How To Sharpen A Kitchen Knife – Learn From Professional Chefs

The correct posture, right angle, and choosing right whetstone are essential to sharpen a chef knife properly. This article introduces the knowledge from the stand of a professional chef/chef knife manufacturers.

From professional experiments, we know that the sharpness of a kitchen knife changes the taste, and daily maintenance is important as well. Then, how to sharpen a kitchen knife properly?

Sharpen the chef's knife from the surface (on the right side when you hold the knife).

Sharpen from the cutting edge (tip). Hold the right hand firmly at the base of the little finger.

Keep the direction of the knife at 45 degrees with respect to the grindstone and apply force when pushing. For the left hand, place the index finger and middle finger, or the ring finger in it, about 1 cm above the edge of the knife, and hold it down with 3 knives while pressing it upwards.

At this time, the standard angle of the kitchen knife is 15 degrees on the front side and 8 degrees on the backside. The surface is at an angle where three 10-yen coins are sandwiched between the peaks of a kitchen knife. The backside is a sword that holds 1 to 5 

10-yen coins.

The blade angle that gives the best sharpness of a chef's knife is 23 degrees. However, this also depends on the size and material of the kitchen knife. The blade angle also changes depending on the purpose of use and the ingredients you want to cut.

Keep angle and sharpen from the cutting edge to the bottom.

It is important to keep the angle. If your hand moves while sharpening and the knife stands up, it will become obtuse and you will not be able to cut it.

Use the bends of the knife to sharpen the cutting edge

Hold the tip with the fingers of your left hand, and while lifting the handle with your right hand, move it up and down as if you were sucking the handle.

Sharpen the back of the knife.

Change the direction of the knife and sharpen it from the cutting edge in the same way. As mentioned above, the backside has an angle of 8 degrees with the grindstone, and one or two 10-yen coins are sandwiched between the peaks. It is close to solid sharpening, but it is at this angle because the cutting edge cannot be sharpened with solid sharpening.

When sharpening the lower part of backside, but the angle between the knife and the grindstone is 90 degrees because the handle does not hit and sharpen.

Choose appropriate whetstone

If you sharpen frequently, start with a medium whetstone, and if you don't usually sharpen, start with a rough whetstone. Also, in the case of a finishing whetstone, sharpen the knife upright about 5 degrees. By doing this, it will cut longer and will not be damaged easily..

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