Knife Maintenance and Sharpening

8/6/2019 Knife Maintenance and Sharpening

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Section One: The Sad Truth About Kitchen Knives

To a chef, there is nothing more important than his knife. It is not only an extension of hishands, it is an extension of his very personality. The knife is a chefs paintbrush.

So why are most kitchen knives so bad?

The knives found in most commercial and home kitchens are designed for the lowest commondenominator. The manufacturers of these knives make a series of compromises calculated tokeep the largest number of people happily using their knives for the longest period of time. Likesupermarket tomatoes bred for sturdiness and uniformity rather than flavor, these compromisesseriously degrade the performance of your knives.

The first compromise begins with the steel. Steel is the heart of the knife. Most manufacturers(Henckels, Wusthof, Forschner, et al.) have proprietary steel blends and are very close-mouthedabout the actual formulation of their steels. According to industry insiders, these steel blends are

closely related to or equivalent to a steel known as 440a. By and large 440a steel is formulatedfor stain and wear resistance rather than holding a high performance edge.

In the kitchen, thats not a bad tradeoff.

But this compromise in edge performance is compounded by a heat treatment that leaves thesteel much softer than it could be. In general, the harder the steel, the keener the edge it willtake. However, a hard steel makes it more difficult to get that edge in the first place. Somanufacturers leave the steel a little soft, theoretically making sharpening at home easier. Ifyouve ever spent an hour or two trying to get a super fine edge on a cheap kitchen knife, youllknow that there is a big gap between theory and practice.

Upper-end kitchen knives like Henckels, Sabatier, Wusthof, et al., are a little better, but are stillsofter than they need to be at 52 to 56 on the Rockwell C scale (the Rockwell scale is a scaleused to measure the relative hardness of different solids). By contrast, Japanese knives tend tobe around 61-62 on the Rockwell scale. Custom knife maker Phil Wilson hardens his S90V (astainless supersteel) chefs and filet knives to 62-63 Rockwell.

The next compromise is in the factory edge angles. Most kitchen knives come with an edge thatis at least 25 degrees per side, frequently even greater. If you add the two sides together you geta 50 degree included angle. And thats the best case scenario. Take a look at a protractor if youhappen to have one lying around. Fifty degrees is extremely thick. An angle that obtuse is moreappropriate for an axe than a chefs knife. Again, the theory is that the thick angles will allowthe edge to resist damage from impaction, rolling and wear better than a thin edge. But, as thesong says, it aint necessarily so.


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Finally, there is just plain cruelty and misuse. While Im certain none ofyou would ever use thesharpener on the back of an electric can opener, or use a glass cutting board, or store yourknives loose in a drawer or put them in the dishwasher, it does happen. And when you add softsteel and thick angles to the general abuse that knives see in the kitchen, you end up with toolsthat are more adapted for bludgeoning oxen than fine dicing a soft tomato.

Take heart. The news isnt all bad. We can fix these problems. Geometry is far more importantthan steel. With some basic knowledge and the willingness to invest a little time, you canrealistically expect a dramatic increase in knife performance.

First, do no harm: General knife care

- Use wooden or composite plastic cutting boards only. Glass, ceramic, marble and steel willcause the edge to roll or chip. Bad. Dont do it.

- Dont drop your knives in the sink. Not only is it a hazard to the person washing dishes, butyou can also blunt the tip or edge.

- Dont put your knives in the dishwasher. The heat may damage wooden handles and the edgesmay bang against other cutlery or plates.

- Keep your knives clean and dry. Sanitize if necessary.

- Do not store your knives loose in a drawer. Use a block, magnetic strip, slotted hanger or edgeguards. The magnetic strip is not recommended if you have children or inquisitive pets.

- Finally, your knife is not a can opener, a screwdriver, a pry bar, box cutter or hammer. Theresa special place in Hell reserved for people who abuse their knives this way.


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If your knives wont fit in a block, simple plastic blade guards are a good solution

Second: Modify for performance

This is the easy part. Establishing and maintaining high performance edges is what this tutorialis all about. It can be as simple as steeling with the proper technique or as complex as creatingspecific edge bevel and edge aggression strategies for each knife in your collection. Its all up toyou.

While you cant change the steel your knife is made from, you can certainly keep your knives atpeak performance and without too much difficulty. Well discuss high performance edges andsharpening strategies a little later in the tutorial.

Third: Modify for comfort

This is something very few chefs (and even relatively few knife makers) take into consideration.Ask any chef to show you his knife-hand calluses. Hell have a thick one at the base of his firstfinger from the pinch grip used in most kitchens. He or she may also have another on the side


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of the second finger where the finger rubs against the bolster or dropped portion of the bladethat extends below the handle.

He will also have aching hands and possible repetitive stress injuries.

In the interest of economy, most knife manufacturers leave the spines of their knives squaredoff. The edges of the spine can sometimes be sharper than the knife itself. That edge cutting intoyour finger can lead to blisters, calluses, reduced circulation, numbness and injury.

If you ever handle a chefs knife made by Canadian knife maker George Tichbourne youllknow that it doesnt have to be that way. Tichbourne worked with several professional chefswhen designing his kitchen knife series. One of the key features is a smoothly rounded spine. Itdoesnt abrade your finger, cut off the circulation, make your hands numb or create any of theother discomforts associated with standard kitchen knives.

You can do the same in less than half an hour. Lock your knife, edge down, into a padded vise.

The padding doesnt have to be anything elaborate. Two pieces of flat rubber or leather willkeep the jaws from scratching the blade. Youll need a sheet of fine (600 grit) wet/drysandpaper available at any auto supply store or an abrasive cloth, sometimes called a crocuscloth. Using a gentle shoeshine motion, lightly round the edges of the spine. You dont have tobuff hard or remove a lot of metal. All you need to do is break the sharp edge at the base of thespine. How far you take it is up to you. This simple modification will make a world ofdifference in the comfort of your knives.


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Section Two: Steel

An Overview of Steel

By definition, steel is a combination of iron and less than 2 percent carbon. For centuries,

carbon was the only alloying element. The problem in the early days of steel making wasgetting rid of unwanted elements, not adding new ones. However, there are a variety of alloyingelements that are added to modern steels to impart various characteristics.

Iron alone is relatively soft. It does not hold an edge well, wears quickly and has little resistanceto bending. Add a little bit of carbon and the story changes dramatically. The carbon combineswith the iron to form hard carbide platelets cemented together in a matrix of iron. Thecombination is resistant to wear and bending and will take a keen edge.

Smaller carbides and a tighter grain structure allow for a stronger, sharper edge. Other carbideformers, like vanadium, can refine the grain of the steel further. Knives with a high vanadium

content can take a very keen edge, but are harder to sharpen.

Carbon - Present in all steels, it is the most vital hardening element. Greater than 0.5 percentcarbon content qualifies a steel as a high carbon steel.

Chromium - Added for wear resistance and corrosion resistance. A steel with at least 13 percentchromium is considered stainless. Chromium is a carbide former, so it also increases wearresistance.

Manganese - A carbide former. Manganese aids grain structure, increases hardenability, andwear resistance. Manganese is present in most cutlery steels.

Molybdenum - Another carbide former. Increases hardness, prevents brittleness, makes the steeleasier to machine.

Nickel- Adds toughness and possibly aids in corrosion resistance.

Phosphorus - Essentially a contaminant.

Silicon - Increases hardness and strength.

Sulfur- Increases machinability but decreases toughness.

Tungsten - Increases heat, wear and shock resistance. Tungsten is the strongest carbide formerbehind vanadium.

Vanadium - Another carbide former. Contributes to wear resistance and hardenability.Vanadium refines the grain of the steel, which contributes to toughness and allows the blade totake a very sharp edge.


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Most kitchen knives fall into the category of high carbon stainless. These knives generallycontain between 0.5 and 0.8 percent carbon, 13 to 18 percent chromium and a little manganese,molybdenum, silicon, phosphorus and sulphur. This makes for a steel that is easy to produce, isvery stain resistant and reasonably wear resistant. Knives from Global and Macs Superior linehave some vanadium added for improved wear resistance and a finer grain, which allows the

knife to be sharpened to an incredible edge.

