You're better than you think.

If  you are reading this Blog, first of all thank you but if you are here than you have an interest in sharpening knives. This interest is strong enough to drive you here and undoubtedly to other areas on the internet.  You already have one of the key ingredients to becoming a successful knife sharpener.

You don't have to be the best knife sharpener, you just have to be able to get your knife to the point where there is an improvement in the edge, it's sharper than when you started in other words. If you do that, you are a better knife sharpener than tens of thousands of people, people who all like sharp knives but never did anything about it.

I think a lot of men would like to be able to sharpen a knife, all people like a sharp knife but I think that over the course of a life time, most men have either been interested, tried it or knew someone who could use a whetstone.  It's like a primal instinct, we are born with it.

How many people have gone out to the kitchen store and purchased a nice knife or set of knives with no thought on what to do with them in 3 months when they are dull. That sensation we feel with a dull knife is very fleeting isn't it, it soon evaporates and in no time at all, those really cool knives that you spent a lot of money on are not better than a new knife you can pick up for a dollar, I am not joking. We have all been through this. Then we go out and try different gadgets, we get lured into the packing that says "World's Best Knife Sharpener". I am not judging you, how do you think I know this?

This is what we all want to do with our knives, create an edge like the one pictured here, well I am telling you that you can do it. All you need is some courage and some water stones,  you can get your knife as sharp as heck with one stone, you can get it ridiculously sharp with three but with that one stone, you will soon be showing off your knives to your neighbours.

Remember these simple tricks of the trade:
1. Purchase a 1,000 grit water stone, or a combination stone with a coarse side and fine side, 400/1000 for example, but for learning an 800-1000 grit stone is effective and not coarse enough to do any immediate damage if you hold the knife incorrectly. Don't ever not sharpen because you are afraid of ruining the knife, because you are reading this, I'm going to assume you want to learn so get over any fears. (I can honestly say that I've never ruined a knife, and I didn't know a thing about sharpening when I started, there were no freaking computers when I started so I was on my own, just knew what my dad told me.

Soak the stone and place it on a stone holder or piece of wood so the stone is elevated slightly, you need some room to work so that your fingers, knuckles are clear of the table.

You can see this nifty stone holder from Shapton but you don't need one like this (disregard the green stone on top, I was just making a thickness comparison between the two, it is the stone holder that I want to show you here)

This stone holder cost about 18 dollars ........... pictured is the exquisite Naniwa Chosera 1k Stone....didn't come with the holder :)

Now get your knife and paint the edge, the edge of the edge, the part that is supposed to be sharp but is now dull. Remember this is just tired metal that has folded over, you are going to remove it on the whetstone, it's making the knife dull.


Hold the knife at an angle that you think is the closest match to what the original factory angle was, probably 19-22 deg.

The actual angle is not as important as you think, if it 19 or 23 deg, you can still sharpen the knife, what is important is to try and maintain the chosen angle throughout the process, one BOTH sides of the knife. This will be the first challenge, i.e. holding that angle but remember, you want to remove the sharpie mark that you placed on the edge. Just adjust the angle slightly but lifting or lowering the spine of the knife until you hit the target. You can re-paint the edge over and over as many times as you want. 

Over time, perhaps 20 knives in, you will develop a muscle memory and holding that angle will become second nature. 

DO NOT expect a razor sharp edge the first time or first 20 times, it takes a lot of practice but you need to practice. It works, if you watched the video or other sharpening videos you will be guided by these. It's just a matter of getting started and not being afraid that you are going to ruin the knife. Heck, it is dull anyway, how much worse can it get. Go slowly and keep focused.

Now what about pressure, use moderate pressure when starting, you will learn to adjust pressure as needed but to start, it is the amount of pressure applied that is going to have the most impact on how much metal is being removed from this 1,000 grit stone. So if you don't use any pressure at all, just the weight of the blade you are just moving the water and not abrading the steel. So go to pressure number one, (zero being the weight of the blade) and see how that feels, monitor the work and check the edge and see how you are doing. You'll see that there is no damage but you will see some scratches along the bevel leading down to the edge. good stuff.

Now you need to continue this motion until you have pushed that tired out metal to the other side of the knife, you will fell it over there and that is the burr. If you feel that burr, congratulations, now do the other side.  Don't sharpen one side of the knife for 20 minutes until you feel the burr, switch  back and forth until the burr forms. After you have done this, i.e. formed a burr on both sides of the knife you just need to remove it.....you need to get rid of that metal. You can do this by repeating the same motions but decreasing pressure, if you were at a pressure level 4, gradually take it down to level zero, you can feel for the absence of the burr. 

Be careful though, you've just sharpened the knife :)

Feels awesome eh.......now go do it again.

Thank  you for reading this.
Peter Nowlan