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No matter how good a knife is and how well you maintain it, in the end you have to sharpen it.

Professional chefs need to sharpen their knives on daily bases. Obviously, home cooking is less demanding.

Contrary to the popular belief, butcher's steel is not a sharpening device, but is designed to realign the deformed edge, which (deformation) is the primary reason of the knife dulling.

Knives hold a straight edge at the molecular and super-molecular level. Unless damaged by abuse, knives will dull when the fine edge becomes bent or rolled back upon itself, although the degree of bend is invisibly small. Stroking the knife's blade (both sides on European blades; Japanese blades are usually one-sided) on a honing steel at an angle of between roughly equal to the actual angle of the blade, will often renew an edge to its original sharpness by straightening the edge.

For chefs' knives, you should hone your knife nearly every time you pick it up -- 20 or so strokes will do. Note that honing an edge on a steel does not remove metal from the blade as does actual sharpening. If you must actually sharpen, the best way is to send the knife to a pro, and pay them to do it right. If you need to sharpen the blade yourself, here's the most detailed procedure I know.

You can of course omit some parts and still get good results. First, determine the angle of the edge of the blade. You can get this information from the manufacturer, or you can try and observe it very carefully. Know that the very edge of the knife is almost never the same angle you see from the back of the blade to the edge -- the edge is typically different. As a last resort, re-grind the edge to a known angle, around 20 degrees, using a grinder -- something better left to a professional.

I like to use 3 whetstones: one course carborundum water stone, a fine water stone, and an Arkansas oil stone. All of these are easily harder than the metal of the knife blade itself. Work from the coarsest stone to the finest. If you can, avoid working much with the coarser stones, as they remove a lot of metal from the knife. Wet the stone and rinse it thoroughly to make sure the pores on the stone aren't already clogged with metal. Place the stone on a damp dishcloth (s it doesn't slide), on a flat surface. Rest the edge of the knife on the stone at the angle of the edge, so that the sharp edge is pointing away from you, and place your fingertips lightly on the flat of the blade, so that you can exert an even, very gentle pressure along the length of the blade (instead of exerting all the pressure from your grip on the haft alone). Slide the knife back towards you (blade pointing away) slowly and evenly, being careful to maintain that exact angle.

Whetting the blade at too large an angle will result in a dull knife; using to fine an angle will result in a knife that starts sharp but dulls very quickly. As you draw back, be careful to follow the curve of the blade (if any) -- you don't want to change the geometry of your knife. Very few knives of any kind have a perfectly straight-edged blade. I like to do about 10 strokes, then turn the knife over and repeat for 10 more strokes on the other side. On the coarse stone, do this until the knife blade is uniformly even and sharp. DO NOT USE THIS TECHNIQUE TO REMOVE NICKS -- you can tear up your whetstones and it's almost impossible to remove enough metal to take out a nick -- that needs to be done by a pro. The coarser the stone is, the more it will leave the edge microscopically uneven. An uneven edge can cut like a micro-serrated edge, but will feel uneven, and will quickly dull as the serrations and uneven spots wear down, and the blade evens out. As soon as you can, shift gears down to a finer stone and repeat the process.

Remember throughout that your goal is to change the knife as little as possible. You want to leave as much metal on the blade as you can, and never change the curve or shape of the blade. The edge you're working towards, when viewed from the front or back of the blade, should be neither concave nor convex relative to the original shape of the knife (except for some oriental blades, which are designed as convex blades on one side, and require a different technique). The Arkansas oilstone uses a fine mineral oil instead of water, and is extremely fine. Use it to finish your blade, and feel free to spend quite a few strokes on this step. At completion, hone the knife on a sharpening steel before finishing. Note that you cannot indefinitely sharpen a knife to regain the edge. Eventually, the thickness of the remaining blade will increase as more and more metal is removed, and sharpening the knife from thick stock down to a fine edge will no longer be possible with this method. At that point, a pro will need to re-grind the blade. As this actually does change the geometry of the blade, you should start thinking about replacing the knife. Note that a professional sharpening and a re-grinding are not at all the same thing. If the knife is good quality steel and new its a case of maintenance, use a high quality knife honing steel, a few strokes every single time before you use the knife and during if doing a lot of cutting, will keep the knife razor sharp.

If the knife is already very dull (shame on you!!!) a carpenters sharpening flat stone is very good at reviving a knifes edge, just be aware that the angle you sharpen a knife at is crucial. Take it to a professional sharpener, then maintain the edge as above. Sharp knives cut people far less than blunt knives, because less pressure is used to cut. Care for your knives and they will last a lifetime.

Notes regarding the Diamond Hone. It looks like a steel but it's not. As diamond is a lot harder than steel, using a diamond hone will remove steel from the blade. Don't use this tool for honing; use it ONLY for actual sharpening.

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13y ago
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11y ago

It is possible to do it with a grinder, but it's easiest just to unbolt it and take it into a shop that can sharpen it for you with the proper tools. They don't usually charge too much for the service if you pull the blade yourself. Try calling places that service mowers, chainsaws, or other equipment.

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13y ago

You must use a sharpening stone. If it is a stone you use wet it with oil and if it is a diamond stone you wet it with water. Then cut at a slight angle as if you are trying to cut the top level off of the stone. Be sureto do an equal number of passes on each side of the blade.

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11y ago

It is important to get a professional to sharpen you clipper blades. It takes precision tools, skill, and attention to detail.

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