Knife Sharpening for Beginners: A Comprehensive Guide
We at It's Just Sharp has gotten a ton of emails from beginners asking about what the best kind of knife sharpening stone is to take a dull knife to a sharp knife.
To make things easier here’s a guide through whetstones and how to get started taking care of your knives.
In order to keep your knives sharp you're going to need a sharpening stone.
There are many different types and brands on the market today so it can be tough knowing where to start. In this article we'll discuss the basics of knife sharpening and what you need to get started.
Different Stones for Different Knives
Sharpening stones
Not all sharpening stone are created equal.
In fact, there are many different types of knife sharpening stones on the market today.
The big thing to know is that sharpening stones/Whetstones work similar to sandpaper during the sharpening process.
As you work a blade across the stone the grit will take some metal away to help restore the angle of attack on the bevel.
What Knife sharpening stone do I need?
when you look for the kind of sharpening system you want you'll probably run into a couple of phrases.
Oil Stones
Oil stones are best utilized using a sharpening stone or honing oil as a lubricant.
The oil also does the job of collecting metal shavings. Generally they are more expensive however they can last longer or go to higher grits.
Water Stones
Water stones, as you can probably guess sharpen knives after being soaked in water.
As you work your knife across it you'll need to re-soak the stone from time to time as it dries out.
Two sided stone
Two sided stones ( also known as double sided stones ) are a cheaper solution for sharpening knives.
They can be either a Water stone or an Oil stone, the difference being that it will be one grit on one side and a different grit on the opposing face.
Flattening Stones
If you've been learning to master traditional whetstones, you might notice the whetstone is not longer flat.
This typically happens when sharpening smaller knives like pocket knives and pairing knives that don't use the whole whetstone surface.
Flattening stones help remove some of the stone surface edges so that the stone is flat again.
Sharpening knives
Note: If you need a simple the simple to follow process we use every time you can find it in our article: How to care for your knife.
Most times in order to put a razor sharp edge back on your knife you'll need to use a combination of sharpening stones to achieve best results.
This process does require knowing a few terms of knife anatomy like the bevel.
To sharpen your knives, work the knife across the stone at the knife's bevel angle. After 10 or so strokes, work the opposite side of the knife edge across the stone for an equal amount of strokes.
This process creates an edge with a hard V shape which allows the knife to cut. From this point you will need to hone the knife every so often.
We go deeper into the differences in our article sharpening vs honing.
Some knives are easier to sharpen than others depending on their edge and grind type.
A hollow grind will require more care due to the blade being thinner, and a serrated edge needs special tools to get the serrates sharp enough after heavy use.
In addition its important to think of the kind of knife you're using.
A kitchen knife like a Shun chefs knife is much harder on the rockwell hardness scale than a standard straight razor and will need a harder stone.
To get a straight razor back into alignment you may only need to use a strop where the chefs knife might need a diamond stone.
Single stones Vs Sharpening systems.
Standard single stones
If you go on google and search for a whetstone more than likely a single standard flat stone will be the first thing that pops up.
You soak the stone or give it a coating of oil and rely on your steady hand to keep the knife at the right angle as you drag the bevel across the stone over and over on each side.
Then you move to the next higher stone and repeat the process until you get the results you want.
Some people love this process however it can be extremely frustrating for beginners and the chances of getting the sharpness you want are small unless you have a ton of practice under you belt.
Sharpening systems.
These are what we recommend for beginners and professional knife users.
Let's face it, you probably don't want to spend hours hunched over the table focused solely on dragging your knife back and forth across a stone.
Instead we recommend fixed angle systems where stones are relatively cheap and easy to switch out.
Why?
For example, if I place my knife in our Ruixin Pro then I simply slide my knife into the clamp, tighten the screws with the included tightener, and set the arm angle.
From there all I have to do is slide the stone back and forth to get the sharpness I want. I can even flip the blade over without having to loosen the screws.
Best of all It comes with multiple stones to work my way up the grits until I've achieved the sharpness I want.
Instead of having to spend hours staring at the stone, I can put a great sharpened edge on all my chefs knives, pocket knives, and my wood tools while watching the latest Game of Thrones episode and still have time to take my wife out for dinner.
Electric sharpeners
Electric sharpeners can seem like a great way to quickly get the job done.
We don't recommend them due to their instability and chance of ruining your tools.
Instead a good oil stone, double sided stone, or a sharpening system is better for a beginner to get started with as stones are more forgiving on an edge.