Carbon Steel versus Stainless Steel

The great debate rages on. Carbon steel advocates claim that their knives take a keener edge,hold it longer and are easier to resharpen than stainless steel knives. Stainless steel users claimthat carbon steel knives are unsanitary, leave an off taste in foods and that stainless knives holdan edge longer than their carbon counterparts.

Whos right? Depends on your definitions and your environment. Its not as simple as carbonversus stainless.

Carbon steels range from simple iron/carbon combinations to high-alloy tool steels that will cutthrough concrete without losing their edge. Stainless steels vary from very soft, extremely stainresistant dive knives to super stainless alloys, like Crucible Particle Metals S30V, a steelpurpose-designed for the custom cutlery industry.

In the far less demanding realm of the kitchen, however, the carbon steel devotees are right. Atleast until they actually have to use their knives. Then its a different story.

Carbon steel kitchen knives generally are a little harder and stronger than stainless steel kitchenknives. They are easy to sharpen and take a screaming edge. And while the patina that developson a carbon knife can be unsightly (unless you like that sort of thing), it isnt unsanitary.

But in the wet, acidic environment of the kitchen, stainless rules. For all their faults,compromises and shortcomings, stainless steel kitchen knives work better and will hold theiredges longer than carbon steel knives.

Doesnt make sense, does it?

The culprit is corrosion the effect of acid and micro-rusting. Even on what appears to be amirror-bright, razor sharp edge, microscopic particles of rust and corrosion will form, attackingthe edge and reducing its performance. Unless carbon steel knives are rinsed and driedfrequently, their edges will degrade rapidly in kitchen use. The stainless edge will easily outlastthem.

According to chef and knife makerThomas Haslinger, Acids of fruit and vegetables are fairlyaggressive and will dull a carbon blade more quickly than stainless. The acid actually eats theedge.


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Section Three: Edge Basics

Most kitchen knives are flat ground, meaning that the blade tapers directly from the spine to theedge. Hollow ground, convex ground and saber ground blades are rarely found in the kitchen. Imention them only to confuse you.

Edges come in a variety of flavors. The most common are the V-edge, double beveled edge,chisel ground edge and the convex edge.

V-edges and double beveled edges are variations on a theme. The edge found on your kitchenknives is most likely a V-edge, meaning, oddly enough, that the edge bevels form a V, twosurfaces intersecting at a line of (ideally) zero width.

A double bevel takes this idea a little further by adding a second, more acute, angle behind theedge bevel. This secondary bevel is sometimes called a back bevel or relief angle. Its purposeis to thin the metal behind the edge. The thinner the edge, the greater the cutting ability.However, an edge that is too thin is susceptible to damage. So you add a smaller, more obtuseprimary bevel to the very edge to give it the strength to avoid damage from impaction, chippingor rolling.

Chisel groundedges are primarily found on Japanese knives, especially sushi knives. The edgeis ground only on one side. The other is side is flat. Hence they come in right and left handedversions. Chisel ground edges can be extremely thin and sharp. If the edge bevel is ground at 25degrees and the other side is 0 degrees, you have an included angle of 25 degrees considerably

more acute than the average Western knife.

Sometimes known as hamaguri-ba, the convex edge arcs in a rounded curve down to the edge.Thus the final edge is the intersection of two arcs, creating a very sharp edge with more metalbehind it than the standard V-edge. Convex edges are generally formed on a slack belt grinder,so they are difficult for the home sharpener to achieve. This can be remedied with the mousepadtrick found later in the tutorial. See the Convex Grind FAQ for sharpening methods and acomparison of the convex edge with other edge types.


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A double bevel. The wide area is a 10 degree back bevel; the narrow section is the 15 degree primary edge face.

The back bevel also solves one of the great problems with V-edges, the fact that the metalbehind the edge gets progressively thicker as the knife is sharpened over time. The knife doesntcut as well and becomes harder and harder to sharpen. The answer is to grind the shoulders off

the edge at an acute angle, i.e. add a back bevel, then reestablish the primary bevel.


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If you sharpen your knife without grinding a relief angle, your edge will thicken over time.

Micro-serrations: True or False?

Knife geeks frequently talk about micro-serrations, microscopic teeth on the edge of theknife. Is this really true? In a word, yes. Sharpening by its very nature creates a scratch patternon the edge of the knife. The coarser the stone, the coarser and deeper the scratch pattern will beand the larger the micro-serrations. Conversely, the finer the stone, the finer and more polished

the edge will be with less prominent micro-serrations. The real question is, which one is better?

This is one of the great debates in the knife world the razor sharp polished edge versus atoothier edge.

John Juranitch in his book The Razor Edge Book of Sharpening is emphatic that a polishededge is the answer, that micro-serrations are indicative of a dull knife. His experience comesfrom sharpening knives for the meat processing industry. Meat cutters go through knives fasterthan tissues in flu season, so Juranitchs conclusions are hard to dispute.

However, Joe Talmadge, author of the Bladeforums Sharpening FAQ; Cliff Stamp, physicist

and knife nut; Leonard Lee, president of Lee Valley Tools and author of The Complete Guideto Sharpening; and many others have come to the opposite conclusion: that micro-serrations, inthe right context, can be a very good thing.

What is the right context? Later on well examine the difference between push cutting andslicing, their applications in the kitchen and the value of various levels of polish on your knifeedges. Which leads us directly to:


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The Meaning of Sharpness

What do we mean when we say that we want our knives to be sharp? Seems like a sillyquestion. We all know what sharp is. Or do we?

Sharpness is not just a function of creating a super-thin edge that will readily sever free-hangingnose hairs; its also a function of shape and intended purpose. You could grind your chefs knifeto razor thinness, but the edge would crumble the first time you hit a bone or tried to hammeryour way through a winter squash. Your knife would be sharp but useless. Similarly, a razorsharp but wedge-thick edge is great on a splitting axe but not much good for carpaccio.

We have to take into consideration the shape of the blade, the angle of the edge bevel andespecially the material being cut when we consider how we judge the sharpness of our kitchenknives.

So the real question is not how sharp should my knife be, but rather how do I get maximum

performance from my knife under a given set of conditions. A sharp knife can be defined asone that has a keen edge that can hold up in repeated usage while producing the results werelooking for in the kitchen.

The Myth of Thick Edges

The theory is that thick edges (larger angles) last longer than thin edges, and the majority of theknife buying public wants the edge to last as long as possible. But it doesnt work out that wayin practice. Thinner edges actually outlast thicker edges almost all the time.

The thinner edge starts out performing better than the thicker edge. So even if it does degrade ithas a lot of ground to lose before it falls to the performance level of the thick edge.

Thinner edges cut more easily, putting less stress on the edge. If a thin edge takes three slices toget through a big slab of raw meat, a thicker edge might take six or seven. Or three with a lotmore force. The thicker edge is doing twice as much work, degrading twice as quickly.

Thinner edges are easier to control. Lateral stresses are a significant source of edge degradation.The more smoothly, accurately and easily you are able to cut, the less lateral stress you put onthe edge.

Thin is good.


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A very thin, high performance 10/15 double bevel. The knife is an 8 custom chefs knife in ATS-34 steel from Steve Mullin.

The High Performance Edge

We want our kitchen knives to cut as easily as possible while maintaining integrity and stayingsharp.

For maximum performance, you want the edge as thin as possible. To borrow an image fromJoe Talmadge, imagine a woman stepping on your foot. If shes wearing tennis shoes, it willhurt a lot less than if shes wearing stiletto heels. The same amount of force applied to a muchsmaller area penetrates better. A knife edge a thousandth of an inch thick with one pound ofpressure behind it concentrates 1,000 pounds of pressure per square inch at the edge. While anactual kitchen knifes edge will be a little thicker than a thousandth of an inch, the thinner yourknifes edge, the more efficiently it will cut.

To thin a knifes edge, you lower the edge angle. The problem is that a thin edge is much moresusceptible to damage. As the edge becomes thinner, there is less metal to support it. It can roll,indent and chip, causing the edge to degrade quickly.

