A dull knife not only makes cooking much more difficult, but also increases the risk of injury. It has to be pressed with great effort, vegetables slip out of wet hands, and the blade gets into soft tissue. The implementation includes several special devices and tools for quick sharpening. But there will be a positive result only if the rules for working with them are followed.
What you will need
We will sharpen the knife in three ways: using a steel sharpener, a plastic sharpener and a special double-sided abrasive stone. Additionally, you need to prepare a water container to match the size of the stone and clean rags.
Sharpening the blade with a steel sharpener
This tool is very effective and is used by professional chefs. The sharpener has special metal plates near the handle that protect your hands from cuts during operation. There are several ways to sharpen.
First. Hold the instrument in your left hand, pointing slightly up and away from you. With medium force, press the cutting edge of the blade against the sharpener and move it smoothly.It is necessary to ensure that the entire length of the blade is processed in one pass.
Second. Place the sharpener vertically on the table and place a cloth under the end to protect the surface from damage. Hold the tool in a vertical position with your left hand, and sharpen the knife with your right. Make sure that the angle between them is approximately 20 degrees, this is the value of the factory sharpening plane. It's easy to check. First, place the knife at a right angle to the sharpener. Then tilt it to 45 degrees and halve the angle again, making it 22.5 degrees. Great precision is not necessary; sharpening by hand allows for approximate angles.
After the main sharpening, adjust the tip using the first method. Experienced chefs keep the knife stationary and move the sharpener, this speeds up the process and makes sharpening better.
Sharpening with a plastic sharpener
The device consists of plates made of high-alloy tool steel located in a plastic housing. It is better to work with a sharpener that has two sets of plates at different angles. The fact is that the knife blade is also sharpened at two angles. The cutting edge is approximately at an angle of 20 degrees, and the strip adjacent to it is at an angle of 40 degrees. Due to this configuration, the time of using the knife increases and the process of periodic sharpening is facilitated.
First, sharpen the strip near the cutting edge. The movements of the knife should be smooth, the pressing force should be average. Make sure the blade is perpendicular to the sharpener.
The next stage is sharpening the cutting edge. The algorithm of actions is the same as in the first stage. If the process proceeds correctly, a characteristic sound is heard, the force of pulling the knife increases, and there are small metal shavings on the table.
Sharpening with an abrasive stone
The traditional method has proven its effectiveness over time. You need to work with stone that has surfaces with different sizes of abrasive. On large ones, the main sharpening is done, on small ones the surface is polished, large burrs are removed, and the surface is leveled.
Place a piece of cloth and a container of clean water on the table. Dip a stone into it to get wet.
Take out the stone and place it on a cloth, with the large abrasive facing up.
To approximately determine the sharpening angle, prepare a basic template. Bend the right corner of the sheet diagonally - you get a triangle with a bisector of 45 degrees, then bend it again, the angle decreases to 22.5 degrees.
Place the paper on the stone and place a knife along its edge. During sharpening, the template is removed; the angle must be kept by eye.
First, sharpen the blade on a large stone, hold it in one position with both hands, press firmly and move it along the stone so that in one movement the blade is sharpened along its entire length. After each pass, change the side of the sharpening, and wet the surface of the stone as it dries.
Turn the stone with a fine abrasive and adjust the cutting edge. During sharpening, you should catch the moment when the burrs are removed and the blade becomes smooth and even.
The result of sharpening can be checked on vegetables.
Everything is fine - rinse the knife in running water and you can use it.
Conclusion
All three methods give good results, but under one condition - you need to have trained muscle memory. By changing the sound and resistance to movement, you can determine the degree of sharpening of the knife. If you cannot learn to sharpen by hand, then you need to buy mechanical devices.
