutlery…
The 12-piece Chikara set I bought from this amazing site is a steal! Now I have all the knives I need in one block. I’m so satisfied with my purchase that I can recommend to all to see this site. It definitely is a good buy….
August 12th, 2008 at 7:11 am
Information About Sharpening Quality Knives and Cutlery | Quality Kitchen Cutlery…
The 12-piece Chikara set I bought from this amazing site is a steal! Now I have all the knives I need in one block. I’m so satisfied with my purchase that I can recommend to all to see this site. It definitely is a good buy….