So the goal is to thin the edge as much as possible, but not so much that it is regularly damagedduring hard use. One way to do this is to keep thinning your edge until it reaches anunacceptable level of fragility then back off a couple of degrees. This is easier than it sounds,but not really necessary. Well discuss suitable edge angles in just a moment.


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One factor that strongly plays into how thin you can take a knifes edge is the quality of thesteel. Thats one of the primary advantages to the new breed of incredibly hard stainless supersteels. You can sharpen them to very acute angles without risk of significant damage.As anaside, Ive taken a chefs knife made from ATS-34 down to less than 8 degrees per side before it

required an unacceptable level of maintenance.

As weve discovered, the average kitchen knife is made from pretty mediocre steel. But it canstill be much thinner than the factory edge. As a matter of fact you can sharpen your Henckelsand Wusthofs to angles that would give the good folks in Solingen the heebie-jeebies withoutworrying too much.


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Section Four: Sharpening Basics

Before we get into sharpening systems and the actual mechanics of sharpening, it helps tounderstand some of the basic principles. These are the burr, the sharpening angles, the abrasive,consistency and sharpening strategy. They apply no matter what sharpening method you

choose.

The Burr

First and most foremost is the burr. The burr is your friend. A burr, or wire edge, is a rough,almost microscopic, raised lip of metal that forms when one edge meets the other. It is the onlyway to be absolutely certain that you have fully ground an edge. Essentially you grind one sideuntil it meets the other and pushes up a small curl of metal. If you stop sharpening before theburr is formed, your knife will not be as sharp as it could be.

Sometimes you cant see a burr, but you can always feel it. You check for a burr on the sideopposite the edge you have been grinding. Hold the knife blade horizontally and place yourfingers or thumb at a 45-degree angle to the edge and pull gently down and away. DO NOTPULL TOWARD THE TIP OR HILT; YOU MAY LOP OFF A FINGER. PULL AWAYFROM THE EDGE. Remember, check the side opposite the one you've been sharpening.You're checking for a very light lip caused by the edge rolling over to the other side. Check atvarious points along the edge. The burr tends to form quickly at the base of the blade but takes alittle longer at the tip. You must feel a burr running all the way from heel to tip to know thatyou have fully ground that side of the knife.


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Hand position for checking a burr.

The Angles

As weve discussed, the 50-degree-plus included angle that comes standard on most kitchenknives is way too obtuse. Leonard Lee suggests anywhere from 5 to 20 degrees per side (10 to40 degrees total) for general kitchen work. Five degrees per side is incredibly thin and would

require a very hard, high quality steel to keep that edge in regular use.

For the vast majority of kitchen knives, 15 to 20 degrees per side will provide a significantincrease in performance without requiring undue maintenance. Meat cleavers should be a littlethicker, say 20 to 25 degrees per side, while dedicated slicers can be taken down to 10 to 15degrees per side.

The best compromise in the kitchen has proven to be a 15/20 double bevel. That is a 15 degreeback bevel with a 20 degree primary edge face.


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A 15/20 double bevel illustrated. This is an excellent performer in the kitchen.

Abrasives

You sharpen your knives by scraping away metal. Thats really all there is too it. But there is ahuge array of abrasives available.

Traditionalists will demand anArkansas stone. These stones were originally mined from a

novaculite deposit in Arkansas. They were graded, from softest to hardest, as Washita, SoftArkansas, Hard Arkansas and Black Hard Arkansas. However, the best parts of the deposit weremined long ago, leading to spotty quality in the natural stones. They have since been replacedby ground novaculite reconstituted into benchstones. These can be found under the ArkansasPerfect name.

Synthetic aluminum oxide stones are very, very hard and dont wear like natural stones. Theyclean up easily with a scouring pad and are more consistent in their grading systems. Spydercoand Lansky both manufacture synthetic stones in a variety of grits (see discussion of gritsbelow).

Japanese waterstones are considered by many to be the ultimate sharpening tools. Althoughnatural waterstones are extremely expensive and hard to find, reconstituted stones are readilyavailable. These reconstituted Japanese stones are held together by a resin bond, cut veryquickly (and wear more quickly as well) and are available in extremely fine grits that will put ahigh polish on an edge.

Synthetic waterstones, as used by EdgePro systems, are formulated from aluminum oxidespecifically for knife sharpening. Like Japanese waterstones, they need to be wet in order to cut


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effectively.

Diamond stones have man-made diamond particles imbedded in or coated on a base metal.They cut very aggressively and should be used with caution. They were formerly available onlyin very coarse grits, but that is changing rapidly. According to Leonard Lee, monocrystalline

diamonds are preferable to polycrystalline diamonds in a diamond stone. They are nearly twiceas expensive, but last much longer. EZE-Lap, Lansky and DMT make excellent diamondstones.

There are two other issues related to abrasives that must be considered: grits and lubrication.

You Want Grits with That?

All of these abrasives come in a variety of grits from very coarse to ultra-fine. Grit refers to thesize of the individual particles of abrasive in the sharpening stone. A stone with a finer grit hassmaller particles, and produces an more polished edge with less prominent micro-serrations. A

stone with a coarser grit has larger particles, produces an edge with more prominent micro-serrations, and tends to abrade metal away more quickly. There are several different grit ratingsystems, and unfortunately it is very difficult to correlate these different systems. For example,Japanese waterstones are graded differently than diamond stones and both have differentnumbering systems than the codes found on powered grindstones. Steve Bottorff, author ofSharpening Made Easy has taken a stab at it here if youre interested.

What we do know is that youll need a coarse to medium stone for shaping the edge andremoving the shoulders of over-thick edges. Youll also need a fine stone for sharpening thefinal edge. The combination stones found in most hardware stores just wont do the trick. Thecoarse side isnt coarse enough and the fine side isnt fine enough. Any of the sharpeningsystems mentioned later will come with appropriate stones.

In very general and imprecise terms, stones rated lower than 300 grit are coarse, 300-400 aremedium, 600+ are fine and 1200 and up are extra fine.

Japanese waterstones have their own grit rating system. They cut so quickly that anythingbelow 800x can be considered coarse, although theyll leave a much more polished edge than acorresponding Western stone. 1000x and 1200x can be considered medium and medium-fineand make an excellent general purpose stones. Waterstones can go up to 8000x, but thats reallyoverkill for kitchen purposes.

The stones that come with Spydercos Sharpmaker are listed as fine (the white stones) andmedium (the grey stones). The grey has been compared to an approximately 800x waterstone,the white to a 1200x waterstone in effect.

The synthetic waterstones from EdgePro systems also have an idiosyncratic rating system. Thecoarse stone is listed as 100, the medium as 180, the fine 220, extra fine 320, ultra fine is 600.However a conversation with Ben Dale, owner of EdgePro, revealed that the extra fine stone isequivalent to a 1200x Japanese waterstone and the ultra fine equivalent to a 2000x Japanese


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stone. The basic system comes with a medium and fine stone, which should be sufficient formost needs, though the coarse stone comes in handy for quickly reshaping bevels.

Oil or Water?

Everyone knows you need to lubricate your sharpening stone with water or oil, right? So thequestion is which one is better. Neither. The purpose of a sharpening stone is to grind the edgeand remove metal. Oil reduces friction and makes the process much slower.

Supposedly oil helps float away metal particles that would otherwise clog the pores of the stone.You can do the same thing by wiping the stone with a damp cloth when youre done. SteveBottorff reports that you can clean your Arkansas stones with paint thinner. Synthetic stonesclean up with a scouring pad and abrasive cleanser.

According to Joe Talmadge, if you have already used oil on your Arkansas stone, youllprobably need to keep using oil. But if you have a new Arkansas stone, a diamond stone or a

synthetic stone, go ahead and use it without oil or water. It will work much better.

John Juranitch reports that in his companys work with meat processing plants they discoveredthat the metal filings suspended in the oil on a stone actually chip and abrade the edge.Although these chips were only visible through a microscope, the meatpackers readily noticedthe difference between the knives sharpened on a dry stone and those sharpened on oiled stones.

