Hi there,
Let's make your sharp last longer.
Knife people suggest honing often. Non-knife people wonder why, don't really know how and generally forget to do it.
Why hone?
Honing can make a big difference in a knife's cutting edge and your success and joy in the kitchen. The action straightens the microscopic cutting edge of your knives (that inadvertently bend when used) making your "sharp" last longer.
Here is a little visual.
How to hone?
Simply slide your knife edge against your hone. Sometimes you see this done in movies and on shows in a way that looks acrobatic. Save yourself the acting lessons and follow this method to get started.
One
Assess your knife edge. Often you can feel or see the difference between sharp spots and those where the edge has been bent over. Focus your honing efforts on the bent portions.
Two
Place the hone on your cutting board, point down, while holding the handle.
Three
Eye up the cutting edge of the knife with the hone. On many hones you can put the top of the knife (spine) on the handle and simply tilt the knife toward the rod to get roughly the honing angle. Eye the angle up
(Note: the pictured might be a too steep an angle for your knife. Eye it up each knife so that the cutting edge is flat on the hone.)
Four
Slide the cutting edge along the hone toward the cutting board. Do so in a way that the whole of the cutting edge touches the hone for each pass.
Viola. Honing that straightforward.
Remember honing
You could set a calendar reminder each week. That might be excessive. You could hone each time you use a knife. That could be excessive too. It really depends on your usage. So, at minimum, hone when your knife starts to show some signs of dulling.
If you don't wait too long after a sharpening to hone you'll be able to see and feel the difference on your cutting edge immediately before and after honing. It's impressive.
Need a hone?
Check out our entry level ceramic hone here.
Ready for sharpening?
It'd be our pleasure to service your knives through the mail. Sharpening daily.
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Interested in the sharpening process?