Keep Your Knives Sharp

Ultimately you will lose your edge. We recommend using an oil stone, Japanese whetstone or diamond stone. While these do require learning the technique, they can be easily mastered and they enable you to control the quality and the sharpness of the edge you create. All of our stones come with our own sharpening instructions.

Using a Sharpening Stone

Follow the manufacturer's recommended instructions for preparing your stone. A damp cloth under the stone protects the work surface. Start with the medium grit. (Use the coarse grit if your knife is particularly dull.
Note: Illustrations depict right hand as preferred hand; left hand technique is the mirror image.

Holding the knife in your right hand with the cutting edge facing left, place the heel of the knife in the bottom right hand corner of the stone with the blade vertical in front of you. Raise the spine of the knife about 1/16" off the stone, keeping the knife's edge flush with the surface. Place your left hand on the face of the blade, applying just enough pressure to keep the blade edge in contact with the stone.

Move the blade in an arching motion from right to left, heel to tip, vertical to horizontal, covering as much of the stone's surface as possible to allow the stone to wear evenly. Sharpen in one direction only.

Do this 10 times, or as many draws at it takes to form a burr (a slightly curled metal, the beginnings of your newly sharpened edge) on the opposite edge side.

To test for burrs: NEVER run thumb directly against sharp edge. Place your thumb at the center of the side of the blade near the heel, perpendicular to the edge. Run your thumb lightly from the center of the blade's side, toward and off the sharpened edge, detecting any raised burrs. Repeat at the center and tip of the blade.

Switch the knife edge to face right and repeat the steps, starting with the heel in the bottom left hand corner of the stone. If necessary, slant the stone towards the right for comfort. To keep the edge consistent, draw the blade the same number of times you drew the blade on the other side, and with equal pressure.

Repeat the above steps, using fewer draws of the blade each time, until no burrs remain. Once you can no longer detect burrs, sharpen the knife on the finer side of the stone with the same technique as above. The finer the stone, the sharper the resulting edge.

When complete, stroke the new edge on a steel and wipe the knife clean and dry before using.