Waterstones are another matter entirely. Both Japanese and synthetic waterstones require waterin order to cut effectively. Japanese waterstones can be damaged if used dry and must be soakedthoroughly before use. Waterstones wear very quickly, revealing new layers of cutting abrasiveas the swarf builds up and is washed away. Thats why they are so effective. There is always anew layer of sharp abrasive cutting away at the metal of your edge. By the way, swarf is oneof those cool terms you get to toss around when you discuss sharpening. Swarf is the slurry ofmetal filings and stone grit that builds up as you sharpen. Throw that into your next cocktailparty conversation and just watch the expressions of awe appear as people realize that you are asharpening God.

Consistency

You must be able to maintain a consistent angle while you are sharpening. This can be tough todo, which is why there are so many gimmicks and sharpening systems on the market. Theydont provide any magic. All they do is help you keep your edge at the same angle throughoutthe sharpening session.

Maintaining consistency is a primary reason freehand sharpening with benchstones orwaterstones is a little tricky. It takes a lot of experience and practice to keep the edge at aconstant angle stroke after stroke using only your hands and eyes.

Sharpening Strategy: Coarse versus Polished Edges


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Section Five: Sharpening Step by Step

Hey, 5,000 words into this and were actually getting to the how-to part.

Okay, heres where we put all of this together.

Haul out your sharpening rig and lets grind some metal. Dont have one yet? Check out theSharpening Systems section below to see what suits you best.

Got one now? Good.

Remember the basics: burr, angle, abrasive, consistency and strategy. Lets assume, for thesake of discussion, that youve decided to put a 15/20 double bevel on your chefs knife.Because its a general purpose knife, it doesnt need to have a mirror polished edge. As a matterof fact, a good medium-fine edge is what youre aiming for. This is your angle and strategy.

Because this is the first time youve really tried to change the horrid factory edge, youll need tobegin with a fast cutting, coarse abrasive. Benchstone, waterstone, Sharpmaker grey stone doesnt matter. Start with the coarsest thing youve got.

Determine how youre going to establish consistency. With a Sharpmaker you simply strokestraight up and down. The EdgePro or Lansky rod-type systems have angle guides built in.Freehand sharpening requires a little more skill and patience, but if you use a guide system likethe Razor Edge or simply place your thumb on the spine in the same spot every time, you cancreate a consistent angle.

Advanced Section:

Quote

Warning: Math! If you want to be really anal about it, Leonard Lee offers this formula forcreating freehand angles of less than 20 degrees. Use the basic rule that a 1 degree anglesubtends an arc of 1 unit at a radius of 60 units. The 1-in-60 rule is close enough for manypurposes, particularly sharpening at low angles. Youll find that a 10-unit rise in 60 units isabout 9-1/2 degrees and a 20-unit rise is about 19 degrees.

This works out to raising the spine 1/8 inch (measured 1.5 inches back from the edge) for everyfive degrees of angle. The average chefs knife is about 1.5 inches wide at the heel, so for a 15degree angle youd raise the spine 3/8 inch about the height of six quarters stacked up.

If your knife is wider or narrower than 1.5 inches, measure the height from 1.5 inches backfrom the edge, otherwise the math doesnt work. Its the height/width ratio that gives you theangle.

Forget the math. In a pinch a large binder clip clamped to the spine will get you pretty close.


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So, lets get started:

1) Establish your 15 degree angle. If youre using a Sharpmaker, put the stones in the 15 degree

slots. With a Lansky, Gatco or EdgePro system, slide the rod into the 15 degree setting. Withedge guides, clamp the guide at the 3/8 height. Freehanding, raise the spine to 3/8 inchmeasured 1.5 inches back from the edge.

Now youre ready to create a burr. Be patient, this might take a while. To grind off theshoulders of the previous edge were going to be removing a lot of metal. Thats why we needthe coarse stone. At this point it doesnt really matter what kind of stroke you use. You can goheel to tip or just grind in circles. It doesnt make any difference.

To keep the aesthetics of the knife, youll want the bevels relatively even on each side. If youjust grind one side until you get a burr, the other side will require much less grinding. Thus the

bevels will be mismatched. To keep them matched, grind one side for about five minutes or sothen switch to the other side, maintaining your approximately 15 degree angle. Feel the knifeevery so often to see if you can feel a burr. Keep grinding and switching sides until you detect aburr beginning to form. Remember, the burr forms on the side opposite from the side you aregrinding. If you dont remember how to check for a burr, see the picture earlier in the tutorial.

As soon as you detect a burr, keep grinding on the current side until the burr runs the entirelength of the opposite edge.

If you use the Magic Marker Trickdescribed below, you can save a little time on this step.

2) Repeat on the opposite side until you feel a burr along the full edge of the first side.

3) Optional: If you want to dress up the scratch pattern, switch to your fine stone and give theedge several passes on each side (at the same angle) to polish them out a little.

4) Establish your 20 degree angle. If youre using a Sharpmaker, switch to the 20 degree slots.With a Lansky, Gatco or EdgePro system, simply change the rod to the 20 degree setting. Withedge guides unclamp the guide and slide it forward about an 1/8 to 1/4 inch. Freehanding, raisethe spine another 1/8 inch. If you switched to your fine stone, switch back to your coarse stoneor the next one up, usually a medium stone.

5) Create a burr again at the new sharpening angle, going back to side one. This time youregrinding the edges to meet at a 20 degree angle. This will happen very quickly because youvealready removed most of the metal you need to. The 20 primary edge face will be very narrowcompared to the 15 degree back bevel, somewhere around 1/32 to 1/64 of an inch.

6) Switch sides and repeat until you have a burr running the full length of the first side.

7) Youre almost home. Now that youve got your burr you need to grind it off completely so


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that the true edge remains. Now technique matters. No more grinding in circles. Stroke gentlyfrom heel to tip, alternating sides with each stroke. Keep the sharpening stone perpendicular tothe blade as usual, beginning the stroke at the heel and ending at the tip. Or if you aresharpening on a benchstone, stroke tip to heel, if youre more comfortable that way. Lighten upon the pressure as you go. There is no hard and fast rule, but five to 10 strokes per side should

do it. If your checking reveals that the burr is simply flopping from side to side, lighten up thepressure even more.

8) Change from the coarse or medium stone to the fine stone and continue. Keep stroking sideto side until all the scratches from the coarse stone are gone. Continue lightening up on thepressure as you proceed. You are trying to grind the burr off. If you press too hard youll simplyform another one.

9) Finish with a few very light strokes on the fine stone. Now, to make sure that the burr iscompletely gone, place the knife on the stone as though you were going to take one last stroke,but this time increase the angle just a hair. On a Sharpmaker, tilt the knife very, very slightly in

toward the center to increase the angle. Now guide the knife down the stone using no morepressure than the weight of the knife itself. Switch sides and repeat for one stroke. You can dothis for one more stroke per side if you can still feel any vestige of a burr.

If you have asmooth steel or very fine grit ceramic rod you can substitute a couple of strokesper side at a slightly greater than 20 degree angle for this last step (see discussion on steels andsteeling below).

Your edge should be frighteningly sharp at this point. If its not, you might not have fullyground off the burr. The edge could simply be turned to one side. Try the fine stone and lightpressure again. It could also be that rather than grinding off the burr it was simply turnedstraight down. This will give you an edge that will send shivers down your spine but it willbreak off in the first use. A light touch at the end of the sharpening process is the key.

If you want your knife too look as good as it performs, progress through the coarse, mediumand fine stones at each angle setting while youre raising your burr. This will remove any deepscratches and give the edge a more refined look.

This edge is not only very sharp, but is relatively strong. With regular steeling it will last formany months, even under hard use. When steeling ceases to have the desired effect its time tosharpen again. However, now that youve ground the back bevel you really only need tosharpen the 20 degree primary edge. If your knife is very dull go back to step four on the coarsestones. If it is only a little dull you can begin with the fine stones. The burr will be very easy toraise in subsequent sharpening sessions.

Tips and Tricks

There are a couple of tricks that can make the sharpening process even easier. Ive saved themuntil the end just to be cruel.


