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How often should I sharpen my knives?
If you’re a daily cook, preparing lots of food including meat, you might want to sharpen it weekly. Most of us can get by with sharpening monthly or even annually, but regular honing (which is different to sharpening) helps keep the knife in good condition.
If you’re regularly slicing hard ingredients, like squash, for example, you should consider sharpening frequently. Storing knives on magnet racks helps prevent chipping and blunting. You should never dishwash them. Always dry immediately after hand washing.
Can I use the same sharpener for all types of knives?
Knife sharpeners are relatively straightforward to use, so when deciding which to buy, much of it comes down to how frequently you’re like to use it. A small device you can keep on the counter or in one of your most accessible drawers is likely to see you using it more frequently.
If you have a standard chef’s knife, most sharpeners will work just fine on it. A pull-through sharpener, though the easiest to use, isn’t ideal for thin and brittle Japanese knives. The same goes for ceramic wheel sharpeners. If you’re using Japanese knives, consider a whetstone.
How do I use a knife sharpener correctly?
Pull-through and electric sharpeners are easy to use. All you must do is drag the knife through the wheels (this is very straightforward, there are usually groves in the sharpener in which you place the knife). The only thing to be sure of is pulling the knife through straight and true, otherwise you might sharpen it unevenly.
Whestones are a little more complicated, but this guide should help you…
As we’ve seen above, you don’t need to spend hundreds of pounds to get the best knife sharpener. A professional-grade whetstone can cost as little as £30. But you do need to know what you’re doing. Richard Warner, a knife maker at Blenheim Forge in southeast London, gave me a crash course in the technique.
It took a while to get used to (especially since Warner handed me a knife that had never previously been sharpened) but after half an hour’s practice and a little encouragement, I got the hang of it. Here’s what I learned…
