4 Simple Tricks on How to Sharpen a Knife with Whetstone Knife Sharpener

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If your still reading, it seems you are willing to give another list of 4 Simple Tricks you found on the internet a chance. Maybe its because you are sick and tired of your dull knives and have determined to do something about it, or maybe its because you are just a slow learner. Either way, getting your knives to be razor sharpe really can be learned in 4 Simple Tricks.

Trick #1: Remember to Cut the Cheese

Finding and maintaining the proper sharpening angle is one of the most important parts of whetstone knife sharpening. If you learn how to sharpen a knife using the proper sharpening angle you will be able to quickly put a razor sharp edge on your knife. However, you will be disappointed with your knife's sharpness if you don't sharpen at the proper angle or, don't maintain a consistent angle while sharpening. Trick #1 is to remember to cut the cheese. The angle you use to cut a thin slice of cheese is the same angle you should use to sharpen your knife. Most knives should be sharpened at a 17 degree angle which is very similar to the angle you would use if you were cutting a thin slice of cheese off a block of cheese. Another way to estimate the proper angle is to use 2 coins stacked on top of each other to prop up the back of the knife. This will also give you a good idea of what the proper sharpening angle should be. Check out this blog post for more details on proper sharpening angles.

Trick #2: Apply pressure on the backstroke

While your dominant hand grips the handle, sets the angle, and pushes the knife forward, your non-dominant hand should be holding the knife blade and controlling the pressure of the knife against the whetstone. On strokes toward the knifes edge you should only apply only light pressure, while on the strokes where the motion is going toward the back of the knife you should apply more moderate pressure. Applying too much pressure on the strokes going toward the blade edge tends to round bevels creating a less defined and sharp apex, whereas moderate pressure on stokes going toward the back of the knife will create super flat bevels on the knife edge that meet a distinct apex for maximum sharpness. This is why Trick #2 is to Apply Pressure on the Backstrokes.

Trick #3: Sharpen in Sections

What's the easiest way to complete a difficult task? Often, the answer is to break the one difficult task into many smaller and more manageable tasks. It can be daunting to try to sharpen the entire edge of a knife with each stroke on the whetstone. It takes a lot of skill and practice to be able to one stroke that spans the entire blade edge, while maintaining the proper sharpening angle throughout. Instead of trying to sharpen the whole length of the blade, sharpen the blade in sections at a time. Usually you will want to divide the blade into 3 or 4 sections. You should focus your strokes on the first section at the end and work that section until it is sharp. Once that section of knife is sharp you can move to the next section, and so on, until you have sharpened the entire edge of the knife. This is often the easiest way to make sure that your knife is sharp throughout the whole length of the blade.

Trick #4: Rotate Your Stroke to Sharpen the Knife Curves

Even if you are sharpening in sections, at some point you are going to have to sharpen a curved part of the knife. The straight back-and-forth motion that works well for sections of the knife's edge that are straight, does not work so well for sections of the knife's edge that are curved. In the curved sections you need to add a slight rotation to your stroke so that the motion of the knife against the whetstone is always perpendicular to the part of the blade that is in contact with the whetstone. You will likely have to apply this technique when you are working the tip section of the knife. This can be a tricky part of the knife sharpening process but it just takes practice to get a feel for how much rotation is needed to match the curvature of the blade.

4 Simple Tricks that Make Knife Sharpening Easy

And there you have it. The 4 Simple Tricks that make sharpening your knife easy. Even though the steps are easy, they will still require a little bit of practice to master. The best way to learn how to sharpen a knife is just to start practicing sharpening knives. You don't need to worry about ruining your knives, because even if you knife is duller than when you started, you will eventually be able to use these 4 Simple Tricks to figure out the proper sharpening techniques and will be able to fix any damage you may have done.

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