How to sharpen knives with a bar correctly?

Human life is impossible without food, and a lot of kitchen utensils are now used to prepare it. One of the most popular items, without which it is difficult to imagine cooking, is a knife. Quality knives help you quickly chop the food you want, peel it and cut meat or fish. It is far from always possible to purchase a product from good materials, and soon the knives begin to dull, which makes it very difficult to work with them.

To save the situation, you can sharpen it with a bar, but the result will depend on the correctness of this action.

On the market and in stores, you can now find a lot of knives that differ in their appearance, size and even material, but one thing they have in common - sooner or later they all get dull.

The most common cause of deterioration in cutting performance is damage to the steel from daily use. The working part is constantly subjected to stress, therefore microparticles gradually begin to break off from it, which affect the quality of the cut.

The second reason the knife dulls is because the cutting angle is not correct. Few people know how to hold knives in general during this process, and therefore the inventory wears out very quickly and strongly, solely through the fault of the owner.If during cutting it becomes necessary to exert more and more effort, then this is a clear sign that the knife needs to be sharpened.

A number of verification activities can be carried out to confirm or deny the need for work to improve the sharpness of the device.

1. To check, you need a hemp rope, which folds 4 times. The challenge is to cut it with a knife in one go. If you manage to do this without any problems, then the knife is still quite sharp - there is no need to sharpen it. If the rope remains intact in some places, then it is time for the procedure.
2. The second method involves the use of a file, which needs to be passed along the knife blade.... If it slips, then the knife is still suitable for full use. If jags and chips are felt, then sharpening is indispensable.
3. For the simplest test option, you will need a simple sheet of paper that you need to cut by weight, holding it by the edge. If the knife goes smoothly and easily cuts the sheet, then it does not need correction, if the blade stroke is intermittent, or even absent, then the product urgently needs to be sharpened.

Once the condition of the knife is established, you can either use it for some more time, or sharpen it using the appropriate inventory.

To choose the right bar for sharpening knives, you need to know about the types and options of these products. Today we can distinguish:

• bar or musat;
• electric or mechanical sharpener;
• sharpening tool for grinding.

Most often, it is the bars that are used at home, their main difference is the graininess or abrasiveness of the stone, which can be:

• fine-grained - used for high-quality grinding of the surface of the point;
• medium-grained - necessary to give the desired and correct shape to the knife blade;
• coarse-grained - needed to give the correct shape to the point and restore the desired angle on the knife.

If we take into account the material from which such bars are made, then the following varieties can be distinguished:

• natural materials: flint, corundum, diamond, emery, garnet;
• artificial materials: borazon, elbor, silicon carbide, synthetic diamond samples, electrocorundum.

The most convenient is considered to be an oblong-shaped diamond stone, with the help of which any problems with the sharpness of the knife can be eliminated in the shortest possible time. The bar can be round, but it is not very convenient to hold it in your hand, therefore such products are most often made for electric sharpeners, which are recommended exclusively for professionals, otherwise you can very quickly spoil even the highest quality knife.

If we talk about the design, then it can be:

• an abrasive outer layer that must be stronger and harder than the material to be sharpened;
• a matrix with a softened material (clay, ceramics, technical faience), allowing to retain small particles, and this layer should be softer than the abrasive, but harder than the material to be sharpened - this design is necessary for uniform erasure of the bar and the formation of a new and new layer of crystals for sharpening.

If we consider all types of bars for sharpening knives, then it is worth highlighting the most common.

• Diamond bar. Most often used in the domestic environment for sharpening kitchen knives. It's easy to use and store. Diamond particles are very durable and will not wear off for a long time. The product itself is very strong and does not crack even when dropped from a height.Of the relative shortcomings, only irregularities and abrasions on the knife blade can be noted, which leave rather large crystals on the bar.
• Elborovy... This bar is made by a chemical reaction of boron compound. In terms of its main characteristics, it is in no way inferior to a diamond bar, but it is additionally resistant to chemical influences. The advantage of this product is the smaller grain size of the working surface, as a result of which it does not deform the knife blade, allowing it to be finely sharpened.
• Ceramic. Created by baking ceramic bars. The advantages include low cost and good durability. Of the minuses, it is worth noting: clogging with metal residues from the knife blade in a short time, as well as the problem in cleaning the grains.
• Japanese water stone. It is created using a silicate matrix and carbide grains. In order to sharpen the knife with high quality, the bar is soaked in water for 20 minutes, which will allow you to polish and sharpen the knife blade as efficiently as possible, although the work itself will be quite dirty. It is very difficult to take care of such a device, but this is its only drawback.
• Natural stone bars. The basis of the product is quartz, and the matrix can be any sedimentary rock. In order for the job to be done well, it is best to have several options that vary in rigidity. For full-fledged operation, the product is lubricated with mineral oil.
• Fine-grained emery paper. It is a dense sheet with abrasive material that does not last long, but in an emergency it can help sharpen a knife.

