knife sharpening

http://chrisscookeryschool.co.uk/


Sharpening knives

Why it is most people will cut themselves with a blunt knife
Should a knife be sharpened every time you use it: Yes you should, every time I pick up my knife I will sharpen it, but I'm a Chef. Nearly everyone at home will have knifes in the kitchen and I'm sure most of them are blunt.
What's the different between a blunt knife and a sharp knife?The blunt knife if you have ever felt the blade of a knife to see how sharp it is. If you have you can easily tell if it's sharp or not. The cutting edge on a blunt knife looks more like a big oil tanker, wide and almost round, or if you have chopped without using a chopping knife. Never chop straight on to the work service this can fold one edge over.
The sharp knife:A sharp knife will have a V shape to it, most European manufactures sharpen their blade to 22.5 and the Japanese have there's in between 12-15 giving them a sharper angle giving it the poetical to cut thinner.
A sharp knife is a continue use of a steel the key is to keep the knife in a V shape. The blunter the knife the longer it will take to get sharp as you will have to remove the metal to get an edge back on it.
When to sharpen a knife: You should sharpen your knife every time you go to use it this way your knife will always be sharp. If you are doing a lot of sharpening you might want to sharpen it more that once.
Three ways to sharpen your knifes.
Whetstone: There are two types of stone you have the water one and the oil stone both work in the same way. If you have used them before they are by far the best way to sharpen your knives giving you the best possible edge. If you don't know what you're doing it won't, but don't worry at the bottom there is a short video of me showing you how to.
Steels: there are two types of steels you have the old-fashioned one where its round and you have the diamond steal. With the conventional steel you should keep this near your knifes so you sharpen all the time. To sharpen with a steel you the steel in your none cutting hand, away from you and your hand up at 3 o'clock, then with the heel of the blade you start at the end of the steel keeping it at a 45 degree angle then slowly going down the steel, then do the same on the other side of the blade. The more times you do this the quicker it will take so stick with it.
Ceramic steel: these don't work as well as the diamond steel they are about 70% affective but last a lot longer.
Diamond steel: these are very good for putting an edge back on a knife and you will take a lot less strokes than it would with a ceramic one.
Sharpeners and chantry: the pragmatist handheld models, the handheld knife sharpener, these are good if your not very good a sharpening knifes as they do all the work for you all you do is slide your knife towards you and that's it.
To summaries
· If you like to have sharp knifes the every time you use your knife use the steel before every job.
· If you have the skill to use a stone then this will give you the best edge on your blade
· the easiest way and quickest is to use a handheld sharpener or a chantry, with these you will always have the same angle on your knife
I hope this has helped you in keeping your knives sharp have a look at the short video below on sharpening knifes.
Kind Regards Chris pell
www.chrisscookeryschool.co.uk