Cutlery Sharpeners

Cutlery Sharpeners

An avid home chef knows the importance of keeping their cutlery sharp. With a dull knife, it is almost impossible to cut anything, and cooking loses its precision. Moreover, dull knives are not very safe, either, as you need to apply more force, and the blades are not as predictable as sharp ones. By using less brute force, delicate ingredients like herbs stay fresher for longer. Thus, it is essential to learn how to sharpen knives on your own by using ceramic cutlery sharpeners or other devices.

Knife Sharpening Systems

Knife sharpening systems are precision devices. Mainly, these are for professional use, when cooks may need to sharpen more sets of knives more often, but you could attempt to utilise such a system at home as well. Generally, these systems are easy to use and make your cutlery very sharp. Some systems also include a scissor attachment, so you could sharpen the scissors, too. This system is a great addition for your kitchen if you sharpen the knives for your entire family and friends, as it lasts for a long time, but the upfront cost might be high.

Electric and Gadget Sharpeners

Electric sharpeners are powerful grinders that you pull your knife through. The machine removes some metal from the knife during the sharpening process and works quickly. Electric sharpeners and similar gadgets are thus useful when you need a sharp knife fast. However, the speed is also the major disadvantage, as these sharpeners cannot make adjustments to the secondary bevel of the knife, so its cutting performance might deteriorate over time.

Water Stones

Special sharpening stones require some effort on your part, as you need to sharpen the knife by hand. However, this extra effort also means more precision, ultimate sharpness and expanding the lifetime of the knife. The perfect water stone for this application includes coarse, medium and fine grits. By using this sharpening method, you can also control which parts of a particular knife are sharp. For instance, you could have a broad angle on the side of a chef's knife for perfect chopping.

Sharpening at Home

Sharpening gadgets and systems are pretty straightforward, but sharpening with a water stone requires multiple steps. You should place the stone on a firm surface and then grind the metal on one side until you form a burr, and then on the other side until you form another burr. Then you need to continue grinding on both sides until you remove the burrs and you get the primary edge, the sharp part of the knife.

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