To choose the right bar, you need to know the main characteristics of each of the options, as well as their purpose.

To sharpen kitchen knives, you need to have a clear understanding of this procedure. Each knife is unique, as it can be made of steel of different density and quality, and therefore the sharpening bars are selected in accordance with these properties. Preparing the knife for the procedure looks like this:

• determine the hardness of the blade, which will make it possible to select a bar of the desired grain size;
• wash and degrease the existing tool;
• a dry prepared kitchen knife is completely ready for use.

Sharpening knives with any bar can have various consequences: either the product can be made sharp, or it will be completely ruined. Knives with a soft blade need fine-grained sharpening, and with a hard blade, coarse-grained ones. The wrong choice will nullify all efforts.

Preparing the knife is an important step, as a dirty or greasy tool will be harder or impossible to handle. When washing the knife, it is necessary to degrease not only the blade, but also the handle so that the utensils do not fidget in the hand during work or accidentally slip, which can cause serious injury to the person who sharpens the knife.

Before you start sharpening your knives it is worth checking their sharpness, for which it is enough to evaluate the smoothness of the point. If it is embossed and uneven, then the situation must be corrected immediately. In the case of a smooth and even surface of the knife edge, there is no essential need for additional surface sharpening. Once the necessary kitchen tools are identified, you can take on the work, which must be performed in strict sequence and according to certain rules.

In order to sharpen knives by hand, you need to know certain rules for this event. At home, you do not always have all the necessary equipment, but you can always build a suitable work area from the available parts.The most important rule is to fix the bar, which allows you to sharpen effectively with two hands, without fear of unexpected injury or injury.

To sharpen knives correctly, you need to lay the block on a rubber mat or fix it in other ways, at the same time, raising it above the work surface in order to exclude unfavorable contact with the table or table top, where the work will be performed.

Once the block is secured, you need to start determining the angle of sharpening of the cutting surface. For each product, these values ​​will be different: for a scalpel, you need to set an angle from 7 to 18 degrees, for a kitchen knife it increases to 25 degrees, production knives, which cut stronger products, sharpen at an angle of 25–35 degrees.

The technology of sharpening a knife at home with a stone looks like this:

• the knife is placed with the tip perpendicular to the bar, after which it is tilted at the desired angle so that the edge is in front;
• to turn the tip, you need to move the knife forward with a smooth but confident movement, trying not to change the angle of inclination of the product;
• the end of the knife should be, after which the movement is repeated again;
• it is important to ensure that the cutting part does not break off the bar, as this can cause its deformation and the formation of chips on it;
• the sharpening technique is the same for both sides of the knife: as soon as one has been worked out, it is necessary to change the side and repeat the manipulation again;
• work continues until the cutting surface is completely smooth and thin.

To sharpen a knife, it is enough to walk it over a coarse-grained bar, but such a product is not suitable for use, as it will quickly become dull again. It is very important to sand the surface, which can be done with a fine grain bar. Processing in this case is exactly the same as when sharpening knives.

To work confidently and fairly quickly, it is very important to wet the blade with water or apply special oil before starting. As soon as the characteristic burrs appear on the point, the product is ready for the next stage. To grind a knife with high quality, it should also be lubricated before handling.

The final stage of the work will be to check the sharpness of the blade, for which the most reliable will be cutting an ordinary sheet. With perfect sharpening, the cut is smooth and fast. If the manipulation was carried out with violations, then this will immediately affect the result. Do not use your fingers to check the tip, as there is a high risk of injury to the top layer of the skin and infection.

In order to sharpen household knives on your own, you must be able to correctly carry out this manipulation. In addition to gaining theoretical knowledge, it is worth testing them on old products, which will not be a pity if something goes wrong. As soon as the progress in work is clear, you can safely start sharpening all the knives that are in the house and need to improve the quality of cutting.

It is worth remembering that cutting products for different purposes have different inclination angles, which are very important to maintain during the sharpening process:

• Japanese knives should be held at an angle of 10–20 degrees;
• It is customary to keep professional equipment and fillet knives at an angle of 25 degrees;
• for ordinary household knives, the optimal angle is 30 degrees;
• for hunting knives, the angle should be increased to 35–40 degrees.

In the process, it is important to press lightly on the knife so as not to break off the abrasive particles from the bar. Sharpening knives is not an easy task, since you need to set the angle of inclination correctly, choose the right block, apply moderate pressure and make sure that the blade does not come off the edge.

If you use the bar too actively, then bumps and dents will soon appear on it, which will interfere with the use of the equipment.In order not to have to buy a new product, you need to grind off the extra layer, align the bar over the entire surface, and use it again for its intended purpose.

It is important to work in a respirator or gauze bandage, since there will be many microparticles in the air that should not get into the human respiratory system. Keeping inventory in order and timely maintenance of tools will allow them to be useful and necessary for a person for a long time.

For information on how to sharpen a knife on a stone correctly, see the next video.