how do you sharpen a knive?

Answer 1

There's more than one way. You can just use an ordinary whetstone, lying the side of the blade against it and grinding it in a circular motion, first on one side then the other. That takes a little practice to keep the angles the same on both sides. You can buy sharpeners that will hold the blade at the correct angle so you don't have to guess. There are knife sharpeners you just pull along the blade a few times. These are very easy to use, but will only get the blade "sort of sharp" in my experience.

Answer 2

99 times out of 100, a knife blade isn't "dull" and doesn't require that a new edge be ground onto it with a stone and oil. Anyone that thinks it does, probably trashes quite a few knives in their lifetime. 99% of the time, the edge is simply deformed from cutting/use and needs dressing to straighten it. You can imagine it like the edge of a sheet of aluminum foil....if you try to cut with it, it bends out of shape....but all it takes is a rubbing with a spoon to dress the edge back to new.

A cheapo Bic razor doesn't get "dull". It simply deforms and can't cut any more. If you had the ablity to do it, stropping it back to shape would keep that razor sharp for years.

A "chef's steel" dresses the edge....it does NOT grind a new edge on the blade. A barber's razor strop dresses the edge, too.

Any of the pocket sharpeners that have two metal disks will work to dress an edge. A small pocket steel will, too. One of my favs is the Gerber pocket sharpener that has two crossed rods.

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It dresses the deformed edge back to new, but also hones the finished edge to a razor sharpness.

When working with knives, NEVER pull out the stone and oil and start grinding a new edge until you're sure the old one is damaged beyond fixing. Grinding a new edge every time, even when unnecessary, simply wastes knives.

If a knife is truly dull with a rounded edge, try a Lansky sharpener.

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With that, you can put a razor edge on any knife.

Answer 3

The easiest, best and most consistent edge will be had with a Lansky knife sharpener. They cost about 50 bucks but the stones last a very long time and you can keep and exact angle on the blade. You can virtually take a butter knife and within a half hour, be able to shave with it.

Whenever I make a knife it has to shave the hair off my arm before it goes to the customer. Many bring them back for a re-sharpening.( free of course)

Answer 4

I use a arkansas stone,and some honing oil.I lay the knife at an angle against the stone and stroke it down the stone.Then I flip the knife over and do the other side. Over and over repeatedly. It seems to sharpen my knife,but it takes a little patience.