How to correctly determine and set the sharpening angle of knives?

Dull knives are every chef's nightmare. Cooking with such a knife turns into torture, so the fact that they can be sharpened at home is great luck. But there are some subtleties here that you need to know in order to make the knife sharper, and not dull it even more. First of all, you need to find out what the sharpening angle is and why it is generally needed.

First of all, it is worth remembering that there is simply no universal sharpening angle that is equally suitable for all types of knives. The choice of the right one will depend only on what the knife is used for. Now you can figure out what it is. The term "sharpening angle" has many characteristics. On the knife, the sharpening angle is the one at which the supplies converge. And the supply, in turn, is the very place where the descents of the blade smoothly turn into the cutting edge.

First, let's find out what sharpening is. This is the restoration of the initial parameters of the cutting edge. Of course, it can be changed, but then you need to look at the material from which the knife is made. Some are made of fragile materials and may not withstand rough work. Here are the most commonly used materials from which knives are made.

• Carbon steel is a special alloy of carbon with iron, with the addition of manganese or vanadium. These knives sharpen well, but rust over time.
• Stainless steel often found in kitchens. It is also an alloy of carbon, iron and chromium with the addition of nickel or molybdenum. Very often, such knives become dull, and therefore require sharpening much more often. If suddenly the steel of the blade becomes dull, this means that the knife is no longer suitable for further use.
• Stainless high carbon steel - an alloy of stainless and carbon steel, to which cobalt, molybdenum and vanadium are added. It retains all the best properties of these two alloys, that is, it has high strength, sharpness and time without sharpening.
• Damascus steel is considered one of the best (and most expensive) materials. It is a blacksmith forging, which involves the alternation of soft and hard alloys. Damascus steel products are always sharpened by hand.
• Titanium alloy made by sintering titanium with carbide inserts. Sharpening is very rarely required for such products. The alloy requires careful handling, as well as the presence of special skills and professional equipment for sharpening.
• Zirconium alloy (ceramic) Is a ceramic after pressing and firing. Such products retain their sharpness for a very long time, but require careful handling and storage. They are used for cutting soft, defrosted foods. If you need to sharpen such a knife, then you need to purchase special equipment.

So, before choosing one or another sharpening angle, you need to find out what material the knife is made of. Based on knowledge about the material, certain conclusions can be drawn about the strength of the product and about what it is suitable for. For example, if you can cut frozen food with a stainless high-carbon steel knife, then ceramic will very poorly survive such treatment.

There is a certain classification of sharpening angles associated with the area in which this or that variety is used. This classification is based on the general position that at a lower sharpening angle, the blade is much sharper, but the strength is lower. Accordingly, at a larger sharpening angle, the strength is higher, but the sharpness is lower. For kitchen knives, parameters from 10 to 60 degrees are used, but here too there is a division by type of use.

• Plain table knifeused when serving should be 55-60 degrees.
• Household, kitchenused in home cooking is approximately 30-35 degrees.
• Professional kitchen, which is used at various feed points, is sharpened at 25-30 degrees.
• Chef knife can be used for cutting a wide variety of products, it is sharpened at 20-25 degrees.
• Fish knife, has a sharpening angle strictly 25 degrees.
• The knife with which the meat is cut sharpened at an angle of 30 degrees.
• The knife used to cut vegetables usually has an angle of 35 degrees.
• Root knife, has an angle of 22-25 degrees.
• For boning knife use an angle of 25-30 degrees.
• The knife with which the sirloin is separated, should have a sharpening of 10-15 degrees. These knives should be as sharp as possible in order to more accurately separate the loin from the rest of the carcass.
• For frozen meat or fish, which are very hard and can damage knives made of brittle materials, set the sharpening angle at 30-45 degrees, focusing not on sharpness, but on the strength of the blade.
• Small pen (folding, folding) products are sharpened at an angle of 20-25 degrees.
• Touring and hunting knives are usually sharpened for a specific direction.For cutting carcasses, where sharpness is needed for the most part, the product is sharpened at an angle of 30-35 degrees, and with a priority on strength and durability, an angle of 40-45 degrees is chosen.
• Special boot knives also come in two varieties. The first is a shoe repair, sharpened by an angle of 30-40 degrees. The shoe cutter is sharper, therefore it is sharpened at an angle of 20-25 degrees.
• Planing universal (aka universal carpentry) should be sharpened at an angle of 30-45 degrees.

Home use involves a less strict division of knives according to their purpose. Hardly anyone will tell the difference between a vegetable knife and a root vegetable knife. Then it is enough to calculate a universal sharpening angle that is suitable for most kitchen work. The most suitable angle for a kitchen knife, which will become universal for cutting various products - 30-35 degrees. In this version, the emphasis is on sharpness. When wear resistance is a priority, it is better to sharpen the product at an angle of 40 degrees.

You can determine the correct angle value by taking into account the table of generally accepted values. This will help you navigate which characteristic is more important at the moment: sharpness or strength.

The most accurate angle value can be set using a protractor. However, this is not the most common household item. That's why you can also do with a protractor with scissors. This method is not 100% accurate, but will allow you to calculate an approximate value. You will need scissors and a protractor. Open the scissors and insert the blade of the knife in the center. Then, bring the ends of the scissors together until they touch the blade. Remove the knife and, carefully, so as not to lose the measured result, lean the scissors on a piece of paper and trace with a pencil. Then measure with a protractor.

Sharpeners are divided into mechanical and electrical. On electric sharpeners, the value of the sharpening angle is already set. In mechanical sharpeners, it is also difficult to calculate the angle of inclination. The effect of sharpeners is short-lived, but their plus is that sharpening is much faster, and this is convenient when you urgently need to cook something.

However, an adjustable electric sharpener can make your life a lot easier. It is very simple and intuitive to use.

There are a lot of tools for sharpening a knife. Each has its own specifics of work and its own difficulties.

• Sharpening bar... Most common for home sharpening. Very easy to use, the only difficulty is maintaining the sharpening angle. You must have two bars: coarse and fine-grained. First, a blade is leaned against a coarse-grained bar at an angle of 20-25 degrees and advanced along the surface of the bar. Try not to change the angle of inclination. Then turn over and sharpen the other side. Continue sharpening both sides alternately. Then change the block to a fine-grained one and sand the product.
• Musat. Used only for a little spiciness. If the knife is completely dull, then nutmeg alone will not be enough. We take a knife in one hand, musat in the other. We approximately calculate the angle of 25 degrees, and about 4-6 times we drive the blade along the musat in both directions.You can place an emphasis on the table with musat, if suddenly it is not very convenient for you to hold the tool with your hands.
• Pocket sharpeners are small sharpening stones that are already placed in a plastic case. They already have the required angle, so you do not have to set and maintain it.
• Grinding machine. It consists of two abrasive wheels rotating due to the presence of an electric motor. Not recommended for use by beginners, as when using such a tool it is easy to damage the blade. Suitable for craftsmen who know how to correctly set the angle and avoid heating the metal.

There are also extreme sharpening methods that are suitable when nothing else is at hand. These include:

• ordinary cobblestone, which can slightly improve the condition of the blade;
• another knife, when the knives rub their blades against each other for 5-10 minutes, while both are sharpened;
• a large shard of a bottle or other glass product (here it is important not to injure yourself when sharpening);
• a leather belt is also often used for grinding the blade.

For information on how to set the knife sharpening angle, see the next video.