Sharpening knives is an essential skill for maintaining their performance and prolonging their lifespan. Good chefs sharpen their blades before every service. Here’s a basic guide to sharpening knives:

1. Gather Your Tools: You’ll need a sharpening stone or whetstone, honing rod (also known as a sharpening steel), and possibly a knife sharpening guide for consistency.
2. Understand the Angle: Most kitchen knives are sharpened at a 15-20 degree angle per side. If you’re unsure, you can use a sharpening guide to help maintain a consistent angle.
3. Prepare the Stone: Soak your sharpening stone in water for about 10-15 minutes before using it. This helps prevent the blade from overheating and ensures better sharpening results.
4. Start Sharpening: Hold the knife at the desired angle against the coarse side of the stone and draw the blade across the stone in a sweeping motion, starting from the base to the tip. Repeat this process several times on each side of the blade until you’ve created a burr, or tiny metal protrusion, along the edge.
5. Switch to Finer Grit: Once you’ve established a burr on both sides of the blade, flip the stone over to the finer grit side and repeat the sharpening process to refine the edge.
6. Honing: After sharpening, use a honing rod to straighten and realign the blade’s edge. Hold the honing rod vertically and swipe the blade against it from base to tip, alternating sides several times.
7. Test the Sharpness: Carefully test the sharpness of the blade by slicing through a piece of paper or gently cutting into a tomato. If the blade cuts cleanly and smoothly, it’s properly sharpened.
8. Maintenance: Regularly hone your knives with a honing rod to maintain their sharpness between sharpening sessions. Clean and dry your knives thoroughly after each use to prevent corrosion and dulling.

By following these steps and practicing regularly, you can keep your knives sharp and ready for all your culinary adventures. We will discuss the best sharpening devices in a later post. Let’s slice and dice!