Steps for sharpening kitchen knives such as Santoku, Gyuto, Petty
1. Sharpen the tip of the knife
2. Sharpen the whole front surface from the tip to the blade heel
3. Sharpen the whole back surface from the tip to the blade heel
4. Remove the burr
5. Kobatsuke (intermediate and advanced users)
If you are new to knife sharpening, please do only steps 2, 3 and 4.
Once you get used to it, you will be able to sharpen as well as a chef from step 1.
1. Sharpen the tip of the knife
First, sharpen the tip of the kitchen knife. Even if this part is aligned with the shinogi line, the blade does not come in contact with the whetstone, and we cannot just sharpen normally. Therefore, raise your right hand a little bit. It's easier if you raise from your elbow rather than raise your wrist.
By doing so, the angle at which the knife strikes will change and the tip will easily come into contact with the stone.
As for how to apply force, it should be applied on the spine of the knife.
2. Sharpen the whole front surface from the tip to the blade heel
The knife will only be sharpened where the fingers of the left hand are placed.
The angle of the blade should be about 45 degrees to the whetstone.
For the sharpening angle, place the knife on the stone, hold down the cutting edge so that the blade is slightly levered up to the right angle, and sharpen.
Place your left hand in the place you want to sharpen, move back and forth around 20 times and sharpen until the burr appears.
At this time, apply force when pushing, and relax the force when pulling back towards you.
Repeat this process for the whole cutting edge.
3. Sharpen the whole back surface from the tip to the blade heel
The knife will only be sharpened where the fingers of the left hand are placed.
The angle of the blade should be about 45 degrees to the whetstone.
Place your left hand in the place you want to sharpen, move back and forth around 20 times and sharpen until the burr appears.
At this time, opposite to when you sharpen the front side, relax when pushing, and apply the force when pulling back towards you.
Repeat this process for the whole cutting edge. Since the blade heel is difficult to sharpen, sharpen it at 90 degrees to the whetstone.
Burr: A burr (steel ridge) is formed on the back of the cutting edge.
You should feel your fingers catch on it if you move them across it horizontally.
4. Remove the burr (people doing step 5 can skip ahead)
If you do not remove the burr on the back of the knife, the knife will not be able to cut.
I will show you how to easily remove burr.
Roll up newspaper thickly.
Once you've got it as shown in the photo, pull using the whole knife from the heel to the tip to cut the paper.
Do this operation, shifting a little each time, in 3 places.
By cutting newspaper, you can easily remove the burr.
5. Kobatsuke (intermediate and advanced users)
In a nutshell, kobatsuke means to make a two-stage blade.
If you do not do the kobatsuke process, the cut quality will diminish more quickly.
By making it a two-stage blade, the cutting edge becomes stronger and it will retain the cut quality.
Anyone who fillets a lot of fish in a day should be sure to do this kobatsuke process.
Among our customers, Japanese restaurant chefs, sushi chefs, fishmongers and others use this type of sharpening.
Be sure to use a finishing whetstone.
Because it is made into a two-stage blade, the knife is at a fairly steep angle.
At this time, you don't need to use much power. It's enough to just relax and stroke.
Please apply in order from the tip to the blade heel. Sharpen about 10 times per place.
It may seem scary at first, so please sharpen it slowly.
Sharpen about ten times in each place, applying force only when pushing.
Once the front surface is ground to a certain extent, sharpen the back surface in the same way.
At this time also, sharpen at an angle of about 45 degrees.
This time, apply force only when pulling.
If you've got this far, now you will remove the burr. I will show you how to easily remove burr.
Roll up newspaper thickly.
Once you've got it as shown in the photo, pull using the whole knife from the heel to the tip to cut the paper.
Do this operation, shifting a little each time, in 3 places.
By cutting newspaper, you can easily remove the burr.