How to use a sharpening stone to sharpen straight knives

There are all kinds of straight knives sharpeners on the market, but most of them are not good. Can really quickly sharpen straight knives in a lot of ways, this article introduces you to the most common one: the use of sharpening stone or diamond stone sharpening straight knives.

The following is a step-by-step method.

1. Pick a proper angle to sharpen your straight knives

2. Lubricate your sharpening stone or emery stone with a small amount of mineral oil

3. Find a tool to control the angle of your blade

4. Steps to sharpen your straight knives

Pick the right angle to sharpen your straight knives

If you already know what angle you used to sharpen your straight knives, it's best to sharpen them at the same angle. It takes much longer to switch to a different angle to sharpen your straight knives, and it may take a few tries to smooth out a rough angle. If you don't know the current angle, ask the straight knives manufacturer, or ask a knowledgeable knives store to help determine which angle is best. If you want to go with your gut, then pick an angle of 10° - 30° on each side. Shorter angles produce sharper blades that don't last as long, while steeper angles produce longer-lasting blades, so 17° - 20° is the best trade-off between the two.

Lubricate your sharpening stone or emery stone with a small amount of mineral oil

Look for honing oil, which is light mineral oil. Lubricating your honing stone with honing oil will allow the blade to grind through the stone with less effort and prevent steel shavings from clogging the small holes in the stone. For lubrication, please check the manufacturer's instructions for the sharpening stone you are using. The most common sharpening stone is a gold steel gritstone, which can be used both wet and dry, but is ruined if you use oil. However, there are some sharpening stones that are designed for lubrication and are generally marked as "oil stones".

Find a tool to control the angle of your blade

If available, use an angled guide plate to control the angle of your blade. A sharpening guide is a small tool that is placed under the straight knives to keep the angle fixed while rubbing the blade along the surface of the sharpening stone. Otherwise, you would have to control the angle by hand, which is not only difficult but also requires a good sense of the angle.

One of the most difficult aspects of sharpening straight knives is finding the correct angle. To make this step easier, try marking the tip area on either side of the blade with a marker. Then watch carefully during the sharpening process to see if the marks are erased.

Steps to sharpen your straight knives

Look for trachoma on your sharpening stone or look at the package of the sharpening stone to clarify which side is the rough side. Generally speaking, the trachoma is different on the two sides of the sharpening stone and the golden steel abrasive stone. The coarser side of the trachoma is used for opening the blade, while the finer side of the trachoma is used for sharpening or fine-grinding the straight knives. The opening should be done first, so start with the coarser side of the trachoma.

For an asymmetrical blade, place the straight knives across the sharpening stone and pull it in the opposite direction, as if you were going to cut a small slice off the stone. This will create a burr edge and prolong the life of the straight knives.

Continue to open the blade at the same angle until the steel on the blade has been sharpened about halfway. It doesn't need to be very precise, just a proper estimate.

Turn the straight knives over and sharpen the other side of the blade until a new blade is formed. An easy way to tell if enough metal has been ground away is to grind until a burr is formed, i.e., the steel edge naturally appears when one side of the blade is beveled to meet the other side. This step can be skipped if the straight knives are single-edged.

Turn the sharpening stone over and start fine sharpening the blade, this time with a finer grit. Your goal here is to smooth out or grind away the burrs that formed during the opening of the blade. This will change the blade from an open edge to a finer, thinner edge. Again, make sure that both sides of the blade are sharpened with this side of the whetstone.