I would like to briefly discuss the most common mistakes that people make when sharpening Damascus Steel Kitchen Knives.
The Importance Of Acceleration
A knife is a cutting tool, so the shape, weight, and material it is made of. But most importantly.
These ultra-thin details form the basis of our essential kitchen appliance. The sharper the knife, the sharper your knife, the better. But faster, that’s why it’s important to know how to return the knife.
As the saying goes, “Friends who don’t lend, neighbors who don’t lend, knives who don’t cut, the loss doesn’t matter.”
It’s Getting Worse
That day has come and we have a knife in our hands. We have been using kitchen knives for a long time. I began to notice that the knife cuts differently than before.
It doesn’t matter if the Arcos is one of the cheapest breeds or a beautiful Damascus knife for 400 euros. All of them will sooner or later lose their advantage. Because we all know the importance of keeping knives in good condition so that we can get the most out of them. That’s why we bought a sharpening stone, a flat plate, and a tool.
We are ready to accelerate we already know the technique. Whether someone has taught you how to do it or we’ve watched YouTube videos where they tell you how to do it, we still lack enough fluency. And we start experimenting with this new technology. What mistakes do we make?
1. Don’t Use All The Stones
When we start sharpening, it’s all weird for us: holding the knife differently. (When sharpening, different knives will be caught on one side. Which makes it a little weird. I didn’t know where to put my hand first.)
Blades On Top Of The Rock
We also found strange movements and blades on top of the rock. Also, since it was such a small work surface, it was customary to cut the stone immediately with a knife. If we walk fast or don’t pay much attention to what we are doing. So it was natural to feel more comfortable swinging a knife in the middle of a rock. Leave a safe distance at the end of the mountain.
Tape From Time To Time And Fix It
This was a problem because the shape of the stone had changed. Although sophisticated at first, it is rarely seen. Like a blade piercing it. It then deteriorates as molecules separate from its surface. Therefore, it is important to clean the tape from time to time and fix it. Because with continued use, these stones take on a “U” shape, making them thinner in the center than the heads. Which is painful when we work with them.
Bend the blade from one end to the other along the entire length of the stone. We spread the erosion all over the rock. Extends service life and facilitates re-leveling.
2. Do Not Maintain A Fixed Angle.
Setting “motorcycle acceleration” is the biggest problem for those who are just starting to sharpen their knives manually.
Sharpen The Knife
If you sharpen the knife at 12 degrees, 15 degrees, 17 degrees, or any other angle. The changes you will see in a part are very small if you change the angle at which you give the top or bottom edge two degrees. The problem comes when you hold the knife at an angle. Start running on the rock. Forgot to keep your wrist still? And moving up and down. If you lift your wrist (bring the back of the knife closer to the rock), it means you will make a small angle to the blade. You will need to lift the steel with a knife blade.
Problem Arises
The problem arises when you lower your wrist, bend the angle (move the knife away from the stone), and scrape the stone off the edge of the blade. This often results in a crackling sound, an indication that you have just broken the edge you are removing.
Understand The Idea
Understand the idea of the edge of a blade like a triangle. When we send a knife to rock, we turn the iron from side to side so that the top is as sharp as possible. If you pull the abrasive tip immediately. Instead of going to the top in one place, the head is round or flat. And therefore not cut. To summarize all of the above: Which hand do you hold the knife with? Remember to keep your wrist still when sharpening the knife.
3. Do Not Pick Up The Knife While Sharpening
When we start sharpening knives, the biggest problem we all have is how to sharpen them as much as possible. And the more arcs at the end of the sheet, the better. This is even more difficult.
Why Does This Happen?
Because when you put the blade on the flat surface of the rock, there are parts that do not touch each other. From the beginning of the turn, the blade of the knife remained on the rock without actually touching it. Work with this part correctly. All you have to do is pick up the handle of the knife. Keep this part straight away from the tip of the knife.
Eyes! So that there is no confusion in changing the angles. As we mentioned in the previous paragraph, if you tilt the blade forward or backward, it will not just touch the tip of the knife. But it will also damage the sharp edge of the knife. The wrist is always fine.
Experience
Go to the kitchen to find an onion knife. And if you can, take a ruler with you. Place the edge of the knife on the table and bend it slightly so that it does not stand up. Notice which part of the paper is not touching the table. Tilt the knife back and forth to change the angle. See how the tip is maintained? In practice, don’t do as we said, it will only break the edge.
Set the knife to a stable position. It looks like you’re going to rock it. Now lift the farthest part of the knife toward the ceiling, keeping the blade at an angle to the table if possible. How do you see the curve of the blade and how does the entire surface of the blade touch the table? This is what we want to get on the rocks.
Removing The Millimeter
Now take a ruler. Support the millimeter section on the table and tilt the ruler slightly. Now change the slope and move without removing the millimeter part of the table. (Then we call this angle a change. The whole level of the ruler is still touching the table, right? Not moving. Now try to lift one end towards the ceiling. Now the ruler is touching the table from only one corner.
This is exactly what we want to achieve when sharpening a knife handle. The higher we raise it, the faster the curve. And the less it is lifted, the softer it will be. At first, it is difficult to imagine. But with a little practice and especially if someone teaches you how to do it, you will master it quickly.