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The Magic Marker Trick

One of the easiest ways to ensure that you are matching an existing bevel is to coat the edgewith magic marker. As the magic marker is abraded away by the sharpening stone. you will beable to see where the metal is being removed and whether you have matched the angle properly.

Once you have coated both bevels with marker, take a swipe or two down your stone. If themarker is wiped off over the width of the bevel you have matched the angle properly. If yourangle is too high, only the marker near the very edge will be removed. If your angle is too lowonly the marker near the shoulder, above the edge, will be removed. Recoating the edge as yousharpen is a good way to ensure that youre holding the correct angle throughout the process.No matter what type of sharpening system you use, the magic marker trick will save you a lot oftime and frustration, especially in matching an unknown angle on one of the guide or rod-stylesystems.

The magic marker trick also comes in handy when you are establishing a back bevel. If you coatthe edge before working at the 15 degree setting you can grind the back bevel until the marker

is ground almost to the edge, leaving 1/32 to 1/64 inch. Thats about how wide the primary edgeface will be. Rather than grinding all the way to the edge until you get a burr, you can nowswitch to the 20 degree setting, knowing that the last little bit of edge will become the primaryedge face. You still have to raise a burr at 20 degrees, but the marker trick can save you a littletime.

The Paper Airplane Trick

Take a piece of paper with square edges. Fold the bottom left corner over until it meets the rightedge. Smooth it down. Youve just turned a 90 degree angle into a 45 degree angle. Fold thecreased edge over to the far right edge like youre making a paper airplane. Youve just foldedit in half again, and you have a 22.5 degree angle. Sound familiar? Twenty-two and a halfdegrees is pretty dang close to 20 degrees. As close as you can generally hold a specific angleby hand. This folded piece of paper can serve as a guide for steeling your knife, setting an angleon a benchstone or just checking that youre keeping your angle steady as you sharpen. Thepaper edge guide is especially handy when you are learning to steel your knives properly. Ithelps build the right angle into muscle memory so you can do it without the guide when youhave a little more experience. Fold the paper again and you have an 11.25 degree guide forsteeling those super thin slicing knives that youve sharpened to 10 degrees per side.

The Mousepad Trick

Do you have an old mouse pad? Is there an auto supply store nearby? You can make a superbsharpening system for about $5.

Go to your nearest auto supply store and get some 600 grit sandpaper. Mylar-backed wet/drysandpaper works best. This is the stuff used to sand automotive paint between coats. Get theself-stick kind. If they have higher grits, get a couple of sheets of those, too, 1200 grit isgenerally the next step up. Go nuts. Its cheap.


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Stick the sandpaper to the mouse pad and trim the edges. This is your new sharpening system. Ifyou have both 600 and 1200 grit, apply one to each side of the mousepad. Make sure you have awork surface you dont mind scratching up. If you have a double-sided mousepad sharpener,you dont want to work on your kitchen counter or dining room table. Your spouse will kill you.

This system requires a stropping motion when sharpening, using an edge-trailing stroke. Thatmeans that unlike other sharpening methods you dont lead with the edge, you lead with thespine. Image an old barbershop with the barber stropping his razor, stroking away from theedge. Thats the idea.

To establish your angle, lay the knife flat on the pad, edge toward you. Lift the spine slightlywhile pulling lightly toward you. Continue lifting until the edge bites into the sandpaper. Thatsyour stropping angle.

Press down lightly and stroke the knife away from you, spine first, moving from heel to tip.When you reach the end STOP and lift the knife straight up off the sandpaper. Dont roll it off

or lift the spine further or youll mess up the edge youre creating. Turn the knife over andstroke back the other way with the edge away from you, pulling the spine toward you at thesame angle as the previous stroke. The really cool thing is that the mouse pad is soft enoughthat it conforms to the angle of the knife edge. As long as youre pretty close youll be fine.This will give you an amazing edge in a fairly short amount of time. If you want to polish it up,use the higher grit sandpaper on the other side of the mouse pad.

Because the mousepad is soft, it deforms lightly around the edge of the knife and gives you aslightly convex bevel. As weve discussed, a convex edge has many advantages but can bedifficult to achieve without a belt sander. This is one way to create or maintain a convex edgewithout serious power tools.

This is the same technique as stropping (below) but with a different abrasive.

Stropping

Stropping is a handy way to finish off a burr or put a final mirror polish on your edge. Whileyou can strop on anything from the back of a legal pad to an old belt, places like Lee ValleyTools and HandAmerican sell hard backed strops. The strop is usually charged with an abrasive,like green chromium oxide paste, so it actually does remove very fine particles of metal.

Like the mousepad trick above, stropping is an edge trailing stroke. Lay your knife flat on thestrop with the spine facing away from you. Slowly pull the knife toward you while lifting thespine. When the edge just begins to bite into the leather you have found your angle. Keep thatangle as you stroke the spine away from you, pulling the edge along behind. When you get tothe end of the stroke STOP. Lift the blade straight up off the strop. Do not lift the edge higher orroll the knife over while it is still on the strop. You can wreck your edge that way.

Now lay the knife flat again, spine toward you, and gently push the edge toward the end of thestrop while lifting the spine. When the edge begins to bite youve found your angle for the


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return stroke. This second step isnt really necessary if youve kept your angles consistentduring sharpening, but it never hurts to make sure you are holding the right angle. The returnstroke is the same motion as the first stroke, simply in reverse. The edge is facing away fromyou and you pull the spine toward you.

Stropping will create an extremely sharp, highly polished edge optimized for push cutting. Tosome extent, stropping can make up for less than perfect sharpening technique, especially sinceits a little more forgiving.

Handling Serrated Knives

Serrated knives and bread knives are a special case. Serrated knives will stay sharp longer thanplain edged knives, mainly because the insides of the serrations generally dont contact hardsurfaces. Thats what the teeth are for. The teeth not only have a cutting function, but are alsosacrificial lambs, offered up to steakhouse swordsman and children everywhere who feel that iftheyre not grinding into the ceramic of the plate, theyre not cutting.

There are four ways to sharpen serrated knives:

1) Pretend the serrations dont exist and sharpen on a stone, sharpening system or electricsharpener as you would a plain edged knife. This will eventually remove the serrations.2) Sharpen the flat, non-serrated back of the blade. This will sharpen the knife, but also willeventually remove the serrations, though not as quickly as the first method.3) Sharpen the serrations individually with a tapered diamond or ceramic file.4) Sharpen on a crock stick setup, going very slowly so the ceramic rod glides in and out of theserrations.

This last method actually works fairly well, especially with the Spyderco Sharpmaker. Itstriangular rods fit into serrations much easier than the standard round crock sticks. If you wantto keep your serrated knives as sharp as they can be, the Sharpmaker system is the way to go,though the Lansky rod-guided system also has an accessory hone for sharpening serrated edges.

Chisel Ground Edges

Sharpening chisel-ground or single-bevel knives is not tricky. You simply match the bevelangle and sharpen as usual but only on the beveled side. When you raise a burr, grind it off bylaying the flat side of the knife perfectly flat against your stone and swipe the burr off. It onlytakes a couple of passes. You can do the same thing with a strop. The back side of the knifemust be perfectly flat or youll round your edge. All you want to do is grind off the burr.

The back side of a sashimi knife is sometimes lightly hollow ground to make this step easier.You can actually lay the knife flat and sharpen with your usual stroke, edge first across thestone.

How to Tell if Your Knife is Sharp


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How do you know when you have achieved the ultimate high performance edge? Depends onwhat you want to do with it. Remember that we defined sharp not only as two edge facesintersecting at a line of minimum width, but also as a function of blade shape, angle and thematerial to be cut. We want a keen edge that can hold up in repeated usage while producing theresults were looking for in the kitchen.

You can tell when youve set your knifes edge bevels correctly by placing the knife at a 30-45degree angle on your thumbnail and pulling across the edge. A properly set edge will bite in andnot slip off your nail. Of course, you could hurt yourself doing this, too. Or, at the very least,wreck your nail polish.

Any slick, slightly rounded surface will do. Take, for example, a plastic pen, stand it at a 30-45degree angle on a countertop and lay the knife edge straight up and down on the plastic. Pull theedge from heel to tip. If it bites in, youve set your edge correctly. If it slides off, you have somemore work to do. The sharper the blade, the smaller you can make the angle before it slips.

