If you use your knives to cut anything other than butter, they will eventually become dull and need sharpening.
It’s important, therefore, to have a knife sharpener because a dull knife could cause an injury if used with too much force. Good quality knives are made from very hard materials.
The harder the material, the less often you will need to sharpen your knife.
Sharpening is done by either shaving metal from the blade or pushing it near the edge back into alignment.
There are many different types of sharpening devices. In this article, we will look at the four basic types of kitchen sharpeners.
Four Types of Kitchen Knife Sharpeners
- Sharpening stones
- Honing rods
- Manual knife sharpeners
- Electric knife sharpeners
Sharpening stones and rods are the simplest and most affordable, while manual knife sharpeners are very convenient. Electric knife sharpeners are the best for when you need to sharpen a lot of knives more frequently. All the sharpeners below are good for sharpening hard steel knives, but ceramic knives usually require a diamond knife sharpener.
Sharpening Stones
The simplest sharpener is a rectangular shaped stone—sometimes called a whetstone. They can be made out of a single material, or strengthened with a secondary material as with diamond knife sharpeners. Sharpening stones can be used to sharpen straight blades like kitchen scissors or carving knives, but cannot be used for knives with serrated edges.
Sharpening often requires a honing oil which helps remove metal shavings from the blade, and this results in a smoother finish in a shorter time. You can use a light machining oil, or even a little olive or grape seed oil, because not much heat is generated. For a normal kitchen knife, hold the blade at a 17 to 20 degree angle. Carefully push forward on the blade, and then repeat on the other side. The number of passes needed will depend on how dull the knife is.
Honing Rods
Honing rods are made of steel, diamond-coated steel, or ceramics. Unlike sharpening stones, they don’t remove material from the blade, but instead re-align blade edges. Similar to sharpening stones, you hold the knife at about a 22 degree angle and then pull towards you, sweeping the entire length of the blade. The conical tip of the rod can be used to sharpen serrated knives, which is something a sharpening stone cannot do.
Manual Knife Sharpeners
Manual knife sharpeners come in many shapes, but all work in the same way. The basic design consists of two cross sticks set at right angles which sharpen both sides of the knife at the same time. Sometimes one of the slots is designed for coarse sharpening, and the others fine. On a more advanced manual knife sharpening tool such as the Chef’s Sharpener from Cubikook, there are blades made of tungsten carbide to remove burrs.
The course slot will remove material, while the fine side will just straighten the blade edge. Japanese knives, however, tend to have a different angle than other knives, so make sure your knife sharpener is the correct match.
For quick on-the-job sharpening, you can pass your knife through the fine sharpener a couple of times every hour or so. When the knife edge becomes too dull, you have to pass it a few times through the coarse slot first.
Electric Knife Sharpeners
Electric knife sharpeners are the easiest to use especially if you do a lot of heavy duty cutting. These are a good option for meat butchering, and are typically better suited for commercial use or in a restaurant. Electric knife sharpeners vary a lot in price from relatively cheap to quite expensive, so for general kitchen use, you might want to consider the benefits of manual knife sharpeners.
Conclusion
If you’re looking for a sharpener to keep your kitchen knives in good shape, a sharpening stone, honing rod, or a manual knife sharpener are probably the better deal. Some can be bought at a minimal cost, and there is nothing they can’t do compared to an electric sharpener.