A knife sharpener is nothing but a tool used to sharpen knives, by rubbing it against any hard surface. This helps in polishing the edges and as a result sharpens them. Knives become blunt with excessive usage, thus they need to be sharpened frequently. Often knife sharpeners come with the knife tool set. If you use a knife sharpener efficiently it would be one of the easiest things you do. How to use a knife sharpener is the common question?
The first trick is not to be scared at the idea of sharpening knives. People are so scared of doing it themselves that they prefer buying new knives every time. This is not a prudent and a cost effective idea. It is better to sharpen knives at home.In this article we will explain how to use a knife sharpener and here couple of the best well know knives and their user guidelines have been discussed below,
Sharpening Stone – how can you use it?
Sharpening stone is a manual way in which you can use a knife sharpener. Take a whetstone and hold it at an angle of 20 degrees. Now hold the blunt kitchen knife at the side angle. Before pouring this some water on the whetstone and place it over a cloth on your kitchen counter. Hold the whetstone with your left hand and hold the old blunt knife with your right. This will give you a good grip and avoid the knife from slipping out of your hand. Keep the angle in mind as a wrong angle will allow the whetstone to take off chunks of the metal. The idea is to remove the excess matter that is present on the knife.
Electric Knife sharpener- How to use a knife sharpener?
Especially an electric one. People opt for the manual ones because they have done it for ages. But switching over to an electric knife sharpener can be a wise idea. They are faster and better and definitely more effective. All you need to do is insert the required batteries. Now turn on the machine. Insert the knife blade in the first slot.
Some other points to be taken into account:
When you are using the sharpners, make sure the blade is in contact with the wheels. An eight inch knife should take about four or five seconds to pull. In electric knife sharpeners they have a box to collect all the waste that and it prevents it from scattering all over the place. You must clean the box periodically to remove all the dirt that collected in the previous usage.
Keep your fingers in a safe distance. As you will be shocked when you see how fast the wheels move. Sharpening with your hands requires a lot of time and dexterity. The sharpening technique would differ from brand to brand. You must always read the instruction manual on the pack before usage. However some basic techniques on how to use a knife sharpener are common to all the electric sharpeners irrespective of the brand. It depends on what you want. Therefore put the blade in the correct slot. The various needs could be honing, sharpening, steeling, stropping and more.