Another test is to take a Q-tip and push the fuzzy head over the edge. Any nicks or burrs willpull the cotton fibers loose from the head. The Q-tip will also reveal any rough spots in theedge. A well-sharpened edge will feel smooth. This test is more effective for polished edges.

Razor Edge Systems makes an Edge Tester for this very purpose. It is widely used in the meatcutting industry to check edges to see if they need sharpening (or if the meat cutter is justgoofing off).

Another check is the Samurai Hair Test. Lay the knife nearly flat against the hair on the backof your head and pull gently down. Very gently. An aggressive, keen edge will readily grab thehair. A dull edge will simply slide off. Dont shave the back of your head. Just pull gently downto see if the edge catches and tugs. I dont want any irate calls from your barber or hairstylist.

The classic test of sharpening is shaving the hair of your arms. This has several problems, notthe least of which is that the hair might not grow back or could come in coarser and darker thanthe surrounding hair. And if you have a lot of knives to test youll end up looking like you havemange.

The real problem with shaving, though, is that shaving is push cutting. A highly polished edgewill readily push cut, but, as weve discovered, you dont always want a highly polished edge.A slightly coarse edge that tugs the hair but doesnt shave will actually slice better than thepolished edge. Thus, shaving isnt the best test for many knives.

There are other opinions on shaving as a test. Cliff Stamp said, Coarse edges can easily shave,Joe Talmadge was one of the first guys to comment on this. A lot of people think they can't andthus sharpen them pretty sloppily. The more coarse an edge you form, the sloppier you can getand still have decent cutting ability. However you can get better cutting ability but keeping theedge crisp and aligned. This edge will then have a much higher level of push cutting ability,overall durability and edge retention, as well as a slightly higher level of slicing aggression. Ihave seen edges formed from a 100 grit AO belt that would still shave. This is more coarse than


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a x-coarse DMT hone.

Slicing newsprint is a pretty good test. Both highly polished edges and toothier edges (as longas theyre not overly coarse) will readily slice a piece of newspaper held lightly between yourfingers.

The best test, though, is actually using the knife for its intended purpose. If you have a slicingknife, try a soft tomato or plum. A keen, toothy edge can bite into the tomato with little or nopressure, just a light draw across the skin. If you have polished your santoku to a mirror-likeedge, try dicing a few carrots or potatoes. The reduced effort will be immediately noticeable.And greatly appreciated if you have 50 pounds of beets to get through before service.

A thin, slightly coarse slicing knife will cut a soft tomato with a light pull and nearly no pressure on the blade.


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Section Six: Maintenance

Why Edges Wear

The ability of a knife to hold an edge is affected by several factors. Many are properties of the

steel, others are job-specific.

Wear resistance the ability to resist abrasion comes primarily from the amount, type anddistribution of carbides in the steel.

Strength is resistance to low-impulse deformation. In other words, bending. Strength is directlyrelated to the hardness of the steel.

Toughness is resistance to high-impulse deformation impacts, chipping and cracking.

As a general rule, strength and toughness are inversely related. A hard, unbendable steel can be

brittle. It will not withstand chopping through bone as well as a tough, slightly softer steel. Atough steel might roll its edge if it encounters significant lateral stress or is forced through veryhard materials stresses that a strong steel would easily resist. The most extreme examples ofboth would be the extremely hard, yet shatter-prone ceramic knives from Kyocera compared tovery tough, soft stainless Chinese cleavers.

Edge holding is a function of wear resistance, strength, toughness and the tasks the knife is usedfor. Toughness is required to resist chipping when you are cutting through materials where youmight encounter bone or other hard bits and pieces. Strength is required to resist rolling andimpaction if, for example, someone in your kitchen (despite repeated warnings) uses a glasscutting board. Wear resistance becomes important for edge holding when youre cuttingthrough abrasive materials.

So the way your knife holds an edge depends on the steel and what you use the knife for.

The most common culprits that put wear resistance, strength and toughness to the test are:

Wear. Duh. As a knife blade encounters abrasive materials, the edge wears away. Unless youcut only soft foods, your edge will always wear somewhat, though the most wear in the kitchenwill come from sharpening your knives. Significant wear could take years.

Indenting and rolling. As pressure is put on the edge of the blade (and remember, the edges jobis to concentrate tremendous amounts of pressure), the edge can indent, impact or roll over toone side or the other. The harder the steel, the less likely it will be to indent or roll. This isactually fairly common in the kitchen, which is why you need to steel frequently (more on thisbelow).

Chipping. The edge can chip or crack under impact, especially when encountering hardmaterials like bone. Micro-chipping can be an important factor in edge degradation, althoughkitchen knives are fairly tough.


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Corrosion. The wet, acidic environment of the kitchen can give knives a real beating. Micro-rusting and the attack of acidic foods can lead to edge loss at the very apex of the edge in shortorder.

Technique. As chef Thomas Haslinger points out, Having sharpened my own knives and otherchefs knives, I can say that an often overlooked factor in cutting edge performance is how eachindividual holds and uses his knives. A person that feels the cut will always have a knife thatoutperforms an individual who just cuts and slams the edge into the cutting board

Steeling your Knife

Steeling regularly is the most critical maintenance you can perform on your knife. Wheneveryou use your knife, especially soft kitchen knives, the edge can turn out a bit. Turn the knifewith the edge pointing to the ceiling under strong light. You shouldnt be able to see it. Theedge itself should be invisible. If, however, you see glints of light, those are spots where the

edge has rolled. The edge is still reasonably sharp, its just not pointing straight down anymore.The steel realigns the edge of the knife, forcing the rolled spots back into line, making it useableagain.

We will get into the various types of steels in just a moment, but be aware that the groovedsteels that come with knife sets do in fact remove metal. A grooved steel acts as a file whenused with a heavy hand, knocking microscopic chips out of your edge. At the very least, it ismuch coarser than the fine abrasive you used to achieve your edge. Steeling heavily with a

grooved steel is taking several steps backward. A grooved steel should be used with caution anda very light touch.

The standard image we all have of steeling a knife involves a chef with his knife in one handand steel in the other, blade flashing and ringing. If youre particularly adept at this type ofswordsmanship, have at it. It impresses the tourists.

A more effective method is to stand the steel straight up and down with the handle up and the


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tip resting on a folded towel to keep it from slipping. Why? Geometry.

Place the knife edge against the steel with the blade perpendicular to the steel 90 degrees,right? Rotate your wrist so that you reduce the angle by half 45 degrees. Reduce that by half 22.5 degrees, and you are exactly where you need to be to steel your knife (if you have a 20

degree edge). You generally want to steel at a very slightly steeper angle than the edge bevelitself.

The most effective way to steel your knife. Note that I should be standing squarely in front of the steel. I had to lean a little to getthe knife to show up well in the shot.

You can also use thePaper Airplane Trickto make a guide to prop against your steel so youknow you are hitting the proper angle.

When youre steeling, lock your wrist and stroke the knife from heel to tip by unhinging at theshoulder its your pivot point and slowly dropping your forearm. The key is to maintain aconsistent angle all the way through the stroke. By locking your wrist and elbow, you will keepyour angle stable from top to bottom. Go slowly and follow all the way through the tip. Youdont have to press very hard to realign the edge. Steeling requires barely more pressure than


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the weight of the knife itself.

Alternate from side to side, keeping the same alignment and angle on both sides. It really onlytakes four or five strokes per side to get your knife ready for more work.

When should you steel? Every time you use your knife. Oddly enough, steeling before you usethe knife is much more effective than steeling afterward. A steeled edge can be very sharp, butit is not as durable as a freshly honed edge. If you dont use a steeled edge right away it canactually relax back into its blunted state. The same is true of a blunted edge. If you reallydegrade the edge of your knife in a heavy cutting session, let it sit overnight before sharpening.It will be in much better shape than it was the day before.

