It always amazes me when people are surprised when I tell them that a dull knife is more dangerous and more likely to cause injury than a sharp knife. They often think that simply because a knife is sharp, that it will somehow cut them. But if you simply keep your hands away from the blade, it can’t cut you. I actually plan to do a video in the near future about the proper grips and chopping techniques for the various kitchen knives, and it will take no time for you to master these.
But for now, I want to talk a little about knife maintenance or specifically the difference between sharpening and honing a knife, and the correct tools to do each.
Sharpening knives involves removing small amounts of the blade, normally by running it across a sharpening stone. Generally most sharpening stones have two different sides (just like the one I use in the video below), but you can get others that are far more expensive and have three different grit levels, set into wood and includes a rack. Personally, I never felt the need to spend the extra money on something that looks pretty, and am certainly the type of person that cares far more about function than they do form. Sharpening is something that is done infrequently and even when I was working in restaurants and my knives got a lot more use than they do now, I rarely used my stone more than once a month.
Honing a blade is done by using your steel, a tool that looks similar to a sword. This is something that should be done frequently, and when done correctly can prevent you from having to sharpen your knives on a stone as often. Running your knife across your steel helps to smooth out the edge of your knife, making it easier to cut through items.
Regardless of whether you are sharpening your knives on a stone or honing your knives on a steel, there are a number of things that you should keep in mind:
- Always keep the blade at the same angle when passing the edge over both the stone or the steel. You are aiming for something in the 15-20° range. Once you start on a specific angle, maintain this angle for as long are you own that knife.
- Make sure that you pass the blade over the stone or steel the same number of times for each side of your knife otherwise you will end up with a lopsided edge that will not cut properly.
Here are a couple of other things to keep in mind when using your steel:
- Use your steel every time you are going to use your knife, and use it frequently while using your knife. I normally suggest using the steel every 10-15 minutes of use of a knife.
- Do not over steel your knife, otherwise you can dull your knife. This may seem counter-intuitive to the previous tip, however, while you should use the steel frequently, there is no need to pass the blade across the steel more than 5 or 6 times for each side.
- Don’t forget to wipe the blade clean after steeling the blade otherwise you can get microscopic metals shards into your food.
A well maintained blade will make your kitchen work more enjoyable and safer. Take the time to use these tools correctly and your knives will last a lot longer.