Why You Can Trust CNET How to Properly Sharpen Kitchen Knives
Dull kitchen knives are ineffective and even dangerous. Here's how to keep your best blades razor-sharp.
A sharp knife is a happy knife, and it can make a better chef out of you. If you don't own a chef's knife you love, we've tested several to find the best at every price for 2024. If you already have a great blade or a solid set of kitchen knives, taking proper care of them is equally important. Keeping your knives sharp and in prime condition will help you avoid these bad habits that will ruin your chef's knife.
You'll also want to regularly sharpen and hone your blades to keep the edges as sharp as possible without oversharpening, which can cause permanent damage. Sharpening knives at home may seem daunting, but it's easy once you develop your technique.
Below, you'll find a step-by-step guide for properly sharpening and honing your best kitchen knives. For more kitchen tips, find out the one trick for cleaning stubborn cookware stains and how to make bacon with no mess to clean up after.
What's the difference between honing and sharpening knives?
These terms are often used interchangeably, but they're different. Honing refers to the act of straightening a blade's existing edge. Over time, and through ordinary use, the edge of a knife blade will curve slightly or bend out of its original position.
Honing
When you hone a knife, you coax its pointed surface slightly back into position. It's a gentle fix, but when it's done often, it can prevent more serious blade damage.
The most common way to hone a knife is with a honing steel. These inexpensive tools, starting at around $10, are essentially steel rods with a handle. The surface of the rod is coarse, and scraping both sides of a blade across the rod at the proper angle nudges (hones) its edge back in place.
Sharpening
Sharpening is the practice of aggressively polishing a knife to reform its edge. You'll only need to do this for very dull knives. In the process, bits of metal are actually shaved away. That's why sharpening a metal blade calls for material harder than steel, such as stone or ceramic. It's also why you should hone often, but sharpen rarely.
A honing steel is a tool used by many professional cooks to realign knife blades.
How to hone a kitchen knife
A honing steel, relied on by many professional chefs and cooks, is a common tool for honing kitchen blades. Using a steel properly takes practice, so don't be discouraged if your first results aren't obvious. Here's how to hone your knife:
Start by placing the end of the steel rod on a flat surface, such as a table, counter or cutting board.
Next, while holding the steel's grip with your non-knife hand, place the heel edge of your knife onto the steel. Make sure to angle the blade between 15 to 20 degrees of the steel rod. Rest your fingers (holding the knife), safely on the knife grip (behind the heel).
Now drag the blade downward along the steel. At the same time, pull the knife carefully toward you. The motion should move from the back edge of the knife to its tip. Maintain the same angle throughout your stroke. Repeat this action three to four times. Next, do the same on the other side.
Sharpening knives with a whetstone is the old-school way.
Best ways to sharpen a kitchen knife
Whetstone
To reform the edge of your knife blade, you'll need a tougher tool. The old-school way is with a whetstone. The good news is whetstones are relatively affordable. You can find them for between $10 and $40.
To properly use a whetstone, place a damp paper towel on a flat surface. Rest the whetstone on that to keep it from sliding. Wet the knife blade with a little water -- this lowers friction. Next, place the knife on the stone (its coarsest side), at a 15- to 20-degree angle. The tip of the knife should point away from you. Rest your fingers, except your thumb, on the flat of the blade. Your thumb remains on the handle grip.
Drag the knife across the whetstone in a circular motion, keeping the angle constant. Do this three to four times. Flip the knife over and repeat the process. Next, follow the same procedure, but on the whetstone's smoother side. Your once-dull kitchen knife should now have a sharper edge.
Electric knife sharpeners
You can use an electric sharpener, too. The process is much the same, with the added benefit of speed. These products have both honing and sharpening slots. Dragging a knife through the slots accomplishes the same task.
Grinding wheels spin inside the slots, and they're spring-loaded. That means they should polish knife edges at the correct angle automatically. Be sure to follow the instructions laid out in the manual carefully. Incorrect use of electric sharpeners may damage blade edges. Common mistakes include twisting, pressing down or pausing the stroke of knives as you pull them through the sharpener slot. This can cause oversharpening (the loss of too much metal) or result in an uneven edge.
Expect to pay a little more for a motorized sharpener, which typically costs around $40 (like this one on Amazon). The company also sells a line of kitchen knives, under the same EdgeKeeper brand, with sleeves designed to "sharpen" the blades every time you use them. Most likely they're honing, not sharpening, their knives -- but it's helpful nonetheless.
Surprisingly, the bottom of a ceramic cup works as a blade sharpener in a pinch.
Use the bottom of a ceramic mug to sharpen a knife
It sounds crazy, but we've tried this ourselves. Flip a ceramic mug over, so its bottom faces upward. Place it on a flat surface. There should be a ring that's raised and unglazed. The ring's surface is rough, and it's harder than steel. Use it as you would a whetstone. But be aware that if things go badly, you might scrape and mangle the blade edge, rendering it useless. Try this on a cheap knife, not fancy cutlery.
Call in the pros to get your knives sharpened
Services such as KnifeAid and Mac will send your knives back fully sharpened in a few business days.
For some, sharpening cutlery is too much of a hassle. Many premium knife brands such as Mac offer sharpening services (Mac brand only). With fees ranging from $8 to $25 per item, it's reasonable, too. Still, you will have to ship knives back to their facility. That means you'll have to do without them for as long as seven business days.
KnifeAid is another sharpening service that will send your knives back razor-sharp. You'll pay about $13 per knife, but you must send a minimum of four knives to be sharpened.
Some local grocery stores and supermarkets will sharpen your knives too -- and often for free. You can ask at the butcher counter, preferably during off-peak hours. Like any untried sharpening method, though, try it out on a knife you could live without first.