The Best Knife Sharpening Technique at Home
A whetstone, one side at a time, is the way to the sharpest edge you can get at home. Here are the steps, the angle for your knife, and when a honing steel is all you need.
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The King 1000/6000 is the whetstone to get, because the best knife sharpening technique at home is the old one: you draw the blade over a wet stone at a steady angle, one side at a time, until a tiny lip of metal tells you the edge is done. It takes practice, and your first edge won't be your best. Stick with it, though, and a ripe tomato will slice under the weight of the knife alone, with no machine or mail-in service involved.
Don't want to learn? There's a shortcut further down, and no shame in it.
The best knife sharpening angle for kitchen knives
Keep the angle your knife left the factory with, since the steel was chosen to suit it. That number is per side, and you can't read it by looking at the blade, so check the maker's website or ask their customer service.
| Knife | Angle per side | Spine height off the stone, 2-inch-tall blade |
|---|---|---|
| Older German and American chef's knives | About 20° | About 2/3 inch |
| Japanese knives and many newer Western ones | About 15° | About 1/2 inch |
| Shun | 16° | A bit over 1/2 inch |
| Fillet knives | 12° to 15° | About 1/6 inch (on a 3/4-inch blade) |
These numbers are for knives ground on both sides. A traditional Japanese knife ground on one side only needs its own method, so don't use these steps on it. If nobody can tell you the angle, I'd go with 15 for anything bought recently and 20 for your grandmother's carving knife. The thinner angle slides through an onion more easily, and the wider one is the sturdier edge.
That last column is the part worth remembering. Measure how tall your blade is at the heel, and the spine has to sit about a quarter of that height off the stone for 15 degrees, or a third for 20. You'll see a popular trick that says to slide two stacked quarters under the spine, which is about right on a narrow fillet knife and far too low on a chef's knife (around 4 degrees on a 2-inch blade).
The best way to sharpen a kitchen knife, step by step
Do this by the sink, with a towel under the stone. Practice on a cheap knife first, because you're going to grind a little off whatever you start on.
1. Wet the stone. Stand the stone in a shallow dish of water, coarse 1000 side down, until the bubbles stop, which takes a few minutes. The fine 6000 side only needs a splash of water (a finishing stone left to soak can crack). Set the stone in its base so it can't slide.
2. Find your angle. Lay the edge on the stone and raise the spine to your height. Color the bevel (the narrow slanted strip along the edge) with a marker the first few times. If the ink comes off evenly, your angle is right, and if it only comes off the very edge, you're tilted too high.
3. Work one side until you feel a burr. Hold the handle with your thumb on the spine, and rest the fingertips of your other hand on the flat of the blade, well back from the edge. Push the blade across the stone edge first, as if you were slicing a thin layer off the top, sweeping from heel to tip so the whole edge gets its turn. Let the weight of the knife do most of it. Keep going until a burr (that little lip of metal) runs the full length of the opposite side. You'll find it by brushing a fingertip across the flat of the blade and off the edge, never along the edge.
4. Flip and do it again. Same angle, other side, until the burr moves back the other way. Then alternate sides with fewer and fewer strokes: 10 on each side, then 8, 6, 4, 2 and 1. This part is what actually removes the burr, so don't skip it.
5. Polish on the 6000 side. Turn the stone over, splash it, and repeat with a lighter hand. You can stop when the scratches look even from heel to tip. If you own a leather strop, 5 to 10 strokes per side with the edge trailing will take off whatever's left.
6. Check it, and clean up. Hold a sheet of printer paper by one corner and draw the blade through. It should slice without catching. Then try that tomato. Wash and dry the knife, because stone grit and steel dust are not what you want on your dinner.
Keep this to straight edges. A stone won't get into the scallops of a bread knife, so that one needs a sharpener made for serrations.
The best way to sharpen a chef knife, and a fillet knife
A chef's knife has a curved belly, and this is where beginners lose the tip. As you get toward the point, lift the handle slightly so the curve keeps meeting the stone at the same angle. Most of a stroke is fine on the flat of the stone; it's the last couple of inches that need the lift.
A fillet knife is narrow and bends, so go lighter and move your fingertips along the flat of the blade as you go, staying just behind the part on the stone and away from the edge. At 3/4 inch tall, 12 to 15 degrees is only about 1/6 inch of spine height, and this is the one place those two stacked quarters are close to right. 15 is plenty if you're not cutting through bone. If you have a flexible blade and a shaky first attempt, the clamp on the Precision Adjust will save you some grief.
Honing vs sharpening: what's the difference?
Sharpening grinds metal away to make a new edge. Honing removes no metal to speak of, and just pushes a bent edge back into line. Hone vs sharpen comes down to that, and it's why the tool in your knife block (often sold as a "sharpening steel") isn't actually sharpening anything.
So when a knife starts to skid on an onion, reach for the steel first. Stand it upright with its tip on your cutting board and your hand on the handle, set the blade at your angle near the guard, and pull it down the rod toward the board from heel to tip with light pressure, a few strokes per side. If the knife cuts again, it was only bent. If it doesn't, the edge is worn and you need the stone.
How often? Some cooks hone daily and others weekly. I'd go with whenever you remember, and before you carve a roast chicken. Sharpening comes far less often, about once or twice a year for most home cooks.
If you'd rather not learn: use a fixed-angle sharpener
A stone isn't for everyone, and an edge from a machine beats a knife that never gets sharpened. For that, there's the Trizor XV, which holds a 15-degree angle for you and takes about two minutes on a dull knife, serrated ones included. It'll grind an older 20-degree knife down to 15 the first time through, which takes a bit of steel off but leaves a thinner edge that cuts more easily. It's the top pick in my knife sharpener guide, where you'll also find manual options from about $12.
What you need
- King 1000/6000 Combination Whetstone The whetstone, with its base and angle guide.$49.99
- Henckels Honing Steel The steel, for the weeks between sharpenings.$19.99
- Chef'sChoice Trizor XV Electric Knife Sharpener The no-skill route, if you'd rather skip the stone.$165.99
- Work Sharp Precision Adjust Knife Sharpener A clamp and guide rod that hold any angle for you.$69.95
An edge lasts longer on the right surface, too. Glass dulls a knife fast, so if you need something better, here's my cutting board guide.
At about $50, the King gets you a skill that works on almost every straight knife you'll ever own, and it costs less than a third of the Trizor. Pick up the Henckels steel for about $20 at the same time, and most weeks that's all your knife will ask for.
