Sharpening and Honing

Sharpening

Sharpening is done by removing material on a knife to create a sharp edge. I wouldn't recommend sharpening your own blades unless you have a desire to do it yourself and the correct equipment to do so. Improperly sharpening your knives will almost always result in a knife that doesn't cut well, as the angle of the grind during sharpening is crucial to get correct on both sides of the blade.

As sharpening removes material from the blade, you shouldn't sharpen your knife very often, as eventually you'll have less and less knife to work with, which will eventually lead to changing the way the knife can be used. While it would take a considerable number of sharpenings to do this, you can often find evidence of the dangers of oversharpening by looking at knives butchers use - due to the requirements they place on the knives, the best way to have the knife be sharp enough to work efficiently is to constantly sharpen the knife, which leads to very thin knives over time.

If you use your knife every day, you should aim to have it sharpened two to three times a year by a professional. Most knife sharpening services can visit you directly to pick up the knives or even sharpen them in a work van, or you can drop your knife off with them and come back later. Pricing varies, but having a single 8 inch chef's knife sharpened 3 times a year should be well under $50.00.

If you sharpen your knives yourself, avoid using electric grinders as they can pull a lot of material off and result in uneven grinding angles. You should instead look at sharpening kits that allow you to mount your blade and sharpen it at specific angles using a variety of grits for the sharpening stones. I don't sharpen my own knives, so I can't give specific advice on how to do it.

Honing

Honing is done by straightening the edge of a knife. The edge of a knife is comprised of thousands upon thousands of microscopic serrations that are bent out of shape when the knife is used. A honing steel helps these micro-serrations stand back up, restoring your blade's cutting edge. You should hone your knife every two or three times you use it.

When honing a blade, make sure to alternate sides between strokes. Not alternating could lead to a badly formed edge, resulting in an uneven sharpness.

To hone a knife, you need a honing steel, which is a long piece of metal that has texturing on it to better manipulate your knife's edge. Here's how to use the honing steel:

1. Grab the steel by the handle, with the tip facing down.
2. Rest the steel on a cutting surface - you'll be running your knife to the tip of the steel, so you don't want to put the tip on anything you don't want scratched or cut.
3. Hold the knife to the steel at a 15-20 degree angle. Try as hard as you can to keep the angle consistent on both sides of the knife.
4. Starting from the heel of the knife, drag the cutting edge along the honing steel, moving towards the tip of the knife as you reach the tip of the steel. It helps me to imagine that I'm slicing a large, thin, roast.
5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 on the opposite side of the knife.
6. Do steps 3 through 5 until the knife feels sharp again, usually six to ten passes.

You can also hold the honing steel the opposite direction in front of you, repeating the same steps outlined above but floating in front of you. This is more difficult to do reliably, but it's an option.