Sharpening a knife with a stone
By Dyske October 17th, 2007
I grew up watching other people sharpen their knives in Japan. So, I just do it without thinking about it. I never thought to learn it properly, but after watching the show on NOVA about samurai swords, I become curious what the proper way is. I found this page while searching on Google Japan. This was the second item on the search result, and it happens to be the site of the company that produced my knife, Global. Here, it says you should push the knife away from you. I always pulled towards myself, I guess that’s wrong.
Carlos Perez says:
October 18th, 2007 at 5:59 pmwow, that’s interesting. When I was in culinary school in Minnesota (don’t laugh!) I was always taught that when sharpening with a sharpening steel (not a stone) that the guard at the top of the handle was to protect your hand from being cut as the knife was pulled towards you. Is there a difference between the stone and the steel?? Since I can’t read japanese I’m not sure if that is mentioned in the artice on Global. Nice site by the way!
Dyske says:
October 18th, 2007 at 7:30 pmI’ve never seen anyone use those metal rods to sharpen knives in Japan. So, no mention of that on that page. I’ve wondered about that too; which yields a better result.
XaeroDegreaz says:
November 27th, 2007 at 6:46 pmWell, it’s so you don’t shank yourself.
After generations of sword makers accidentally committing Harikari, they finally wizened up.
Like you said, Japanese don’t like new inventions, but they just perfect existing ideas 😀
And, yes, all look same.
Momo says:
December 6th, 2007 at 12:09 amA stone will sharpen a knife by actually grinding away the metal until a sharp edge is created, while a steel rod is simply used to ‘true’ the delicate blade edge into proper alignment (which tends to start curling in one direction, depending on the knife user I suppose, when it is used frequently) before usage.
Chefs, butchers etc who you see sliding their knife up and down a steel before chopping something aren’t sharpening the blade (that would grind away their knife to a needle before long, not to mention leave little metal bits in your food), but aligning the blade so it’s straight and centered.
Joe Krahn says:
December 7th, 2007 at 1:22 pmAh, that makes sense. I assume that the steel rod also does help sharpen the very edge of the blade at the microscopic level, somewhat like buffing the edge of a straight razor with a leather strap.
As for stone sharpening, it makes sense to sharpen with the blade pointing away from the body for safety reasons. The important part is the direction of motion with respect to the blade. I was taught to slide the stone away from the blade edge to remove steel, and into the blade edge for the final sharpening.
sidruid says:
January 24th, 2008 at 2:25 amIt appears, actually, that you should go forward and back with the knife even their arrow is only in one direction.
http://www.yoshikin.co.jp/w/maintenance/maintenance_01.html
I use a sharpening stone only very rarely, preferring a straightening steel for regular maintenance and a diamond-grit steel for basic sharpening. I always use a semicircular sweep of the blade against the steel, going toward the hand that is holding the steel (but maybe that’s just for bravado – it’s probably the same regardless of if you sharpen/straighten toward your hand or away). I use a wood dowel to remove burrs afterwards.
zevgoldman says:
February 24th, 2008 at 12:00 amI believe there is one major error in the knife sharpening illustrations. If a whetstone is used the fluid medium to be employed is petroleum oil.
If the sharpening is done by one who wants to follow the Japanese method a water stone is used. If fact the description given for the use of a whetstone is actually the description for the use of a Japanese water stone.
The choice of oil for use with a whetstone may be clutural and the use of water with a whetstone may be perfectly acceptable. If someone can correct an error on my part I would be gratefut for the knowledge. I would be willing to try water with a whetstone if it delivers good results.
knife guy says:
February 25th, 2008 at 3:16 pmYeah, sharpening (and knife making!) are a real art.