You should also steel before sharpening so any rolled or impacted edges are pushed back intoalignment. That way you dont cut off the rolled edge and lose more metal than you really needto. You also can steel after sharpening to add a final bit of polish (especially on a medium tomedium fine edge) and tooth alignment. A steel actually smears the edge, teasing out a little

more thinness. Youll have a keener edge, but it will be weaker than the freshly sharpened edge.

Types of Steels

Knife steels come in a variety of sizes, shapes and flavors. There are round steels, oval steels,grooved steels, smooth steels, diamond steels and ceramic steels. If you purchased a set ofknives, it probably came with a round, grooved steel. Be very careful with this beast. Kitchenknives are reasonably tough and resist chipping fairly well, but a grooved steel can really putthat to the test. The grooves in the steel create tiny points of contact with the edge. A smallercontact area makes for greater pressure on the edge. Used lightly, a grooved steel can realignthe edge of your knife, though it does it fairly aggressively. Used with too heavy a hand,however, a grooved steel will act as a file and take microscopic chips out of your edge. Youredge will feel sharp because it is now, in effect, serrated, but it wont last very long.

Coarse diamond steels fall into the same category, though theyll generally leave a finer edgethan grooved steels. They should still be used with caution and a very light hand.


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L to R: Grooved steel, smooth steel and 700 grit ceramic rod.

Smooth steels are several steps above either grooved or diamond steels. A smooth steel willgently push the metal of the edge back into alignment. It will take longer than with a grooved ordiamond steel, but you dont run the risk of damaging your edge. A smooth steel is very easy touse and fairly forgiving of sloppy angles.

A step above even smooth steels are fine grit ceramic and very fine diamond steels. Accordingto Cliff Stamp, A smooth steel just pushes the edge back into alignment, leaving the weakenedmetal there, which will actually relax back into being deformed in its own time without any use.The ceramic will remove some of the weakened steel while also aligning the edge. The edgewill be more stable and stay sharp for much longer. There is more metal removed with theceramic and diamond rods, but you are looking at between 100 to 1000 sharpenings to removeone millimeter of metal from the edge of the knife depending on the edge angle and the grit ofthe ceramic or diamond hone this is years of constant use. In general, the lifetime of mostknives tends to be dominated by the occasional accidental damage that forces heavy honing.


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Section Seven: Overview of Sharpening Systems

Like everything else in the kitchen, sharpening is just a matter of understanding a little scienceand practicing a lot. And sometimes it means buying more stuff, but thats half the fun, isnt it?

Benchstones and Waterstones

If youd like to try freehand sharpening, get the biggest stones you can. A good rule of thumb isto use a stone that is at least as long as the longest knife you intend to sharpen. The minimumsize to avoid major frustration is 6 x 2. As we discussed in the Grit section, youll need atleast one coarse to medium stone and one fine stone. If youd like to try Japanese waterstones,Lee Valley Tools has a good selection of inexpensive stones. Some even come in kits to get youstarted quickly.

Freehand sharpening is a technique best learned face-to-face. If you have learned to freehand,you have mastered one of the most difficult, yet most rewarding, sharpening methods available.

There is real satisfaction in attaining the skill to sharpen a knife to hair-flinging sharpness usingnothing more than a stone and your own knowledge.

Guide Systems

There are a variety of guide systems available. These systems clamp on to the back of the knifeand keep your angle steady throughout the sharpening stroke. The guide is used with abenchstone or waterstone and uses the same motion youd use for freehand sharpening. Theadvantage to the guide systems is that you not only keep your angle steady, but you also buildthe proper stroke into muscle memory. Using a guide for a while will improve your freehandsharpening. Because the guide takes up space, you lose a couple of useable inches of space onyour stone. This is not really a problem if you have a sharpening stone 8 or longer.

Another disadvantage to guides is that youre never sure exactly what angle you are grindinginto your edge. Most of the time, knowing the exact angle isnt a big deal, but if you are tryingto achieve exact, repeatable bevels, youll have to use the Magic Marker Trickand perhaps thecalculations provided by Leonard Lee.

The most popular guides come from Razor Edge Systems. These are fairly easy to use butrequire a lot of dexterity to clamp properly. Razor Edge also produces an instructional video onthe use of its guides and sharpening stones.

According to Steve Bottorff, the best guide available is the now-discontinued BuckHonemaster. If you can find one at a garage sale or on eBay, go for it.

Rod and Clamp Systems

These are very popular systems and there are several available. The best are made by Lansky,DMT and Gatco. The knife is held in a clamp. The stone is attached to a rod. By putting the rodthrough one of the pre-set holes in the clamp, you can control the sharpening angle. Double


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beveling is very easy with these systems.

Lansky sharpening set.

Steve Bottorff has tried just about every sharpening system available. Heres his take on theLansky, Gatco and DMT systems.

The Lansky has an aluminum guide that goes from 13 to 25 degrees in 4 steps; each angle is 3to 5 degrees lower than indicated. The GATCO guide is aluminum and reinforced plastic andgoes from 17 to 34 degrees in 6 steps, each step is about 6 degrees greater than indicated. Iprefer the GATCO to the Lansky because of the GATCO's larger stones and selection of angles.The DMT Aligner guide is all plastic, and goes from 12 to 35 degrees in 7 steps, which are notmarked. With DMT hones, which I do not have, the Aligner would be the pick of the litter forthis size of system.

The downside to the Lansky and Gatco systems is the need to reclamp the knife every couple ofinches so you dont change the bevel angle as you progress from heel to tip. It is also fairly easyto round the tips of your knives on these systems.


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The Lansky in action.

The king of the rod and clamp systems is the EdgePro Apex. Ben Dale, the owner of EdgePro,

has created an excellent, easy to use system that can handle any kind of knife you care to throwat it. He is also a great person to deal with and is more than willing to spend time on the phonewith you answering any question you might have.


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EdgePro Apex sharpening setup.

The Apex is rugged and uses relatively large 1 x 6 inch aluminum oxide waterstones. The angleguide is continuously adjustable for any angle, with marks at 10, 15, 18, 21 and 25 degrees. Theblade table can harbor runoff grit and metal shavings, scratching the blade unless you tape itwith painters tape. I dont bother. My knives are tools. I dont mind if theyre a little ugly.

The only downside to the EdgePro Apex is its cost. This is a fully professional sharpeningsystem, but at $125 before stone upgrades it is a little outside the realm of what the averagehome sharpener is willing to spend. I have one, and youll have to pry it out of my cold deadhands to take it away.


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EdgePro in action. Note that the blade is not clamped, making it easier to maintain a consistent angle from heel to tip.

EdgePro offers a video that demonstrates the proper use of the system. The quality is littlebetter than a home movie, but the information really helps.

V-Systems and Crock Sticks

V-type sharpeners have two ceramic sticks set into a plastic base at a preset angle. The knife isheld perpendicular to the ground and stroked down the side of the sharpening stone. Becauseyou are holding the knife in a natural position, these systems are fairly easy to use.

Rather than review all of the crock stick setups out there, let me save you some time. Spend the$40 and get the Spyderco Sharpmaker 204. If you get one on eBay, make sure youre gettingthe 204 rather than the older 203. The 203 doesnt have the 15 degree back bevel slots.


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Spyderco Sharpmaker 204. And my cat, Chester.

These can be found in many sporting goods stores, knife stores and on the Internet atKnifecenter.com, Knifeoutlet.com and many others. Id buy it from Michael Dye atNewGraham. Hes a great guy and has excellent prices and customer service.

The Spyderco is a nifty system because the angles are preset for performance edges. You donthave to guess, just hold the knife straight up and down and stroke it down the stones. There are

two angles, 30 and 40, corresponding to 15 degrees per side and 20 degrees per side. Its prettymuch foolproof. This is about the easiest system to use. And, unlike just about anything else outthere, you can sharpen serrated knives. It comes with an excellent manual and a video to helpget you started.


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Sharpmaker in action. Just stroke straight up and down.

The downside to the Sharpmaker is that if you swipe the knife off the stones while using the

corners you can round the tip. This is easily remedied by taking your time and sharpening intwo stages, one for 90 percent of the edge and a second stage concentrating on the tip only.

Even though I have the EdgePro I still use my Sharpmaker regularly. It is faster to set up forquick touchups.

