In the kitchen, on the hunt or in any other business, sharp knives are always needed. Using such tools is not only easy and pleasant to do something, but the result is beautiful. Today on the market there are many mechanical and electrical devices with which sharpening knives at home does not present any difficulties. However, all of them are more likely intended for women.
The real man-master will definitely use the good old method of manual editing of the blade. This process is even more painstaking and longer, but the result will be completely different.
About steel
The quality of
knife sharpening
with your own hands will depend not only on craftsmanship, sharpening materials, but also on steel. Its optimum hardness ranges from 45 to 60 HRC. With a knife made of softer material, the cutting edge will be easily wrinkled, and of a harder knife it will cough and blunt. You can determine the quality of steel yourself, but this will require a new file. If with a light pressure it will slide along the edge, and with a strong pressure it will grip it slightly, then the hardness of the material is “correct”.
Sharpening flat knives
The initial operation is carried out by a bar with large grains. They process the cutting edge of the blade from two sides until a burr appears on its contour - a thin strip of "excess" metal that bends in both directions. Then sharpening knives at home continues with a finer-grained bar. With its help, traces of the effects of the previous donkey are completely removed, not paying attention to the burr. A bar with the smallest grain should "tackle" its removal. The burr is grinded on both sides in such a way as to give the cutting edge of the blade an angle of 23 - 45 °. It is this sharpening method that allows the blade to remain dull for quite some time. The final finishing of the knife is carried out by slate and leather.
Knife sharpening at home: practical tips
Universal knives, as you know, do not exist. Based on this, the sharpening angle of each knife will depend on its purpose. For example, if a
kitchen knife is supposed to be used only for cutting cheese, bread, sausage, and a worker - for fairly soft materials (leather, paper, etc.), then the sharpening angles of these tools can be minimized. If the knife is designed for cutting bony meat,
frozen fish or other hard materials, then its sharpening angle should be approximately 30-45 °. It should be noted that the correct sharpening of knives at home for non-professionals may present some difficulties, therefore, it is recommended that novice "grinders" use a simple device to form the edges at the right angle. To make it, you will need a
wooden block, from which you need to make a wedge. Its length should exceed 2.5 times its height. The resulting wedge-shaped device is installed on the donkey, the knife is pressed against it, and then it is necessary to move the wedge with the knife along the
grinding bar with the blade forward. This method will automatically provide the necessary edge sharpening angle. In this case, the blade with a wide bevel will receive a cutting edge at an angle of 25-30 °, and with a narrow - 30-45 °.