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Dec 16, 2009

Sharpening Stones

Credit: Andr� Baranowski

Every time I watch my husband, who is a chef like me, sharpen our knives on one of his old-fashioned oilstones, I admire the simple elegance of the process: he just rubs the moistened blade at an angle against the rectangular block's finely abrasive surface. Using a stone takes time, and good ones are more expensive than sharpening steels and even some automatic sharpeners, but that's made up for tenfold by the time you save when working with a flawlessly sharp blade. —Jennifer Hough-Loos, New Orleans, Louisiana

This article was first published in Saveur in Issue #126

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Comments (8)

by jrwong88 on 2010-01-02

He should not rub the blade against the stone but the other way .

by lowkey318 on 2010-01-21

would love to talk to your husband about how he sharpens knives. been a long time . that i saw anyone use a rock.

by mgreig on 2010-02-14

Sharpening knives has got to be one of the more controversial subjects there is. There are countless opinions and of course everyone is right.
I used to watch my Dad use a oiled stone and by gosh it worked everytime the knives were flawlessly sharp. Once I got thinking about that, it lead to the memories of fall and the all the neighboring farmers over to help butcher our fall hogs. Those guys would grab s steel and put a edge back on their knives ..... to a wideeyed kid it was magic.
Thanks for the trip down memory lane. Im gonna go hunt down a set of stones.

by ldarley4 on 2010-02-18

I've worked in restaurants for years. And, never once did a chef or cook, ever, move the stone over the blade. The stone was on the counter. The blade stroked over it. And, the test for sharpness? When he can slice open a cherry tomato with a single pull of the knife, using only the knife's wight to apply the downward pressure. Razor like, kept keen longer between stone sharpenings with a steel.

by JISHUKAN on 2011-05-08

Sharpening any edge tool, whether it is a kitchen knife or a wood chisel, or whether using an oil stone or a water stone, is a matter of physics. You are attempting to align the intersection of two planes (the bevels of the two sides of the knife). The first requirement is an absolutely flat-surfaced stone: if it is hollowed out from use, you are wasting your time. True it up. The second requirement is lubrication, either oil or water, to carry away the metal particles abraded by the stone. If you use an oil stone, WD-40 is the weapon of choice. You want lubrication, but not so much that the fluid impairs the stone's ability to cut the steel.

by JISHUKAN on 2011-05-08

The next requirement is practice: holding the knife at the correct angle to achieve an acceptable edge takes time and muscle memory. The included angle between the knife's edges is usually 20-30 degrees. The blade is pushed against (never drawn across) the stone, as if trying to cut a shaving. Back and forth, one side then the other.

Had to break this up due to the key-stroke limit.

by Ronald_Cowie on 2012-01-21

I use a Tormek sharpener.

by KJEFFUS on 2012-12-17

Did I miss a link? I thought there was going to be a discussion or vid of technique.