Hone And Then Test The Sharpness Of Your Knife

Before deciding whether or not to have your knife sharpened, you first need to determine exactly what the condition of the blade is. The best way to do this is to determine if honing the knife improves the quality of the edge. With most kitchen cutlery sets, a honing rod is included. It's a long cylindrical piece of steel with a handle on the end. 

If you're new to using it, don't worry. In the following section how exactly to hone the blade will be discussed.

Honing

To begin, grab the honing rod by the handle with a reverse grip. Next, plant the metal end firmly on a cutting board at a 90° angle.

While holding the knife with your other hand, pull the blade across the honing rod, and back toward your body, exactly as follows:

1. Starting on one side of the honing rod or the other, bring the blade's edge that's nearest to the knife's handle to the honing rod at an approximate 20° angle.
2. Pull the blade toward your body slowly, from the hilt to the tip. Notice that satisfying sound?
3. Next, repeat the process with the other side of the blade and on the other side of the honing rod.
4. Repeat steps 1 through 3 approximately 8 times.

When you do this you help to bring the edge of the knife back into alignment. This is a different process than sharpening a knife, which actually removes metal from the edge to reform the point.

Now that you have your knife, it's time to see how sharp it is.

The Test

There are several ways to test the sharpness of a knife. However, one of the best methods involves using a piece of paper, preferably computer paper. 

Once you have some paper, do as follows:

1. Hold the paper in a landscape position with one hand. With the other hand, have your kitchen knife ready.
2. Next, attempt to cut through the piece of paper from the top to the bottom.

A sharp knife will cut through the paper smoothly and cleanly with little effort. The paper shouldn't have to be braced against an object, like a cutting board, to make a clean cut with a sharp knife.  

If you could not cut through the paper cleanly, then your knife would benefit from being sharpened. 

A sharp knife makes all the difference in the kitchen. Plus, it's just safer because the blade is less prone to slip.

Sharpening

The most convenient way to have your knives professionally sharpened is to mail them directly to a cutlery sharpening service. First off, you always get back blades that are supremely sharp. And secondly, in this busy world of ours, mailing your kitchen knives is way more efficient than trying to locate a professional sharpener near you.

Reach out to a company like Knife Flight to learn more.