Pull-Through Systems

There are a number of gadgets with hones (usually tungsten carbide bits or wheels) that meet toform a V. You draw the knife through the slot and Presto! instant edge. Ha. Most of these thingsare garbage, not even fit to sharpen your lawnmower blades. Repeated use of one of thesesharpeners will chip the edge of your kitchen knives. No relief is ground into the blade, so itwill gradually become harder and harder to sharpen.

To show that there are exceptions to every rule, the Henckels Twinsharp with its ceramicwheels doesnt do too much damage and can be used for quick touchups though judging whichset of wheels within the slot you are using can be a little tricky.

The Chefs Choice Model 450 uses diamond stones at the same angles (22.5 and 25 degrees) as


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the final two stages of their electric sharpeners. If you own a Chefs Choice 110 electricsharpener, this pull-through gadget is handy for touchups between sharpenings.

According to Steve Bottorff, there is even one gem among all of the gadget dross.

There is one class act in every category, and the Meyerco Sharpen-It is it for slot gadgets.Designed by Blackie Collins to be so simple that it could be used on horseback, the Sharpen-Itfeatures tungsten carbide wheels for the first stage and fine ceramic wheels for the second. Theceramic is so hard and fine-grained that it is more like using a steel. With this combination, theSharpen-It performs well at both sharpening and honing.

Unlike other slot devices, the Sharpen-It adds a third wheel to each set, giving two slots, andshapes them so that they sharpen one side of the blade at a time. This setup allows you to varythe bevel angle somewhat. Drawing the knife through at an angle decreases the bevel angle andgives a more razor-like edge. Since it is assembled with tamper-proof screws, I could notmeasure the bevel angles, but this information is less important because you won't have to use it

with another sharpener to get complete results.

Also unlike others, the Sharpen-It can be used equally well left-handed. It is so compact whenclosed that it can be carried in the watch pocket of your jeans. The unit well built and sturdy,and features a tapered hone for serrated blades. A less expensive model is available without thetapered hone.

Electric Sharpeners

Please promise me that you will never use the knife sharpener on the back of your electric canopener. Please?

Electric sharpeners grind very aggressively and can remove a lot of metal in a hurry. You canturn your chefs knife into a filet knife with just a little inattention. Using a bad electric knifesharpener is just about the worst thing you can do to your knives. Poor electric sharpeners havegiven the entire genre a bad name. The better machines are multi-stage and use a slowergrinding method.

Just as with the pull-through sharpeners, there is a gem among the electrics. Both Steve Bottorffand Cooks Illustrated rated the Chefs Choice model 110 as the best electric sharpeneravailable. It puts a very nice edge on knives, sets a back bevel for performance and doesntremove metal at an alarming rate. It does have a tendency to scratch the blade, however.

The $85 Chefs Choice Model 110 uses 3 sets of diamond hones. Each sharpens at a differentangle. The first stage is very aggressive and puts an approximately 15 degree back bevel on theknife. It is only used once to pre-shape the bevel. From then on you use the second and thirdstages (sharpening and honing) only. The final honing is at a very sturdy 25 degrees, which willgive very long edge life.

If you must have an electric sharpener, this is the one to get. Heck, for $85 I might pick one up


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Section Eight: Conclusions and Resources

There you have it. The veil has been parted and youve seen that the man behind the curtainreally doesnt have anything special going for him. This is stuff that anyone can do with a littleknowledge and a little practice. Sharpening your own knives can be extremely rewarding. You

can establish a Zen-like communion with your knives.

Just remember the basics burr, angle, abrasive, consistency and strategy. Do not ever letanyone tell you that sharpening is too hard or too complicated to do yourself. Most recipescould be seen exactly the same way. Theyre complicated. They require knowledge andtechnique. Theyre a little scary. So what? Youd be insulted if someone told you that aparticular dish was beyond your abilities. At the very least youd be righteously indignant. Youshould feel the same way the next time someone suggests that you send your knives to aprofessional.

And just like cooking, you become better and better by doing. Your first attempt might not be

perfect. But it will be your achievement. No one elses. And it just gets better after that.

Resources and Links

Obviously, even as verbose as this tutorial is, Ive missed a few things. Hopefully we can coverany glaring absences in the Q&A session. But if you read this tutorial, print it out and have it onhand the next time you decide to sharpen your knives, I have no doubt that you can create anexcellent edge, better than anything youve been able to achieve before. Because of me? No.Because of all of the people Ive stolen from :P.

Some of those people who answered questions, provided assistance and generally kept me frommaking a fool of myself:

Joe Talmadge, author of the Bladeforums Sharpening FAQ and Steel FAQ. Much of what Iknow or have learned about sharpening is influenced by or just plain stolen from Joes work. Soif there are any truly egregious errors, its his fault. Joe was very generous with his timeanswering some of the questions I had in writing this tutorial.

Ben Dale, owner ofEdgePro Systems.

Cliff Stamp, graduate student in physics in the field of collision induced absorption at theMemorial University of Newfoundland. He is a dedicated knife nut and knife tester. Some ofhis findings are controversial in the knife world, but Cliff knows his stuff.

Thomas Haslinger, Canadian chef and knife maker. He makes gorgeous chefs knives.

Sal Glesser, president ofSpyderco.

Murray Carter, ABS Mastersmith. Upon completing his apprenticeship under the tutelage of a16th generation Yoshimoto bladesmith, Murray was asked to take the position of number


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seventeen in the Sakemoto family tradition of Yoshimoto Bladesmithing. He is the onlyCaucasian to ever have had the honor and privilege of this position. He makes some of the bestJapanese kitchen knives available.

The members ofBladeforums.com. Seventeen thousand of the most knowledgeable and

contentious knife nuts on the planet. If its pointy, theyll argue about it. Just about any questionyou might ever have about knives or sharpening can be answered by searching Bladeforums.

Additional Reading

The Razor Edge Book of Sharpening, John Juranitch. A little outdated and somewhat of acommercial for Razor Edge products, this is nonetheless a good primer on sharpening.

Sharpening Made Easy, Steve Bottorff. This slim book is a good starting point if youre justgetting into sharpening. Give it as a gift (along with this tutorial) to the sharpening-challenged.

The Complete Guide to Sharpening, Leonard Lee. Deals mainly with sharpening woodworkingtools, but has a great discussion on the principles and mechanics of sharpening. Also has verygood information on using power grinders and sanders to sharpen, if youre the handy type.

Sharpening with Waterstones, Ian Kirby. Mostly for woodworkers, but more information onwaterstones than many other sources.

The Professional Chefs Knife Kit, Culinary Institute of America. Weak on sharpening, but agreat resource for kitchen knife information and basic knife cuts.

Where to Buy It

Heres where you can pick up all the cool stuff mentioned in the tutorial.

Lee Valley Tools. Abrasives, waterstones, strops, honing compounds and some of the coolestwoodworking and gardening tools in the known universe.

EdgePro. EdgePro Apex and Professional sharpening systems, replacement stones and fine gritceramic rods.

New Graham Knives. Spyderco Sharpmaker 204.

Razor Edge Systems. Guides, stones, Razor Edge Book of Sharpening, sharpening video, EdgeTester and Mousetrap Steel (an amazing tool for restaurant-volume knife maintenance).

Japanese Knife. High end Japanese knives. If you want to spend a couple of grand on a gyotouor yanagi-ba, this is your place. Also has waterstones.

Hand American. Smooth steels, strops, honing compounds, etc.


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Knifecenter. Discounted kitchen cutlery, Lansky and Gatco sharpening systems, DMT diamondstones.

One Stop Knife Shop. Kitchen knives and sharpening equipment. Helps support Bladeforums.

Kellam Knives and BladeArt. Two of the very few places you can get Murray Carters knives inthe Western hemisphere.

Instructor: Chad WardChad Ward is a freelance writer and marketing strategist based in Wichita, KS. His articles havebeen featured in magazines ranging fromFlatpicking Guitarto Manufacturing Engineering. Heis also a knife collector and dedicated home cook.

Copyright 2003 Chad Ward. All rights reserved.

Knife Maintenance and Sharpening

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