Knife sharpening is a craft. It can be tricky to perfect and sometimes hard to do well without muscle memory and repetition. While a professional sharpening service can give you the best results they are also sometimes not available, have long lines or are just too far away. We've included a few options for home use here.
1. Honing. Have you tried honing your knife with a honing rod? If not, grab a honing rod and follow the process described in "What is Honing." A rod made of ceramic will be best. This is not necessarily a sharpening but it can have a similar effect if the cutting edges on your blades have been well cared for over time by keeping them chip, bend and broken tip free.
2. A leather strop. This method uses a fine abrasive to tidy up your edge. That abrasive typically comes with the strop. It's commonly green. This is also not technically sharpening. However, it's often the last step in a sharpening service that takes off that last burr and refines the cutting edge of a knife. This can be used at home with a bit of compound to recover cutting edges if they are not too far gone.
3. A pull sharpener. Consider one for knives that need more work than the previous options and that adjusts to the current angle of your knife. We don't use these often but they can be a relatively easy and entry level intervention when needing to make something sharper in a pinch.
4. Wet stones. These can be acquired for lower cost than the next suggestion. However, they require a lot more skill and time to learn. Be ready. Our view is to start on a 220/600 for most standard kitchen knives.
5. Fixed angle stone sharpeners. These come in many types and brands. The general idea is to keep the angle of the sharpening action the same throughout the stroke on each side of the knife for the length of the blade. These are the most costly of the options shown here and take time and repetition to learn. However the can be learned to sharpen well predictably. As an added bonus they take up little space on your bench or in storage when folded down.
And finally, you can always order your knives sharpened via mail too. We're here to assist.
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